Hector Berlioz’ symphonie dramatique Roméo et Juliette was composed in 1839 and was premiered one year later. The text was written by Émile Deschamps, who turned to David Garrick’s treatment of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
In this work, Berlioz confirmed his reputation as the heir to Beethoven, whose Ninth Symphony also hints at the scale of Roméo et Juliette (at the premiere, the orchestra consisted of one hundred and sixty musicians) and the idea to use a chorus and soloists. Roméo is thus halfway between a symphony and an opera.
Berlioz selected key scenes from Shakespeare’s tragedy, but he placed the accents individually, like a true Romantic. The choral introduction and the finale frame three symphonic movements that are the most famous parts of the symphony: Grande fête chez Capulet, Scène d'amour, Juliette sur le balcon et Roméo dans l'ombre, La reine Mab, reine des songes (scherzo). Most of all, the finale with Father Lorenzo’s aria and the choral Oath of Reconciliation come close to the operatic stage.
Already in the 19th century, the symphony Roméo et Juliette had won acclaim from Russian audiences. Unsurprisingly, echoes of Berlioz can be heard even in Swan Lake.
Anna Bulycheva
| | Richard Strauss. Metamorphosen. (1945)
This grandiose adagio for twenty-three instruments is one of the most personal and touching works in the composer’s entire musical legacy. The direct reason for its being written lay in the tragic events of the last few months of World War II, of which the German maestro wrote to his friend Joseph Gregor: “I am in a despairing mood! Goethe’s home has been destroyed, that wonderful holy place in this world! My beautiful Dresden – Weimar – Munich, all in ruins!” Strauss did not conceal the programme idea of the piece, which was to be a farewell the great culture of Germany, of which the composer saw himself as the last representative, and at the same time is was a reflection of his own past life. In Metamorphosen there are motifs of a sad prayer for the dead that form the work’s core, and there are many musical allusions – King Marke’s theme from Wagner’s Tristan and Mandryka’s theme from Arabella, written together with the great playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The unique motto of the work comes with the theme of the Funeral March from Beethoven’s symphony Eroica, the most unambiguous work which the composer adorned with the words “In memoriam”.
Nadezhda Kulygina |
