Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy Overture

Composer: TCHAIKOVSKY, Peter Ilyich
  • Tchaikovsky composed Romeo i Dzul’etta (Romeo and Juliet), Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare, in 1869. He produced two more versions, one in 1870 and one in 1880.1
  • Mily Balakirev was a friend of Tchaikovsky, and he created the program for the Romeo and Juliet Concert Overture. It was Balakirev’s idea to structure the overture in Sonata-Allegro form, with the hymnlike introduction representing Friar Lawrence, the first theme representing the feuding families, and the second theme representing the two lovers.2 Tchaikovsky dedicated the overture to Balakirev.3 
  • The initial version premiered on March 16, 1870, in Moscow. Nikolai Rubinstein conducted the Moscow Musical Society in this performance.4

Sources

  1. Roland John Wiley, “Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il′yich,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed May 20, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051766.
  2. Ibid.
  3. “Romeo and Juliet (overture-fantasia) (Tchaikovsky, Pyotr),” IMSLP, accessed May 20, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet_(overture-fantasia)_(Tchaikovsky%2C_Pyotr).
  4. Ibid.

Cut IDs

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