Ciao Italia

Respighi borrowed heavily from his Italian compatriot, Gioachino Rossini, to create a ballet for the Ballets Russes about dolls who come to life in The Fantastic Toy Shop. The ballet suite includes traditional dances all to be performed by the “marionettes.” Although Berlioz was French, he adored the Italian countryside and wrote Harold in Italy as a musical reflection of his own sojourns to Abruzzi, with his Harold—represented by the solo viola—...