Three Botticelli Pictures, P. 151

• Respighi composed his set of three tone poems for small orchestra, Trittico botticelliano P.151 (Botticellian Triptych) in 1927.¹
• Each of the three tone poems is inspired by a painting by Sandro Botticelli from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.² (Click the titles to see the paintings.) 
• Respighi dedicated this set to the American music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (put her name in the search bar of the site to see her influence in many works of this period). Respighi conducted the work’s premiere at a concert arranged by Coolidge in Vienna in September of 1927.³ 

Movements

1. La primavera (Spring). Listen for: references to the trilling birdsong from Vivaldi’s “Spring” concerto. 
2. L’adoratione dei Magi (The Adoration of the Magi). Listen for: a quotation of the Advent hymn “Veni, emmanuel” (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel) 
3. La nascita di Venere (The Birth of Venus). Listen for: rocking rhythms depicting ocean waves. ⁴

1. John C.G. Waterhouse, Janet Waterhouse, and Potito Pedarra, “Respighi, Ottorino,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed July 22, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000047335. 
2. Jeremy Siepmann, liner notes to Respighi: The Birds et al, Bournmouth Sinfonietta, Tamas Vasary, Chandos 8913, CD, 1991.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.