Respighi studied with the Russian composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov in Saint Petersburg and with the German composer Max Bruch in Berlin. 

In 1928 he toured the U.S. as a pianist and conductor. In 1932 he conducted the premier of his triptych Maria Egiziaca.

Among Respighi's many works, best known are the three sets of Ancient Airs and Dances for Lute, orchestral arrangements of early Italian music (1916, 1923, 1931); the opera Belfagor (1923); the ballet La boutique fantasque (1919), staged by the Russian impresario Sergey Diaghilev; the orchestral suites Rossiniana (1925) and The Birds (1927); and the symphonic poems Fountains of Rome (1924), Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1929), all notable for their striking orchestral effects.