Page 19 - The Phil Opening Night program

PROGRAM NOTES

SERGE PROKOFIEV (1891 — 1953)
Romeo and Juliet, Suite No. 2

Sergei Prokofiev’s life was largely overshadowed by that of Stalin, who ruled the
Soviet Union for most of his adult life and died on the same day as the composer.
Prokofiev traveled widely during the early 20th century as a highly respected
concert pianist, and Romeo and Juliet was written after nine years of voluntary
exile from the U.S.S.R. (mainly in the United States and France). He went on to
complete more than twenty operas and ballets. Working mostly with the modern
Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein, he fashioned eight film scores, including the
Alexander Nevsky choral cantata and music for Ivan the Terrible [completed 1946,
released 1958]).
Toward the end of 1934, the Kirov Theater (Leningrad) hinted that it might
stage a ballet by Prokofiev. In his 1946 biographical sketch, Prokofiev wrote with
characteristic dry detachment: “I was interested in a lyrical subject. Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet was suggested, but the Kirov backed out and I signed a contract
with the Moscow Bolshoi Theater instead. In the spring of 1935 [while living
in Paris], [Sergei] Radlov [a theater director renowned for his Shakespeare
productions] and I worked out a scenario, consulting with the choreographer
[Leonid Lavrovsky] on questions of ballet technique.” Prokofiev quickly finished
the score, but the Bolshoi declared it impossible to dance to, so the premiere had
to wait for the Brno (Czechoslovakia) Opera in December 1938. Since Prokofiev
was a member of the Christian Science faith, in which the concept of death does
not exist, his earliest conception of the plot was to end happily, with Friar Laurence
intervening to save the young lovers (he famously explained, “Living people can
dance, the dead cannot.”). Stalin disagreed, and it was repeatedly revised for 1940
and 1946 Soviet performances. The complete, original version (edited by Princeton
professor Simon Morrison) was presented at the 2008 Bard Summerscape festival.
The seven excerpts we hear in Prokofiev’s Suite No. 2 show how a great composer
shaped character, communicated emotion, and captured the dramatic sweep of one
of the world’s great love stories. The opening “Montagues and Capulets” theme
comes from the Act One ballroom scene in Verona where the two families meet,
feud, and dance. Juliet’s theme is full of repeated, symmetrical phrases: it portrays
the young girl’s reflection in a mirror. Friar Laurence’s gentle, sympathetic theme
contrasts with a vigorous carnival dance from the original Act Two street scene.
The final section of the suite begins with the intimate balcony scene and evolves
into a sultry dance from Act Three. The emotional conclusion is a miniature tone
poem depicting the young lovers in the tomb. Michael Tilson Thomas has called
the ballet “a great lyrical symphonic epic, one in which Prokofiev used his unique
gift for beautiful melody to give life to all the characters. Definite motifs are

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