Ex. 7-10: Nebbie

Composed by Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936) to a poem by Ada Negri (1870–1945), an Italian poet from a working-class background who became one of the first women nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. According to one account, Respighi composed the melody first and later found Negri's poem, which fit perfectly.

The poem is dark for an Italian song: a lonely person suffers in a landscape of fog, cawing crows, bare trees, and freezing cold. From the grey sky, the moans of the dead call out: "Come! The valley is dark. O sad one, o unloved one — come! Come!"

Respighi wrote "Nebbie" in 1906, in his late twenties, long before the fame of his orchestral showpieces The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome. In those years he earned his living as an orchestral viola player. Around 1900, that work took him to St. Petersburg, where he played in the opera orchestra and studied with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the Russian master of orchestral colour. His Russian training shows in the dark, atmospheric piano writing of "Nebbie." Respighi later orchestrated the song, in 1913.

"Nebbie" is Respighi's best-known song. It is unusually dark and heavy for an Italian song, but it has become a favourite recital piece, recorded by great singers of every voice type.

From the album Moonlight Reflections by Stacey Alleaume and Amir Farid (2021)
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