Respighi's Autumn Poem is hardly what one would expect from the composer of the enjoyably garish Roman Trilogy. Despite the presence in its program of bacchantes and Dionysian revelry, this is a predominantly reflective piece requiring the soloist to produce a steady, pure tone rather than spark virtuosic fireworks. Respighi headed the score with this inscription: "A sweet melancholy pervades the poet's feelings, but a joyful vintner's song and the rhythm of a Dionysian dance disturb his reverie. Fauns and bacchantes disperse at the appearance of Pan, who walks alone through the fields under a gentle rain of golden leaves." The music follows this text exactly, with the violinist's melancholy expressed in a little opening E minor cadenza of double stops. The violin develops a partnership with the orchestra and together they take on a slow, archaic, and almost Gregorian-sounding melody; this "vintner's song" is not really "joyful," but it is broad, expressive, and uplifting. At length, the Dionysian revelry begins with a fast tempo and stamping rhythm, the violin throwing itself into the dance with no hesitation at all. Just as the dance starts building momentum, it breaks apart into a mysterious transitional section. Pan then pensively enters in G minor; his flute melody is soon taken over by the violin and this extends into a very long, lyrical meditation interrupted by a brief orchestral climax. The music gradually dies away into the melancholy with which the piece began.

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