Romeo and Juliet ballet staged by Lavrovsky. Ballet "Romeo and Juliet" by Sergei Prokofiev. Big drama and a happy ending. Prokofiev S. Ballet “Romeo and Juliet”

1. The history of the creation of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet"

The first major work, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, became a true masterpiece. His stage life had a difficult start. It was written in 1935-1936. The libretto was developed by the composer together with director S. Radlov and choreographer L. Lavrovsky (L. Lavrovsky staged the first production of the ballet in 1940 at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov). But the gradual adaptation to Prokofiev’s unusual music was still crowned with success. The ballet "Romeo and Juliet" was completed in 1936, but was conceived earlier. The fate of the ballet continued to develop complicatedly. At first there were difficulties in completing the ballet. Prokofiev, together with S. Radlov, while developing the script, thought about a happy ending, which caused a storm of indignation among Shakespeare scholars. The apparent disrespect for the great playwright was explained simply: “The reasons that pushed us to this barbarity were purely choreographic: living people can dance, dying people cannot dance lying down.” The decision to end the ballet tragically, like Shakespeare’s, was influenced most of all by the fact that in the music itself, in its final episodes there was no pure joy. The problem was resolved after conversations with the choreographers, when it turned out that “it was possible to resolve the fatal ending balletically.” However, the Bolshoi Theater violated the agreement, considering the music non-danceable. For the second time, the Leningrad Choreographic School refused the agreement. As a result, the first production of Romeo and Juliet took place in 1938 in Czechoslovakia, in the city of Brno. The ballet was directed by the famous choreographer L. Lavrovsky. The role of Juliet was danced by the famous G. Ulanova.

Although there have been attempts in the past to present Shakespeare on the ballet stage (for example, in 1926, Diaghilev staged the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” with music by the English composer C. Lambert), but none of them is considered successful. It seemed that if Shakespeare’s images could be embodied in opera, as was done by Bellini, Gounod, Verdi, or in symphonic music, as in Tchaikovsky, then in ballet, due to its genre specificity, it was impossible. In this regard, Prokofiev’s turn to Shakespeare’s plot was a bold step. However, the traditions of Russian and Soviet ballet prepared this step.

The appearance of the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” constitutes an important turning point in the work of Sergei Prokofiev. The ballet "Romeo and Juliet" became one of the most significant achievements in the search for a new choreographic performance. Prokofiev strives to embody living human emotions and affirm realism. Prokofiev's music clearly reveals the main conflict of Shakespeare's tragedy - the clash of bright love with the family feud of the older generation, characterizing the savagery of the medieval way of life. The composer created a synthesis in ballet - a fusion of drama and music, just as Shakespeare in his time combined poetry with dramatic action in Romeo and Juliet. Prokofiev's music conveys the subtlest psychological movements of the human soul, the richness of Shakespeare's thought, the passion and drama of his first of the most perfect tragedies. Prokofiev managed to recreate Shakespearean characters in the ballet in their diversity and completeness, deep poetry and vitality. The poetry of love of Romeo and Juliet, the humor and mischief of Mercutio, the innocence of the Nurse, the wisdom of Pater Lorenzo, the fury and cruelty of Tybalt, the festive and riotous color of Italian streets, the tenderness of the morning dawn and the drama of death scenes - all this is embodied by Prokofiev with skill and enormous expressive power.

The specifics of the ballet genre required enlargement of the action and its concentration. Cutting off everything secondary or secondary in the tragedy, Prokofiev focused his attention on the central semantic moments: love and death; fatal enmity between two families of the Verona nobility - the Montagues and the Capulets, which led to the death of the lovers. Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” is a richly developed choreographic drama with complex motivations for psychological states and an abundance of clear musical portraits and characteristics. The libretto concisely and convincingly shows the basis of Shakespeare's tragedy. It preserves the main sequence of scenes (only a few scenes are shortened - 5 acts of the tragedy are grouped into 3 large acts).

"Romeo and Juliet" is a deeply innovative ballet. Its novelty is also manifested in the principles of symphonic development. The symphonized dramaturgy of the ballet contains three different types.

The first is a conflictual opposition between the themes of good and evil. All heroes - bearers of good are shown in a diverse and multifaceted way. The composer presents evil in a more general way, bringing the themes of enmity closer to the themes of rock of the 19th century, and to some themes of evil of the 20th century. Themes of evil appear in all acts except the epilogue. They invade the world of heroes and do not develop.

