With a single stroke, Prokofiev placed himself in the company of Tchaikovsky with his ballet Romeo and Juliet. True, it was not his first ballet, as three other works preceded it, but it was his first full-length ballet. Today, besides being ranked among Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, it is also one of Prokofiev’s greatest creations, matched only by its successor, Cinderella.
While based on Shakespeare’s play of the same name and a synopsis created by the Russian dramaturge Adrian Piotrovsky, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet originally had a “happy” ending. However, the ballet’s composition took place at the beginning of a troubling time for the Soviet Union’s artists. Prokofiev completed the ballet in the latter part of 1935, only a few months before fellow composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, was officially condemned in the first of two scathing editorials in Pravda. Shostakovich, however, was not the sole target of these public rebukes. Other “degenerate modernists,” which included Piotrovsky, were also called out. Hoping to avoid a similar denunciation, Prokofiev, at the strong urging of conductor Yuri Fayer, restored the traditional tragic ending, before his original conception had even received a public performance. The ballet’s premiere took place on December 30, 1938 in Brno, Czechoslovakia, but it is best known in the revised version used at its Leningrad premiere on January 11, 1940.
Besides its many memorable melodies, which includes the “Dance of the Knights” and the love theme of Romeo and Juliet, the ballet is also interesting in Prokofiev’s choice of instrumentation. A tenor saxophone is used, both as a solo instrument and as part of the ensemble, lending a distinct timbre and modern feel to the score. On the other hand, the presence of two mandolins and a viola d’amore (an instrument not used with any frequency since the Baroque period) add not only an Italianate sound, but a touch of antiquatedness in keeping with the story’s setting. Joseph DuBose
Classical Music | Orchestral Music
Sergei Prokofiev
Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet Play
Recorded on 07/21/2012, uploaded on 07/21/2013
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
With a single stroke, Prokofiev placed himself in the company of Tchaikovsky with his ballet Romeo and Juliet. True, it was not his first ballet, as three other works preceded it, but it was his first full-length ballet. Today, besides being ranked among Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, it is also one of Prokofiev’s greatest creations, matched only by its successor, Cinderella.
While based on Shakespeare’s play of the same name and a synopsis created by the Russian dramaturge Adrian Piotrovsky, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet originally had a “happy” ending. However, the ballet’s composition took place at the beginning of a troubling time for the Soviet Union’s artists. Prokofiev completed the ballet in the latter part of 1935, only a few months before fellow composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, was officially condemned in the first of two scathing editorials in Pravda. Shostakovich, however, was not the sole target of these public rebukes. Other “degenerate modernists,” which included Piotrovsky, were also called out. Hoping to avoid a similar denunciation, Prokofiev, at the strong urging of conductor Yuri Fayer, restored the traditional tragic ending, before his original conception had even received a public performance. The ballet’s premiere took place on December 30, 1938 in Brno, Czechoslovakia, but it is best known in the revised version used at its Leningrad premiere on January 11, 1940.
Besides its many memorable melodies, which includes the “Dance of the Knights” and the love theme of Romeo and Juliet, the ballet is also interesting in Prokofiev’s choice of instrumentation. A tenor saxophone is used, both as a solo instrument and as part of the ensemble, lending a distinct timbre and modern feel to the score. On the other hand, the presence of two mandolins and a viola d’amore (an instrument not used with any frequency since the Baroque period) add not only an Italianate sound, but a touch of antiquatedness in keeping with the story’s setting. Joseph DuBose
More music by Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Major, op.119
Piano Concerto no. 2 in g minor, Op. 16
The Scythian Suite
Violin Sonata No. 1 in f minor
Piano Concerto No.2 In G Minor Op.16
Piano Sonata no. 8
Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet
Sonata No. 9 in C major, op. 103
March from the opera "Love to the three oranges"
Five pieces from the ballet Romeo and Juliet for viola and piano
Performances by same musician(s)
The Magic Flute - Ouverture
Symphony No. 4, Adagio-Allegro vivace
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