Music Set #274 - Tchaikovsky - Romeo & Juliet

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
/ˈpiːtər ˈɪlɨtʃ tʃaɪˈkɒfski/ (1840 – 1893)

Romeo & Juliet

Love Theme :

An orchestral work styled Overture-Fantasy :

The work is based on 3 main strands of the Shakespeare story:

1. The first strand is the introduction of Friar Laurence - The Friar Laurence theme. Eventually a single B minor chord passed back and forth between strings and woodwinds grows into ...
  
2. the second strand, the agitated theme of the warring Capulets and Montagues, including a reference to the sword fight, with the forceful irregular rhythms of the street music. The action suddenly slows, and we hear the opening bars of ,,,
  

at Juliet's balcony 

3. the third strand, the "love theme", passionate and yearning in character but always with an underlying current of anxiety. The love theme signifies the couple first meeting and the scene at Juliet's balcony. The English horn represents Romeo, while the flutes represent Juliet. 
     Then the battling strand returns with the Friar Laurence Theme. The strings enter with a lush, hovering melody over which the flute and oboe eventually soar with the love theme once again, signaling the development section and their consummated marriage, and finally two large orchestra hits with cymbal crashes signal the suicide of the two lovers. 
     A final battle theme is played, then a soft, slow dirge ensues, with timpani playing a repeated triplet pattern. The woodwinds play a sweet homage to the lovers, and a final allusion to the love theme brings in the climax, beginning with a huge crescendo roll of the timpani, and the orchestra plays homophonic shouts before the final bar, with full orchestra belting out a powerful B natural to close the overture.