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Notes for the 2020 Winter Concert
Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy-Overture (1881)
Peter I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Tchaikovsky composed Romeo and Juliet in the autumn of 1869 and rewrote it in the summer of 1970. It was first published in 1871. Ten years later, he revised and republished the score. It is the 1881 version that is universally used. The composition of the overture and even some musical ideas were suggested by Mily Balakirev, to whom the work is dedicated.
The piece is in the form of a concert overture in sonata-allegro form, yet still has themes associated with the Shakespeare play. The opening introduction is representative of Friar Laurence meditating in his cell. The first theme of the exposition represents the fighting and dueling between the families. The second theme is the famous love theme associated with the title characters. The development section is a fantasia based on the themes already presented. There is then a recapitulation with a return of the two themes. The final coda uses a variation of the love theme to represent an apotheosis of Romeo and Juliet, united in death. [C.J., from notes printed on the score.]
Thrice-Told Tales [Act I}
Lorenzo Sandoval
“Montagues and Capulets” from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1936)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Prokofiev wrote his ballet Romeo and Juliet in 1936, but it went through a few revisions. Two suites were drawn from the score. The first movement of the second suite is title “Montagues and Capulets.” There is a brief introduction taken from the Prince of Verona’s warning to the warring families. This is followed by the Dance of the Knights. There is a softer interlude as Juliet dances with her fiancé, Paris. The more forceful music returns and provides the conclusion to the movement. [C.J.]
Romeo and Juliet, Op 17 (1839)
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
The almost mimetic vividness of the introduction, one of the hallmarks of the orchestral music in Roméo et Juliette, plunges the listener immediately into the action of the play (not unlike the opening of Les Troyens). An electrifying fugato depicts the fighting of the Capulets and Montagues, which is then quelled by the intervention of the Prince, represented by an imposing recitative of the brass. The disturbances subside, if only temporarily. As well as introducing the listener to the theme of conflict and eventual reconciliation which pervades the work, Berlioz sets out the distinctive musical features of the symphony, which combines instrumental and vocal movements: the orchestral introduction is followed by a recitative of the small chorus which outlines the main elements of the story and includes two vocal numbers, for contralto solo and for tenor and small chorus. The orchestral introduction also hints at the main thematic material of the work: the basic elements are contained in the opening theme of the violas, notably the rising arpeggio figure and the alternating semitone interval, with the upper or the lower note (the brass recitative in the Introduction is of course derived from the opening viola theme in augmentation). The tonal scheme of the introduction is also significant. In this work, B minor is the key of conflict, while B major is that of the restoration of order through the assertion of authority. The fugato starts in B minor. The Prince’s recitative moves through a sequence of keys to end in an emphatic B major. But the tonality quickly subsides into B minor and ends on the dominant F sharp. It is only in the Finale, with the intervention of Friar Lawrence, that B major will be re-established and bring the work to its majestic conclusion with the oath of reconciliation of Capulets and Montagues, which is itself built on a rising arpeggio figure. [Michael Austin, from the Hector Berlioz Website: http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/sromeo.htm, ed. C.J.]
Thrice-Told Tales [Act II}
Lorenzo Sandoval
“A Time for Us” (Love Theme) from Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Nino Rota (1911-1979), arr. by Robert Longfield
The famed Italian film composer “Nino” Rota produced more than 150 film scores in his half-decade long career. For the soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s famed film version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, released in 1968, Rota composed a neo-Elizabethan pop ballad, sung by a troubadour at the Capulet ball. This song, with words by American writer Eugene Walter, was originally titled “What Is a Youth?”, but soon after the film’s release was known more widely as the “Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet.” Henry Mancini recorded a popular instrumental arrangement of the song that topped the American pop charts in 1969. Later, other singers from Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams to Donny Osmond, Josh Groban, and Luciano Pavarotti have performed the song with alternate lyrics, mostly under the title “A Time for Us.” These new lyrics are a close paraphrase of Steven Sondheim’s lyrics for “Somewhere,” from Bernstein’s West Side Story, a similar song that captures the underlying emotions of the Romeo and Juliet story in more modern times.
West Side Story Selection for Orchestra (1957)
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), arr. Jack Mason
The updating of the Romeo and Juliet tale to 1950s New York is now regarded as one of the truly iconic Broadway musicals. West Side Story established the requirements for today’s triple-threat performers. To appear on Broadway now, one must be an actor/singer/dancer. Prior to West Side Story this was not necessarily the case. Replete with memorable melodies, the work is unified by some less obvious musical ideas. To create a tension throughout the work, Bernstein used the interval of a tri-tone (an augmented fourth or diminished fifth), which was known in the Middle Ages as the “devil in music” for its dissonance. Its use in such varied songs as “Maria” and “Cool” only shows how cleverly Bernstein was able to subtly create tension under vastly different dramatic circumstances. Jack Mason has included the following songs in his arrangement: “I Feel Pretty,” “Maria,” “Something’s Coming,” “Tonight,” “One Hand, One Heart,” “Cool,” and “America,”
Peter I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Tchaikovsky composed Romeo and Juliet in the autumn of 1869 and rewrote it in the summer of 1970. It was first published in 1871. Ten years later, he revised and republished the score. It is the 1881 version that is universally used. The composition of the overture and even some musical ideas were suggested by Mily Balakirev, to whom the work is dedicated.