The second type of symphonic development is associated with the gradual transformation of the images - Mercutio and Juliet, with the disclosure of the psychological states of the heroes and the demonstration of the internal growth of the images.

The third type reveals features of variation, variation, characteristic of Prokofiev’s symphony as a whole; it especially touches on lyrical themes.

All three named types in ballet are also subject to the principles of film editing, a special rhythm of frame action, techniques of close-up, medium and long shots, techniques of “dissolves”, sharp contrasting oppositions that give scenes a special meaning.

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The premiere of the “non-dance” ballet “Romeo and Juliet” to the music of Sergei Prokofiev in the USSR was postponed and banned for five years. It was first held on the stage of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after Kirov (today the Mariinsky Theater) in 1940. Today, the ballet-symphony is staged on the most famous theater stages in the world, and individual works from it are performed at classical music concerts.

Classic plot and “non-dance” music

Leonid Lavrovsky. Photo: fb.ru

Sergei Prokofiev. Photo: classic-music.ru

Sergei Radlov. Photo: peoples.ru

Sergei Prokofiev, world-famous pianist and composer, participant in the Russian Seasons enterprise of Sergei Diaghilev, returned to the USSR in the 1930s after long tours abroad. At home, the composer decided to write a ballet based on William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Usually Prokofiev himself created the libretto for his works and tried to preserve the original plot as much as possible. However, this time, Shakespeare scholar and artistic director of the Kirov Leningrad Theater Sergei Radlov and Adrian Piotrovsky, a playwright and famous theater critic, took part in writing the libretto for Romeo and Juliet.

In 1935, Prokofiev, Radlov and Piotrovsky completed work on the ballet, and the management of the Kirov Theater approved the music for it. However, the ending of the musical work differed from Shakespeare's: in the finale of the ballet, the characters not only remained alive, but also maintained their romantic relationship. Such an attempt on a classic plot caused bewilderment among the censors. The authors rewrote the script, but the production was still banned - allegedly because of the “non-dance” music.

Soon, the Pravda newspaper published critical articles on two works by Dmitry Shostakovich - the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and the ballet The Bright Stream. One of the publications was called “Confusion Instead of Music,” and the second was called “Ballet Falsity.” After such devastating reviews from the official publication, the management of the Mariinsky Theater could not take risks. The premiere of the ballet could cause not just discontent on the part of the authorities, but real persecution.

Two high-profile premieres

Ballet "Romeo and Juliet". Juliet - Galina Ulanova, Romeo - Konstantin Sergeev. 1939 Photo: mariinsky.ru

On the eve of the premiere: Isaiah Sherman, Galina Ulanova, Peter Williams, Sergei Prokofiev, Leonid Lavrovsky, Konstantin Sergeev. January 10, 1940. Photo: mariinsky.ru

Ballet "Romeo and Juliet". The final. Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after S.M. Kirov. 1940 Photo: mariinsky.ru

Culturologist Leonid Maksimenkov later wrote about Romeo and Juliet: “The censorship took place on top level- from the principle of expediency: in 1936, 1938, 1953 and so on. The Kremlin has always proceeded from the question: is such a thing needed at the moment?” And in fact, the question of staging was raised almost every year, but in the 1930s the ballet was shelved every year.

Its premiere took place only three years after it was written - in December 1938. Not in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but in the Czechoslovak city of Brno. The ballet was choreographed by Ivo Psota, who also danced the role of Romeo. The role of Juliet was performed by the Czech dancer Zora Shemberova.

In Czechoslovakia, the performance to Prokofiev's music was a great success, but for another two years the ballet was banned in the USSR. The production of Romeo and Juliet was allowed only in 1940. Serious passions flared up around the ballet. Prokofiev's innovative "non-ballet" music evoked real resistance from artists and musicians. The former could not get used to the new rhythm, and the latter were so afraid of failure that they even refused to play at the premiere - two weeks before the performance. There was even a joke among the creative team: “There is no sadder story in the world than Prokofiev’s music in ballet”. Choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky asked Prokofiev to change the score. After discussions, the composer finally added several new dances and dramatic episodes. The new ballet was significantly different from the one staged in Brno.

