Charles Kemble as
Romeo & Juliet
When Berlioz saw the Anglo-Irish actress Harriet Smithson in the roles of Shakespeare’s Juliet and Ophelia at the Odéon theatre in Paris in 1827, despite having never met her in person, he fell instantly in love. Unfortunately, he seems to have been enamoured of the Shakespearean characters (particularly Juliet), rather than Miss Smithson herself; and their eventual marriage, which eventually took place in Paris on October 3rd, 1833, was, after a brief period of happiness, never a real success and they finally separated – the sad result of the collision between ideal and real.
But the extent of the composer’s fascination with the ‘star-cross’d lovers’ can be measured by his composition of a Symphonie Dramatique, entitled Roméo et Juliette. The dashing Romeo – i.e. Berlioz – was, at the time of composition, having to cope with the reality of both a rather fretful Harriet, while at the same time, Louis, their little son, was trying his father by being, occasionally, ‘pretty unbearable’* – the sort of thing a young Montague should never have to deal with.
* no wonder, poor Louis, imagine having to deal with Hector & Harriet!
Despite these mundane trials and tribulations the symphony was completed, rehearsed and then performed to much acclaim, to be described by a critic as ‘a monument to human genius’.
Act I
1. Introduction
01:45 Combats -Tumulte – Intervention of the Prince
06:50 Prologue
12:09 Strophes
19:27 Scherzetto
Act II
2. Romeo alone
23:13 Tristesse (Sadness) – Distant sounds from the concert and the ball
30:50 Great banquet at the Capulets
3. Serene Night – The Capulets’ garden silent and deserted – Love Scene
37:30
4. Queen Mab, the queen of dreams – the Queen Mab Scherzo
59:33
Act III
5. Funeral cortège for the young Juliet
01:07:59
6. Romeo at the tomb of the Capulets
01:18:43
7. Finale
01:26:59 The crowd rushes to the graveyard
01:31:19 Aria : Poor children that I weep for
01:40:20 Oath of reconciliation : « Swear by the revered symbol»
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