S. Prokofiev ballet “Romeo and Juliet”

World literature knows many beautiful but tragic love stories. Of this many, one stands out, which is called the saddest in the world - the story of two Verona lovers Romeo and Juliet. This immortal tragedy of Shakespeare has been stirring the hearts of millions of caring people for more than four centuries - it lives in art as an example of pure and true love, which was able to defeat anger, enmity and death. One of the most striking musical interpretations of this story throughout its existence is ballet Sergei Prokofiev "Romeo and Juliet". The composer managed to miraculously “transfer” the entire complex fabric of Shakespeare’s narrative into the ballet score.

Brief summary of Prokofiev's ballet " Romeo and Juliet"Read many interesting facts about this work on our page.

Characters	Description
Juliet	daughter of Signor and Lady Capulet
Romeo	son of Montague
Signor Montague	head of the Montague family
Signor Capulet	head of the Capulet family
Signora Capulet	Signor Capulet's wife
Tybalt	cousin of Juliet and nephew of Lady Capulet
Escalus	Duke of Verona
Mercutio	friend of Romeo, relative of Escalus
Paris	count, relative of Escalus, fiance of Juliet
Padre Lorenzo	Franciscan monk
Nurse	Juliet's nanny

Summary of "Romeo and Juliet"

The plot of the play takes place in medieval Italy. Enmity has been going on between the two famous Verona families, the Montagues and the Capulets, for many years. But true love has no boundaries: two young creatures from warring families fall in love with each other. And nothing can stop them: neither the death of Romeo’s friend Mercutio, who fell at the hands of Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, nor Romeo’s subsequent revenge on his friend’s killer, nor Juliet’s upcoming wedding with Paris.

Trying to escape a hated marriage, Juliet turns to Father Lorenzo for help, and the wise priest offers her a cunning plan: the girl will drink the drug and fall into a deep sleep, which those around her will mistake for death. Only Romeo will know the truth; he will come for her to the crypt and secretly take her away from her hometown. But an evil fate hovers over this couple: Romeo, having heard about the death of his beloved and never knowing the truth, drinks poison near her coffin, and Juliet, awakened by the potion, seeing the lifeless body of her lover, kills herself with his dagger.

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Interesting Facts

• Shakespeare's tragedy is based on real events. The unhappy love story of two teenagers from warring noble families happened at the very beginning of the 13th century.
• In the first version of the ballet presented S. Prokofiev The Bolshoi Theater had a happy ending. However, such a free handling of Shakespeare's tragedy caused a lot of controversy, as a result of which the composer composed a tragic ending.
• After the incredibly successful production of Romeo and Juliet with the participation of G. Ulanova and K. Sergeev in 1946, director Leonid Lavrovsky received the post of artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater.
• The famous musicologist G. Ordzhonikidze called the performance a symphony-ballet, due to its rich dramatic content.
• Often, in various concerts, individual ballet numbers are performed as part of symphonic suites. Also, many numbers have become popular in piano transcription.
• In total, the score of the work contains 52 expressive melodies of different character.
• Researchers call the fact that Prokofiev turned to Shakespeare's tragedy a very bold step. There was an opinion that complex philosophical themes could not be conveyed in ballet.

• In 1954, the ballet was filmed. Director Leo Arnstam and choreographer L. Lavrovsky shot their film in Crimea. The role of Juliet was assigned to Galina Ulanova, Romeo - to Yuri Zhdanov.
• In 2016, a very unusual ballet production was performed in London, in which the famous outrageous singer Lady Gaga took part.
• The reason why Prokofiev originally created a happy ending in ballet is extremely simple. The author himself admitted that the whole point is that the heroes will be able to continue dancing.
• Once Prokofiev himself danced in a ballet production. This happened during a concert in the hall of the Brooklyn Museum. The famous choreographer Adolf Bolm presented to the public his reading of the piano cycle “Fleetingness,” where the piano part was performed by Sergei Sergeevich himself.
• There is a street in Paris named after the composer. It rests on the street of the famous impressionist Claude Debussy and borders the street Mozart .
• The lead actress in the play, Galina Ulanova, initially considered Prokofiev’s music unsuitable for ballet. By the way, this particular ballerina was the favorite of Joseph Stalin, who attended performances with her participation many times. He even suggested making the finale of the ballet lighter so that the audience could see the happiness of the characters.
• During preparations for the long-awaited premiere of the play in 1938, Prokofiev for a long time did not want to give in to the choreographer Lavrovsky, who constantly demanded to make some changes and edits to the score. The composer replied that the performance was completed back in 1935, so he would not return to it. However, soon the author had to give in to the choreographer and even add new dances and episodes.

Popular numbers from the ballet “Romeo and Juliet”

Introduction (love theme) - listen

Dance of the Knights (Montagues and Capulets) - listen

Juliet the girl (listen)

The Death of Tybalt - listen

Before parting - listen

The history of the creation of "Romeo and Juliet"

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final ballet S.S. Prokofiev written based on Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, which was created back in 1595 and has since captured the hearts of millions of people around the world. Many composers paid attention to this work when creating their works: Gounod, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, etc. Returning from a trip abroad in 1933, Prokofiev also turned his attention to Shakespeare’s tragedy. Moreover, this idea was suggested to him by S. Radlov, who at that time was the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater.

Prokofiev really liked this idea and he set to work with great enthusiasm. At the same time, the composer also developed a libretto together with Radlov and critic A. Piotrovsky. Three years later, the original version of the play was shown by the composer at the Bolshoi Theater, where the first production was expected. If the management approved the music, then the somewhat loose interpretation of the plot was immediately rejected. The ballet's happy ending was in no way suitable to Shakespeare's tragedy. After some controversy on this topic, the authors nevertheless agreed to make adjustments, bringing the libretto as close as possible to the original source and returning the tragic ending.

Having once again studied the score, the management did not like the musical part, which was considered “non-danceable.” There is evidence that such pickiness is related to the political situation. It was at this time that an ideological struggle unfolded in the country with many major musicians, including D. Shostakovich with his ballet “Bright Stream” and opera "Katerina Izmailova" .

In this case, the management most likely decided to be cautious and not take too many risks. The long-awaited premiere was scheduled for the end of 1938, but it might not have taken place. A significant obstacle was that one of the librettists (A. Piotrovsky) had already been repressed, and his name was deleted from documents related to the ballet. In this regard, L. Lavrovsky became a co-author of the librettists. The young, promising choreographer was interested in staging ballets for about 10 years, and “Romeo and Juliet” became the real pinnacle of his work.

Productions

The premiere of the performance took place in Brno (Czech Republic) in 1938, but the composer himself could not attend. How did it happen that for the first time a work by a Soviet composer was presented to the public there? It turns out that just in 1938, Sergei Sergeevich went on tour abroad as a pianist. In Paris, he presented the Suites from Romeo and Juliet to the public. The conductor of the Brno Theater was present in the hall at that time, and he liked Prokofiev’s music. After a conversation with him, Sergei Sergeevich provided him with copies of his suites. The production of the ballet in the Czech Republic was very warmly received by the public and appreciated. Choreographer Ivo Vanya Psota, who also performed the role of Romeo, and production designer V. Skrushny worked on the performance. The performance was conducted by K. Arnoldi.

The Soviet public was able to get acquainted with Prokofiev's new creation in 1940, during the production by Leonid Lavrovsky, which was successfully held at the Leningrad Theater. S. Kirov. The main roles were performed by K. Sergeev, G. Ulanova, A. Lopukhov. Six years later, Lavrovsky presented the same version in the capital, together with conductor I. Sherman. The performance lasted on this stage for about 30 years and was performed 210 times during that time. After that, it was moved to another stage in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.

Prokofiev's ballet constantly attracted the attention of many choreographers and directors. So, a new version of Yuri Grigorovich appeared in June 1979. The main roles were played by Natalya Bessmertnova, Vyacheslav Gordeev, Alexander Godunov. This performance was given 67 times until 1995.

The production by Rudolf Nureyev, successfully presented in 1984, is considered to be darker and more tragic compared to previous versions. It was in his ballet that the role of the main character Romeo increased in importance and even became equal to the role of his beloved. Until this moment, primacy in performances was assigned to the prima ballerina.

Joelle Bouvier's version can be called an abstract production. It was presented in 2009 on the stage of the Grand Theater of Geneva. It is noteworthy that the choreographer does not fully use the events presented in Prokofiev's score. Everything is aimed at showing the internal state of the main characters. The ballet begins with all the participants belonging to two warring clans lining up on stage almost like football teams. Romeo and Juliet must now break through to each other.

A real media show, in which there are nine Juliets, was presented by Mauro Bigonzetti in his version of Prokofiev's classical ballet at the Moscow Contemporary Dance Festival in November 2011. His bright and eclectic choreography focused all the attention of the audience on the very energy of the dancers. Moreover, there are no solo parts themselves. The production transformed into a show where media art and ballet closely merged. It is noteworthy that the choreographer even swapped the musical numbers themselves and the performance begins with the final scene.

An interesting version was shown in July 2008. Unlike others, this ballet was performed in its original version, dating back to 1935. The play was presented at the Bard College Festival in New York. Choreographer Mark Morris brought back the full composition, structure and most importantly, the happy ending of the score. After a successful premiere, this version was staged in major European cities.