The piece is in the form of a concert overture in sonata-allegro form, yet still has themes associated with the Shakespeare play. The opening introduction is representative of Friar Laurence meditating in his cell. The first theme of the exposition represents the fighting and dueling between the families. The second theme is the famous love theme associated with the title characters. The development section is a fantasia based on the themes already presented. There is then a recapitulation with a return of the two themes. The final coda uses a variation of the love theme to represent an apotheosis of Romeo and Juliet, united in death. [C.J., from notes printed on the score.]
Thrice-Told Tales [Act I}
Lorenzo Sandoval
“Montagues and Capulets” from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1936)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Prokofiev wrote his ballet Romeo and Juliet in 1936, but it went through a few revisions. Two suites were drawn from the score. The first movement of the second suite is title “Montagues and Capulets.” There is a brief introduction taken from the Prince of Verona’s warning to the warring families. This is followed by the Dance of the Knights. There is a softer interlude as Juliet dances with her fiancé, Paris. The more forceful music returns and provides the conclusion to the movement. [C.J.]
Romeo and Juliet, Op 17 (1839)
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
The almost mimetic vividness of the introduction, one of the hallmarks of the orchestral music in Roméo et Juliette, plunges the listener immediately into the action of the play (not unlike the opening of Les Troyens). An electrifying fugato depicts the fighting of the Capulets and Montagues, which is then quelled by the intervention of the Prince, represented by an imposing recitative of the brass. The disturbances subside, if only temporarily. As well as introducing the listener to the theme of conflict and eventual reconciliation which pervades the work, Berlioz sets out the distinctive musical features of the symphony, which combines instrumental and vocal movements: the orchestral introduction is followed by a recitative of the small chorus which outlines the main elements of the story and includes two vocal numbers, for contralto solo and for tenor and small chorus. The orchestral introduction also hints at the main thematic material of the work: the basic elements are contained in the opening theme of the violas, notably the rising arpeggio figure and the alternating semitone interval, with the upper or the lower note (the brass recitative in the Introduction is of course derived from the opening viola theme in augmentation). The tonal scheme of the introduction is also significant. In this work, B minor is the key of conflict, while B major is that of the restoration of order through the assertion of authority. The fugato starts in B minor. The Prince’s recitative moves through a sequence of keys to end in an emphatic B major. But the tonality quickly subsides into B minor and ends on the dominant F sharp. It is only in the Finale, with the intervention of Friar Lawrence, that B major will be re-established and bring the work to its majestic conclusion with the oath of reconciliation of Capulets and Montagues, which is itself built on a rising arpeggio figure. [Michael Austin, from the Hector Berlioz Website: http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/sromeo.htm, ed. C.J.]
Thrice-Told Tales [Act II}
Lorenzo Sandoval
“A Time for Us” (Love Theme) from Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Nino Rota (1911-1979), arr. by Robert Longfield
The famed Italian film composer “Nino” Rota produced more than 150 film scores in his half-decade long career. For the soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s famed film version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, released in 1968, Rota composed a neo-Elizabethan pop ballad, sung by a troubadour at the Capulet ball. This song, with words by American writer Eugene Walter, was originally titled “What Is a Youth?”, but soon after the film’s release was known more widely as the “Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet.” Henry Mancini recorded a popular instrumental arrangement of the song that topped the American pop charts in 1969. Later, other singers from Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams to Donny Osmond, Josh Groban, and Luciano Pavarotti have performed the song with alternate lyrics, mostly under the title “A Time for Us.” These new lyrics are a close paraphrase of Steven Sondheim’s lyrics for “Somewhere,” from Bernstein’s West Side Story, a similar song that captures the underlying emotions of the Romeo and Juliet story in more modern times.
West Side Story Selection for Orchestra (1957)
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), arr. Jack Mason
The updating of the Romeo and Juliet tale to 1950s New York is now regarded as one of the truly iconic Broadway musicals. West Side Story established the requirements for today’s triple-threat performers. To appear on Broadway now, one must be an actor/singer/dancer. Prior to West Side Story this was not necessarily the case. Replete with memorable melodies, the work is unified by some less obvious musical ideas. To create a tension throughout the work, Bernstein used the interval of a tri-tone (an augmented fourth or diminished fifth), which was known in the Middle Ages as the “devil in music” for its dissonance. Its use in such varied songs as “Maria” and “Cool” only shows how cleverly Bernstein was able to subtly create tension under vastly different dramatic circumstances. Jack Mason has included the following songs in his arrangement: “I Feel Pretty,” “Maria,” “Something’s Coming,” “Tonight,” “One Hand, One Heart,” “Cool,” and “America,”
dues details
$20.00 per concert per each member that intends to perform at a concert. Does not include the Ballet
Payment can be made to:
Krista Baskerville
Carolyn Knittle
Fellowships are available for members who need financial help with dues - contact Krista or Carolyn to coordinate a fellowship
Payment can be made to:
Krista Baskerville
Carolyn Knittle
Fellowships are available for members who need financial help with dues - contact Krista or Carolyn to coordinate a fellowship
video game concert RECORDING
The recording for the video game concert performed on June 9th, 2019 is linked to below