''Romeo and Juliet'' (), Op. 64, is a

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

by Sergei Prokofiev based on

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

''. First composed in 1935, it was substantially revised for its Soviet premiere in early 1940. Prokofiev made from the ballet three orchestral suites and a suite for solo piano.

Background and premiere

Based on a synopsis created by Adrian Piotrovsky (who first suggested the subject to Prokofiev) and Sergey Radlov, the ballet was composed by Prokofiev in September 1935 to their scenario which followed the precepts of "drambalet" (dramatised ballet, officially promoted at the Kirov Ballet to replace works based primarily on choreographic display and innovation). Following Radlov's acrimonious resignation from the Kirov in June 1934, a new agreement was signed with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on the understanding that Piotrovsky would remain involved. However, the ballet's original happy ending (contrary to

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

) provoked controversy among Soviet cultural officials. The ballet's production was then postponed indefinitely when the staff of the Bolshoi was overhauled at the behest of the chairman of the Committee on Arts Affairs, Platon Kerzhentsev. The ballet's failure to be produced in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

until 1940 may also have been a result of consequences in the performing arts following '' Pravda's'' denunciation of Dmitri Shostakovich in 1936, as well as other "degenerate modernists" including Piotrovsky. The conductor Yuri Fayer met with Prokofiev frequently during the writing of the music, and he strongly urged the composer to revert to the traditional ending. Fayer went on to conduct the first performance of the ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre. Suites of the ballet music were heard in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, but the full ballet premiered in the Mahen Theatre,

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

(then in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, now in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

), on 30 December 1938. This version was a single-act production with music mainly from the first two suites. Prokofiev was not able to attend the premiere due to his status of outbound restriction. The history of the creation of the ballet was recited by the composer Sergei Prokofiev himself:

1940 Kirov production

It is better known today from the significantly revised version that was first presented at the Kirov Theatre (now Mariinsky Theatre) in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(now Saint Petersburg) on 11 January 1940, with choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky and with Galina Ulanova and Konstantin Sergeyev in the leading roles. Despite the objections of Prokofiev, Lavrovsky significantly changed the score of the ballet. This production received international acclaim and was awarded the Stalin Prize. In 1955, Mosfilm made the film version of this production with Galina Ulanova as Juliet and Yuri Zhdanov as Romeo. This film won the Best Lyrical Film and nominated as Palme d'Or in the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. Original Cast * Galina Ulanova, Juliet * Konstantin Sergeyev,

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lord Montague, Lord Montague and his wife, Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lady Montague, Lady Montague, he ...

* Robert Gerbek, Tybalt * Andrei Lopukhov, Mercutio

Revivals and other productions

In 1955,

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositio ...

choreographed a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' for the Royal Danish Ballet. In 1962, John Cranko's choreography of ''Romeo and Juliet'' for the Stuttgart Ballet helped the company achieve a worldwide reputation. It had its American premiere in 1969. In 1965, choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan's version for the Royal Ballet premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE ( Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn (), was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with th ...

and Rudolf Nureyev danced the title roles. Fonteyn, considered to be near retirement, embarked upon a rejuvenated career with a partnership with Nureyev. Also in 1965, Oleg Vinogradov stages a version in Russia while serving as assistant ballet master to Pyotr Gusev. In 1971, John Neumeier, partly inspired by John Cranko, created another version of the ballet in Frankfurt. In 1974, Neumeier's ''Romeo and Juliet'' premiered in Hamburg as his first full-length ballet with the company. In 1977, Rudolf Nureyev created a new version of ''Romeo and Juliet'' for the London Festival Ballet, today's English National Ballet. He performed the lead role of Romeo with British ballerinas Eva Evdokimova and Patricia Ruanne creating the role of Juliet. As a partnership, they toured the production internationally. Eva Evdokimova danced the leading role Juliet in London and Paris, and it continues to be a popular ballet in the ENB repertoire, with its most recent revival in 2010 staged by Patricia Ruanne and Frederic Jahn of the original 1977 cast. This production was also staged by La Scala Theater Ballet in 1980 and Paris Opera Ballet in 1984 and has been a renowned performance in the POB repertoire. In 1979, Yuri Grigorovich created a new version for the Bolshoi, "which did away with most of the stage properties and stylized the action into an all-danced text." This was revived in 2010 and remains in the Bolshoi repertory. Nadja Sellrup and Pascal Jansson in Romeo and Juliet 2010

Nadja Sellrup and Pascal Jansson in Romeo and Juliet 2010

In 1985, choreographer László Seregi's production premiered at the Hungarian National Ballet,

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. In 1990, director Armondo Linus Acosta used Prokofiev's score, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, to create a motion picture adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Acosta's '' Romeo.Juliet'' was conceived as a film-in-concert with a live orchestra performing the soundtrack, and was performed as such to international acclaim with by conductors such as André Previn, Barry Wordsworth, and Nicholas Cleobury. In 1991, Christopher Gable directed his own production for the Northern Ballet Theatre. It was choreographed by Massimo Moricone and featured William Walker as Romeo and Jayne Regan as Juliet. In 1996, choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot premiered his version of ''Roméo et Juliette'' at Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Taking formal inspiration from the episodic character of Sergei Prokofiev's classic score, Maillot structured the action in a manner akin to cinematic narrative. Rather than focusing on themes of political-social opposition between the two feuding clans, this Romeo and Juliet highlights the dualities and ambiguities of adolescence. In 2007, Peter Martins made '' Romeo + Juliet'' on

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

to the Prokofiev music. In 2008, Krzysztof Pastor presented his version by the Scottish Ballet at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. The Polish premiere of this version was by the Polish National Ballet in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, and the United States premiere was by the Joffrey Ballet in 2014. On July 4, 2008, with the approval of the Prokofiev family and permission from the Russian State Archive, the original Prokofiev score was given its world premiere. Musicologist Simon Morrison, author of ''The People's Artist: Prokofiev's Soviet Years'', unearthed the original materials in the Moscow archives, obtained permissions, and reconstructed the entire score. Mark Morris created the choreography for the production. The Mark Morris Dance Group premiered the work at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in New York state. The production subsequently began a year-long tour to include Berkeley, Norfolk, London, New York, and Chicago. In 2011, the National Ballet of Canada premiered a new choreography of ''Romeo and Juliet'' by Alexei Ratmansky in Toronto, with plans to take it on tour in Western Canada in early 2012. Also in 2011, Graeme Murphy created his version of ''Romeo and Juliet'' for

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet (TAB) is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur a ...

