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Billie Rainley Patterson
Mrs. Stevens
Honors Communications 10
April 5, 2011
Frustrated, Pyotr Tchaikovsky sat down at the piano once again and reviewed his friend’s
suggestions. Ten years had passed, and all of his work seemed to have been in vain. In spite of the
bleak future he felt this piece of music had, he continued to revise his current creation. Only a small
amount of information was known worldwide about this Russian composer, Tchaikovsky, until Romeo
and Juliet was published. Tchaikovsky’s work was not completely accepted at the beginning when it was
first heard publicly, but recognition and the eventual appreciation inspired him to develop even more
aspiring pieces. William Shakespeare’s works brought Tchaikovsky’s talent as a composer to new
heights. The music he wrote in relation to this experience inspired countless more composers for
generations to come. When Tchaikovsky attempted to compile an orchestral piece of Romeo and Juliet,
a gradual journey to publish a well, accepted musical piece was taken. Requiring an abundance of effort
and application, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's progressive development of the orchestral work Romeo and
Juliet has provided society with a musical composition that brings to life the true tragedies within one of
Shakespeare’s earliest works.
By the age of twenty-eight, Professor Tchaikovsky had written his first symphony as well as
having published an opera. His next accomplishment was his composition of a symphonic poem
entitled Fatum. Tchaikovsky was pleased with the presentation of Fatum when it was conducted in
Moscow, and dedicated it to a colleague, Mily Balakirev. However, with negative remarks, Balakirev
wrote to Tchaikovsky of recommendations for him to revise the piece. After discarding not only Fatum
but another opera he was working on, Tchaikovsky was completely frustrated in his music-writing
career. At this time, Balakirev alternatively recommended that Tchaikovsky use Balakirev’s own
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overture, King Lear, as a model for writing a piece based on William Shakespeare’s King Lear was written
as a tragic overture in sonata form. Although Tchaikovsky insisted, “I’m completely burned out” (Romeo
and Juliet (Tchaikovsky), Wikipedia), Balakirev persisted that he take on the feat. The decision to bring
forth his King Lear piece was wise because Balakirev was aware that Tchaikovsky struggled with
unstructured musical forms. Tchaikovsky planned on taking King Lear’s plot and reducing it to just one
central conflict with a sonata’s binary structure. Even with a plan on how to construct the music, harder
and more wearisome work was still to come.
Tchaikovsky’s first version of Romeo and Juliet was much simpler than the version known today
and had numerous concepts in which to improve. Essentially, the piece had an opening fugato and two
theme confrontations.1 Although Balakirev wrote to Tchaikovsky, “I play it often, and I want very much
to hug you for it” (Romeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky), Wikipedia), Balakirev disposed of an innumerable
amount of Tchaikovsky’s early drafts. In the beginning, Balakirev was most disappointed that the
opening part of the piece sounded more like a Hayden quartet than a Liszt chorale, like he originally
suggested. Because of Balakirev’s plentiful suggestions and Tchaikovsky’s numerous revisions, the two
were constantly mailing different drafts between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Taking into consideration
only some of Balakirev’s ideas, Tchaikovsky completed the work and dedicated it to Balakirev.
The piece was performed for the first time on March 16, 1870. Nevertheless, everything did not
go as Tchaikovsky had planned. Tchaikovsky’s friend, Nikolai Rubinstein, was the conductor of the piece.
When Rubinstein presented himself on the concert platform, a noisy, rowdy demonstration from the
audience took place. This occurred due to the fact that, the previous day, the court found a case against
Rubinstein involving him and female student. Due to this incident, expressing their opinions of the court
case was higher on the crowd’s interest rather than conveying their thoughts or appreciation of the
musical piece. When speaking about the premiere, Tchaikovsky said, “After the concert we dined…No
1
A fugato is a contrapuntal composition with two or more harmonically independent voices.
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one said a single word to me about the overture the whole evening. And yet I yearned so for
appreciation and kindness” (Kamien 254). Tchaikovsky may have thought that the night was to be a
success earlier that day, but there were many more years to pass before such a day could come.