Some classical works are considered to be the most important assets and even treasures of world culture. Ballet belongs to such masterpieces Prokofiev"Romeo and Juliet". Deep and sensual music, which very subtly follows the plot, will not leave anyone indifferent, forcing you to empathize with the main characters and share with them all the joy of love and suffering. It is no coincidence that this particular work is one of the most famous and successful today. We invite you to watch this story of an entire generation, appreciating not only Prokofiev’s unforgettable music, but also the magnificent production and skill of the dancers. Every beat, every movement in the ballet is filled with the deepest drama and soulfulness.

Video: watch the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” by Prokofiev

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1. The history of the creation of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet"

The first major work, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, became a true masterpiece. His stage life had a difficult start. It was written in 1935-1936. The libretto was developed by the composer together with director S. Radlov and choreographer L. Lavrovsky (L. Lavrovsky staged the first production of the ballet in 1940 at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov). But the gradual adaptation to Prokofiev’s unusual music was still crowned with success. The ballet "Romeo and Juliet" was completed in 1936, but was conceived earlier. The fate of the ballet continued to develop complicatedly. At first there were difficulties in completing the ballet. Prokofiev, together with S. Radlov, while developing the script, thought about a happy ending, which caused a storm of indignation among Shakespeare scholars. The apparent disrespect for the great playwright was explained simply: “The reasons that pushed us to this barbarity were purely choreographic: living people can dance, dying people cannot dance lying down.” The decision to end the ballet tragically, like Shakespeare's, was influenced most of all by the fact that there was no pure joy in the music itself, in its final episodes. The problem was resolved after conversations with the choreographers, when it turned out that “it was possible to resolve the fatal ending balletically.” However, the Bolshoi Theater violated the agreement, considering the music non-danceable. For the second time, the Leningrad Choreographic School refused the agreement. As a result, the first production of Romeo and Juliet took place in 1938 in Czechoslovakia, in the city of Brno. The ballet was directed by the famous choreographer L. Lavrovsky. The role of Juliet was danced by the famous G. Ulanova.

Although there have been attempts in the past to present Shakespeare on the ballet stage (for example, in 1926, Diaghilev staged the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” with music by the English composer C. Lambert), but none of them is considered successful. It seemed that if Shakespeare’s images could be embodied in opera, as was done by Bellini, Gounod, Verdi, or in symphonic music, as in Tchaikovsky, then in ballet, due to its genre specificity, it was impossible. In this regard, Prokofiev’s turn to Shakespeare’s plot was a bold step. However, the traditions of Russian and Soviet ballet prepared this step.

The appearance of the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” constitutes an important turning point in the work of Sergei Prokofiev. The ballet "Romeo and Juliet" became one of the most significant achievements in the search for a new choreographic performance. Prokofiev strives to embody living human emotions and affirm realism. Prokofiev's music clearly reveals the main conflict of Shakespeare's tragedy - the clash of bright love with the family feud of the older generation, characterizing the savagery of the medieval way of life. The composer created a synthesis in ballet - a fusion of drama and music, just as Shakespeare in his time combined poetry with dramatic action in Romeo and Juliet. Prokofiev's music conveys the subtlest psychological movements of the human soul, the richness of Shakespeare's thought, the passion and drama of his first of the most perfect tragedies. Prokofiev managed to recreate Shakespearean characters in the ballet in their diversity and completeness, deep poetry and vitality. The poetry of love of Romeo and Juliet, the humor and mischief of Mercutio, the innocence of the Nurse, the wisdom of Pater Lorenzo, the fury and cruelty of Tybalt, the festive and riotous color of Italian streets, the tenderness of the morning dawn and the drama of death scenes - all this is embodied by Prokofiev with skill and enormous expressive power.

The specifics of the ballet genre required enlargement of the action and its concentration. Cutting off everything incidental or secondary in the tragedy, Prokofiev focused his attention on the central semantic moments: love and death; fatal enmity between two families of the Verona nobility - the Montagues and the Capulets, which led to the death of the lovers. Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” is a richly developed choreographic drama with complex motivations for psychological states and an abundance of clear musical portraits and characteristics. The libretto concisely and convincingly shows the basis of Shakespeare's tragedy. It preserves the main sequence of scenes (only a few scenes are shortened - 5 acts of the tragedy are grouped into 3 large acts).

"Romeo and Juliet" is a deeply innovative ballet. Its novelty is also manifested in the principles of symphonic development. The symphonized dramaturgy of the ballet contains three different types.

The first is a conflictual opposition between the themes of good and evil. All heroes - bearers of good are shown in a diverse and multifaceted way. The composer presents evil in a more general way, bringing the themes of enmity closer to the themes of rock of the 19th century, and to some themes of evil of the 20th century. Themes of evil appear in all acts except the epilogue. They invade the world of heroes and do not develop.

The second type of symphonic development is associated with the gradual transformation of the images - Mercutio and Juliet, with the disclosure of the psychological states of the heroes and the demonstration of the internal growth of the images.

The third type reveals features of variation, variation, characteristic of Prokofiev’s symphony as a whole; it especially touches on lyrical themes.

All three named types in ballet are also subject to the principles of film editing, a special rhythm of frame action, techniques of close-up, medium and long shots, techniques of “dissolves”, sharp contrasting oppositions that give scenes a special meaning.

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“Can an artist stand aloof from life?.. I adhere to that
the belief that a composer, like a poet, sculptor, painter, is called
serve the man and the people... He, first of all, is obliged to be a citizen in
his art, to glorify human life and lead man to
bright future..."

In these words of the brilliant composer Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev
the meaning and significance of his work, his whole life is revealed,
subordinated to continuous daring searches, conquering ever new heights on
ways of creating music that expresses the thoughts of the people.

Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev was born on April 23, 1891 in the village of Sontsovka
in Ukraine. His father served as manager of the estate. From a very early age
Seryozha fell in love with serious music thanks to his mother, who is good
played the piano. As a child, the talented child already composed music.
Prokofiev received a good education and knew three foreign languages.
Very early he developed independent judgments about music and strict
attitude towards your work. In 1904, 13 year old Prokofiev entered the
St. Petersburg Conservatory. He spent ten years within its walls. Reputation
Petersburg Conservatory during the years of studying there, Prokofiev was very
high. Among her professors were first-class musicians such
How on. Rimsky-Korsakov, A.K. Glazunov, A.K. Lyadov, and in
performing classes - A.N. Esipova and L.S. Auer. Dates back to 1908
Prokofiev's first public appearance performing his works
at an evening of contemporary music. Performance of the First Piano Concerto
with orchestra (1912) in Moscow brought Sergei Prokofiev a huge
glory. The music amazed me with its extraordinary energy and courage. Real
a bold and cheerful voice is heard in the rebellious audacity of the young
Prokofiev. Asafiev wrote: “What a marvelous talent! Fiery,
life-giving, bursting with strength, vigor, courageous will and captivating
spontaneity of creativity. Prokofiev is sometimes cruel, sometimes
unbalanced, but always interesting and convincing.”

New images of Prokofiev’s dynamic, dazzlingly bright music
born of a new worldview, the era of modernity, the twentieth century. After
After graduating from the conservatory, the young composer traveled abroad - to London,
where the Russian ballet troupe organized by
S. Diaghilev.

The appearance of the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” constitutes an important turning point in
works of Sergei Prokofiev. It was written in 1935-1936. Libretto
developed by the composer together with director S. Radlov and
choreographer L. Lavrovsky (L. Lavrovsky and carried out the first
production of the ballet in 1940 at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater
named after S. M. Kirov). Convinced of the futility of the formal
experimentation, Prokofiev strives to embody living human
emotions, affirmation of realism. Prokofiev's music clearly reveals the main
the conflict of Shakespearean tragedy - the clash of bright love with ancestral love
enmity of the older generation, characterizing the savagery of the medieval
way of life. The music reproduces the living images of Shakespeare's heroes, their
passions, impulses, their dramatic clashes. Their form is fresh and
self-forgettable, dramatic and musical-stylistic images
subject to content.

The plot of “Romeo and Juliet” was often addressed: “Romeo and Juliet” -
overture-fantasy by Tchaikovsky, dramatic symphony with choir by Berlioz,
and also - 14 operas.

Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” is a richly developed choreographic
drama with a complex motivation for psychological states, an abundance of clear
musical portraits-characteristics. The libretto is concise and convincing
shows the basis of Shakespearean tragedy. It contains the main
sequence of scenes (only a few scenes have been shortened - 5 acts
tragedies are grouped into 3 large acts).

In music, Prokofiev strives to give modern ideas about antiquity
(the era of the events described is the 15th century). Minuet and gavotte characterize
some stiffness and conventional grace (“ceremoniousness” of the era) in the scene
Capulet's ball. Prokofiev vividly embodies Shakespeare's works in music
contrasts of tragic and comic, sublime and buffoonish. Near
dramatic scenes - the cheerful eccentricities of Mercutio. Crude jokes
wet nurses. Does the line of scherzo sound clearly sound in the paintings?????????????
Verona street, in the buffoon “Dance of Masks”, in Juliet’s pranks, in
funny old lady theme of the Nurse. A typical personification of humor -
merry Mercutio.

One of the most important dramatic devices in the ballet “Romeo and Juliet”
is the leitmotif - these are not brief motives, but detailed episodes
(for example, the theme of death, the theme of doom). Usually musical portraits
Prokofiev's characters are woven from several themes that characterize different
aspects of the image - the emergence of new qualities of the image causes the appearance
new topic. The clearest example of 3 themes of love, as 3 stages of development
feelings:

1 topic - its origin;

2 theme - blossoming;

The 3rd theme is its tragic intensity.

