Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)
Romeo and Juliet op.64 (based on William Shakespeare ) is the longest and most famous ballet by Sergei Prokofiev and is generally considered to be the most important contribution to the genre. The action of the ballet faithfully follows that of the play . The libretto was written by Adrian Piotrowski and Sergei Radlow with the assistance of Boris Assafjew .
The work consists of three acts of about forty minutes each and an epilogue of about ten minutes. Originally it was to be commissioned by the Leningrad Kirov Theater , but after the theater management withdrew from the project for a short time, Prokofiev wrote it in the summer and autumn of 1935 on behalf of the Bolshoi Theater in the guest house of the theater in Polenowo near Moscow . Premiered Romeo and Juliet on December 30, 1938 in Brno in what was then Czechoslovakia . By 1946 Prokofiev had made a total of three suites for orchestra and piano arrangements of some pieces.
Romeo and Juliet was Prokofiev's first significant composition since his return to the Soviet Union and is still considered one of the highlights of his musical output. The rich and varied instrumentation as well as the rhythmic complexity of the score still pose challenges for orchestra and dancers. In passages like the “Duke's word of power” (I, 1), “Romeo avenges Mercutio's death” (II, 3) or the prelude in the third act, dissonances on the border with atonality are heard in the music . The famous “Dance of the Knights” (I, 2) with its dotted, heavy rhythms is now more known as a quasi-symphonic theme. In contrast to this, the themes that are both tender and youthful and lively are related to Juliet's awakening to love.
Sequence of scenes
1. Overture
first act
2. Romeo
3. The street wakes up
4. Morning dance
5. The argument
6. The fight
7. The duke puts a stop
8. Interlude
9. Preparations for the ball
10. Juliet as a young girl
11. Arrival of the guests
12. Masks
13. Dance the knight
14. Variation of Juliet
15. Mercutio
16. Madrigal
17. Tybalt
18. Gavotte
19. Balcony scene
20. Variation of Romeo
21. Love dance
Second act
22. Folk dance
23. Romeo and Mercutio
24. Dance of the five capulets
25. Dance with mandolins
26. The wet nurse
27. The wet nurse gives Romeo a letter
28. Romeo with Father Lorenzo
29. Juliet with Father Lorenzo
30. The festival continues
31 Another folk dance
32. Tybalt meets Mercutio
33. Tybalt and Mercutio's fight
34. Mercutio dies
35. Romeo avenges Mercutio's death
36. Finale
Third act
37. Introduction
38. Romeo and Juliet
39. Romeo separates from Juliet
40. The nurse
41. Juliet refuses to marry Paris
42. Juliet alone
43. Interlude
44. Cell of Father Lorenzo, marriage
45. Interlude
46. Again in Julia's chamber
47. Julia alone
48. Morning
serenade 49. Dance of the bridesmaids
50. At Julia's bed
Fourth act (epilogue)
51. Juliet's funeral
52. Juliet's death
Choice discography
Total recordings
- Gennady Roshdestvensky (Melodija, 1959)
- Seiji Ozawa (Deutsche Grammophon, 1986)
- André Previn (EMI 1973)
- Lorin Maazel (Decca 1973)
- Valery Gergiev (Philips Classics 1991)
Extracts
- Charles Münch (RCA Victor, 1957)
- Ernest Ansermet (Decca, 1958)
- Riccardo Muti (EMI, 1982)
- Mariss Jansons (EMI, 1989)
- Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon, 1997) (concert recording)
Piano arrangements
- Vladimir Ashkenazi (Decca, 1967). In 1991 Aschkenasi also took on the entire ballet as a conductor for Decca, but it was not published until 2003.
- Lazar Berman (Deutsche Grammophon, 1979)
- Sergei Babayan and Martha Argerich (Deutsche Grammophon, 2018)
