Respighi was schooled at Ginnasio Guinizelli in Bologna for two years from October 1890. In 1891, he enrolled at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, where he studied the violin and viola for the next seven years with his teacher, Federico Sarti. Among Respighi's earliest completed and dated compositions at this time were "Piccola Ouverture" and "Preludio" for orchestra. Four years into his course at the Liceo Musicale, Respighi began classes in musical composition with Giuseppe Martucci, the Liceo's director, and music history with Luigi Torchi. By the time he reached twenty, Respighi was performing in the orchestra at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Martucci, a proponent of Bologna's musical life and composer of non-operatic Italian music, became an influential figure for the young Respighi. In 1899, he received a diploma in the playing of the violin. By this time, Respighi had developed a fondness for languages, demonstrated by his large book collection, which contained atlases and dictionaries. In his lifetime, Respighi became fluent in eleven languages and read literature in all of them.