More Ranting about Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet

Because YES!!! Ahem. Today I'm sick. Not as bad as yesterday, when I slept through most of the afternoon and staggered zombie like through the evening... but still, not great. My throat is too sore to play flute and piccolo (ever try taking breaths on a sand-paper throat?), and I'm too tired to do anything but bum around and listen to music. And check my facebook status frequently. FREQUENTLY.
So I've been listening to a lot of 20th Century righteousness, especially Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet! Yeah. Sergei, welcome to my list of favorite composers! As you could guess from my glowing review posted a while back, I really liked this adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy. I almost liked watching this ballet more than I liked watching the actual play, but in all fairness, the DVD we got from the library was a REALLY dry production.

So anyway, I'm going to rant about some of my favorite songs from the ballet. Haha!

The Young Juliet (Act I, Scene 10)
In this number, Juliet and Nurse are preparing for the ball. The way we start out is energetic and youthfully dreamy. You can feel the excitement of Juliet as she prepares for the ball. But there is a second theme in this piece, one that is solemn and hints forward to the tragedy that this night of joy will ultimately bring.

Masks (Act I, Scene 12)
Things take a cooky turn as we swap to Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio sneaking into the Capulet's party! Wearing the titular masks, the three buddies dance to a characteristically 'Prokofiev' theme. The tone in this scene is sardonic and quirky as a fractured faerie tale, but is still essentially lighthearted and about some friends having fun. But that doesn't last long, because the next song is...

Dance of the Knights (Act I, Scene 13)
The high energy satire that dominated the last few numbers gives way to the violence of the feud. Though we're at a friggin' party, the music is heavy and agressive. This is probably to bring home the harsh reality that even when they're dressing up in party clothes and arranging marriages for their daughters, the families of Verona are living in an atmosphere of hatred that dominates even their festivities. And Holy Shnikes! The brass players get to flaunt their parts for all it's worth in this one! It's you're time to... wait for it... shine. Cuz brass is shiny, gettit? Sorry.
Ahem. A later part of this song is extremely delicate in contrast to the peasante main theme. This is when Juliet dances a graceful- but passionless- Pas de Deux with Paris, her fiancee chosen by her parents. This section features ghostly flutes, haunting clarinet trills, glissandi from the violas, and a steady rhythm reminiscent of lute strumming.

Mercutio (Act I, Scene 15)
The jokester of the trio gets his own energetic dance. I like the Col Lengo in this movement, and the darkly cheerful, blythe melody that is brimming with spirit and attitude. There is some goofy action from the woodwinds (especially the bassoon!) in the middle part, before we return to the fast main theme.

Balcony Scene/Romeo's Variation/Love Dance (Act I, Finale)
We start out very sweet and tender, but also kind of sneaky and quiet! Romeo has snuck back onto the Capulet's grounds in an attempt to see Juliet again. Kind of weird, but we'll give him a pass because she would probably do the same thing if she was able to get out and about. There is some 'awkward' sounding bits in the Balcony Scene, as Romeo meets Juliet again and makes an adorkable doofus of himself. This is all very sweet, but my favorite part is the Love Dance, when the whole orchestra is pulsing with the passion of the moment! There is even some (gasp!) subtle piccolo action! Yeah!! On a sadder note, we hear the first hints of a gorgeous theme that will show up later in a very different context. But for now, we can end the act blissfully.

Folk Dance (Act II, Scene 22)
Not much happens plot-wise in this scene, but the music is fun and energetic! Contrast between woodwinds and strings is played nicely.

Juliet at Friar Laurence's (Act II, Scene 29)
Juliet has arrived at the Monastery for her and Romeo's secret wedding. A radiant flute solo accompanied by soft strings opens this song, and later as the wedding takes place, a dignified and lovely brass theme dominates.

Tybalt and Mercutio Fight/Death of Mercutio/Romeo Decides to Avenge Mercutio's Death/Finale to Act II (Act II, Scenes 33-Finale)
So you're not a fan of all the lovey dovey stuff. That's okay because boy have we got some stuff for you here! First off, the melody that plays when Tybalt and Mercutio fight is a more heated reprise of the the number 'Mercutio' from Act I. Mercutio's death music is heartbreaking. A reprise of his motif from 'Masks' plays as he staggers across the stage, cracking jokes and making it difficult to tell if he's really hurt or not. But then he finally expires, and Romeo is blinded by rage and fights Tybalt to the death. The music for this fight is the same as the music from the fight in the first few minutes of the ballet- only it's heartpoundingly frantic. The running strings deliver so much tension, ending in a wicked dissonant chord and 15 (yes, 15!!) relentless orchestra hits as Tybalt meets his end.