The central place in music is occupied by the lyrical stream - the theme of love,
conquering death.

With extraordinary generosity, the composer depicted the world of mental states
Romeo and Juliet (more than 10 themes) is characterized in a particularly multifaceted way
Juliet transforms from a carefree girl into a strong loving one.
woman. In accordance with Shakespeare's plan, the image of Romeo is given: at first he
embraces romantic yearnings, then shows fiery ardor
a lover and the courage of a fighter.

The musical themes that outline the emergence of the feeling of love are transparent,
gentle; characterizing the mature feeling of lovers are filled with juicy,
harmonious colors, sharply chromed. A sharp contrast to the world of love
and youthful pranks are represented by the second line - “the line of enmity” - the elements
blind hatred and medieval????????? - the cause of Romeo's death and
Juliet. The theme of strife in the sharp leitmotif of enmity - a formidable unison
basses in “Dance of the Knights” and in the stage portrait of Tybalt -
the personification of anger, arrogance and class arrogance, in battle episodes
fights in the menacing sound of the Duke's theme. The image of Pater is subtly revealed
Lorenzo - a humanist scientist, patron of lovers, hoping that their
love and marriage will reconcile warring families. There is no
church holiness, detachment. She emphasizes wisdom, greatness
spirit, kindness, love for people.

Ballet analysis

The ballet has three acts (the fourth act is an epilogue), two numbers and nine
paintings

Act I - exposition of images, acquaintance of Romeo and Juliet at the ball.

Act II. 4th picture - bright world of love, wedding. 5 picture -
a terrible scene of hostility and death.

Act III. Scene 6 - farewell. 7, 8 paintings - Juliet's decision
take a sleeping potion.

Epilogue. Scene 9 - the death of Romeo and Juliet.

No. 1 The introduction begins with the 3rd theme of love - bright and sorrowful; acquaintance
with basic images:

2nd theme - with the image of the chaste Juliet-girl - graceful and
crafty;

Theme 3 - with the image of an ardent Romeo (accompaniment shows a springy
the gait of a young man).

1 picture

No. 2 “Romeo” (Romeo wanders through the pre-dawn city) - begins with
showing the light gait of a young man - a thoughtful theme characterizes him
romantic look.

No. 3 “The street is waking up” - scherzo - to the tune of a dance warehouse,
second syncopations, different tonal juxtapositions add spice,
mischief as a symbol of health, optimism - the theme sounds in different
keys.

No. 4 “Morning dance” - characterizes the awakening street, the morning
hustle and bustle, sharp jokes, lively verbal duels - scherzosn music,
playful, the melody is elastic in rhythm, dancing and rushing -
characterizes the type of movement.

No. 5 and 6 “Quarrel between the servants of the Montagues and the Capulets”, “Fight” - not yet violent
anger, the themes sound cocky, but perky, continue the mood
"Morning Dance" “Fight” - like a “study” - motor movement, rattling
weapons, the sound of balls. Here the theme of enmity appears for the first time, passes
polyphonically.

No. 7 “The Duke’s Order” - bright visual means (theatrical
effects) - threateningly slow “step”, sharp dissonant sound (ff)
and vice versa, discharged, empty tonic triads (pp) - sharp
dynamic contrasts.

No. 8 Interlude - defusing the tense atmosphere of a quarrel.

2 picture

In the center there are 2 paintings “portrait” of Juliet, a playful, playful girl.

No. 9 “Preparations for the Ball” (Juliet and the Nurse) the theme of the street and
The Nurse's theme, reflecting her shuffling gait.

No. 10 “Juliet the Girl.” Different sides of the image appear sharply and
suddenly. The music is written in Rondo form:

1 theme - The lightness and liveliness of the theme is expressed in a simple scale
“running” melody, and, which emphasizes its rhythm, sharpness and mobility,
ends with a sparkling cadence T-S-D-T, expressed by related
tonic triads - As, E, C moving down the thirds;

2 theme - Grace of 2 themes conveyed in the rhythm of gavotte (gentle image
Juliet girls) - the clarinet sounds playful and mocking;

3 theme - reflects subtle, pure lyricism - as the most significant
“facet” of her image (change in tempo, texture, timbre - flute,
cellos) - sounds very transparent;

Theme 4 (coda) - at the very end (sounds in No. 50 - Juliet drinks
drink) foreshadows the tragic fate of the girl. Dramatic action
unfolds against the festive backdrop of a ball in the Capulet house - every dance
has a dramatic function.

No. 11 Guests officially and solemnly gather to the sounds of “Minuet”. IN
the middle part, melodic and graceful, young friends appear
Juliet.

No. 12 “Masks” - Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio in masks - having fun at the ball -
a melody close to the character of Mercutio the merry fellow: a whimsical march
gives way to a mocking, comic serenade.

No. 13 “Dance of the Knights” - an extended scene written in the form of Rondo,
group portrait - a generalizing characteristic of feudal lords (as
characteristics of the Capulet family and Tybalt).

Refren - a jumping dotted rhythm in arpeggio, combined with a measured
the heavy tread of the bass creates an image of vindictiveness, stupidity, arrogance
- the image is cruel and unforgiving;

Episode 1 - the theme of enmity;

Episode 2 - dance of Juliet's friends;

Episode 3 - Juliet dances with Paris - a fragile, sophisticated melody, but
frozen, characterizing Juliet's embarrassment and trepidation. In the middle
The 2nd theme of Juliet the girl sounds.

No. 14 “Juliet Variation”. Topic 1 - echoes of a dance with the groom sound -
embarrassment, stiffness. Theme 2 - the theme of Juliet the girl - sounds
graceful, poetic. In the 2nd half the theme of Romeo, who for the first time
sees Juliet (from the introduction) - in the rhythm of the Minuet (sees her dancing), and
the second time with Romeo's characteristic accompaniment (springy gait).

No. 15 “Mercutio” - portrait of a merry fellow with a wit - scherzo movement
full of texture, harmony and rhythmic surprises, embodying
brilliance, wit, irony of Mercutio (as if skipping).

No. 16 “Madrigal”. Romeo addresses Juliet - 1 theme sounds
“Madrigal”, reflecting traditional ceremonial dance movements and
mutual expectation. Theme 2 breaks through - naughty theme
Juliet girls (sounds lively, fun), 1 love theme appears for the first time
- origin.

No. 17 “Tybalt recognizes Romeo” - the themes of enmity and the theme of knights sound ominously.

No. 18 “Gavotte” - departure of guests - traditional dance.

Themes of love are widely developed in the large duet of heroes, “Scene at the Balcony”,
No. 19-21, concluding Act I.

No. 19. begins with Romeo's theme, then Madrigal's theme, 2nd Juliet's theme. 1
love theme (from Madrigal) - sounds emotionally excited (from
cello and English horn). This whole big scene (No. 19 “Scene at
balcony”, No. 29 “Romeo Variation”, No. 21 “Love Dance”) is subordinated to a single
musical development - several leitthemes are intertwined, which gradually
are becoming increasingly intense - in No. 21, “Love Dance”, it sounds
enthusiastic, ecstatic and solemn 2 theme of love (limitless
range) - melodious and smooth. In Code No. 21 - the topic “Romeo sees for the first time
Juliet."

3 picture

Act II is replete with contrasts - folk dances frame the wedding scene,
in the 2nd half (scene 5) the festive atmosphere gives way to tragic
a picture of the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt, and the death of Mercutio. Mourning
The procession with Tybalt's body is the climax of Act II.

4 picture

No. 28 “Romeo at Father Lorenzo” - wedding scene - portrait of Father Lorenzo
- a wise, noble, characterized by choral person
a theme characterized by softness and warmth of intonation.

No. 29 “Juliet with Father Lorenzo” - the emergence of a new theme in
flutes (Juliet's lead timbre) - duet of cello and violin - passionate
a melody full of speaking intonations - close to the human voice, like
would reproduce the dialogue of Romeo and Juliet. Choral music,
accompanying the wedding ceremony, completes the scene.

5 picture

In the 5th film there is a tragic plot twist. Prokofiev masterfully
reincarnates the most cheerful theme - “The street is waking up”, which in 5
The picture sounds dark and ominous.

No. 32 “Meeting of Tybalt and Mercutio” - the theme of the street is distorted, its integrity
destroyed - minor, sharp chromatic echoes, “howling” timbre
saxophone

No. 33 “Tybalt fights with Mercutio” themes characterize Mercutio, who
fights dashingly, cheerfully, cockily, but without malice.

No. 34 “Mercutio dies” - a scene written by Prokofiev with great
psychological depth, based on a constantly rising theme
suffering (manifested in a minor version of the street theme) - together with
the expression of pain shows the pattern of movements of a weakening person - with effort
Mercutio's will forces himself to smile (in the orchestra there are fragments of previous themes,
but in the distant upper register of the wooden ones - oboe and flute -
returning themes are interrupted by pauses, the unusualness is emphasized by strangers
final chords: after d minor - h and es minor).

No. 35 “Romeo decides to avenge the death of Mercutio” - battle theme from picture 1 -
Romeo kills Tybalt.

No. 36 “Final” - grandiose roaring copper, density of texture, monotonous
rhythm - bringing closer to the theme of enmity.

