Romeo and Juliet

Tchaikovsky's Ouverture-fantaisie on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ranks among the most significant symphonic poems of Russian Romanticism. The work was composed in 1869 in close collaboration with Mily Balakirev, the leader of the Russian composer group "The Mighty Handful," who provided the young Tchaikovsky with both the subject matter and structural advice. The definitive third version of 1881 shows the composer at the height of his orchestral mastery.

The score characteristically combines Western European formal tradition with the typically Russian predilection for grand gestures and intense emotionality. Tchaikovsky's musical language already displays here that melodic inventiveness and orchestral splendor that would distinguish his later symphonies and ballets. The strings in particular are led to passionate declarations, while the brass creates dramatic climaxes of impressive force.

As one of Tchaikovsky's first significant orchestral compositions, Romeo and Juliet is regarded today as a milestone on the path toward the emancipation of Russian music from German models, without sacrificing international comprehensibility.