Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliette

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Image courtesy of the Liceu.

In 1910 Strauss premiered his Der Rosenkavalier, marking a return to a more diatonic idiom than used in his previous operas (Salome, 1905, and Elektra, 1909). With Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro running through his head, he wanted to pay homage to 18th century Vienna and the result was a luminous, graceful opera.  After the triumphant first night, a number of arrangements were made but it was not until 1944 that Strauss set his seal of approval on the most popular of them, a suite of uncertain authorship but usually attributed to Artur Rodzinski. It includes a sparkling sequence of dances featuring the characters' main leitmotifs. 

Prokofiev's ballet, based on Shakespeare's play, was first performed at the Kirov in 1940. The three orchestral suites to which the score gave rise, with their inspired melodies and varied rhythms, are veritable gems and the most popular of his works. 

 In between these two giant works, we will hear Ravel's amazing "choreographic poem," La Valse. Written in 1920 and dedicated to Misia Sert, the wife of the Catalan painter Josep Maria Sert, it arose from a project for a ballet dedicated to Johann Strauss. But the First World War put an end to such reminiscences about the old, decadent Europe. The score, in consequence, is a hurricane of fantasy and imagination evoking a grandiose past and the destruction of western civilization. 

The Liceu asked David Afkham, the music director of the Spanish National Orchestra, who will be here for the performances of Tannhäuser, to offer us a symphony concert as well. 

The program is dedicated first and foremost to the exaltation of dance, the world of gesture and figures in movement as seen by three great composers. 

For more events check our online events calendar.