Dance of the Knights

Dance of the Knights , sometimes also called Montague and Capulet (after the feuding noble families of the Shakespeare tragedy), is a piece from the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Sergejewitsch Prokofiev from 1935. The dance appears in the first act as the 13th piece in the ball scene that takes place at Carnival time in the house of the Capulet family. The Dance of the Knights is one of Prokofiev's best-known works and also part of his second suite op. 64ter after Romeo and Juliet from 1936. It is instrumented for large symphony orchestras. Due to its dark character, it has always been an attractive piece for rock bands, including the newer style metal . Parts of this music were also used in films.

Musical structure

In the orchestral suite op. 64ter, Prokofiev sets a 16-bar dramatic sequence of individual notes that merge into one another in sometimes inharmonic intervals and chords, which are to be played swelling up to fortissimo , before the actual dance . It is a haunting, minimalist music fragment with the metronome mark = 50, which increases the tension for what is to come. In the ballet version, this is No. 7, The Duke's command to drop weapons in the battle between the warring parties. Then the dark first theme of the piece appears, the actual dance of the knights. Prokofiev chose the key of E minor for this first theme of the dance . It has an extremely dark character, which is reinforced by the accompaniment consisting of a pounding ostinato bass, played by tuba and trombones in the lowest pitches . The theme's melody rises and falls in a dotted rhythmic sequence of notes. The composer specifies Allegro pesante (Italian: pesante = difficult) as the tempo designation , in which the quarter note is played at double the tempo, i.e. 100 beats per minute ( = 100). The volume is a continuous forte . The first theme is repeated over 46 ⁴ / T measures .

The second theme of the piece is entitled Dance of the Ladies and is in complete contrast to the first. It is graceful, calm and reserved and has only 20 ³ / ₄ measures. Here, the key changes to As and E-flat major . The tempo is now a gentle andante (walking slowly, = 54). The composer requires a piano as the tone strength, which increases a little towards the end of the theme to become a mezzopiano . Then follows the transition to the first theme, which slowly increases in twelve bars to fortissimo in a final cadence with all orchestral instruments ( tutti ).

This repetition of the first theme is followed by Juliet's dance with Paris ( Julia is to be married to Count Paris according to her parents' wishes), the third theme of the piece, which consists of two musical motifs , the former being played by a solo flute, and is a short leitmotif that Julia accompanies during her performances. His sad, wistful character shows that Juliet does not love Paris, but Romeo, whom she later recognizes at the party. Prokofiev again uses the key of E minor, 16 dance-like ³ / ₄ bars and a poco píu tranquillo (somewhat calmer) as the performance designation . Then follows in the ⁴ / ₄ time the second motif in G major, played by the oboe, which appears a bit more cheerful, but then leads back to the first sad sequence of bars. The dance of the knights is then ended by the opening theme, initially played by the solo saxophone, which ends again in the final cadenza, which is rhythmically reminiscent of Beethoven's fate motif from his fifth symphony . The dance of the knights takes about five and a half minutes in the orchestral suite, depending on the interpretation. In ballet productions, more time is usually required for the choreographic implementation. Rudolf Nureyev needed over six and a half minutes for his choreography at the Paris Opera Ballet from the 1980s.

instrumentation

The ballet Romeo and Juliet for great romantic symphony orchestra with tenor saxophone, rich percussion, celesta and piano instrumentation . The line-up proposed by Prokofiev consists of a string section with

• first and second violins
• Violas
• Viola d'amore (soloist)
• Cellos
• Double basses

At woodwind instruments are provided

• a piccolo, two flutes
• two oboes, one English horn
• two clarinets and bass clarinet
• two bassoons, one double bassoon
• a tenor saxophone

Brass :

• a cornet , two trumpets
• six horns
• three trumpets
• a tuba

Seven musicians are planned for the percussion instruments alone. This group consists of

• Timpani
• big and small drum
• triangle
• Maracas
• Tambourine
• pool
• Bells
• xylophone

The orchestra is complemented by two harps , celesta and piano .

Adaptations

In 1972 the Komische Oper in what was then East Berlin brought out a production of the Prokofiev ballet Romeo and Juliet , which was conceived entirely in the spirit of socialist realism and not as a ballet in the ambience of the Renaissance . In Tom Schilling's production, for example, the conflict in the Shakespeare tragedy was not located in the hostility of the two families, but in the collision of lovers with the rules of feudal society. Prokofiev's music, in its brutality, was intended to express the power of the ruling class at the time.

The rock bands Deep Purple , Iron Maiden , Tears for Fears , Hollenthon (Lords of Bedlam), Necrophagist , The Smiths , Muse (HAARP - Live at Wembley), Robbie Williams (Single Party Like A Russian ), Emerson, Lake and Palmer ( Romeo and Juliet from the album Black Moon ) and others used the music for their performances or turned it into songs.

Due to its popularity, the Prokofiev play Montagues and Capulets appears in various films and series. In 1990, the commercial film director Jean-Paul Goude used the music in a commercial for the men's perfume Egoïste by Chanel .

Audio sample

• Performed by the Canadian National Youth Orchestra in 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sergej S. Prokofjew, Hans Zellner: Score: Dance of the knights. From “Romeo and Juliet” Suite no. 2 [!], Op. 64 (=  Harmonic brass series ). Brass Works Munich, Neuried (Munich) 2008 (brass quintet for 2 trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba ISMN 979-0-50144-221-8 (search the DNB portal) ).
2. ↑ Julien Salemkour: To the music of Romeo and Juliet. In: Romeo and Juliet. Ballet in two (sic!) Acts […]. A ballet guide. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2002, p. 57 ff.
3. ^ Serge Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, op. 64, ballet in four acts (9 pictures). Musikverlag Hans Sikorski, Hamburg 1958, piano reduction p. 37 ff. OCLC 317780605 .
4. ↑ Internet page about entertainment
5. ↑ YouTube video
6. ↑ ROMEO AND JULIET. Ballet in 4 acts and epilogue based on the tragedy by William Shakespeare. Information from the music publisher Sikorski.
7. ↑ Edith Dörwaldt in: material to the theater . Volume 31, Bühnentanz series, issue 5 (Ed .: Association of the GDR Theater Creators). East Berlin 1975, p. 24 ff.
8. ↑ Most Popular Titles With Soundtracks Matching “Montagues and Capulets” listing on IMDb.
9. ↑ Commercial for Chanel