Introduction/Romeo and Juliet/The Last Farewell (Act III, Scenes 37, 38, 39)
After the dissonant harshness of the Introduction, the soft delicacy of 'Romeo and Juliet' is almost jarring. The flute motif from 'Juliet at Friar Laurence's' is back, unchanged except for key signature, but in this context it's taken on a new tragic air. I love the effect of the rainy sounding strings. It's like you're in your house listening to the storm outside. The Last Farewell is a gorgeous Pas de Deux featuring a sweet viola solo that gets passed along to other instruments and builds in intensity. Each time it gets passed along it changes in character. When the viola has it, it's lithe and graceful. When the tenor sax and clarinets take it, it becomes glowing and romantic.

Juliet Alone/Interlude (Act III, Scenes 42 and 43)
Juliet Alone directly leads into the Interlude, and let me tell you, the transition is amazing and is one of those musical moments that sends shivers down my spine. The Interlude is a reprise of one of the themes in The Last Farewell, transfigured. The first time we hear the theme, it's melancholy. But now it's strong and absolutely soaring with determination, as Juliet decides she can't live without Romeo and decides to do something about the situation.

Dance of the Young Girls with Lilies (Act III, Scene 49)
After Juliet poisons herself to fake her own death, she lies unconscious on her bed and some of her girlfriends sneak in to decorate her room with flowers. I guess it's a wedding thing. This dance is light of step, like you'd move when you're trying to sneak around. The mood is eerie and kind of sad. I really like high-pitched violin solo in this part, and the percussion.

Juliet's Funeral/Death of Juliet (Epilogue, Scenes 51/52)
Urgh, so sad! Juliet's funeral begins with hauntingly quiet and high pitched strings setting the mood. The music is predominantly dark and almost horrifying as Romeo succumbs to despair and a now demented reprise of The Last Farewell plays. It's almost like the music itself is begging Juliet to open her eyes. In the version me and my sister watched, at that part, Romeo actually danced a brief Pas de Deux with Juliet's limp form. It was a really impressive piece of choreography, and very chilling.
Death of Juliet features a mature and somber rendition of Juliet's little motif that was introduced way back in Act I and has finally reached its most developed point.
In stark contrast to other ballet endings, like the overwhelmingly emotional and fortissimo climax of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet ends almost silently.

Romeo and Juliet Chibis!

In honor of our concert (in which we performed the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture!), here is the cast of R+J rendered in Chibi form!
I know towards the end some of the color schemes get hideous, I was running out of ideas for how to color the outfits because I wanted them all to look different. But I was running out of them by the time I reached Paris, so that poor guy's got an ugly outfit.
But I'm really happy with how all the others look, so huzzah!

Romeo and Juliet (Ballet) by Sergei Prokofiev [1938]

So we watched this ballet to kind of help us get a good mental image for the pieces we're playing in orchestra, and we ended up getting really attached to it. I mean really, this is a totally awesome ballet.
First off, the music is pretty good. Not all of it is masterpiece-level, but a good much of it is! Stand outs are...
The Dance of Knights; which we just covered in a post! This song is very oppressive, and mainly used as music during a ball at the Capulets, but it also reappears during some very tense fight scenes!
Masks! This song is kinda goofy sounding, and it plays during a fun scene when Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio are sneaking into the Capulet's party! On a darker note, when Mercutio is fatally stabbed fighting Tybalt, a riff from Masks plays, but this time in a somber key.
Before Parting. Omigosh, this piece!! This one has got to be my favorite song in the whole ballet, and plays during Romeo and Juliet's last pas de deux before he has to leave (this is after he kills Tybalt in a duel, and is subsequently banished). The strings sound like a rainfall, and it starts off with a very pretty little flute solo that repeats a few times, each with something slightly different. There is a really pretty viola solo, too! The pas de deux is closely followed by an amazing musical interlude that plays as Juliet makes up her mind to go to Friar Laurence and concoct a plan for her and her husband to stay together. This part is gorgeous, and has some really good brass action. In the suite, Before Parting and this Interlude are in the same track (as well as a later snippet that plays as Juliet contemplates and uses the potion), and it's amazing.
Aaaaanyway, I didn't think that I was a huge ballet fan, but I recently watched this one (obviously) and Swan Lake too, and I've come to really like some things about it. Like how much can be conveyed just through the combination of movement and music. There are is also at least one instance where the staging echoes the Shakespeare dialogue. At least in the staging we saw, I know there are two major choreographies for this ballet, and the one I'm talking about is the newer, more used one. Anyway, the way Mercutio's death was staged was so cool. Romeo and Tybalt end up on separate ends of the stage, with Mercutio in the middle. About to die from his wound, he struggles to keep his balance. He gestures violently towards Romeo, then towards Tybalt- as if to say "A plague 'o both your houses!", and then he collapses, dead. Chills, man. I got chills.
The following fight scene between Romeo and Tybalt was so incredibly tense. Romeo's actor was moving so fast, and swinging his sword with such raw fury and devastation- it was really good.

