The tragedy of the lovers of Verona, written by William Shakespeare in 1593, is a love story for all time. One of the greatest composers of the 20th century, Sergei Prokofiev, brought the glory of the unlucky lovers who, despite their youth and possible naivety, consistently follow their deep feelings, regardless of the consequences, to the ballet stage.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Prokofiev lived abroad, mostly in Paris. Although he had composed a number of ballets by then, Romeo and Juliet was the first he created for staging in the Soviet Union, where he returned in the summer of 1936. The path of this creation to the stage was a thorny one. It was first planned in its production by the Kirovsky Ballet in Leningrad (today the ballet of the Mary Theater in St. Petersburg). Cooperation with the Kirov Theater ended before the composer even started composing. Therefore, he offered Prokofiev's ballet to the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, but the dancers there rejected it, saying that it was impossible to dance. Then the composer turned the work into orchestral suites, which were first performed in front of an audience in 1936 and 1937.
Ballet Romeo and Juliet, op. 64, saw the light of day in 1938, but in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and had its Soviet premiere only in 1940 at the Kirov Theater. It is written in the tradition of classical ballet, linked to Tchaikovsky and Delibes, and musically it brings much more than just an elaborate rhythmic form that is supposed to accompany the dance. Throughout, the composer's extraordinary talent for musical characterization and creating moods is evident. The lyrical element flourished as it did in this ballet in no other work by Prokofiev. The fact that Prokofiev's creation became a supreme classical work of art and a part of the repertoire of every ballet ensemble was undoubtedly the most important contribution of the intense, expressive love music, which in terms of atmosphere, technique and style is reminiscent of the romance of the 18th century.
The popular story of ballet literature will this time come to life in a new version by Renato Zanella. It will be based on the performances he staged on the stages of the Greek National Opera and the Romanian National Opera, and their perfected version, created for our ballet ensemble, will see the light of day in Ljubljana.
