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Music relays tragedy
of young lovers

Can you imagine a happy ending to Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet"? Just think: Romeo rushes back in the nick of time and finds Juliet alive and well. They marry and live happily ever after. If you think that only Hollywood could contrive such a shameless distortion, think again. This scenario crossed the mind of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev back in 1938 as he struggled to finish the ballet music for this classic story.

Romeo & Juliet The Honolulu Symphony performs works by Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev In concert: 8 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Sunday Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall Tickets: $21 to $64; 20 percent discount for seniors, students and military Call: 792-2000 or Ticketmaster at 877-750-4400 Online: www.ticketmaster.com

This weekend at the Honolulu Symphony, we'll experience the vision of three giant composers and how they transformed Romeo and Juliet's story into musical masterpieces. French composer Berlioz and Russians Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev were all masters of what we call "program music." Clearly, a shot at expressing Romeo and Juliet's unbridled romanticism was too great a temptation for them.

Program music is music with a distinctive narrative, with instrumental cues that describe an event, character or situation. Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" is a good example. It has many distinct sounds, such as the plucking of strings to describe raindrops and the solo viola that hints of a faithful barking dog. Other pieces, such as Beethoven's Sixth Symphony and Smetana's "Moldau," are also celebrated works considered program music.

Though Shakespeare wrote "Romeo and Juliet" in the late 1500s, it wasn't until the 19th century that audiences heard musical compositions based on the play. The reason is simple. From a musical standpoint, the story of Romeo and Juliet was ill-suited for the eras prior to the Romantic period. The Baroque era of the 1600s witnessed the evolution of modern-day instruments. Many of its instrumental works were based on popular old dances such as the gigue or gavotte.

The following Classical era focused on the organization of musical ideas, which resulted in a more structured and elegant body of work. Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and Symphony No. 40 are good examples.

The Romantics of the 19th century finally let loose and unleashed an outpouring of emotional display. Imagine a starving composer suffering from some incurable disease who was head over heels in love with a creature named Utopia. He dedicates his last song to her and cries himself to death. With that image in mind, you'll understand much about Berlioz and Tchaikovsky. Though it's a simple way of summarizing their feelings, you'll understand the attraction of Shakespeare's play to their ears.

In creating his version of "Romeo and Juliet," Berlioz found inspiration in the music of Beethoven. This came as no surprise. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, written in the late 1820s, had a long-lasting effect on European composers. Its innovative format of using a choir within a symphonic work, combined with Beethoven's communicative power, left everyone in both awe and fear as they wondered how music could progress after such an achievement. In his "Romeo and Juliet," Berlioz pays homage not to just Shakespeare, but to Beethoven as well. The excerpts you'll hear us perform this weekend are reminiscent of the Scherzo movement from Beethoven's Ninth and rival it in difficulty of execution.

EARLIER, I mentioned program music and how musical cues can help the listener discern a scene. In Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet," the duel between Romeo and Tybalt takes place as the bows of the string instruments fly at a frenetic pace. The cymbals that crash ferociously simulate Romeo and Tybalt's clashing swords.

By contrast, Tchaikovsky's romantic theme communicates pure, unadulterated passion. The melody's feeling of irrepressible love comes from the use of a music interval called the tritone. Some say it gives them goose bumps. Used harmoniously, the tritone provides an emotionally overwhelming effect. Leonard Bernstein used the same interval in "West Side Story's" love song, "Maria." Ironically, theorists in the Middle Ages forbade the use of the tritone, and some called it "the devil in music." I guess we've come a long way in how we define evil and love!

Of all the evening's three works, Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" provides the widest range of emotions for our star-crossed lovers. Early on, Juliet's innocence pervades the atmosphere with light-hearted flutes and violins. Romeo and his friends show frivolous bravado at the festive ball, but already the knights' dance signals danger with its haunting lower strings. Dissonant chords from the brass reflect family rivalry. They collide with the young couple's pure love, expressed by crystal sonorities from the high violins.

Getting back to an earlier question: Why did Prokofiev consider a happy ending to his ballet "Romeo and Juliet"? For the very simple reason that if both characters were dead, no one could dance! As expected, the Russian composer heard a great deal of feedback about his choice. The tension that underlies the ballet and heartbreaking story ultimately convinced him to remain faithful to the original ending.

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