ROMEO a n d JULIET

concept, music and lyrics Riccardo Marongiu
booklet Graziella Della Costanza

Romeo and Juliet

Gli sfortunati amanti

Locandina

@ Progettata dai ragazzi partecipanti al progetto biennale multidisciplinare ha coinvolto nel 2007/2008 e 2008/2009, gli allievi del Liceo Artistico F.Mengaroni e il Liceo Classico e Linguistico T.Mamiani.

Romeo and Juliet

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I have developed a version of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy in the form of a musical or rather, an opera, in one act.

The music and the stage adaptation are my own creation, the libretto, in English, is by Graziella Della Costanza, summarizing and adapting the story with the focus of remaining as faithful as possible to the "mood" of the tragedy.

The spirandosi the greek theater, he is entrusted with the part of the real protagonist of the narrative to the chorus, which is formed by all members of the cast, except Romeo and Juliet, the two star-crossed lovers, and Prince Escalus, who plays character-partisan . At the right moments, the various characters called into question by the unfolding of the events detach themselves from the choir, transforming themselves into protagonists of the scene, with the others acting as background or appearances.

The work is conceived in the spirit of La Camerata de 'Bardi (whose first documented meeting is dated January 14, 1573), made up of a group of Florentine intellectuals who gathered to talk about music, literature, science and art. The aim of the Camerata was to restore the dramatic style of the ancient Greeks to the glories of the past, and more precisely, to restore the natural "habitat" of the ancient Greek tragedies. Hence in our work the presence of the choir as the protagonist who alternates, in the unraveling of the story we tell, with the characters in costume.

I conceived the music with a philological spirit, taking inspiration from the systems of making music of the time, with attention to harmonization neither too much nor using the tonal system, and to a systematic use of the "ways" of ancient Greek tradition, filtered from the Middle Ages.

I also allowed myself excursions to other musical territories, especially belonging to the early twentieth century, to have a wider range of "descriptive" and "emotional" possibilities available.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Romeo I am to Montague.

Juliet daughter to Capulet.

Prince Escalus Prince of Verona.

Protagonist of the representation and narrator of the story:

the Chorus made up of all the singers on stage, except for the three costumed characters

Within the choir are those who, at the right moments, interpret the following parts:

Montague heads of two houses at variance with each other

Mercutio kinsman to the Prince and friend to Romeo

Benvolio nephew to Montague, and friend to Romeo

Capulet heads of two houses at variance with each other

Lady Capulet wife to Capulet

Nurse nurse to Juliet

Tybalt nephew to Lady Capulet

Gregory servant to Capulet

Guard Guard to the Prince

Friar Laurence Franciscan

Sampson servant to Capulet

Abcam servant to Montague

Balthazar servant to Montague

And as appearing:

Gentlemen and Gentlewomen of both houses,

Citizens of Verona, Torchbearers, Pages, Guards, Watchmen, Servants and Attendants

ORCHESTRA

Made up of thirteen elements plus the director of execution.

The instrumentation is exclusively acoustic, as is due to a respectful historical reconstruction, but not too philological, which at the time certain instruments either did not exist or had not yet evolved into the form we know.

To all intents and purposes the instruments, except for the harpsichord and the strings, are of a more modern conception and construction and are part of the instrumentation developed in the Romantic period, the one that is used today in every orchestra.

Instrumentation:

Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Trumpet, Horn,

First violin, Second violin, Cello, Double bass,

Classical guitar, Harpsichord, Percussion I, Percussion II

NOTE

The work was created with a "modular" spirit.

From the setting for secondary education schools, to the staging with professionals.

I also got a reduction with a small cast: the two protagonists, a player and a group of five musicians.

The extended version was created as a two-year multidisciplinary project which involved in the school years 2007/2008 and 2008/2009, the students of the Liceo Artistico F. Mengaroni and the Liceo Classico and Linguistico T. Mamiani.

The project is a special prize for directing at the LXIIth Pesaro Dramatic Art Festival.

Here are the salient images in a video of the final performance with the fifty students participating in the project as singers, choristers and extras, and with an orchestra made up of students from the Rossini Conservatory.

Here is a video of the final performance with the salient images, Fifty students participated in the project as singers, choristers and extras, and with an orchestra made up of students from the Rossini Conservatory.

Here is a video of the abridged version which has had numerous replicas