“Every now and then somebody or other starts urging me to put more feeling, more emotion, more melody in my music. My own conviction is that there is plenty of all that in it. I have never shunned the expression of feeling and have always been intent on creating melody—but new melody, which perhaps certain listeners do not recognize as such simply because it does not resemble closely enough the kind of melody to which they are accustomed.
“In ‘Romeo and Juliet’ I have taken special pains to achieve a simplicity which will, I hope, reach the hearts of all listeners. If people find no melody and no emotion in this work, I shall be very sorry. But I feel sure that sooner or later they will.”
In the First Suite which Prokofieff prepared for concert purposes, there are seven numbers, outlined as follows:—1) “Folk Dance”; 2) “Scene”; 3) “Madrigal”; 4) “Minuet”; 5) “Masques”; 6) “Romeo and Juliet”; and 7) “The Death of Tybalt”. Perhaps the most significant and absorbing of these is “Masques”, an Andante marciale of majestic sweep and power, which accompanies the action at the Capulet ball, leading to the unobserved entrance into the palace of Romeo and two friends, wearing masks. One senses a brooding, sinister prophecy in the measured stateliness of the music. Searing and incisive in its pitiless evocation is “The Death of Tybalt”, marked Precipitato in the score. Both street duels are depicted in this section, the first in which Tybalt slays Mercutio, the other in which Romeo, in revenge, slays Tybalt. Capulet’s denunciation follows. This First Suite is listed as Opus 64-A in the catalogue of Prokofieff’s works.
The Second Suite, Opus 64-B, also consists of seven numbers:—
1) “Montagues and Capulets”. (Allegro pesante). This is intended to portray satirically the proud, haughty characters of the noblemen. There is a Trio in which Juliet and Paris are pictured as dancing.
2) “Juliet, the Maiden”. (Vivace). The main theme portrays the innocent and lighthearted Juliet, tender and free of suspicion. As the section develops we sense a gradual deepening of her feelings.
3) “Friar Laurence”. (Andante espressivo). Two themes are used to identify the Friar—bassoons, tuba, and harps announce the first; ’cellos, the second.
4) “Dance”. (Vivo).
5) “The Parting of Romeo and Juliet”. (Lento. Poco piu animato). An elaborately worked out fabric woven mainly from the theme of Romeo’s love for Juliet.
6) “Dance of the West Indian Slave Girls”. (Andante con eleganza). The section accompanies both the action of Paris presenting pearls to Juliet and slave girls dancing with the pearls.