Act III is based on the development of the images of Romeo and Juliet, heroically
defending their love - special attention to the image of Juliet (deep
the characterization of Romeo is given in the scene “In Mantua”, where Romeo is exiled - this
the scene was introduced during the production of the ballet, and the themes of love scenes sound in it).
Throughout Act III, the themes of the portrait of Juliet, the themes of love,
acquiring a dramatic and mournful appearance and new tragic-sounding
melodies. Act III differs from the previous ones in greater continuity
end-to-end action.

6 picture

No. 37 “Introduction” reproduces the music of the formidable “Duke’s order”.

No. 38 Juliet’s Room - the atmosphere is recreated with the subtlest techniques
silence, night - farewell to Romeo and Juliet (the flute and celesta pass
theme from the wedding scene)

No. 39 “Farewell” - a small duet full of restrained tragedy - new
melody. The theme of farewell sounds, expressing both fatal doom and lively
impulse.

No. 40 “Nurse” - theme of the Nurse, theme of the Minuet, theme of Juliet’s friends -
characterize the house of Capulet.

No. 41 “Juliet refuses to marry Paris” - 1 theme of Juliet the girl
- sounds dramatic, scared. 3rd theme of Juliet - sounds mournful,
frozen, the answer is the speech of Capulet - the theme of knights and the theme of enmity.

No. 42 “Juliet is alone” - indecisive - the 3rd and 2nd theme of love sounds.

No. 43 “Interlude” - the theme of farewell takes on the character of a passionate
appeal, tragic determination - Juliet is ready to die in the name of love.

7 picture

No. 44 “At Lorenzo’s” - the themes of Lorenzo and Juliet are compared, and at the moment,
when the monk gives sleeping pills to Juliet, the theme of death is heard for the first time -
musical image exactly corresponding to Shakespeare's: “Cold
languid fear drills into my veins. It freezes the heat of life,”

automatically pulsating movement???? conveys numbness, dull
heaving bass - growing “languid fear”.

No. 45 “Interlude” - depicts Juliet’s complex internal struggle - sounds
3 the theme of love and in response to it the theme of knights and the theme of enmity.

8 picture

No. 46 “Back at Juliet’s” - continuation of the scene - Juliet’s fear and confusion
expressed in the frozen theme of Juliet from the variations and theme 3
Juliet girls.

No. 47 “Juliet is alone (decides)” - the theme of the drink and the 3rd theme alternate
Juliet, her fatal fate.

No. 48 “Morning Serenade”. In Act III, genre elements characterize
the setting of the action and are used very sparingly. Two graceful miniatures -
“Morning Serenade” and “Dance of Girls with Lilies” were introduced to create
the finest dramatic contrast.

No. 50 “At Juliet’s Bedside” - starts with Juliet’s theme 4
(tragic). Mother and Nurse go to wake Juliet, but she is dead - in
the 3rd theme sadly and weightlessly passes through the highest register of the violins
Juliet.

Act IV - Epilogue

9 picture

No. 51 “Juliet’s Funeral” - the Epilogue opens with this scene -
wonderful music for the funeral procession. Death theme (violins)
takes on a sad character. The appearance of Romeo is accompanied by theme 3
love. Death of Romeo.

No. 52 “The Death of Juliet.” Juliet's awakening, her death, reconciliation
Montagues and Capulets.

The finale of the ballet is a bright hymn of love, based on gradually
the increasing, dazzling sound of Juliet's 3rd theme.

Prokofiev's work continued the classical traditions of Russian
ballet This was expressed in the great ethical significance of the chosen topic, in
reflection of deep human feelings in a developed symphonic
dramaturgy of a ballet performance. And at the same time the ballet score
Romeo and Juliet was so unusual that it took time to
“getting used to” it. There was even an ironic saying: “There is no story
sadder in the world than Prokofiev’s music in ballet.” Only gradually everything
this gave way to the enthusiastic attitude of the artists, and then the public, towards
music. First of all, the plot was unusual. The appeal to Shakespeare was
a bold step for Soviet choreography, since it was generally believed that
that the embodiment of such complex philosophical and dramatic themes is impossible
through the means of ballet. Prokofiev's music and Lavrovsky's performance
imbued with the Shakespearean spirit.

Bibliography.

Soviet musical literature edited by M.S. Pekelisa;

I. Maryanov “Sergei Prokofiev life and creativity”;

L. Dalko “Sergei Prokofiev popular monograph”;

Soviet musical encyclopedia edited by I.A. Prokhorova and G.S.
Skudina.

Ballet in three acts with prologue and epilogue

Libretto by L. Lavrovsky, A. Piotrovsky, S. Radlov and S. Prokofiev based on the tragedy of the same name by W. Shakespeare.
Choreographer L. Lavrovsky.
First performance: Leningrad, Opera and Ballet Theater. S. M. Kirov, January 11, 1940
Characters:
Escalus, Duke of Verona. Paris, a young nobleman, Juliet's fiancé. Capulet. Capulet's wife. Juliet, their daughter. Tybalt, Capulet's nephew. Juliet's nurse.
Montagues. Montague's wife. Romeo, their son. Mercutio and Benvolio, friends of Romeo. Lorenzo, monk.

Samsone, Gregorio, Pietro - servants of the Capulet. Abramio, Balthazar - servants of Montague. Paris's page. Page Romeo. Juliet's friends.
The owner of the zucchini. Maids. Beggars. Troubadour. Jester.
A young man in battle. Greengrocer. Townspeople.

In the middle of the orchestral introduction, the curtain opens, revealing to the audience a three-piece triptych picture: on the right is Romeo, on the left is Juliet, in the center is Lorenzo. This is the epigraph to the play.

Verona in the early morning. The city is still dormant. Romeo alone can't sleep. He wanders aimlessly through the deserted streets, immersed in dreams of love.
The streets gradually come to life, early passers-by appear. Stretching lazily and having difficulty losing sleep, the inn's maids clear the tables.
The servants Gregorio, Samsone and Pietro leave the Capulet house. They make nice with the maids and start dancing. On the other side of the square, Balthazar and Abramio come out of Montague's house.
Servants of two warring families glance sideways at each other, looking for a reason to quarrel. Stinging jokes turn into bickering, someone pushes someone and a fight breaks out. The weapon is drawn. One of the servants is wounded. Benvolio, Montague's nephew, separates the fighters and orders everyone to disperse. The servants, grumbling dissatisfiedly, obey.
And here comes Tybalt, Capulet's nephew. An adventurer and a bully, he is just waiting for the chance to fight the hated Montagues. Happening
introduced himself. The battle begins. The Montagues and Capulets run out of their houses in response to the noise. The fight is heating up. The whole city was in motion. Heavy sounds of the alarm sound. The Duke of Verona appears. With the movement of his sword, he gives a sign to lay down his weapon. From now on, the Duke announces, anyone who starts a fight with a weapon in their hands will be executed. The people, satisfied with the Duke's order, disperse.

Juliet's room. The naughty Juliet cheerfully teases her nurse, throws pillows at her, runs away from her, and she, clumsily waddling, tries to catch her.
The merry fuss is interrupted by Juliet's mother. Gradually and sternly, she tells her daughter to stop playing pranks: after all, Juliet is already a bride. This one asks for her hand
a worthy young man, like Paris. Juliet laughs in response. Then the mother solemnly brings her daughter to the mirror. Juliet can see for herself - she is quite an adult.
A ball has been announced at the Capulet palace. The nobility of Verona in festive clothes goes to the celebration. Accompanied by singers and musicians, they go to
ball of Juliet's friend and Paris with his page. Mercutio runs by, talking animatedly and laughing. He is dissatisfied with Romeo, he does not understand his sadness. AND
Romeo himself cannot figure out what is happening to him. He is tormented by ominous forebodings.
The action moves to the hall of the Capulet house. Solemnly seated at the tables, the guests conduct a decorous conversation. The dancing begins. The guests ask Juliet to dance. She agrees. Juliet's dance reveals her purity, charm, and poetry. Romeo, who entered the hall, is unable to take his eyes off her.
Wearing a hilarious mask, Mercutio amuses the guests to tears. Taking advantage of the fact that Mercutio has captured everyone's attention, Romeo approaches Juliet and
excitedly tells her about the feeling that has arisen in him. The mask accidentally falls off Romeo's face. Juliet is amazed by Romeo's beauty and nobility. IN
Juliet's heart was also kindled with love.
Tybalt, an involuntary witness to this scene, recognized Romeo. Putting on the mask, Romeo disappears. When the guests leave, the nurse tells Juliet that Romeo belongs to the Montague clan. But nothing can stop Romeo Juliet.

