Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet

Download or read book Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet written by Deborah A. Wilson and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet is best known in the version first presented at the Kirov Theater in Leningrad, on January 11, 1940, with choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky. Frequently overlooked is an earlier score, commissioned by the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and completed in 1935, which differs significantly from the commonly known 1940 variant. To this day, the 1935 version of Romeo and Juliet, which contains a happy ending where Romeo and Juliet both live, has never been performed. This dissertation explores the history of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and the complicated process that resulted in the world-wide acceptance of Lavrovsky's 1940 staging as the legitimate version of the ballet, despite Prokofiev's protests. This dissertation debunks the general view that Prokofiev did not face censure or direct criticism in 1936, after the publication of two editorials in Pravda criticizing the music of Shostakovich and other Soviet composers. This study presents evidence that indicates this is untrue, that a planned 1936 production of Romeo and Juliet at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow was cancelled out of fear and caution in the aftermath of the two Pravda editorials. Romeo and Juliet is viewed in this dissertation as an on-going project rather than as a fixed and final product, as it is usually regarded. The project is considered in the larger context of the social, political and artistic environments of the time. The manuscript scores I worked with are compared to known printed scores, and the discrepancies are discussed and analyzed. The dissertation also brings to light a number of pre-compositional documents that were previously unknown. Two opposite interpretations of Prokofiev's return to the Soviet Union in the 1930s have resulted in disparate political agendas viewing it as a turning point in Prokofiev's career. Western musicologists traditionally have viewed it as a mistake, while Soviet scholars have seen it as the beginning of his richest creative period. This dissertation, using Romeo and Juliet as a case study, challenges the notion of a significant shift in Prokofiev's compositional style, showing instead the remarkable continuity of the compositions written before and after his return.