Sergei Prokofiev (April 23, 1891-March 5, 1953)
- The Montagues and Capulets
- The Young Juliet
- Friar Laurence
- Dance
- Romeo and Juliet Before Parting
- Dance of the Girls WithLilies
- Romeo at Juliet’s Grave
In 1934, upon his return to Russia, by then the Soviet Union, Sergei Prokofiev was commissioned to write his seventh ballet for the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Company based on the famous William Shakespeare tragic play “Romeo and Juliet.” Unfortunately,after several months of working with a theater director renowned for his Shakespeare productions, Sergei Radlov, the theater, under new management, decided to withdraw from the project. Prokofiev later signed a contract with Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in 1935, and Prokofiev wrote the music during the summer of that year. However, the theater also decided to pass on the project. Wanting to have this music heard, Prokofiev decided to write ten piano transcriptions and two orchestral suites, with a third written in 1947.
The second suite premiered on April 15, 1937, in Leningrad with the Leningrad Philharmonic under the baton of Evgeni Mravinsky.
- The Montagues and Capulets: The second suite begins with the feuding families, the Montagues, and the Capulets, inside a ballroom. The softer middle section shows the young girl Juliet dancing with her fiancé, Paris.
- Juliet: The Young Girl: Juliet, a 13-year-old girl, realizes that womanhood will soon be upon her, and deeper emotions come with it when she sees and falls in love with Romeo.
- Friar Laurence, an understanding, gentle-natured monk, sympathizes with the young couple and tries to help them.
- Dance is a playful romp in a carnival at a marketplace from Act Two.
- Romeo and Juliet Before Parting: Commonly known as the famous post-party balcony scene from the play, Romeo and Juliet express their love for each other on the balcony of Juliet’s house.
- Dance of the Girls WithLilies: Although Juliet was about to marry Count Paris, she secretly married Romeo and was deeply in love with him. So she drinks a sleeping potion that makes her appear dead. After ingesting the tincture and drifting off to sleep, six girls bearing lilies in honor of the wedding day enter her room to wake her. They were unable to wake her.
- Romeo at Juliet’s Grave: Believing she was dead, Juliet’s family had a funeral for her. Shortly after the services, Romeo arrives, not realizing that the potion she took was non-fatal. Devastated, he kills himself by stabbing himself, and when she awakened moments later, she finds the body of her dead lover and kills herself.