On a moonlit night they meet in the garden. Juliet is completely at the mercy of the feeling that flared up for the first time. Unable to bear even the shortest separation from her beloved, Juliet sends Romeo a letter, which the nurse should give to him. In search of Romeo, the nurse and her accompanying Pietro find themselves in the thick of the carnival fun.
Hundreds of townspeople dance, sing, and frolic in the square. A procession carrying a statue of the Madonna appears to the sounds of an orchestra.
Some mischievous people tease the nurse, but she is busy with one thing - looking for Romeo. And here he is. The letter was delivered. Romeo reverently reads Juliet's message.
She agrees to become his wife.
Romeo comes to Father Lorenzo's cell. He tells Lorenzo about his love for Juliet and asks him to marry them. Touched by the purity and strength of feelings
Romeo and Juliet, Lorenzo agrees. And when Juliet enters the cell, Lorenzo blesses their union.
And in the squares of Verona the carnival is noisy and sparkling. Among the merry Veronese, Romeo's friends are Mercutio and Benvolio. Seeing Mercutio, Tybalt
starts a quarrel and challenges him to a duel. Romeo, who arrived at this time, tries to calm the quarrels, but Tybalt mocks Romeo, calling
him a coward. And when Romeo withdraws Mercutio's sword to prevent bloodshed, Tybalt deals Mercutio a fatal blow. Overcoming
pain, Mercutio tries to joke; he dances, but his movements weaken and he falls dead.
Not remembering himself from grief, avenging his beloved friend, Romeo enters into battle with Tybalt and kills him.
Juliet's mother runs out of the Capulet house. She calls for revenge. Benvolio takes Romeo away, who must immediately escape. At night, Romeo
secretly sneaks into Juliet's room to see her beloved before separation... Dawn is approaching. Lovers say goodbye for a long time. Finally Romeo
leaves.
Morning. The nurse enters, followed by Juliet's parents. They report that the day of her wedding with Paris has been set. Juliet begs her mother and father
to spare her, not to force her into a union she hates with someone she doesn’t love. The will of the parents is adamant. The father raises his hand to Juliet. She's desperate
runs to Lorenzo. He gives Juliet a potion, after drinking which she will fall into a deep sleep, similar to death. Only Romeo will know
the truth. He will return for her and take her away secretly from the open crypt. Juliet happily accepts Lorenzo's plan.
Returning home and pretending to be submissive, she agrees to marry Paris. Left alone, Juliet drinks the drug. When in the morning
Friends come to dress her for the wedding; they find the bride dead. The news of Juliet's death reaches Mantua, where Romeo fled.
Overcome with grief, he hurries to Verona.
The funeral cortege is moving. Juliet rests in an open coffin. The coffin is placed in the family tomb. Everyone leaves.
Night. Romeo runs into the cemetery. He falls to the tomb, says goodbye to Juliet and drinks poison.
Juliet wakes up. Consciousness and memory do not immediately return to her. But when she sees herself in the cemetery, she remembers everything. Her gaze falls on Romeo.
She rushes towards him. Saying goodbye to him, saying goodbye to life, Juliet stabs herself with Romeo's dagger.
Old men Montagues and Capulets approach the grave. They look in horror at the dead children. Then they stretch out their hands to each other and swear in the name of life, in
the memory of two beautiful creatures will forever end the feud.

Prokofiev S. Ballet “Romeo and Juliet”

BALLET "ROMEO AND JULIET"

The ballet “Romeo and Juliet” was written by Prokofiev in 1935-1936. The libretto was developed by the composer together with director S. Radlov and choreographer L. Lavrovsky (L. Lavrovsky staged the first production of the ballet in 1940 at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov).

Prokofiev's work continued the classical traditions of Russian ballet. This was expressed in the great ethical significance of the chosen theme, in the reflection of deep human feelings, in the developed symphonic dramaturgy of the ballet performance. And at the same time, the ballet score of “Romeo and Juliet” was so unusual that it took time to “get used to” it. There was even an ironic saying: “There is no sadder story in the world than Prokofiev’s music in ballet.” Only gradually did all this give way to the enthusiastic attitude of the artists, and then the public, to music 35 .

35 G. Ulanov talks about how unusual the music of Prokofiev’s ballet was for the artists in his memoirs about the composer: “At first... it was difficult for us to create it (the ballet - R. Sh., G. S.), since the music seemed incomprehensible and uncomfortable. But the more we listened to it, the more we worked, searched, experimented, the brighter the images born from the music appeared before us. And gradually her understanding came, gradually she became comfortable for dancing, choreographically and psychologically clear” (Ulanova G. Author of her favorite ballets. Cited ed., p. 434).

First of all, the plot was unusual. Turning to the Shakespeare Feast was a bold step for Soviet choreography, since, according to generally accepted opinion, it was believed that the embodiment of such complex philosophical and dramatic themes was impossible through the means of ballet 36 . Shakespeare's theme requires the composer to provide multifaceted realistic characterization of the characters and their life environment, focusing on dramatic and psychological scenes.

Prokofiev's music and Lavrovsky's performance are imbued with the Shakespearean spirit. In an effort to bring the ballet performance as close as possible to its literary source, the authors of the libretto preserved the main events and sequence of action of Shakespeare's tragedy. Only a few scenes were cut. The five acts of the tragedy are grouped into three large acts. Based on the peculiarities of the dramaturgy of the ballet, the authors introduced, however, some new scenes that made it possible to convey the atmosphere of the action and the action itself in dance, in movement - a folk festival in Act II, a funeral procession with Tybalt’s body, and others.

Prokofiev's music clearly reveals the main conflict of the tragedy - the clash of the bright love of the young heroes with the ancestral enmity of the older generation, which characterizes the savagery of the medieval way of life (previous ballet stagings of Romeo and Juliet and the famous opera by Gounod are limited mainly to depicting the love line of the tragedy). Prokofiev also managed to embody in music Shakespeare's contrasts of tragic and comic, sublime and buffoonish.

Prokofiev, who had before him such high examples of the symphonic embodiment of Romeo and Juliet as Berlioz's symphony and Tchaikovsky's fantasy overture, created a completely original work. The ballet's lyrics are restrained and pure, and at times subtle. The composer avoids lengthy lyrical outpourings, but where necessary, his lyrics are characterized by passion and tension. Prokofiev’s characteristic figurative accuracy, the visibility of music, as well as the laconicism of his characteristics were revealed with particular force.

The closest connection between music and action distinguishes the musical dramaturgy of the work, which is clearly theatrical in its essence. It is based on scenes designed to organically combine pantomime and dance: these are solo portrait scenes."

36 In the era of Tchaikovsky and Glazunov, fairy-tale-romantic plots were the most common in ballet. Tchaikovsky considered them the most suitable for ballet, using the poetic plots of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker to express generalized ideas and deep human feelings.

Soviet ballet, along with fairy-tale-romantic plots, is characterized by an appeal to realistic themes - historical-revolutionary, modern, taken from world literature. These are the ballets: “The Red Flower” and “The Bronze Horseman” by Gliere, “The Flame of Paris” and “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” by Asafiev, “Gayane” and “Spartacus” by Khachaturian, “Anna Karenina” and “The Seagull” by Shchedrin.

(“Juliet the Girl,” “Mercutio,” “Pater Lorenzo”), and dialogue scenes (“At the Balcony.” Rome and Juliet are troubled by separation”), and dramatic crowd scenes (“Quarrel,” “Fight”).

There is no divertissement at all, that is, inserted, purely dance “concert” numbers (cycles of variations and characteristic dances). The dances are either characteristic (“Dance of the Knights,” otherwise called “Montagues and Capulet”) or recreate the atmosphere of the action (aristocratically graceful ballroom dancing, cheerful folk dances), captivating with their colorfulness and dynamics.

One of the most important dramatic means in Romeo and Juliet is leitmotifs. In his ballets and operas, Prokofiev developed a unique technique of leitmotif development. Typically, musical portraits of his heroes are woven from several themes that characterize different aspects of the image. They can be repeated and varied in the future, but the emergence of new qualities of the image most often causes the emergence of a new theme, which at the same time is closely connected intonationally with previous themes.

The clearest example is the three themes of love, marking the three stages of development of feeling: its origin (see example 177), its blossoming (example 178), its tragic intensity (example 186).

Prokofiev contrasts the multifaceted and complexly developed images of Romeo and Juliet with one image, almost unchanged throughout the entire ballet, of gloomy, dull enmity, the evil that caused the death of the heroes.

The method of sharp contrasting comparisons is one of the strongest dramatic techniques of this ballet. So, for example, the wedding scene at Father Lorenzo’s is framed by scenes of festive folk fun (the usual picture of city life emphasizes the exclusivity and tragedy of the heroes’ fate); in the last act, the images of Juliet’s intense spiritual struggle are met by the bright, transparent sounds of “Morning Serenade”.

The composer builds the ballet on an alternation of relatively small and very clearly designed musical numbers. In this extreme completeness, “facetedness” of forms, there is the laconism of the pro-Kofyev style. But thematic connections, common dynamic lines, often uniting several numbers, counter the apparent mosaic of the composition and create the construction of a large symphonic breath. And the end-to-end development of leitmotif characteristics throughout the ballet imparts integrity to the entire work and unifies it dramaturgically.

By what means does Prokofiev create a sense of time and place of action? As already mentioned in connection with the cantata “Alexander Nevsky,” it is not typical for him to turn to authentic examples of bygone music. He prefers this to convey a modern idea of ​​antiquity. The minuet and gavotte, dances of the 18th century of French origin, do not correspond to the Italian music of the 15th century, but they are well known to listeners as ancient European dances and evoke broad historical and specific figurative associations. The minuet and gavotte 37 characterize a certain stiffness and conventional gradation in the Capulet ball scene. At the same time, they convey the slight irony of a modern composer recreating the images of a “ceremonious” era.

The music of the folk festival is original, depicting the boiling atmosphere of Renaissance Italy, saturated with sun and bright feelings. Prokofiev uses here the rhythmic features of the Italian folk dance tarantella (see “Folk Dance” of Act II)..