Leonid Lavrovsky himself was seriously preparing for work. He studied Renaissance artists in the Hermitage and read medieval novels. The choreographer later recalled: “In creating the choreographic image of the performance, I proceeded from the idea of contrasting the world of the Middle Ages with the world of the Renaissance, the collision of two systems of thinking, culture, and worldview.<...>Mercutio’s dances in the play were based on elements of folk dance... For the dance at the Capulet ball, I used the description of an authentic English dance of the 16th century, the so-called “Pillow Dance”.

The premiere of "Romeo and Juliet" in the USSR took place in Leningrad - on the stage of the Kirov Theater. The main roles were performed by the star ballet duo of the 1930s and 40s - Galina Ulanova and Konstantin Sergeev. The role of Juliet in Ulanova’s dance career is considered one of the best. The design of the performance corresponded to the high-profile premiere: the scenery for it was created by the famous theater designer Peter Williams. The ballet transported the viewer to the exquisite Renaissance era with antique furniture, tapestries, and dense expensive draperies. The production was awarded the Stalin Prize.

Productions of the Bolshoi Theater and foreign choreographers

Rehearsal of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet". Juliet - Galina Ulanova, Romeo - Yuri Zhdanov, Paris - Alexander Lapauri, chief choreographer - Leonid Lavrovsky. State Academic Bolshoi Theater. 1955 Photo: mariinsky.ru

Ballet "Romeo and Juliet". Juliet - Galina Ulanova, Romeo - Yuri Zhdanov. State Academic Bolshoi Theater. 1954 Photo: theatrehd.ru

Ballet "Romeo and Juliet". Juliet - Irina Kolpakova. Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov. 1975 Photo: mariinsky.ru

The next production of Romeo and Juliet took place after the Great Patriotic War - in December 1946 at the Bolshoi Theater. Two years earlier, by decision of the Central Committee, Galina Ulanova moved to the Bolshoi, and ballet “moved” with her. In total, the ballet was danced more than 200 times on the stage of the country's main theater; the leading female part was performed by Raisa Struchkova, Marina Kondratyeva, Maya Plisetskaya and other famous ballerinas.

In 1954, director Leo Arnstam, together with Leonid Lavrovsky, shot the ballet film Romeo and Juliet, which received a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Two years later, Moscow artists performed the ballet on tour in London and again created a sensation. Prokofiev's music was set to productions by foreign choreographers - Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolf Nureyev, John Neumeier. The ballet was staged in the largest European theaters - Opera de Paris, Milan's La Scala, London's Royal Theater in Covent Garden.

In 1975, the play began to be staged again in Leningrad. In 1980, the ballet troupe of the Kirov Theater toured Europe, the USA and Canada.

The original version of the ballet - with a happy ending - was released in 2008. As a result of research by Professor Simon Morrison of Princeton University, the original libretto was made public. It was staged by choreographer Mark Morris for the Bard College Music Festival in New York. During the tour, the artists performed the ballet on theater stages in Berkeley, Norfolk, London and Chicago.

Works from Romeo and Juliet, which musicologist Givi Ordzhonikidze calls a ballet-symphony, are often performed at classical music concerts. The numbers “Juliet the Girl”, “Montagues and Capulets”, “Romeo and Juliet before Separation”, “Dance of the Antillean Girls” became popular and independent.

Act I

Scene 1
Morning in Renaissance Verona. Romeo Montague meets the dawn. The city is gradually waking up; Romeo's two friends, Mercutio and Benvolio, appear. The market square is filled with people. The simmering feud between the Montague and Capulet families flares up when Tybalt, a member of the Capulet family, appears in the square. Innocent banter turns into a duel: Tybalt fights Benvolio and Mercutio.
Signor and Signora Capulet appear, as well as Signora Montague. The fight dies down for a while, but very soon all representatives of both families enter into battle. The Duke of Verona tries to exhort the combatants, his guard restores order. The crowd disperses, leaving the bodies of two dead young men in the square.

Scene 2
Juliet, the daughter of Signor and Signora Capulet, affectionately makes fun of the Nurse as she dresses her up for the ball. Her mother enters and reports that preparations are being made for Juliet's marriage to the young aristocrat Paris. Paris himself appears, accompanied by Juliet's father. The girl is not sure that she wants this marriage, but she politely greets Paris.

