Giuseppe Filianoti, Mario Guido Scappucci - Nebbie (Respighi) 2014

Text: Ada Negri - Respighi composed the sweeping, brooding Nebbie in 1906 during a period of depression when he was about twenty five years old. On the day he composed the music, he happened to read a collection of Ada Negri’s poetry, much of which focused upon the sufferings that beset the forsaken poor of her generation, and he realised, that without altering anything, the text of Nebbie would exactly fit the mood of the music he had written.
The powerful and dramatic song contains echoes of Puccini and verismo style. It brings out all of his agony with theatrical brilliance, but yet exhibits total and quite dynamic control with the monotonous rhythm of accented chords. It creates a dark and intense mood as it opens with stark, slow minor piano chords and a foreboding text. The voice expresses a landscape of loneliness, desolation and hopelessness in a very dramatic way and builds in intensity, until the cry of a lonely, freezing cold woman is heard resounding through the dark rising mists.

[@AHalfBaritone]

love this song!