. In 2015, Stanton Welch premiered his version of ''Romeo and Juliet'' for Houston Ballet. In 2019 at the Curve Theatre, Leicester Matthew Bourne choreographed an alternative adaptation of ''Romeo and Juliet'' set in a mental hospital called 'Verona Institute'. It was filmed with Cordelia Braithwaite as Juliet, Paris Fitzpatrick as

and Dan Wright as Tybalt.

Score

Instrumentation

In addition to a somewhat standard instrumentation, the ballet also requires the use of the

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

. This voice adds a unique sound to the orchestra as it is used both in solo and as part of the ensemble. Prokofiev also used the cornet, viola d'amore and mandolins in the ballet, adding an Italianate flavor to the music. Full instrumentation is as follows: ; Woodwinds: :1 piccolo :2

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

s :2

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

s :1 cor anglais :2

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

s (2nd doubling on E-flat clarinet) :1

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

s :1 contrabassoon ;

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

: :6 horns :3

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s :1 cornet :3 trombones :1 tuba ;

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

: :

Timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

: Snare drum : Xylophone :

Triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

: Woodblock : Maracas :

Glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

: Tambourine : Chime in A : Cymbals : Bass drum ; Keyboards: :

Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

: Celesta : Organ ; Plucked strings :2 mandolins :2

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

s ; Bowed strings: : Viola d'amore (or solo viola) :First and second

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s : Violas : Violoncellos :

Double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

es The score is published by Muzyka and the Russian State Publisher.

Structure

List of acts, scenes and musical numbers.

Orchestral suites taken from the work

Note that for compositional reasons the titles of the numbers in all three suites do not always correspond exactly to those in the complete ballet.

Suite No. 1 from ''Romeo and Juliet'', Op. 64bis

# Folk Dance # Scene (''the Street Awakens'') # Madrigal # Minuet (''the Arrival of the Guests'') # Masks # Romeo and Juliet (''Balcony Scene'' and ''Love Dance'') # Death of Tybalt (Containing parts from No. 33, 6, 35 & 36 from the complete score)

Suite No. 2 from ''Romeo and Juliet'', Op. 64ter

# Montagues and Capulets (''The Prince Gives His Order'' and ''Dance of the Knights'') # Juliet as a Young Girl # Friar Laurence (''Romeo at Friar Laurence's'') # Dance (''Dance of the Five Couples'') # Romeo and Juliet Before Parting # Dance of the Girls with Lilies # Romeo at Juliet's Tomb (Juliet's Grave)

Suite No. 3 from ''Romeo and Juliet'', Op. 101

# Romeo at the Fountain (''Introduction'' & ''Romeo'') # Morning Dance # Juliet (''Juliet's Variation'' & ''Juliet at Friar Laurence's'') # The Nurse (''Preparing for the Ball'' & ''The Nurse'') # Aubade (''Morning serenade'') # The Death of Juliet

Ten Pieces for Piano, Op. 75

Prokofiev reduced selected music from the ballet as ''Romeo and Juliet: Ten Pieces for Piano'', Op. 75, which were performed in 1936 and 1937. # Folk Dance # Scene: The Street Awakens # Minuet: Arrival of the Guests # Juliet as a Young Girl # Masquers # Montagues and Capulets # Friar Laurence # Mercutio # Dance of the Girls with Lilies # Romeo and Juliet before Parting

Recordings

Sergei Prokofiev himself made the first recording of music from the ballet, with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in 1938. Since then, there have been recordings of the full score, as well as various excerpts such as the orchestral suites the composer prepared. Leopold Stokowski conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an early stereo recording in 1954. Gennady Rozhdestvensky and the Symphony Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre recorded the full score in 1959. André Previn with the London Symphony Orchestra and Lorin Maazel with the Cleveland Orchestra both made recordings of the complete score in 1973; these landmark recordings meant wider Western audiences could hear the full score on disc for the first time, and have served as references since their release. Erich Leinsdorf conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra for an audiophile recording of excerpts on the Sheffield Lab label released in 1978. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1995, in selections from the score, for RCA Victor. Georg Solti conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a recording coupled with the Classical Symphony.

Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (, ; ; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conducting, conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi Theatre and artistic director o ...

made two recordings, with the Kirov Orchestra in 1990 and with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2011.

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Romeo and Juliet
The ballet choreography by Rudolf Nureyev

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20130517060650/http://lovelives.net/ ''Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare'': website on first production using the original Prokofiev scoreas reconstructed by Simon Morrison
Romeo and Juliet (Ballet)
Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project
Romeo and Juliet (1st Suite)
Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project
Romeo and Juliet (2nd Suite)
Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project
Listening guide
based on the Cleveland Orchestra's recording conducted by Lorin Maazel {{Authority control Ballets based on Romeo and Juliet Ballets by Sergei Prokofiev Suites by Sergei Prokofiev 1938 ballets 1935 compositions 1939 compositions Music based on Romeo and Juliet