The introduction of the mandolin into the score is colorful (see “Dance with Mandolins”, “Morning Serenade”), an instrument common in Italian life. But what is more interesting is that in many other episodes, mainly genre ones, the composer brings the texture and timbre coloring closer to the specific, unpretentious “plucked” sound of this instrument (see “The Street Wakes Up”, “Masks”, “Preparing for the Ball”, “Mercutio” ").

Act I The ballet opens with a short “Introduction”. It begins with the theme of love, laconic, like an epigraph, bright and mournful at the same time:

The first scene depicts Romeo wandering around the city in the wee hours 38 . A thoughtful melody characterizes a young man dreaming of love:

87 The music of the gavotte was taken by Prokofiev from his “Classical Symphony”.

88 Shakespeare has no such scene. But Benvolio, Romeo's friend, tells about this. Turning the story into action, the authors of the libretto proceed from the peculiarities of the dramaturgy of the ballet.

This is one of Romeo's two main themes (the other was given in the "Introduction").

Pictures quickly alternate one after another, depicting the morning, the gradually coming to life of the streets of the city, a cheerful bustle, a quarrel between the servants of the Montagues and the Capulet, and finally, a battle and the Duke’s menacing order to disperse.

A significant part of the 1st picture is imbued with a mood of carelessness and fun. It is, as if in focus, collected in a small scene “The Street is Waking Up”, based on a dance melody, with an even “plucked” accompaniment, with the most unpretentious, it would seem, harmonization.

A few spare touches: double seconds, rare syncopations, unexpected tonal juxtapositions give the music a special poignancy and mischief. The orchestration is witty, alternating dialogue between the bassoon and the violin, oboe, flute and clarinet:

Intonations and rhythms characteristic of this melody or close to it unite several numbers of the picture. They are in “Morning Dance”, in the quarrel scene.

Striving for vivid theatricality, the composer uses visual musical means. Thus, the Duke’s angry order caused a threatening slow “tread” on sharply dissonant sounds and sharp dynamic contrasts. The battle picture is built on continuous movement, simulating the knocking and clanking of weapons. But here there is also a theme of generalized expressive meaning - the theme of enmity. “Clumsiness”, straightforwardness of melodic movement, low rhythmic mobility, harmonic stiffness and loud, “inflexible” sound of brass - all means are aimed at creating a primitive and heavy-gloomy image:

graceful, tender:

Different sides of the image appear sharply and unexpectedly, replacing one another (as is typical for a girl or teenager). The lightness and liveliness of the first theme is expressed in a simple scale-like “running” melody, which seems to be broken up by different groups and instruments of the orchestra. Colorful harmonic “throws” of chords - major triads (on the VI lower, III and I degrees) emphasize its rhythmic sharpness and mobility. The grace of the second theme is conveyed by Prokofiev’s favorite dance rhythm (gavotte), a plastic melody from the clarinet.

Subtle, pure lyricism is the most significant “facet” of the image of Juliet. Therefore, the appearance of the third theme of Juliet’s musical portrait stands out from the general context by a change in tempo, a sharp change in texture, so transparent, in which only light echoes set off the expressiveness of the melody, and a change in timbre (flute solo).

All three of Juliet's themes continue in the future, and then new themes join them.

The plot of the tragedy is the scene of the Capulet's ball. This is where the feeling of love between Romeo and Juliet arose. Here Tybalt, a representative of the Capulet family, decides to take revenge on Romeo, who dared to cross the threshold of their house. These events take place against the bright, festive backdrop of the ball.

Each of the dances has its own dramatic function. Guests gather to the sounds of a minuet, creating the mood of official solemnity:

"Dance of the Knights"- this is a group portrait, a generalized description of the “fathers”. The galloping, punctuated rhythm, combined with the measured, heavy tread of the bass, creates an image of belligerence and stupidity, combined with a kind of grandeur. The figurative expressiveness of “Dance of the Knights” intensifies when the theme of enmity, already familiar to the listener, enters in the bass. The theme of the “Dance of the Knights” itself is used in the future as a characteristic of the Capulet family:

As a sharply contrasting episode within the Dance of the Knights, the fragile, sophisticated dance of Juliet with Paris is introduced:

The ball scene first introduces Mercutio, Romeo's cheerful, witty friend. In his music (see No. 12, “Masks”), a whimsical march gives way to a mocking, comic serenade:

The sceriotic movement, full of textured, harmonious rhythmic surprises, embodies the brilliance, wit, and irony of Mercutio (see No. 15, “Mercutio”):

In the ball scene (at the end of variation No. 14), Romeo's ardent theme, first given in the introduction to the ballet, sounds (Romeo notices Juliet). In "Madrigal", with which Romeo addresses Juliet, the theme of love appears - one of the most important lyrical melodies of the ballet. The play of major and minor adds a special charm to this lightly sad theme:

Themes of love are widely developed in the large duet of heroes (“Scene at the Balcony”, No. 19-21), which concludes Act I. It begins with a contemplative melody, previously only slightly outlined (“Romeo”, No. 1, final bars). Somewhat further, the theme of love, which first appeared in “Madrigal,” sounds in a new, open, emotionally intense way from the cellos and cor anglais. This entire large stage, as if consisting of separate numbers, is subordinated to a single musical development. Several leitthemes are intertwined here; Each subsequent presentation of the same topic is more intense than the previous one, each new topic is more dynamic. At the climax of the entire scene (“Love Dance”) an ecstatic and solemn melody appears:

The feeling of serenity and rapture that gripped the heroes is expressed in another theme. Singing, smooth, with a gently swaying rhythm, it is the most danceable among the ballet’s love themes:

Romeo's theme from the "Introduction" appears in the coda of "Love Dance":

Act II of the ballet is replete with strong contrasts. Vibrant folk dances frame the wedding scene, full of deep, focused lyricism. In the second half of the action, the sparkling atmosphere of the festival gives way to the tragic picture of the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt and the death of Mercutio. The funeral procession with Tybalt's body represents the climax of Act II, marking the tragic turn of the plot.

The dances here are magnificent: the fast, cheerful “Folk Dance” (No. 22) in the spirit of the tarantella, the rough street dance of five couples, the dance with mandolins. It should be noted the elasticity and plasticity of the melodies, conveying the elements of dance movements.

In the wedding scene there is a portrait of the wise, philanthropic Father Lorenzo (No. 28). It is characterized by choral music, characterized by softness and warmth of intonation:

The appearance of Juliet is accompanied by her new melody on the flute (this is the leittimbre for a number of themes of the ballet heroine):

The transparent sound of the flute is then replaced by a duet of cellos and violins - instruments that are close in expressiveness to the human voice. A passionate melody appears, full of bright, “speaking” intonations:

This “musical moment” seems to reproduce the dialogue! Romeo and Juliet in a similar scene in Shakespeare:

Romeo

Oh, if the measure of my happiness

Equal to yours, my Juliet,

But you have more art,

"To express it, please

The surrounding air with gentle speeches.

Juliet

Let the melody of your words be alive

Describes unspeakable bliss.

Only a beggar can count his possessions,

My love has grown so immensely,

That I can’t count half of it 39 .

Choral music accompanying the wedding ceremony completes the scene.

Masterfully mastering the technique of symphonic reincarnation of themes, Prokofiev gives one of the most cheerful themes of the ballet (“The Street Awakens,” No. 3) in Act II a dark and ominous quality. In the scene of Tybalt's meeting with Mercutio (No. 32), the familiar melody is distorted, its integrity destroyed. Minor coloring, sharp chromatic echoes that cut the melody, the “howling” timbre of the saxophone - all this dramatically changes its character:

Shakespeare W. Poly. collection cit., vol. 3, p. 65.

The same theme, like the image of suffering, runs through the death scene of Mercutio, written by Prokofiev with enormous psychological depth. The scene is based on the recurring theme of suffering. Along with the expression of pain, it contains a realistically strong drawing of the movements and gestures of a weakening person. With a huge effort of will, Mercutio forces himself to smile - fragments of his previous themes are barely audible in the orchestra, but they sound in the “distant” upper register of wooden instruments - oboe and flute.

The returning main theme is interrupted by a pause. The unusualness of the ensuing silence is emphasized by the final chords, “alien” to the main tonality (after D minor, the triad of B minor and E-flat minor).

Romeo decides to take revenge for Mercutio. In a duel he kills Tybalt. Act II ends with a grand funeral procession with Tybalt's body. The piercing roaring sonority of copper, the density of texture, the persistent and monotonous rhythm - all this makes the music of the procession close to the theme of enmity. Another funeral procession - “Juliet's Funeral” in the epilogue of the ballet - is distinguished by the spirituality of grief.

In Act III, everything is focused on the development of the images of Romeo and Juliet, who heroically defend their love in the face of hostile forces. Prokofiev paid special attention to the image of Juliet here.

Throughout Act III, themes from her “portrait” (the first and especially the third) and themes of love develop, which take on either a dramatic or mournful appearance. New melodies emerge, marked by tragic tension and power.

Act III differs from the first two in its greater continuity of end-to-end action, linking the scenes into a single musical whole (see scenes of Juliet, No. 41-47). Symphonic development, “not fitting” into the framework of the stage, results in two interludes (Nos. 43 and 45).

The brief introduction to Act III reproduces the music of the menacing “Duke's Order” (from Act I).

On stage is Juliet's room (No. 38). Using the most subtle techniques, the orchestra recreates the feeling of silence, the ringing, mysterious atmosphere of the night, the farewell of Romeo and Juliet: the flute and celesta play the theme from the wedding scene under the rustling sounds of the strings.

