Romeo and Juliet

These are strange times for all of us. It seems that all of our lives have been disrupted by the Coronavirus, and we at OrchestraOne are so glad to be able to provide some stability and inspiration through the thing that we know best, music. This week with the goal of providing a real escape into music and art, we will be exploring a few different pieces, all inspired by one of the greatest works of Literature, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Composers can find inspiration anywhere, frequently from other artistic realms such as visual art and literature. Shakespeare has provided this inspiration for many composers throughout the ages, with pieces written based on his plays such as Macbeth, Othello, and The Tempest, but none more than his most famous, Romeo and Juliet. We will look at how four different composers wrote music based on this play, starting with the most well known, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet - Fantasy Overture.

Tchaikovsky’s famous overture (written in 1880) depicts three of the main narratives from Shakespeare’s play. First, he depicts Friar Lawerence, from the beginning of the piece to 5:45. Friar Lawrence is a kind-hearted cleric, but is also the one who devised many of the schemes in the play, including the secret meetings between Romeo and Juliet, and the idea of using a sleeping potion to feign death at the end of the play. Tchaikovsky's music depicts both these sides with chorale-like textures, but with dark and fatalistic undertones.

Beginning at 5:00 minutes to around 7:45, the music switches to the famous rivalry between the Montagues and Capulets. The music, tense, fast and rhythmic with percussion and brass accentuations depicts the constant fighting between the two families, and brings to mind the fight scene between Mercutio and Tybalt, which leads to Tybalts death in the street.

The third strain that Tchaikovsky chose to use is the love between Romeo and Juliet. This famous “love theme” begins at 7:45 and continues to 11:00. The true glory of this theme however comes to fruition at 14:10, when the lushness of the strings in full force seem to tell us that love conquers all. Tchaikovsky ends the overture with a slight variation of this theme as well, furthering the idea that even in death, love remains.

On to Romeo and Juliet interpretation number two! Sergei Prokofiev (Russian, 1891-1953) wrote his Romeo and Juliet as a Ballet with choreographer Ivo Vana-Psota. Today, it’s most often heard in excerpts with just the orchestra playing, and no dancers. The full ballet carefully follows Shakespeare’s play, with four acts, nine scenes, and 52 musical numbers, all corresponding to moments in the original play. Here, we will focus on the same three motifs that Tchaikovsky used: Friar Lawerence, the warring Montagues and Capulets, and of course, Love.

This first video is of Friar Lawrence’s music only. It is simple, innocent and seemingly lacking the same dark undertones that Tchaikovsky chose to depict the cleric. It seems Prokofiev must have viewed this pivotal character a bit different than Tchaikovsky did….what does the music tell you?

These two videos are exemplary of how Prokofiev chose to depict the tension between the Montagues and Capulets. First, the aptly titled “Montagues and Capulets.” It is heavy, dark and full of tension. It speaks more to the general hatred between the two families. Next, is the famous fight scene between Tybalt and Mercutio. The music not only depicts the actual sword fighting at the beginning, but also the death of Tybalt at Mercutio’s sword. This also has the apt title of “Death of Tybalt.”

The last motif, is love. Here is a video of the ballet, with the dancers. There are remarkable similarities, and remarkable differences, between Prokofiev’s love theme, and Tchaikovsky. How do you think they thought of love, at least in the play, differently, based on the music alone?

Let’s fast forward a bit! While not a direct representation of Romeo and Juliet, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (1957) is a clear, modernized representation of the play. Taking place in NYC’s Upper West Side, he replaces the Montagues and Capulets with the street gangs the Jets and the Sharks, replaces Romeo with Tony, and Juliet with Maria. Rife with political and social undertones, this musical remains a staple of the symphonic literature, and is heard just as often in symphony halls as it is on Broadway.

West Side Story follows Shakespeare’s play so well that we can still compare and contrast specific scenes with our pieces from the last two weeks. Here is the knife fight scene when Bernardo, a member of the Sharks, dies. In the play, it is Tybalt that dies in a duel. There are remarkable similarities between the music here, (which starts around 2:20) and Prokofiev’s music from “Death of Tybalt".”

For Bernstein’s balcony scene, he uses a fire escape instead of an actual balcony, as Tony serenades Maria, eventually tuning into a duet. This famous melody can again be contrasted with Prokofiev’s music from his “Balcony Scene,” and Tchaikovsky’s Love theme.

Bernstein depicts the tension between the Sharks and the Jets in a remarkable way. He takes the music traditionally associated with the ethnic backgrounds of the two groups (Caucasian, and Puerto Rican) and alternates between these two styles in a grand dance scene in the gym where both groups are present. We hear a blues, a mambo, a pas-des-deux and more.

That’s it for this week! Next week back to Ballet…stay safe and healthy everyone!

Welcome back everyone! This week we move to France, to look at an operatic setting of this classic.

Charles Gounod (1818-1893) was known primarily as an opera composer, having written 12 Operas in total. Romeo and Juliet is one of his most successful.

Of particular note is Romeo’s large aria, which some regard as Gounod’s finest tenor aria. This is Gounod’s balcony scene. The aria itself begins at 3:15, as Romeo sings of how love has filled his heart, and how Juliet’s beauty overwhelms him as she appears in the window.

The most well known aria from this opera is Juilet’s “je veux vivre.” Written as a waltz, it is filled with immense joy as she sings of how love has filled her heart, and wants to live in this moment forever.

When the two come together to sing their duet, the result is spectacular. Here, the two express their deep love for each other and their grief, and say an excruciating farewell.

That’s it for Romeo and Juliet! Stayed tuned for a new piece next week!