Analysis of Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet

You can tell you've reached the Recapitulation because the first theme, the Feud theme, is played in full (and loudly) for the first time since the Exposition. The gradual increase in volume expresses the soaring emotions and passion of the young couple. The first part is long and lyrical, played on the English horn and violas. The music follows Dante’s narrative of a journey through Hell closely by the use of image painting.

Seeing the RPO perform was an enjoyable experience, at the very least just because I got to see the regular crowd of concert goers. After the full statement the mood turns tense as the music goes into the minor mode, and the Feud theme begins to reappear as the music leads into the Coda. The Feud theme breaks up into a scurrying mutter in the strings, and the Friar Lawrence theme is played in fragments by the winds. A brief, forceful coda concludes the movement. Here, Tchaikovsky brilliantly utilizes a break in the music filled by the crash of the cymbals to indicate a swordfight. In accordance with typical sonata-allegro form, the first part of the second theme is repeated and extended. The Development ends with the music reaching a climax and cymbal crash, and Friar Lawrence is then blasted out in a broad expansive manner by a trumpet over fragments of the Feud theme.

Like the first theme, the second is also separated into two parts. The lively first theme with its Russian dance music leads to contrastingly haunting and wistful counter-subjects.