The small duet is full of restrained tragedy. Its new melody is based on the theme of farewell (see example 185).

The image contained in it is complex and internally contrasting. There is both fatal doom and living impulse. The melody seems to be difficult to climb up and just as difficult to fall down. But in the second half of the theme, an active protesting intonation is heard (see bars 5-8). The orchestration emphasizes this: the lively sound of the strings replaces the “fatal” call of the horn and the timbre of the clarinet, which sounded at the beginning.

It is interesting that this segment of the melody (its second half) develops in further scenes as an independent theme of love (see No. 42, 45). It is also given as an epigraph to the entire ballet in the “Introduction”.

The theme of farewell sounds completely different in “Interlude” (No. 43). Here she acquires the character of a passionate impulse, tragic determination (Juliet is ready to die in the name of love). The texture and timbre coloring of the theme, now entrusted to brass instruments, changes sharply:

In the dialogue scene between Juliet and Lorenzo, at the moment when the monk gives a sleeping pill to Juliet, the theme of Death (“Juliet Alone”, No. 47) is heard for the first time - a musical image that exactly corresponds to Shakespeare’s:

Cold, languid fear drills into my veins. It freezes life heat 40 .

The automatically pulsating movement of eighth notes conveys numbness; muffled rising bass - growing “languid fear”:

In Act III, genre elements characterizing the setting of the action are used much more sparingly than before. Two graceful miniatures - “Morning Serenade” and “Dance of Girls with L and L and I” - are introduced into the fabric of the ballet to create the subtlest dramatic contrast. Both numbers are transparent in texture: light accompaniment and melody assigned to solo instruments. “Morning Serenade” is performed by Juliet’s friends under her window, not knowing that she is dead.

40 Juliet's Elephant.

41 While this is still an imaginary death.

The bright ringing of strings sounds a light melody, sliding like a ray (instruments: mandolins placed behind the scenes, piccolo flute, solo violin):

Dance of girls with lilies congratulating the bride, hollow fragile grace:

But then a brief fatal theme is heard (“At Jula Etta’s Bedside,” No. 50), appearing for the third time in ballet 42:

At the moment when the Mother and the Nurse go to wake Juliet, her theme sadly and weightlessly passes through the highest register of the violins. Juliet is dead.

The epilogue opens with the scene of "Juliet's Funeral". The theme of death, conveyed by violins, melodically developed, surrounded

42 See also the endings of the scenes “Juliet the Girl”, “Romeo at Father Lorenzo”.

From shimmering mysterious piano to stunning fortissimo - this is the dynamic scale of this funeral march.

Precise strokes mark the appearance of Romeo (the theme of love) and his death. Juliet's awakening, her death, and the reconciliation of the Montagues and the Capulet form the content of the last scene.

The finale of the ballet is a bright hymn of love triumphing over death. It is based on the gradually increasing dazzling sound of Juliet's theme (the third theme, given again in a major key). The ballet ends with quiet, “reconciling” harmonies.

Ticket number 3

Romanticism

Social and historical background of romanticism. Features of ideological content and artistic method. Characteristic manifestations of romanticism in music

Classicism, which dominated the art of the Enlightenment, in the 19th century gives way to romanticism, under the banner of which musical creativity developed in the first half of the century.

The change in artistic trends was a consequence of the enormous social changes that marked the social life of Europe at the turn of two centuries.

The most important prerequisite for this phenomenon in the art of European countries was the movement of the masses awakened by the Great French Revolution *.

* “The revolutions of 1648 and 1789 were not the English and French revolutions; these were revolutions on a European scale... they proclaimed the political system of a new European society... These revolutions expressed to a much greater extent the needs of the entire world of that time than the needs of those parts of the world where they took place, i.e. England and France" (Marx K. and Engels F. Works, 2nd ed., vol. 6, p. 115).

The revolution, which opened a new era in the history of mankind, led to a huge rise in the spiritual strength of the peoples of Europe. The struggle for the triumph of democratic ideals characterizes the European history of the period under review.

In inextricable connection with the people's liberation movement, a new type of artist emerged - a progressive public figure who strove for the complete emancipation of man's spiritual powers and for the highest laws of justice. Not only writers like Shelley, Heine or Hugo, but also musicians often defended their beliefs by putting pen to paper. High intellectual development, broad ideological horizons, and civic consciousness characterize Weber, Schubert, Chopin, Berlioz, Wagner, Liszt and many other composers of the 19th century *.

* Beethoven's name is not mentioned in this listing, since Beethoven's art belongs to a different era.

At the same time, the determining factor in the formation of the ideology of modern artists was the deep disappointment of broad sections of society in the results of the Great French Revolution. The illusory nature of the ideals of the Enlightenment was revealed. The principles of “liberty, equality and fraternity” remained a utopian dream. The bourgeois system that replaced the feudal-absolutist regime was distinguished by merciless forms of exploitation of the masses.

“The State of Reason has suffered a complete collapse.” The public and state institutions that arose after the revolution “... turned out to be an evil, bitterly disappointing caricature of the brilliant promises of the enlighteners” *.

* Marx K. and Engels F. Works, ed. 2nd, vol. 19, p. 192 and 193.

Deceived in their best hopes, unable to come to terms with reality, the artists of modern times expressed their protest against the new order of things.

This is how a new artistic movement arose and took shape - romanticism.

The denunciation of bourgeois narrow-mindedness, inert philistinism, and philistinism forms the basis of the ideological platform of romanticism. It mainly determined the content of the artistic classics of that time. But it is precisely in the nature of the critical attitude towards capitalist reality that lies the difference between its two main trends; it is revealed depending on the interests of which social circles this or that art objectively reflected.

Artists associated with the ideology of the outgoing class, which regretted the “good old days,” turned away from the surrounding reality in their hatred of the existing order of things. Romanticism of this kind, called “passive,” is characterized by an idealization of the Middle Ages, an attraction to mysticism, and glorification of a fictional world far from capitalist civilization.

These tendencies are characteristic of the French novels of Chateaubriand, and the poems of the English poets of the “lake school”, and the German short stories of Novalis and Wackenroder, and the Nazarene artists in Germany, and the Pre-Raphaelite artists in England. Philosophical and aesthetic treatises of the “passive” romantics (“The Genius of Christianity” by Chateaubriand, “Christianity or Europe” by Novalis, articles on aesthetics by Ruskin) promoted the separation of art from life and glorified mysticism.

Another direction of romanticism - “effective” - reflected the discord with reality in a different way. Artists of this type expressed their attitude towards modernity in the form of passionate protest. Rebellion against the new social situation, defending the ideals of justice and freedom raised by the era of the French Revolution - this motive, in various refractions, dominates in the new era in most European countries. It permeates the work of Byron, Hugo, Shelley, Heine, Schumann, Berlioz, Wagner and many other writers and composers of the post-revolutionary generation.

Romanticism in art as a whole is a complex and heterogeneous phenomenon. Each of the two main trends mentioned above had its own varieties and nuances. In each national culture, depending on the socio-political development of the country, its history, the psychological makeup of the people, artistic traditions, the stylistic features of romanticism took on unique forms. Hence many of its characteristic national branches. And even in the work of individual romantic artists, different, sometimes contradictory, currents of romanticism sometimes crossed and intertwined.

Manifestations of Romanticism in literature, visual arts, theater and music varied significantly. Nevertheless, in the development of various arts of the 19th century there are many important points of contact. Without understanding their features, it is difficult to comprehend the nature of new paths in the musical creativity of the “Romantic Age”.

First of all, romanticism enriched art with many new themes, unknown in the artistic work of previous centuries or previously touched upon with much less ideological and emotional depth.

The liberation of the individual from the psychology of feudal society led to the establishment of the high value of the spiritual world of man. The depth and variety of emotional experiences arouse great interest among artists. Finely designed lyrical-psychological images- one of the leading achievements of art of the 19th century. By truthfully reflecting the complex inner life of people, romanticism opened up a new sphere of feelings in art.

Even in depicting the objective external world, artists started from personal perception. It was said above that humanism and fighting fervor in defending their views determined their place in the social movements of the era. And at the same time, the artistic works of the romantics, including those that touch upon social problems, often have the character of an intimate outpouring. The title of one of the most outstanding and significant literary works of that era is indicative - “Confession of a Son of the Century” (Musset). It is no coincidence that lyric poetry took a leading position in the work of writers of the 19th century. The flourishing of lyrical genres and the expansion of the thematic range of lyrics are unusually characteristic of the art of that period.

And in musical creativity, the theme of “lyrical confession” acquires dominant importance, especially love lyrics, which most fully reveal the inner world of the “hero”. This theme runs like a red thread through all the art of romanticism, starting with the chamber romances of Schubert and ending with the monumental symphonies of Berlioz and the grandiose musical dramas of Wagner. None of the classical composers created in music such diverse and subtly outlined pictures of nature, such convincingly developed images of longing and dreams, suffering and spiritual impulse, as the romantics. In none of them do we find intimate diary pages, which are highly characteristic of 19th-century composers.

Tragic conflict between the hero and his environment- a theme dominant in the literature of romanticism. The motif of loneliness permeates the work of many writers of that era - from Byron to Heine, from Stendhal to Chamisso... And for musical art, images of discord with reality become a highly characteristic beginning, refracting in it both as a motive of longing for an unattainably beautiful world, and like the artist’s admiration for the spontaneous life of nature. This theme of discord gives rise to bitter irony over the imperfections of the real world, dreams, and a tone of passionate protest.