Scene 3
A luxurious ball in the Capulet house. The father introduces Juliet to the assembled guests. Hiding under masks, Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio secretly enter the ball. Romeo sees Juliet and falls in love with her at first sight. Juliet dances with Paris, after Romeo dances, Juliet dances with Paris, after Romeo dances, he reveals his feelings to her. Juliet immediately falls in love with him. Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, begins to suspect the intruder and rips off his mask. Romeo is exposed, Tybalt becomes furious and demands a duel, but Signor Capulet stops his nephew. The guests disperse, Tybalt warns Juliet to stay away from Romeo.

Scene 4
That same night, Romeo comes to Juliet's balcony. And Juliet goes down to him. Despite the obvious danger facing both, they exchange vows of love.

Act II

Scene 1
In the market square, Mercutio and Benvolio make fun of Romeo, who has lost his head from love. Juliet's Nurse appears and gives Romeo a note from her mistress: Juliet agrees to secretly marry her lover. Romeo is beside himself with happiness.

Scene 2
Romeo and Juliet, following their plan, meet in the cell of the monk Lorenzo, who agreed to marry them, despite the risk. Lorenzo hopes that this marriage will put an end to the feud between the two families. He performs the ceremony, now the young lovers are husband and wife.

Scene 3
In the market square, Mercutio and Benvolio meet Tybalt. Mercutio makes fun of Tybalt. Romeo appears. Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, but Romeo refuses to accept the challenge. Enraged, Mercutio continues to taunt and then crosses blades with Tybalt. Romeo tries to stop the fight, but his intervention leads to the death of Mercutio. Overcome with grief and guilt, Romeo grabs a weapon and stabs Tybalt in a duel. The Signor and Signora Capulet appear; Tybalt's death plunges them into indescribable grief. By order of the Duke, the guards carry away the bodies of Tybalt and Mercutio. The Duke, in anger, sentences Romeo to exile, and he flees the square.

Act III

Scene 1
Juliet's bedroom. Dawn. Romeo stayed in Verona for his wedding night with Juliet. However, now, despite the sadness that consumes him, Romeo must leave: he cannot be discovered in the city. After Romeo leaves, Juliet's parents and Paris appear in the bedroom. The wedding of Juliet and Paris is scheduled for the next day. Juliet objects, but her father sternly orders her to shut up. In desperation, Juliet rushes to Friar Lorenzo for help.

Scene 2
Cell of Lorenzo. The monk hands Juliet a bottle of a drug that puts her into a deep sleep similar to death. Lorenzo promises to send Romeo a letter in which he will explain what happened, then the young man will be able to take Juliet from the family crypt when she wakes up.

Scene 3
Juliet returns to the bedroom. She feigns obedience to her parents' will and agrees to become Paris's wife. However, left alone, she takes a sleeping potion and falls on the bed dead. In the morning, Signor and Signora Capulet, Paris, the Nurse and the maids, coming to wake Juliet, find her lifeless. The nurse tries to stir up the girl, but Juliet does not respond. Everyone is sure that she is dead.

Scene 4
Capulet family crypt. Juliet is still shackled in a death-like sleep. Romeo appears. He did not receive a letter from Lorenzo, so he is sure that Juliet really died. In desperation, he drinks poison, seeking to unite with his beloved in death. But before he closes his eyes forever, he notices that Juliet has woken up. Romeo understands how cruelly he was deceived and how irreparably what happened. He dies, Juliet is stabbed to death with his dagger. The Montague family, Signor Capulet, the Duke, Friar Lorenzo and other townspeople witness a terrible scene. Realizing that the cause of the tragedy was the enmity of their families, the Capulets and Montagues are reconciled in grief.

CLASSIC STORY AND “NON-DANCE” MUSIC

Sergei Prokofiev, a world-famous pianist and composer, participant in the Russian Seasons enterprise of Sergei Diaghilev, returned to the USSR in the 1930s after long tours abroad. At home, the composer decided to write a ballet based on William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Usually Prokofiev himself created the libretto for his works and tried to preserve the original plot as much as possible.

However, this time, Shakespeare scholar and artistic director of the Kirov Leningrad Theater Sergei Radlov and Adrian Piotrovsky, a playwright and famous theater critic, took part in writing the libretto for Romeo and Juliet.

Such an attempt on a classic plot caused bewilderment among the censors. The authors rewrote the script, but the production was still banned - allegedly because of the “non-dance” music.

