Tchaikovsky
Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Key Words
 Overture – music usually heard in one
movement before an opera.
 Programme Music – descriptive music
which tells a story.
 Sonata form – Music divided into 3
sections
Exposition
Development
Recapitulation
Tchaikovskys Style
 Very creative and used lots of different
combinations of instruments
 He used lots of contrasting keys, tempi
and textures in the music
 He likes to write scale passages
 He used sonata form
Themes
Friar Lawrence
The Strife Theme
The Love Theme
Themes
Introduction:
Friar Lawrence theme
Exposition:
Strife theme
LOVE THEME
Codetta
Development:
Friar Lawrence
Strife theme
Recapitulation:
Strife theme
LOVE THEME
Altered LOVE THEME
Strife theme
Final conflict
Coda:
Funeral March
Friar Lawrence Theme
Friar Lawrence Theme heard 3 times:
Frair 1st Time - Introduction
 FRIAR LAWRENCE THEME FOR 1ST TIME
 F# minor
 Heard in the Bassoons and Clarinets
 Hymn-like
 Homophonic
 Low register
Friar 2nd Time - Introduction
 TRANSITION WITH THE FRIAR LAWRENCE THEME
FOR 2ND TIME (bar 41)
 F minor
 Theme in flutes and oboes
 Contrapuntal
 Higher register
 Pizzicato strings
 Scale passages
Friar Third Time - Introduction
 LINK PASSAGE WITH A VARIED FRIAR LAWRENCE
THEME FOR 3RD TIME
 (bar 83)
 E minor
 Theme is in the woodwinds
 Dynamics getting louder
 Tempo getting faster
 Tremolo strings
 Timpani roll
 Much more lively
Strife Theme and Love Theme
Exposition
1ST TIME WE HEAR THE STRIFE THEME:
 flutes and violins playing in octaves (bars 112-115)
 Homophonic texture (melody with accompaniment)
 Loud volume
 Repetition
 Syncopation
 Dotted rhythms
 Fast tempo
 Bminor
Strife Theme and Love Theme
Exposition
 2ND TIME WE HEAR THE STRIFE THEME:
 D minor – G minor – B minor
 Played as canon by cello and double bass and followed
by piccolo/flute/oboe
 Imitation at the octave and double octave
 Distance of a minim
 Canon is repeated a 4th higher
 Because it is played as a canon…the texture is
Polyphonic
Strife Theme and Love Theme
Exposition
 3rd TIME WE HEAR THE STRIFE THEME:
flute violin and trumpet
 B minor – D major
 Louder dynamics ff
 Brass join in
 Timpani more involved
Strife Theme and Love Theme
Exposition
Let’s listen to part one of THE LOVE THEME
It is in D flat major (im missing a G flat on
stave!.....sorry)
LOVE THEME PART 1: Cor anglais(English horn) and
muted viola (con sordini) in unison b184
• Key of D flat Major
• Homophonic texture: melody on Cor anglais and
viola with
• Syncopated horns in background
• Wide leaps 1st time
• Pizz cello and double basses
• Rising harp arpeggio
Strife Theme and Love Theme
Exposition
Lets look at LOVE THEME PART 2 now
 LOVE THEME PART 2: 1st violins…………
 Continuous crotchets
 Homophonic texture
 Strings are divided into 4 parts(div) and muted (con
sordini)
 Wide leaps 2nd time
 Repeated notes
Strife Theme and Love Theme
Exposition
Gradually more instruments are added to thicken the
texture
LOVE THEME PART 1 AGAIN  semi quaver scale
introduction passage
Strife Theme and Love Theme
Exposition

Love theme in higher register in flute + oboe

LOVE THEME PART 1: flutes and oboes in a higher register…………

Love theme introduced by rising semiquavers in flute and oboe

Pizz cello and double bass

Rocking/Broken chords on violin and viola

No percussion

THE LOVE THEME PART 1 IS REPEATED exactly as the above but this
time the Clarinets join in with the flutes and oboes

Bass trombone joins in

A short Codetta brings the section to an end with the harp playing
crotchet chords
DEVELOPMENT SECTION
Friar Lawrence Theme and The Strife Theme
FRIAR LAWRENCE THEME

Horn (later flute/clarinet)
Bminor to F sharp minor
7 BAR BUILD UP
 No key signature
 Dialogue between strings/wood
 Lots of semi-quavers
 Pizzicato IN CELLO/D.BASS
 Polyphonic texture
 Sequences
 Staccato violins
STRIFE THEME
2nd violin =strife rhythms
DEVELOPMENT SECTION
Friar Lawrence Theme and The Strife Theme
 2ND TIME
 FRIAR LAWRENCE THEME
THEME
G minor
Horns
 Exact repetition
 3 note Semi-quavers idea across orchestra
 Sequences 326-330
 Crescendo
STRIFE
strings
DEVELOPMENT SECTION
Friar Lawrence Theme and The Strife Theme
3rd time
FRIAR LAWRENCE THEME
B Minor
 Trumpets with orchestra accompanying
 Syncopation in strife theme
 Descending line in cello/tuba and bassoon
strife theme (rhythms)
Recapitulation section (bars 353-462)
SECTION
KEY
STRIFE
B MINOR
LOVE THEME PART 2 D MAJOR
BAR
353
368
LOVE THEME PART 1 D MAJOR
389
ALTERED LOVE
THEME
D MAJOR
419
STRIFE + FRIAR
LAW.
B MINOR
441
THEME
TRANSITION
C MINOR
C# MINOR
C#MINOR
B MINOR
462
Transition to Coda
 TRANSITION (BARS 462-484)
 C# minor to B minor
 Strife rhythm
 Loud drum roll brings recap to a close
Coda
CODA = BARS 485 - 510
 FUNERAL MARCH
 LINK PASSAGE
 LOVE MOTIF