The heroic-revolutionary theme, which was one of the main ones in the musical creativity of the “Gluck-Beethoven era,” sounds in a new way in the work of the romantics. Refracted through the artist’s personal mood, it acquires a characteristic pathetic appearance. At the same time, in contrast to classical traditions, the theme of heroism among the romantics was interpreted not in a universal, but in a distinctly patriotic national sense.

Here we touch upon another fundamentally important feature of the artistic creativity of the “Romantic Age” as a whole.

The general trend of romantic art is the increased interest in national culture. It was brought to life by the heightened national consciousness that the national liberation wars against the Napoleonic invasion brought with them. Various manifestations of folk-national traditions attract artists of modern times. By the beginning of the 19th century, fundamental studies of folklore, history, and ancient literature appeared. Medieval legends, Gothic art, and the culture of the Renaissance, consigned to oblivion, are being resurrected. The rulers of the thoughts of the new generation are Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes. History comes to life in novels and poems, in the images of dramatic and musical theater (Walter Scott, Hugo, Dumas, Wagner, Meyerbeer). Deep study and mastery of national folklore expanded the range of artistic images, enriching art with hitherto little-known themes from the sphere of heroic epic, ancient legends, images of fairy tales, pagan poetry, and nature.

At the same time, a keen interest in the uniqueness of life, everyday life, and art of the peoples of other countries is awakening.

It is enough to compare, for example, Moliere's Don Juan, whom the French author presented as a nobleman at the court of Louis XIV and a Frenchman of the purest water, with Byron's Don Juan. The classicist playwright ignores the Spanish origin of his hero, but for the romantic poet he is a living Iberian, acting in the specific setting of Spain, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus. Thus, if in the exotic operas widespread in the 18th century (for example, Rameau’s “Gallant India” or Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio”) Turks, Persians, American natives or “Indians” acted essentially as civilized Parisians or Viennese of the same 18th century, then Already Weber, in the eastern scenes of Oberon, uses a genuine eastern melody to depict the harem guards, and his Preciosa is full of Spanish folk motifs.

For the musical art of the new era, interest in national culture entailed consequences of enormous significance.

The 19th century was characterized by the flourishing of national music schools based on the traditions of folk art. This applies not only to those countries that have already produced composers of world importance in the previous two centuries (such as Italy, France, Austria, Germany). A number of national cultures (Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Norway and others), which until then had remained in the shadows, appeared on the world stage with their own independent national schools, many of which began to play a very important and sometimes leading role in the development of pan-European music.

Of course, even in the “pre-Romantic era,” Italian, French, and German music differed from each other in features emanating from their national makeup. However, this national principle was clearly dominated by tendencies towards a certain universalism of musical language *.

* So, for example, during the Renaissance, the development of professional music throughout Western Europe was subject to Franco-Flemish traditions In the 17th and partly 18th centuries, the melodic style dominated everywhere. Italian operas. Initially formed in Italy as an expression of national culture, it subsequently became the bearer of pan-European court aesthetics, with which national artists in different countries fought, etc.

In modern times, reliance on local, local, national becomes the defining moment of musical art. Pan-European achievements are now made up of the contributions of many clearly defined national schools.

As a consequence of the new ideological content of art, new expressive techniques appeared, characteristic of all the diverse branches of romanticism. This commonality allows us to talk about unity artistic method of romanticism in general, which equally distinguishes it from both the classicism of the Enlightenment and the critical realism of the 19th century. It is equally characteristic of Hugo’s dramas, Byron’s poetry, and Liszt’s symphonic poems.

It can be said that the main feature of this method is increased emotional expressiveness. The romantic artist conveyed in his art a living ebullience of passions that did not fit into the usual schemes of enlightenment aesthetics. The primacy of feeling over reason is an axiom of the theory of romanticism. The degree of excitement, passion, and colorfulness of artistic works of the 19th century primarily reveals the originality of romantic expression. It is no coincidence that music, the expressive specificity of which most fully corresponded to the romantic system of feelings, was declared by the romantics to be an ideal form of art.

An equally important feature of the romantic method is fantastic fiction. The imaginary world seems to elevate the artist above the ugly reality. According to Belinsky’s definition, the sphere of romanticism was that “soil of the soul and heart, from where all vague aspirations for the better and sublime rise, trying to find satisfaction in the ideals created by fantasy.”

This deep need of romantic artists was perfectly met by the new fairy-tale-pantheistic sphere of images, borrowed from folklore and ancient medieval legends. For the musical creativity of the 19th century, she had, like us, we'll see in the future, paramount importance.

The new achievements of romantic art, which significantly enriched artistic expressiveness compared to the classicist stage, include the display of phenomena in their contradiction and dialectical unity. Overcoming the conventional distinctions between the realm of the sublime and the everyday inherent in classicism, artists of the 19th century deliberately collided life's collisions, emphasizing not only their contrast, but also their internal connection. Like the principle of “dramatic antithesis” underlies many works of that period. It is typical for the romantic theater of Hugo, for the operas of Meyerbeer, the instrumental cycles of Schumann, Berlioz. It is no coincidence that it was the “romantic age” that rediscovered the realistic dramaturgy of Shakespeare, with all its wide contrasts of life. We will see later what an important fertilizing role Shakespeare’s work played in the formation of new romantic music.

The characteristic features of the method of new art of the 19th century should also include attraction to figurative concreteness, which is emphasized by depicting characteristic details. Detailing- a typical phenomenon in the art of modern times, even for the work of those figures who were not romantics. In music, this tendency is manifested in the desire for maximum clarification of the image, for significant differentiation of the musical language in comparison with the art of classicism.

The artistic means developed on the basis of the aesthetics of classicism characteristic of the Enlightenment could not correspond to the new ideas and images of romantic art. In their theoretical works (see, for example, Hugo's preface to the drama "Cromwell", 1827), the romantics, defending unlimited freedom of creativity, declared a merciless struggle against the rationalistic canons of classicism. They enriched each area of ​​art with genres, forms and expressive techniques that corresponded to the new content of their work.

Let us trace how this process of renewal was expressed within the framework of musical art.

Romanticism - an ideological and artistic movement in European and American culture of the end XVIII- 1st half XIX V.
In music, romanticism was formed in 1820s. and retained its meaning until the beginning XX V. The leading principle of romanticism is the sharp contrast between everyday life and dreams, everyday existence and the highest ideal world created by the creative imagination of the artist.

He reflected the disappointment of the widest circles in the results of the Great French Revolution of 1789-1794, in the ideology of the Enlightenment and bourgeois progress. Therefore, he is characterized by a critical orientation, a denial of philistine vegetation in a society where people are concerned only with the pursuit of profit. To the rejected world, where everything, even human relationships, is subject to the law of purchase and sale, the romantics contrasted another truth - the truth of feelings, the free expression of the creative personality. This is where their

close attention to the inner world of a person, a subtle analysis of his complex mental movements. Romanticism made a decisive contribution to the establishment of art as the lyrical self-expression of the artist.

Initially, romanticism acted as a fundamental

opponent of classicism. The art of the Middle Ages and distant exotic countries was opposed to the ancient ideal. Romanticism discovered the treasures of folk art - songs, tales, legends. However, the opposition of romanticism to classicism is still relative, since the romantics adopted and further developed the achievements of the classics. Many composers were greatly influenced by the work of the last Viennese classic -
L. Beethoven.

The principles of romanticism were affirmed by outstanding composers from different countries. These are K. M. Weber, G. Berlioz, F. Mendelssohn, R. Schumann, F. Chopin,

F. Schubert F. Liszt, R. Wagner. G. Verdi.

All these composers adopted the symphonic method of developing music, based on the consistent transformation of musical thought, generating within itself its opposite. But the romantics sought greater specificity of musical ideas, their closer connection with the images of literature and other types of art. This led them to create software works.

But the main achievement of romantic music was manifested in the sensitive, subtle and deep expression of the inner world of man, the dialectic of his emotional experiences. Unlike the classics, the romantics did not so much affirm the ultimate goal of human aspirations, achieved through persistent struggle, as they launched an endless movement towards a goal that was constantly moving away and escaping. That is why the role of transitions and smooth changes of moods is so great in the works of romantics.
For a romantic musician, the process is more important than the result, more important than the achievement. On the one hand, they gravitate toward miniatures, which they often include in a cycle of other, usually different, plays; on the other hand, they assert free compositions, in the spirit of romantic poems. It was the romantics who developed a new genre - the symphonic poem. The contribution of romantic composers to the development of symphony, opera, and ballet was extremely great.
Among the composers of the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, in whose work romantic traditions contributed to the establishment of humanistic ideas, - I. Brahms, A. Bruckner, G. Mahler, R. Strauss, E. Grieg, B. Sour cream, A. Dvorak and others

In Russia, almost all the great masters of Russian classical music paid tribute to romanticism. The role of the romantic worldview in the works of the founder of Russian musical classics is great M. I. Glinka, especially in his opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila”.

In the work of his great successors, with a general realistic orientation, the role of romantic motifs was significant. They were reflected in a number of fairy-tale and fantasy operas N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, in symphonic poems P.I. Tchaikovsky and the composers of The Mighty Handful.
The romantic element permeates the works of A. N. Scriabin and S. V. Rachmaninov.

2. R.-Korsakov

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