Suite from Romeo and Juliet

Montagues and Capulets

Masks

The Death of Tybalt

Romeo at Juliet's before Parting

Romeo at Juliet's Tomb

The Death of Juliet

Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet has always been a favourite item in the concert hall. That, in fact, is where its life began. Although it is now recognised as not only the greatest ballet score by any Russian composer since Tchaikovsky but also the most inspired of all ballets on Shakespearean themes, it was initially rejected by both of the leading Soviet theatres - the Kirov in 1935 and the Bolshoi in 1936. The composer’s reaction to the setback was to compile a Romeo and Juliet concert suite, which was first performed with much success in Moscow in November 1936. The ballet still not having reached the stage by the following year, Prokofiev put together a second orchestral suite of seven dances, for Leningrad this time, and a set of ten piano pieces which he himself introduced to the Moscow audience in 1937. The strategy was effective at least in that, by a quirk of history, it led to a staging of the ballet by the Yugoslav National Ballet in Brno in Czechoslovakia in 1938. It was not seen in Russia, however, until the Kirov condescended to present it in 1940. In anticipation of a new production at the Bolshoi, Prokofiev produced a third orchestral suite in 1946.

The first movement in the present selection from the three suites, The Montagues and the Capulets, begins appropriately with the fateful succession of chords which accompany the Prince’s warning to the two warring families:

“If ever you disturb our streets again,

Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”

The scene changes to the ball at the house of the Capulets, where the knights dance in aggressively heavy-footed rhythms and where Juliet dances with Paris to a graceful variant of the same Capulet theme, gliding with the flute on viola glissandi and turning in quietly expressive chromatic harmonies. Juliet has not at this stage set eyes on Romeo, who makes his first appearance in this selection in Masks, where Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio make their incognito entry into the Capulet ball, stealthily at first but with increasing confidence in their cheerful athleticism.

The Death of Tybalt actually embraces three episodes from the end of the second act –Mercutio’s ill-advised sword fight with Juliet’s brother Tybalt, Romeo’s angered reprisal on Tybalt with its fifteen fatal blows, and the dramatic finale in which the Capulets mourn Tybalt and swear vengeance on the Montagues. Similarly, Romeo and Juliet before parting incorporates four numbers from the third act – Juliet’s Chamber, Farewell before Parting, Interlude and Juliet alone. It has a broad central climax approached by the dawning of day with tremolando strings and lyrical birdsong, a horn call offering a fragment of the main theme of the central section, and a solo viola recalling a tender melody from the balcony scene (which is not included in this selection). Before the end of the movement tuba and double bass share the misgivings of Juliet’s “ill-divining soul.”

In Romeo at Juliet’s Tomb her misgivings become reality as the tuba theme appears high on first and second violins and is brought gradually nearer with the funeral procession, carried by horns or trombones and tuba. It must be the most tragic of all laments for someone who is not actually dead. In an effort to avoid the threat of marriage to Paris, Juliet has taken a potion which allows her to feign death – and which, after a miscalculation by Friar Laurence, is so efficacious that it convinces Romeo too. Entering the Capulet crypt after the departure of the family mourners, Romeo takes her inert body in his arms, guides her for the last time through the love dance from the first act and kills himself. In The Death of Juliet, the closing episode of the ballet, Juliet awakens to the saddest of the group of melodies associated with her and, as it develops, finds Romeo dead beside her. She too recalls the love dance, but only a ghostly echo of it on clarinet in this case, before embracing Romeo and, according to the stage directions, “dying slowly.”

Montagues and Capulets

The Child Juliet

Friar Laurence

Dance

Romeo & Juliet before parting

Dance of the Girls from the Antilles

Romeo at Juliet’s Grave

Scene

Masques

Death of Tybalt

Prokofiev’s music for Romeo and Juliet has always had a life in the concert hall. Although it was eventually recognised as the greatest ballet score by any Russian composer since Tchaikovsky – and the most inspired of all ballets on Shakespearean themes – it was initially rejected by both of the leading Soviet theatres, the Kirov in 1935 and the Bolshoi in 1936. The composer’s reaction to the setback was to compile a Romeo and Juliet concert suite, which was first performed with much success in Moscow in November 1936.

The ballet still not having reached the stage by the following year, Prokofiev put together not only a second orchestral suite of seven dances, for Leningrad this time, but also a set of ten piano pieces which he himself introduced to the audience in Moscow. The strategy was effective at least in that, by a quirk of history, it led to a staging of the ballet by the Yugoslav National Ballet in Brno in Czechoslovakia in 1938. It was not seen in Russia, however, until the Kirov condescended to present it in 1940 and, although the Kirov version was also performed in Moscow, the Bolshoi mounted its own production only in 1946 – in anticipation of which Prokofiev compiled the third and last of Romeo and Juliet orchestral suites.

The first seven movements of today’s selection correspond to Prokofiev’s Suite No.2, which begins most dramatically with The Montagues and the Capulets and the fateful succession of chords which accompany the Prince’s warning to the two feuding families:

“If ever you disturb our streets again,

Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”

The scene changes to the ball at the house of the Capulets, where the knights dance in aggressively heavy-footed rhythms and where Juliet dances with Paris to a graceful variant of the same Capulet theme, gliding with the flute on viola glissandi and turning in quietly expressive chromatic harmonies. The Child Juliet comes from somewhat earlier in the ballet during the preparations for the ball, before Juliet has set eyes on Romeo. She is introduced here in a state of playful innocence, running in semiquavers with the violins and clapping her hands to staccato chords on woodwind; and yet, as the clarinet indicates, she is not lacking in sentiment and, on the subject of her forthcoming and unwelcome marriage to Paris, not unthoughtful either.

Friar Laurence introduces the unfortunate cleric who, in the vain hope of uniting the feuding Montague and Capulet families, agrees to Romeo’s request to marry him to Juliet. He is characterised here by a ponderous chorale on lower strings and wind which is offset by more supple melodic material associated with Romeo. This lugubrious episode is effectively offset by the lively Dance which forms part of a street carnival in the second act.

Romeo and Juliet before Parting comes from after their secret marriage as they awaken in Juliet’s bedroom to the song of the lark and as they take their leave of each other amidst a frankly operatic orgy of melody. Juliet is still expected by her family to go through with her marriage to Paris, however: the charmingly ironic Dance of the Girls from Antilles (or Dance of the Girls with the Lilies as it is called in the ballet) is part of the pre-nuptial celebrations. It is in an effort to avoid that marriage that Juliet takes a potion which allows her to feign death – and which, after a miscalculation by Friar Laurence, is so efficacious that it convinces Romeo too. In Romeo at Juliet’s Grave he enters the Capulet crypt after the departure of the family mourners, takes Juliet’s apparently dead body in his arms, guides her for the last time through their “Love Dance” and kills himself.

The remaining three movements are taken from Prokofiev’s Suite No.1. Scene is set in a comparatively quiet Verona, with a cheerful bassoon prominent among a few early risers as “The Street Awakens” not far into the first act. Masks accompanies Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio as they make their necessarily incognito entry to the Capulet ball, stealthily at first but with increasing self-confidence. An indirect result of that reckless but romantic adventure is the violence associated with the Death of Tybalt ­– Mercutio’s ill-advised sword fight with Juliet’s brother Tybalt, Romeo’s angered reprisal on Tybalt with its fifteen fatal blows, and the dramatic second-act finale in which the Capulets mourn Tybalt, swearing vengeance on the Montagues.