Rispetti e strambotti

Rispetti e strambotti is a work for string quartet composed in 1920 by Gian Francesco Malipiero.

The piece was first performed on September 25, 1920, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; it won the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Award.

The piece takes its title from two early forms of Italian poetry; rispetti were love messages from men to ladies, while strambotti were roundelays.

The piece is a single, coherent work meant to depict various aspects of the Renaissance, and is built up of numerous episodic melodic subjects.

Among the most significant are those depicting the clergy and peasantry; the former is a sort of plainchant, while the latter is a robust theme with astringent harmonies.