TWO LOUD PREMIERES

Culturologist Leonid Maksimenkov later wrote about “Romeo and Juliet”: “Censorship took place at the highest level - from the principle of expediency: in 1936, 1938, 1953 and so on. The Kremlin has always proceeded from the question: is such a thing needed at the moment?” And in fact, the question of staging was raised almost every year, but in the 1930s the ballet was shelved every year.

The former could not get used to the new rhythm, and the latter were so afraid of failure that they even refused to play at the premiere - two weeks before the performance. There was even a joke among the creative team: “There is no sadder story in the world than Prokofiev’s music in ballet.” Choreographer Leonid Lavrovsky asked Prokofiev to change the score.

After discussions, the composer finally added several new dances and dramatic episodes. The new ballet was significantly different from the one staged in Brno.

Leonid Lavrovsky himself was seriously preparing for work. He studied Renaissance artists in the Hermitage and read medieval novels. The choreographer later recalled: “In creating the choreographic image of the performance, I proceeded from the idea of contrasting the world of the Middle Ages with the world of the Renaissance, the collision of two systems of thinking, culture, and worldview.<…>Mercutio’s dances in the play were based on elements of folk dance... For the dance at the Capulet ball, I used the description of an authentic English dance of the 16th century, the so-called “Pillow Dance”.

The premiere of “Romeo and Juliet” in the USSR took place in Leningrad - on the stage of the Kirov Theater. The main roles were performed by the star ballet duo of the 1930s and 40s - Galina Ulanova and Konstantin Sergeev. The role of Juliet in Ulanova’s dance career is considered one of the best.

The design of the performance corresponded to the high-profile premiere: the scenery for it was created by the famous theater designer Peter Williams. The ballet transported the viewer to the exquisite Renaissance era with antique furniture, tapestries, and dense expensive draperies. The production was awarded the Stalin Prize.

PRODUCTIONS BY THE BOLSHOI THEATER AND FOREIGN CHOREOGRAPHERS

The next production of “Romeo and Juliet” took place after the Great Patriotic War- in December 1946 at the Bolshoi Theater. Two years earlier, by decision of the Central Committee, Galina Ulanova moved to the Bolshoi, and ballet “moved” with her. In total, the ballet was danced more than 200 times on the stage of the country's main theater; the leading female part was performed by Raisa Struchkova, Marina Kondratyeva, Maya Plisetskaya and other famous ballerinas.

In 1954, director Leo Arnstam, together with Leonid Lavrovsky, shot the ballet film “Romeo and Juliet,” which received a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Two years later, Moscow artists performed the ballet on tour in London and again created a sensation.

Prokofiev's music was set to productions by foreign choreographers - Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolf Nureyev, John Neumeier. The ballet was staged in the largest European theaters - Opera de Paris, Venice's La Scala, London's Royal Theater in Covent Garden.

In 1975, the play began to be staged again in Leningrad. In 1980, the ballet troupe of the Kirov Theater toured Europe, the USA and Canada.

Works from “Romeo and Juliet,” which musicologist Givi Ordzhonikidze calls a ballet-symphony, are often performed at classical music concerts. The numbers “Juliet the Girl”, “Montagues and Capulets”, “Romeo and Juliet before Separation”, “Dance of the Antillean Girls” became popular and independent.

1. The history of the creation of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet". 4

2. Main characters, images, their characteristics. 7

3. Juliet’s theme (analysis of form, means of musical expression, methods of presenting musical material to create an image) 12

Conclusion. 15

References.. 16

Introduction

Sergei Prokofiev was one of the great creators of the 20th century who created innovative musical theater. The plots of his operas and ballets are strikingly contrasting. Prokofiev's legacy is impressive both in the variety of genres and in the number of works he created. The composer wrote over 130 opuses during the period from 1909 to 1952. Prokofiev's rare creative productivity is explained not only by a fanatical desire to compose, but also by discipline and hard work, brought up from childhood. His work includes almost all musical genres: opera and ballet, instrumental concert, symphony, sonata and piano piece, song, romance, cantata, theater and film music, music for children. The breadth of Prokofiev’s creative interests, his amazing ability to switch from one plot to another, and his artistic adaptation to the world of great poetic creations are amazing. Prokofiev's imagination is captured by the images of Scythianism developed by Roerich, Blok, Stravinsky ("Ala and Lolly"), Russian folklore ("The Jester"), the tragedies of Dostoevsky ("The Gambler") and Shakespeare ("Romeo and Juliet"). He turns to the wisdom and eternal kindness of fairy tales by Andersen, Perrault, Bazhov and works selflessly, absorbed in the events of the tragic but glorious pages of Russian history ("Alexander Nevsky", "War and Peace"). He knows how to laugh cheerfully and contagiously (“Duena”, “The Love for Three Oranges”). Selects contemporary scenes that reflect the times October revolution(cantata "To the 20th anniversary of October"), civil war(“Semyon Kotko”), the Great Patriotic War (“The Tale of a Real Man”). And these works do not become a tribute to the times, a desire to “play along” with events. All of them testify to Prokofiev’s high civic position.