Tchaikovsky’s first failure on Romeo and Juliet caused him to make necessary adjustments to perfect the
musical arrangement. These adjustments involved completely accepting Balakirev’s critiques. By taking
his suggestions into consideration, Tchaikovsky also had to push beyond the boundaries of his
structured musical training and utilize concepts like those used in music writing today. This revision
included a crucial change that added to the unique qualities of the song. Tchaikovsky chose to leave the
love theme out of the development section of the song. Instead, he saved the love theme to conflict
with the first theme in the second half of the recapitulation. By doing this, the love theme is protected
from the violence of the first theme in the exposition and, additionally, destroyed by the same first
theme in the recapitulation. Instead of following the expected form of a sonata, Tchaikovsky’s change
caused the climax of the catastrophe to occur in the recapitulation instead of occurring in the expected
development section. 2
During this time of revision, Rubinstein became extremely impressed with Tchaikovsky’s talents
in musical composition, especially Romeo and Juliet. In 1870, Rubinstein arranged for the publishing
house, Bote and Bock, to publish the piece. The idea was exciting due to the fact that Tchaikovsky’s
music was not well known in Germany. Even so, Balakirev expressed that he believed Tchaikovsky was
rushing the process of publishing the piece. Nonetheless, on February 17, 1872, the second version of
Romeo and Juliet, under Eduard Nápravník, was premiered in St. Petersburg.
For the third and final version of Romeo and Juliet, Tchaikovsky altered the ending of the piece and
designated the sub-title to be called “Overture-Fantasia.” It had been ten years since the first edited
edition of the composition was played publicly. Although he completed it on September 10, 1880,
2
A dramatic pyramid is formed when producing a sonata. Within the pyramid are three primary sections that
begin with the exposition, moving to the development, and ending with the recapitulation.
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Romeo and Juliet premiered on May 1, 1886 under Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov in Tbilisi, Georgia. When
the love theme song is now played, it is the third, official rendition that Tchaikovsky presented. The
earlier, previous versions are only performed for the account of historic interest.
When the final version of Romeo and Juliet was presented, the piece was not accepted in neither Europe
nor Russia. Listeners and critics looked down upon Russian composers. In fact, Russian composers were
thought of as nothing more than even barbarians during the time period. Due to the unaccustomedly,
dramatic changes of the piece, European listeners were not pleased with the composition. In addition,
the sonata form did not appeal to the listeners either. Twice again, Tchaikovsky had to revise the piece
before listeners finally accepted it. The kuchka, also known as “The Five,” enthusiastically expressed
their liking of the song. After acceptance of the unique nature of the piece, Romeo and Juliet was finally
being thoroughly enjoyed by an eclectic group of people. Today, it has been used in a variety of movies
and TV shows including Kim Possible, Scrubs, South Park, A Christmas Story, Spongebob Squarepants,
and Sesame Street.
Although Romeo and Juliet had the overall construction of a symphonic poem in sonata form,
each chord and strand was created with significant meaning behind the tragic story of William
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Based on Balakirev’s recommendation, the first strand of the musical
arrangement represents the virtuous Friar Laurence by employing F-sharp minor. With a D natural in the
bass, one individual B minor chord allows a second B minor chord to be played in the song. The tension
created by passing the chords alternately between the strings and woodwinds conveys the feud
between the Capulets and Montagues. Within this disagreement, the sword fight references can be
transmitted. The vigorous, uneven patterns eventually drop from B minor to a D flat as the action
eventually comes to a slow rhythm. Within the slow rhythm comes the love theme. The love theme
expresses the longing, desire, and fervor with tones of anxiety still being present. The first encounter
between the couple and the balcony scene are incorporated within the love theme. Even so, the battling
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strand becomes present again with even more strength and vigor than before. D major is used to signal
the development section, and the marriage between Romeo and Juliet when both the flutes and oboes
are pronounced. With two cymbal crashes to express the doomed lovers’ suicide, a final feuded theme
is played softly in B major. The woodwinds are played to create an appealing reverence to Romeo and
Juliet. A huge crescendo develops in B natural along with a B major chord immediately before the final
bar of the music. To finally end the breathtaking overture, the complete orchestra joins together to belt
out a powerful B natural finish.
Through the vigorous, avant-garde work and determination of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a
phenomenal musical composition, depicting Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, came to exist in the
musical world. With the help of Balakirev’s persuasive personality and persistence along with other
supportive persons, the piece was revised and labored upon for years to create such a masterpiece.
Tchaikovsky pushed beyond his normal limits and previously learned concepts to break limitations
previously set in music. By using this composer’s musical talent to its full potential, Peter Ilyich
Tchaikovsky was able to transform Romeo and Juliet into a musical piece that set the stage for many
more irreplaceable works of music. Whether it is the next time you are watching a movie or the next
time you are simply listening to a TV show that is on in the other room, do not be surprised to hear the
melodic music of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet being played in the background. The astonishing,
dramatic piece of music will run melodically through your mind over and over again even after the song
commences.
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Works Cited
"Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky." Nettrekker.com. 2001. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/composer/tchaikovsky.html>.
"Romeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Mar. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet_(Tchaikovsky)>.
Thomas, Henry, and Dana L. Thomas. "Tchaikovsky." Living Biographies of Great Composers. Garden
City, New York: Garden City, 1940. 238+. Print.