The Verdict: A
My only complaint with this magnificent adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy is that it ends with the suicide of Juliet, omitting the making of peace between the families. But as my sister pointed out, it would be super hard to do a talky scene like that in ballet pantomime style. So that's not even a huge issue. Prokofiev's score is wonderfully emotional and colorful. Listening to his other music, it seems that his dominant style is kind of wacky, but his quirky, modern style works well with the story and it comes to life. True, not all of the music is the same level of quality (sometimes it gets a bit random and weird), but the score, combined with the amazing choreography make this a really enjoyable ballet.

Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture by Tchaikovsky

Warning: Ranting Lies Herein! Ranting of the good sort, not angry ranting though. :)
Okay, so we're playing this, and I'm really excited, because I've been wanting to play it for a while! What a coincidence!
So this piece actually a telling of the Romeo and Juliet story in and of itself, telling the story with music, rather than words. Sometimes I actually prefer listening to this to reading the play, because the sheer emotional scale of the music is overpowering to me. If you close your eyes, you feel absolutely enveloped in the music, and it goes through so many different emotions! There is a sense of nervous tension almost ever present (even during the famous love theme), and explosive anger and conflict. And there is, I think, a very palpable feeling of helplessness present at certain spots too. Starting around the 15:30 minute mark in the video, the anxious tone grows and grows, until the previously quiet and peaceful, but now soaring and lush love theme returns. This should be a joyful moment, but something in the music sends the message that something is very wrong. The immense timpani rolls make it feel like you're helplessly afloat on a stormy sea.
Of course, I have a rep for being very melodramatic, but hey! This is some of the most emotional music in the world, so I'm in my element here!
Anyway, we've talked about the emotional aspects, so now howabout more on the technical side. This piece has very good parts for pretty much everyone in the orchestra. The brass are totally righteous and can show off really well, the bassoon part actually, is really neato too! The part for violin sounds like so much work, it's very virtuosic. I mean, just listen to the more strife-y parts of the music, and you'll find yourself wondering how they're doing that! The Flute/Piccolo parts are considerably easier, but definitely not easy. There's a lot of coming in on the right beat, and runs fer dayz. But really, it's so much fun to play. The Flute/Piccolo parts are so beautiful (yeah, even the Piccolo gets in on the lovey dovey action!) and I find myself getting totally lost in the music. And that, my friends, is my favorite thing about Orchestra! Well, getting lost in the music, and the occasional free cake when the conductor's birthday lands on a rehearsal night. ;)
Just kidding, stay frosty, my friends!

Music actually starts around 2:00. :)

Next Up: La Mer: From Dawn to Midday on the Sea by Claude Debussy

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Okay, so I'm not a super duper Ivory Tower snob, so I'm technically not allowed to have an opinion on any kind of Shakespeare, but here we go.
So far as Shakespeare goes, Henry V is still my favorite, but Romeo and Juliet is an extremely close second.
First, I'll explain my take on the two title characters romance. Okay, get your pitchforks and torches ready, because I don't think that they are the Paragon of True Love. I think they were impulsive and rushed things because of circumstance. I think that if their families hadn't been feuding, then they would have either gotten married eventually after getting to know each other, or they would've lost interest (similar to how Romeo quickly lost interest in Rosaline?) and started seeing other suitors.
That's the tragedy of it, if you ask me. It didn't have to be that way. This play made me really sad not because they were tragically star-crossed saints in love, but rather because they were impulsive kids who just wanted to be together and rushed into it without thinking of the consequences. [sniffle]
I liked the character development of the two. Romeo started out as an emo whiner but was sharpened into a determined young man; for better or worse. Well, worse.
Juliet is a typical ingénue, but also clever, and she actually keeps her head better than Romeo. And at the same time, she's totally your average girl.
How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath to say to me that thou are out of breath?
XD
The supporting characters were pretty good, too. I feel bad for Paris, I know a lot of productions demonize him for not being Romeo, but he seems to have a solid character, and I was pretty tensed up during the fight between him and Romeo. My favorite character was Mercutio, because even at death's door he's a total snarker. At first, I thought he was just being a drama queen, actually! Then it turns out he's really hurt. Ouch. That's when the play goes from Rom Com to straight up Tragedy, I think.

The Verdict: A-
This here is a Tragedy with very interesting characters, sword fights to balance out the love scenes, and actually a very satisfying ending! I read this to prepare the this orchestra semester where we will play the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture by Tchaikovsky! It's very pretty, and I think that now I understand the story, I'll be able to put that much more into performance.