A completely special area of Prokofiev’s creativity was works for children. Before last days Prokofiev retained his youthful, fresh perception of the world. Out of great love for children, from communication with them, there arose the mischievous songs “Chatterbox” (to the verses of A. Barto) and “Piglets” (to the verses of L. Kvitka), the fascinating symphonic fairy tale “Peter and the Wolf”, the cycle of piano miniatures “Children’s Music” ", a dramatic poem about a childhood taken away by the war, "The Ballad of a Boy Who Remained Unknown" (text by P. Antokolsky).

Prokofiev often used his own musical themes. But the transfer of themes from essay to essay was always accompanied by creative revisions. This is evidenced by the composer’s sketches and drafts, which played a special role in his creative process. The composing process was often directly influenced by Prokofiev’s live communication with directors, performers, and conductors. Criticisms from the original performers of Romeo and Juliet led to the dynamism of the orchestration in some scenes. However, Prokofiev accepted advice only when it was convincing and did not run counter to his own vision of the work.

At the same time, Prokofiev was a subtle psychologist, and no less than the external side of imagery, the composer was interested in psychological action. He also embodied it with amazing subtlety and precision, as in one of the best ballets of the 20th century - the ballet "Romeo and Juliet".

1. The history of the creation of the ballet "Romeo and Juliet"

The first major work, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, became a true masterpiece. His stage life had a difficult start. It was written in 1935-1936. The libretto was developed by the composer together with director S. Radlov and choreographer L. Lavrovsky (L. Lavrovsky staged the first production of the ballet in 1940 at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. M. Kirov). But the gradual adaptation to Prokofiev’s unusual music was still crowned with success. The ballet "Romeo and Juliet" was completed in 1936, but was conceived earlier. The fate of the ballet continued to develop complicatedly. At first there were difficulties in completing the ballet. Prokofiev, together with S. Radlov, while developing the script, thought about a happy ending, which caused a storm of indignation among Shakespeare scholars. The apparent disrespect for the great playwright was explained simply: “The reasons that pushed us to this barbarity were purely choreographic: living people can dance, dying people cannot dance lying down.” The decision to end the ballet tragically, like Shakespeare's, was influenced most of all by the fact that there was no pure joy in the music itself, in its final episodes. The problem was resolved after conversations with the choreographers, when it turned out that “it was possible to resolve the fatal ending balletically.” However, the Bolshoi Theater violated the agreement, considering the music non-danceable. For the second time, the Leningrad Choreographic School refused the agreement. As a result, the first production of Romeo and Juliet took place in 1938 in Czechoslovakia, in the city of Brno. The ballet was directed by the famous choreographer L. Lavrovsky. The role of Juliet was danced by the famous G. Ulanova.

"Romeo and Juliet" is a deeply innovative ballet. Its novelty is also manifested in the principles of symphonic development. The symphonized dramaturgy of the ballet contains three different types.

The third type reveals features of variation, variation, characteristic of Prokofiev’s symphony as a whole; it especially touches on lyrical themes.

2. Main characters, images, their characteristics

The ballet has three acts (the fourth act is the epilogue), two numbers and nine scenes.

Act I - exposition of images, acquaintance of Romeo and Juliet at the ball.

Act II. Scene 4 – a bright world of love, a wedding. Scene 5 – a terrible scene of hostility and death.

Act III. Scene 6 – farewell. Scenes 7, 8 – Juliet’s decision to take a sleeping potion.

Epilogue.9 picture – death of Romeo and Juliet.

The first scene takes place among the picturesque squares and streets of Verona, gradually filling with traffic after a night's rest. The scene of the main character, Romeo, “languishing with longing for love,” seeking solitude, is replaced by a quarrel and a fight between representatives of two warring families. The raging opponents are stopped by the Duke’s formidable order: “On pain of death, disperse! "