Berlioz Romeo and Juliet BBC Proms

William Shakespeare has been a huge influence on the musical

world for centuries, and on no composer more so than

Tonight, we'll be experiencing a monumental work that embodies

his choral symphony, Romeo and Juliet.

Hello, and a very warm welcome from me, Angel Blue,

I'm absolutely delighted to be back at the Proms this summer,

ready to enjoy some wonderful music that, as a singer, is very close

The way Hector Berlioz wrote for the voice is extraordinary,

Berlioz was a maverick in 19th century Parisian musical life.

His compositions were seen as bewilderingly

And tonight's work, Romeo and Juliet, is a perfect example

of Berlioz at his most brilliant and imaginative.

Inspired by his literary god, Shakespeare, it completely

re-invented the idea of what a symphony could be.

Berlioz loved Shakespeare, and there's no more loving

conductor for this work than Sir John Eliot Gardiner,

who will be on stage tonight with the Orchestre Revolutionnaire

et Romantique, the Monteverdi Choir and the National Youth

I was in rehearsals this afternoon, and I can tell you it is going to be

And here is Sir John Eliot to tell us about the music we'll

It is a mad piece but also unbelievably wonderful. It is

Berlioz's third symphony, it came after the symphony Fontas speak, but

it has the chorus and soloists. You think, where has it come from? The

first answer, it couldn't have been possible without Beethoven's ninth

symphony. It has a choral finale. But it is more complex and

structurally bizarre. It has a prologue and he asks for the

prologue to be sung by a tiny choir of 14 voices, accompanied by a heart

and a fewer instruments. They tell the whole story. You think we are in

an opera, but where is Juliet? They never appear. They do, but not as

singers. They appear within the orchestra. The heart of Romeo and

Juliet of Berlioz is the love scene, the famous balcony scene, and it

seems that Berlioz initially wrote in the words for two soloists in the

French translation and then he said, my orchestra have to sing, it's got

to sound, so he takes out the singers and he leaves the words

implicit in the cello's -- in the cello Coe and the fluent in French

on for Juliet. You think, is that disappointing? Why not singers?

Berlioz would say, I think an orchestra composed of instruments

that I have chosen can be more expressive and say things that

singers could never say with the same intensity. It is huge a

manifesto for the power of the modern orchestra.

That was Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Dramatique Romeo and Juliet.

Simply overwhelming. Conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

French-Canadian mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne. The Orchestre

Revolutionnaire et Romantique, leaders Kati Debretzeni. This

orchestra was founded by Sir John Eliot Gardiner 1989.

Our three fabulist soloists tonight, very engaging, truly emotional

performances from all three of them. The Monteverdi Choir. And a very

riveting performance from them tonight, showing us why they are one

of the best choirs in the world. And the National Youth Choir of

Scotland. The chorus master of the National youth, Christopher Bell.

Followed by our assistant conductor this evening.

And that's it for this evening's concert from the Royal Albert Hall.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

There's more Proms action on Friday evening on BBC4 with the BBC

Scottish Symphony Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto