This work was composed by Ottorino Respighi, a leading composer of modern Italy, when he was 18 years old. At the age of 18, Respighi was a student at the Bologna Conservatory. To unravel this work, let us delve into Respighi's student years, which were the genesis of his musical life. From the age of 12, Respighi studied violin and viola under Federico Sarti at the Bologna Conservatory. Subsequently, he also enrolled in the composition department, studying music history with Luigi Torchi and composition with Giuseppe Martucci. Luigi Torchi was a master of early music research and provided Respighi with the opportunity to encounter the beautiful medieval and Renaissance music that had been forgotten at the time. Respighi's series of works based on early music, such as "Ancient Airs and Dances for Lute," would likely not have come into being without his encounter with Torchi. Furthermore, Martucci, who taught composition, was a figure who rose to the position of director of the Bologna Conservatory and was a central figure in the "Italian Instrumental Revival Movement," which sought to break away from the opera-centric Italian music of the past and revive instrumental music. Martucci's spirit of Italian instrumental revival was inherited by his disciple Respighi, leading to the creation of many excellent orchestral and chamber works. The influence of these two teachers, Torchi and Martucci, whom Respighi studied with at the Bologna Conservatory, was profoundly significant on his later career as a composer.

Structure of the Work

This piece was composed in 1897, towards the end of the 19th century. Throughout the piece, elements such as themes, rhythms, and modulations evoke the styles of Schumann and Chopin, revealing remnants of the Romantic era despite its late 19th-century composition. The work consists of three movements.

• Movement I: Allegro
  It begins with a dramatic five-bar prelude, leading into a fluid melody with long phrases. Although written in F minor, the music occasionally shifts between major and minor, as if light is spilling through gaps in the clouds, creating a truly wonderful contrast in tonal color.
• Movement II: Lento
  The tonality begins in A-flat major, the relative major of the first movement's F minor, but the music flows ceaselessly with constant modulations, beautiful like a continuously flowing clear stream.
• Movement III: Allegro
  In B-flat major, 3/8 time. The melody is full of dynamism, and a crisp staccato ostinato propels the music forward. The subsequent middle section, in contrast, introduces a lyrical and singing beautiful melody, expressing the music with even greater drama.

By composing this Piano Sonata in A minor, Respighi learned numerous compositional techniques from his teacher, Martucci. The musical experience gained here would be fully demonstrated in his Violin Sonata in B minor, composed between 1916 and 1917, which is acclaimed as one of Respighi's masterpieces.

Furthermore, because Respighi is so renowned for his orchestral and chamber works such as the "Roman Trilogy" and "Ancient Airs and Dances for Lute," his early piano works have largely remained in obscurity, with few published scores available. The first edition of this piece was published by Ricordi in Italy in 1986, 50 years after Respighi's death. The autograph manuscript was donated by Respighi's wife, Elsa, in 1961, on the 25th anniversary of his death, and is housed at the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna.