Elsa Respighi

Elsa Respighi , b. Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo (born March 24, 1894 in Rome ; † March 17, 1996 ibid) was an Italian singer (soprano), composer and opera director.

Life

Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo studied piano with Giovanni Sgambati , harmony and counterpoint with Remigio Renzi and composition with Ottorino Respighi , whom she married in 1919. With her husband as piano accompanist, she went on numerous concert tours in the following years, on which she premiered works by Ottorino Respighi. She largely gave up her own composing activity in favor of her husband's career.

After Ottorino Respighi's early death, she devoted herself intensively to maintaining his musical legacy. She published books, organized conferences, performances, recordings and editions of his music, completed and transcribed individual works and founded the Fondo Respighi in Venice to promote musical education in Italy. Two of her own operas that she wrote after Ottorino Respighi's death have not been performed to this day.

Works

Operas

• Fior di neve (1918)
• Il dono di Alcesti (1941)
• Samuray (1945)

Other vocal works

• 3 Canzoni spagnole for soprano and orchestra (1917)
• 4 liriche for voice and piano (1918/19)
• Il pianto della Madonna for soprano, tenor, choir and orchestra (1939)
• 3 Canti corali for choir (1939)
• Preghiera di Santa Caterina for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra (1943–48)

Instrumental works

• Serenata di maschere , symphonic poem for orchestra (1918)
• Suite di danze for orchestra (1919/20)
• Intermezzo romantico for viola, flute, harp and orchestra (1942)

Fonts

• Ottorino Respighi: Dati biografici ordinati . Milan 1954.
• Cinquant'anni di vita nella musica (from 1905 to 1955) . Padua 1975.
• With Leonardo Bragaglia: Il teatro musicale di Respighi . Rome 1978.