Italiana and Siciliana from Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3

Italian composer Ottorino Respighi is renowned today for his skill with orchestration and instrumental color. He was an equally skilled early music scholar, editing the works of Claudio Monteverdi and Vitali and producing idiomatic transcriptions and arrangements of music by Renaissance and Baroque composers. His three suites of Ancient Airs and Dances, based on early 17th-century Italian and French lute music, reflect this research prowess. Unlike Stravinsky, Respighi leaves the original harmonies intact, using orchestral color and tempo changes to give the old melodies a modern sound. The Suite No. 3, written in 1931, is written for strings alone. The opening Italiana is based on an anonymous 17th-century popular tune, while the source of the pastoral Siciliana is also unknown.