Romeo and Juliet (Russian: Ромео и Джульетта, written in the Latin alphabet as Romeo i Dzhulyetta), Op. 64, is a ballet composed by Sergei Prokofiev. It is based on the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The ballet was first created in 1935. It was changed significantly for its first performance in the Soviet Union in early 1940. From the ballet, Prokofiev created three orchestral suites and one suite for a single piano player.

Background and premiere

The ballet was created based on a story written by Adrian Piotrovsky and Sergey Radlov. Piotrovsky first proposed the idea to Prokofiev, and the ballet was composed in September 1935. The story followed a style called "drambalet," which focused more on storytelling than on showing off dance skills. After Radlov left the Kirov Ballet in June 1934, a new agreement was made with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. This agreement stated that Piotrovsky would continue to be involved in the project.

The ballet originally ended with a happy resolution, which was different from Shakespeare’s version. This caused disagreement among Soviet cultural leaders. Because of this, the ballet’s production was delayed indefinitely. Later, the Bolshoi Theatre’s staff was changed at the request of Platon Kerzhentsev, the chairman of the Committee on Arts Affairs. The ballet was not performed in the Soviet Union until 1940. This delay may have also been influenced by the criticism of artists like Dmitri Shostakovich and Piotrovsky by the newspaper Pravda in 1936.

Yuri Fayer, a conductor, often met with Prokofiev while the music was being written. He encouraged the composer to use a traditional ending instead of the original one. Fayer later conducted the ballet’s first performance at the Bolshoi Theatre.

Parts of the ballet’s music were performed in Moscow and the United States, but the full ballet premiered on December 30, 1938, at the Mahen Theatre in Brno (then part of Czechoslovakia, now in the Czech Republic). This version had only one act and used music mainly from the first two parts of the ballet. Prokofiev could not attend the premiere because he was under restrictions that prevented him from leaving the country.

The history of the ballet’s creation was described by Sergei Prokofiev himself.

1940 Kirov production

This ballet is most well-known today from a version that was first performed at the Kirov Theatre (now Mariinsky Theatre) in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) on January 11, 1940. Leonid Lavrovsky created the dance choreography, and Galina Ulanova and Konstantin Sergeyev played the main roles. Although Sergei Prokofiev disagreed, Lavrovsky made many changes to the music. This production was praised worldwide and received the Stalin Prize.

In 1955, Mosfilm created a film version of this ballet. Galina Ulanova played Juliet, and Yuri Zhdanov played Romeo. This film won the Best Lyrical Film award and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.

• Galina Ulanova, Juliet
• Konstantin Sergeyev, Romeo
• Robert Gerbek, Tybalt
• Andrei Lopukhov, Mercutio

Revivals and other productions

In 1955, Frederick Ashton created a version of Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Danish Ballet.

In 1962, John Cranko choreographed Romeo and Juliet for the Stuttgart Ballet. This helped the company gain international recognition. The ballet had its first performance in the United States in 1969.

In 1965, Sir Kenneth MacMillan choreographed a version of Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Ballet. It premiered at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev performed the lead roles. Fonteyn, who was near the end of her career, started a new, more active career by working with Nureyev. Also in 1965, Oleg Vinogradov created a version of the ballet in Russia while working as an assistant to Pyotr Gusev.

In 1971, John Neumeier, inspired by John Cranko, created a new version of the ballet in Frankfurt. In 1974, Neumeier’s Romeo and Juliet premiered in Hamburg as his first full-length ballet with the company.

In 1977, Rudolf Nureyev created a new version of Romeo and Juliet for the London

Score

In addition to a usual set of instruments, the ballet also includes a tenor saxophone. This instrument provides a special sound to the orchestra because it plays alone and with other instruments. Prokofiev also included the cornet, viola d'amore, and mandolins in the ballet, giving the music an Italian style.

The complete list of instruments used includes:

The score is published by Muzyka and the Russian State Publisher.

List of acts, scenes, and musical numbers.

Orchestral suites taken from the work

Note that because of how the music is arranged, the titles of the numbers in all three suites may not match exactly with those in the complete ballet.

• Folk Dance
• Scene (The Street Awakens)
• Madrigal
• Minuet (The Arrival of the Guests)
• Masks
• Romeo and Juliet (Balcony Scene and Love Dance)
• Death of Tybalt (Includes parts from Numbers 33, 6, 35, and 36 from the complete score)

• Montagues and Capulets (The Prince Gives His Order and Dance of the Knights)
• Juliet as a Young Girl
• Friar Laurence (Romeo at Friar Laurence's)
• Dance (Dance of the Five Couples)
• Romeo and Juliet Before Parting
• Dance of the Girls with Lilies
• Romeo at Juliet's Tomb (Juliet's Grave)

• Romeo at the Fountain (Introduction & Romeo)
• Morning Dance
• Juliet (Juliet's Variation & Juliet at Friar Laurence's)
• The Nurse (Preparing for the Ball & The Nurse)
• Aubade (Morning Serenade)
• The Death of Juliet

Ten Pieces for Piano, Op. 75

Prokofiev created a piano version of some music from the ballet Romeo and Juliet called Ten Pieces for Piano, Op. 75. These pieces were performed in 1936 and 1937.

• Folk Dance
• Scene: The Street Awakens
• Minuet: Arrival of the Guests
• Juliet as a Young Girl
• Masquers
• Montagues and Capulets
• Friar Laurence
• Mercutio
• Dance of the Girls with Lilies
• Romeo and Juliet before Parting

Recordings

Sergei Prokofiev recorded music from the ballet with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in 1938. Later, recordings of the full score and shorter musical pieces from the ballet were made. Leopold Stokowski led the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an early stereo recording in 1954. Gennady Rozhdestvensky and the Symphony Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre recorded the full score in 1959. In 1973, André Previn with the London Symphony Orchestra and Lorin Maazel with the Cleveland Orchestra each recorded the complete score. These recordings allowed Western audiences to hear the full score on disc for the first time and became important references. Erich Leinsdorf conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in a high-quality recording of short pieces for the Sheffield Lab label in 1978. Michael Tilson Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1995, recording selections from the score for RCA Victor. Georg Solti conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a recording that included the Classical Symphony. Valery Gergiev recorded the ballet twice: once with the Kirov Orchestra in 1990 and again with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2011.