This week's selection of The Gaggle Music Club is Ottorino Respighi’s "Ancient Airs and Dances." The composition consists of a set of three orchestral suites composed between 1917 and 1932, based on lute pieces from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936) was an Italian composer, musicologist, conductor and orchestrator. He studied composition in Bologna and later trained in orchestration under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia. The Russian master-orchestrator strongly influenced Respighi's approach to tone color. Respighi went on to become one of the most important figures in Italian music in the early 20th century. A significant part of Respighi’s output was devoted to reviving and reinterpreting early music. He created orchestral versions of lute pieces, Gregorian chant and harpsichord works. Unlike his contemporaries in Italy, he had little time for atonality and serialism.

For "Ancient Airs and Dances," Respighi, a skilled musicologist, drew on transcriptions of Renaissance and early Baroque Italian and French lute music compiled by Oscar Chilesotti. The three suites that comprise Ancient Airs do not form a trilogy in the narrative sense, but are unified by their approach. Respighi transforms early dance and song forms into rich, orchestral textures while preserving the melodic essence of the originals.

Respighi did not simply orchestrate old lute music. He re-harmonized it, enriched its texture and invented transitions and connecting material. It resulted in a kind of neo-Renaissance impressionism—historical melodies are enveloped in modern harmonic colors and a Debussyan orchestral timbre.

The Ancient Airs and Dances proved to be very influential. It led to a revival of early music. At a time when much Renaissance music was known only to specialists, Respighi brought it to concert audiences.

Respighi was a pioneer in the neoclassical movement, although never embraced Stravinsky’s irony or rhythmic asymmetry.

Respighi also had an impact on film composers: His ability to evoke past eras through lush orchestration influenced film music. Composers like Miklós Rózsa, Bernard Herrmann and even John Williams owe some inspiration to his treatment of historical material.

At the time of their premieres, the suites were warmly received—seen as elegant and cultured, yet also emotionally appealing. Critics appreciated Respighi’s ability to balance respect for old forms with imaginative modern scoring. Today, the Ancient Airs and Dances remain among the most-performed of Respighi’s works.