Klavierwerke

Giacomo Orefice is best known as an opera composer. His piano works consist mainly of atmospheric short pieces inspired by poems and paintings, but also landscapes, nature and scenes from everyday life. The childlike atmosphere of Ninnoli is followed by the charming Valse des amoureuses, Orefice's only piano work published outside Italy. The Preludi del mare describe a day at the seaside from the first light of dawn until the rise of the moon. These impressionistic worlds are expanded in the Quadri di Böcklin with a sound palette that expresses the moods of sadness and solitude of the symbolist painter. The melancholic Cipressi, a piece of unknown origin, is today regarded as Orefice's musical epitaph.