Run Time: Approx. 20 Minutes

Shakespeare’s cherished story of star-crossed lovers has been explored throughout the arts, inspiring countless books, movies, paintings, and, of course, musical compositions. The timeless tale has attracted many composers including Prokofiev, Berlioz, Gounod, and Bernstein. But perhaps the most famous musical retelling is from Tchaikovsky.

One of his greatest works, the ill-fated love story between Romeo and Juliet is vividly borne out in just 20 minutes of music. Tchaikovsky begins the tale with an extended introduction, setting the scene and introducing Friar Lawrence. The somber opening chords played by the woodwinds state the friar’s theme and are written in the style of a four-part church hymn. As Tchaikovsky develops this concept, the tone grows ominous and foreshadowing. The music builds and with a strike of the timpani, transitions into a fiery episode colored by fast passages in the strings and great strikes by the brass and percussion. This new music represents the conflict between the Capulets and the Montagues. Tchaikovsky was a prolific composer of ballet music and here one can clearly envision dancers sashaying across the stage in an epic sword battle.

But the frenetic interlude quickly dissipates, and we finally arrive at the tender love theme between our two main characters. The sweeping melody is brilliantly juxtaposed over a tentative ostinato which echoes the nervous heartbeats of the young lovers. The theme is passed around the orchestra but always played in pairs of instruments, fittingly representing the star-crossed couple’s first encounter.

Soon their moment is interrupted, and the conflict returns, first subtly stated by the horns but then building until it takes over. The two themes continue to chase each other around the orchestra, one interrupting the other as the lovers try desperately to unite amid the turmoil of their circumstances. The conflict grows more persistent and the love theme more desperate until they come to a head—the low strings and percussion bringing the orchestra to a halt with a dramatic descent.

As the story wraps up, Tchaikovsky returns to the music of Friar Lawrence, played once again by the woodwinds. Just as in Shakespeare’s story, the friar finds the pair after Romeo is already dead. When Juliet awakes and the friar realizes what has happened, he leaves her alone with Romeo’s dagger to decide her fate. Here, Tchaikovsky returns us to the tender, aching love theme, uttered one last time by the strings. The music ascends, seeming to float off into the distance, and with a roll and final strike of the timpani, Juliet dies, and the story is over.