An edition of Ottorino Respighi's Fantasia Slava, p. 50 with an analysis of his early style

Abstract

Fantasia Slava, a 1903 work by Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) for piano and orchestra, can be considered the embodiment of his early style. The characteristics of this style will be examined through brief analyses of four works written prior to Fantasia Slava: Violin Sonata in D Minor (1897), P. 15; Piano Sonata in F Minor, P. 16 (1897); Six Pieces for Violin and Piano, P. 31 (1901-2); and Piano Quintet in F Minor (1902). The characteristics developed over the course of these pieces directly affected the construction of Fantasia Slava and shows the young composer developing his compositional language. This document also includes an edition of Fantasia Slava for two pianos-one piano designated for the solo and another a piano reduction of the orchestral part. The sole publication of Fantasia Slava is the orchestral score from Ricordi, copyrighted in 1986. It is from this edition that the author has drawn his two-piano edition. The manuscript for Fantasia Slava, P. 50 was not available for review at the time of this document. Permission to utilize the first edition of the work in such a manner was graciously granted by Lucia Castellina, editor at Casa Ricordi, in a November 14, 2013, email to the author. The orchestral reduction is intended to reflect accurately the sonority and scope of the orchestra score, while remaining playable and true to the inherent properties of the modern piano. Critical notes following the edition reflect discrepancies between the orchestral score and the present edition. They also outline salient points regarding the edition's creation.