ROMEO

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Andy Orin, Margaret Wood Mari Suzuki, Nikki
Saucedo
IHUM 51 Transformations
3 December 2003
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Origins of Romeo Juliet

• First published in 1597
• Arthur Brooke first brought the story of Romeus
  and Juliet to English (1562)
• Many plot points directly from Brooke
• Pyramus and Thisbe (Greek Mythology)

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Music
Transformations of Romeo Juliet
Tchaikovskys
Romeo and Juliet fantasy-overture
Source inkpot.com/classical/people/
tchaikovsky.jpg
4
Introduction
Tchaikovskys of Romeo Juliet

• depicts Friar Lawrence
• Quiet chorale with clarinets and bassoons
• Slow and calm
• Minor chords forebode trouble

Audio CD
Windows Media Player
MusicMatch
5
The Fight
Tchaikovskys of Romeo Juliet

• Feud between Capulets and Montagues
• Represents clashing swords
• broken up, fast-moving notes
• Sharp accents

Source www.celebhost.net/tonyrusso/pic4.jpg
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Love Theme
Tchaikovskys of Romeo Juliet

• English horn and violas commence
• Woodwinds and strings in near unison
• Passionate, dark color (D-flat major)

Source www.theatrehistory.com/british/
romeoandjuliet.jpg
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Finale
Tchaikovskys of Romeo Juliet

• Funeral march
• Recapitulation
• dissonance
• Prominent low notes
• Sharp finalizing notes

Source www.augustaballet.org/Pages/
Photo20History.html
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Transformations of Romeo Juliet
Ballet

• 1811-Denmark, Romeo og Giulietta
• 1940-Russia, choreography by Lavrovsky and music
  by Sergei Prokofiev
• 1979-Bolshoi, choreography by Yuri Grigorovich
  and music by Sergei Prokofiev

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Ballet as an artistic medium

• use of pantomime and dance
• enhancement of emotion -LOVE
• choreographic motives
• specific scenes
• --introduction of Juliet
• --balcony sequence
• --death sequence

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Transformations of Romeo Juliet
Film

• First released on November 1, 1996
• Produced by Baz Luhrmann
• Retains Shakespeares original plot
• Some text has been cut, but nothing has been
  added (1/3 of the dialogue)

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Luhrmanns Version

• Is no longer a 15th century drama
• Transposed to modern day Verona Beach
• Downtown LA-style cityscape, a run-down,
  half-derelict urban setting
• Maintains the divisions of Montague and Capulet
  (families become corporations)
• Dialogue remains faithful to the text in many
  respects (Elizabethan dialogue)
• Doublets and hoses now become retro-seventies
  costumes (Romeos Hawaiian shirts, Tybalts
  leather pants, etc.)
• Instead of swords, characters, carry 9mm
  automatics emblazoned with brand names such as
  sword or rapier

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Luhrmanns Version

• Montagues and Capulets ride around in low-rider
  gang cars (gang-like appeal)
• Television used as major mode of communication
  (NewscastersChorus)
• Giant skyscrapers
• Utilizes items that may have been rather risque
  for original setting (Mercutio in drag)
• Drugs are a technicality (ecstasy pill)
• Clear distinction of race (Mercutio is black,
  Montagues are Hispanic, Capulets are Caucasian

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Luhrmanns Version

• Rap music
• Religion plays an important role (Juliets
  statues, Christ status in Verona Beach, Montague
  and Capulets guns)
• May resemble an actual performance of a
  Shakespeare play (camera angles)
• Modern day setting dilutes the tragedy

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Transformations of Romeo Juliet
Painting

• Frederic Lord Leighton,1853-55

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Sources

• Tchaikovsky inkpot.com/classical/people/
  tchaikovsky.jpg
• Parry www.celebhost.net/tonyrusso/pic4.jpg
• www.augustaballet.org/Pages/ Photo20History.html
  
• www.pittsburghsymphony.org/education/supplements/s
  uppmaterials
• www.andrews.edu/mack/pnotes/oct1301.html
• www.billingssymphony.org/notes/sept.html
• www.barbwired.com/barbweb/programs/tchaikovsky_rom
  eo.html
• www.grantparkmusicfestival.com/program_03-06-18.ht
  ml
• www.cso.org/pye_program_notes_2004_week6.taf
• www.theatrehistory.com/british/
  romeoandjuliet.jpg

Bolshoi at the Bolshoi Romeo and Juliet. Music
by Sergei Prokofiev. Revised choreography by Yuri
Grigorovich. Featuring Irek Mukhamedov and
Natalya Bessmertnova. Spectacor, 1989. Center
Stage. Written by Carol Heikkinen. Produced by
Laurence Mark. Directed by Nicholas Hynter.
Columbia Pictures, 2000. Howard, Camille Cole.
The Staging of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet as
a Ballet. San Francisco Mellen Research
University Press, 1992. Shakespeare, William.
Romeo and Juliet. New York Dover Publications,
Inc., 1993.