Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet (First version) (with Score)

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet (First version), TH 42, ČW 39 (with Score) Composed: 1869 Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski Orchestra: Russian National Orchestra 00:00 Andante non troppo 04:21 Allegro giusto 06:31 (“Love theme“) 09:24 (Theme of the warring Capulets and Montagues) 12:18 (“Love theme“) 14:04 Moderato assai 14:40 Allegro moderato (Tempo di macia) Romeo and Juliet, TH 42, ČW 39, is an orchestral work composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is styled an Overture-Fantasy, and is based on Shakespeare’s play of the same name. The first version of Romeo and Juliet contained basically an opening fugato and a confrontation of the two themes—exactly what an academically trained composer might be expected to produce. While Balakirev responded to the love theme by writing Tchaikovsky, “I play it often, and I want very much to hug you for it“, he also discarded many of the early drafts Tchaikovsky sent him—the opening, for instance, sounded more like a Haydn quartet than the Liszt chorale he had suggested initially—and the piece was constantly in the mail between Moscow and St. Petersburg, going to Tchaikovsky or Balakirev. Tchaikovsky accepted some, but not all, of Balakirev’s nagging, and completed the work, dedicating it to Balakirev. The first performance on March 16, 1870 was hindered by a sensational court case surrounding the conductor, Tchaikovsky’s friend Nikolai Rubinstein, and a female student. The court had found against the eminent musician the previous day, and this incited a noisy demonstration in his favour when he appeared on the concert platform, which proved much more interesting to the audience than the new overture. The result was not encouraging as a premiere for Romeo and Juliet. Tchaikovsky said of the premiere: “After the concert we dined.... No one said a single word to me about the overture the whole evening. And yet I yearned so for appreciation and kindness.“