Romeo and Juliet in Classical Music

The "love theme" from Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet
Fantasy-Overture is one of the most famous themes in the history
of Western Classical Music.  The story it accompanies might
be the most famous Western play ever written.   Just like
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik seems to define the powdered wig era of
classical music to the general public, the passionate theme from
Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet seems to define romanticism in
music because Tchaikovsky’s Overture-Fantasy captures
Shakespeare’s masterpiece with a roiling and unstoppable
intensity.  But Tchaikovsky’s setting of Romeo and Juliet,
while probably the most famous, is by no means the only
reimagining of the play by classical composers.  There have
been nearly a dozen adaptations of Romeo and Juliet by classical
composers, including overtures, ballets, suites, and operas.
 Romeo and Juliet, just like it has been for actors,
directors, and the audience, is an inexhaustible source for
composers in a way that few pieces of literature or dramatic
theatre have been in history.  So today we’ll compare just
some of them for you - I’ll be looking at Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and
Juliet Fantasy Overture, Prokofiev’s Ballet Romeo and Juliet,
Berlioz’s choral symphony Romeo et Juliette, a brief look at
Gounod’s opera Romeo and Juliet, and Leonard Bernstein’s Westside
Story.  We’ll take a look at how these 5 composers inserted
their distinctive personalities onto the music, leaving no doubt
that this was Shakespeare, and Romeo and Juliet, through their
eyes.  I’ll do this by giving a general overview of each
piece, and then I'll zero in on two ideas - the portrayal of
Juliet, and the portrayal of Tybalt’s Death(or fighting in
general).  This way we can see how these composers handled
these pivotal characters and moments, all in markedly different
ways. Join us!