We are pleased to share Manny’s Musings, a preview of the program notes for our upcoming concert. Enjoy these notes, and buy tickets for the concert to hear these pieces played in person.
Selections from Romeo and Juliet
Sergei Prokofiev
When Sergei Prokofiev set out to compose Romeo and Juliet in the mid‑1930s, he was searching for a new musical vocabulary for human connection. How, indeed, does one portray the spark of attraction, the glow of young love, and the shattering weight of loss in a new and vibrant way? Would the four or so decades of his life be sufficient to convince an audience that he understood his subjects in depth, enough so to make them gasp, laugh, and weep as they would a tragic opera?
In a word, yes. The swaggering rhythms of the opening scenes paint a world ruled by pride and posturing, where the Montagues and Capulets cling to a feud so ancient that no one remembers its origin. It’s a reminder that tragedy often grows not from malice but from the inability to see past old wounds. In “The Young Juliet,” he offers a portrait not of a tragic heroine but of a girl on the cusp of adulthood. The music flits, teases, and glows, as if Juliet herself is discovering the shape of her own heart. The love music that follows is groundbreaking in its restraint. Rather than sweeping romanticism, Prokofiev gives Romeo and Juliet a sound world built on tenderness and wonder. Their encounter is painted in long, arching lines and luminous harmonies that seem to suspend time. The pounding rhythms he writes convey not just the brutality of the moment but the senselessness of it. Two families lose sons, nephews, and friends—and for what? Prokofiev is true to Shakespeare when he forces us to confront the cost of inherited hatred.
To be sure, Prokofiev was able to draw musical reference material from his own life in and away from the Soviet Union. Like his younger contemporary, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), he endured the constant scrutiny and erosion of artistic freedom at the hands of the Communist regime. In addition, he was involved in an affair which weighed heavily on him for years. He knew pain, whether it was from external forces or self-inflicted. He also knew love of family and the illicit kind, as well.
Taken together, this suite of music traces a journey from innocence to catastrophe. It reminds us that attraction can be transformative, that love can be luminous, and that tragedy can descend with terrifying speed when pride eclipses compassion. Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet remains so gripping because it speaks to something timeless: the fragile, beautiful, and sometimes perilous ways we reach for one another.
The rest of the Musings for “Let’s Fall in (Star-Crossed) Love” are posted in Manny’s Musings on the Bloomington Symphony website. Join us in person on Sunday, February 8 at 2 p.m. at the Gideon Ives Auditorium at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. This concert includes Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, Soojung Hong performing Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Purchase your tickets here.