<<  -- 2 --  George Balcombe    AESTHETIC AND DIDACTIC

Respighi's allegorical scheme in The Pines was Life, Death, Resurrection and End of the World.

Respighi produced his musical structure from this allegorical sequence, resulting in the four sections of his suite for orchestra:

• Section 1: Allegretto vivace
  Pines at the Villa Borghese; children are heard playing amongst the groves of trees (Life) [listen -- track 1, 2:32 to track 2, 1:05].
• 2 Lento
  Pines near a Catacomb; the music conveys the vastness of time and the centuries of silence in these miles of underground tombs (Death) [listen -- track 2, 6:31 to track 3, 0:54].
• 3 Lento
  Pines of the Janiculum; Moonlight through the trees on this hillside park replicate the biblical scene when, 'early in the morning', Christ was seen newly-risen from the dead (Resurrection) [listen -- track 3, 6:10-7:33].
• 4 Alla marcia
  Pines of the Appian Way; the terrifying climax of this music is not God's Judgement Day but mankind's self-annihilation. This is a prophetic allegory (End of the World).

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