Composing the music for Romeo & Juliet
We used a lot of specially composed music and designed sound for this production. Here’s some background information to some of the main musical themes that I composed, together with examples. Although I’ve focussed mostly on the music, you will hear in these examples that there are other important sound elements too, from the sounds of friars singing, bells ringing, and radios playing. It’s the job of a composer and sound designer to blend together all these elements to create a cohesive sound world that helps to underscore the drama.
Romeo & Juliet Theme
I started by composing a theme that could be used to characterise Romeo & Juliet, their physical attraction, their passion, their innocence. This is what I ended up with. It features the cello - a great instrument for invoking emotion, and passion! - and you might be able to hear how it weaves together two lines of music, one high and one low, representing R&J, their lives inter:
Here are some examples of how this main theme is then developed and used elsewhere.
“Hie you to the cell”
Here it is used at the end of scene 2 where the Nurse tells Juliet to get to the Friar’s cell to meet Romeo for their hastily arranged wedding. For this moment, the music takes on an urgent, excited, energetic feel (at the end you will hear the music dissolve into the sound of evening prayer being sung - this is a nice example of how the musical world and the sound world overlap throughout the play)
The Wedding
This music cue starts under the dialogue, as the Friar brings Romeo and Juliet together for their marriage vows. You will hear the Romeo & Juliet theme, but here it merges with lots of other sound and music elements, including: the sound of the friars singing (in the Lyric this singing was made to come from off-stage speakers making it sound like there really were friars in the background), the sound of a church organ and sacristy bells as if in a religious ceremony, and a dreamy final vocal that is a glimpse of things to come in Act 2.
“This wayward girl”
In this final example of how the Romeo & Juliet theme is used, from Act 2 scene 4, it takes on a darker, more ominous feeling. It marks the moment where Lord Capulet believes Juliet has seen the error of her ways and really will marry Paris. The pizzicato (plucked) strings of the cello, and the distorted sound that develops at the end of the cue, tells the audience that perhaps all is not as it seems (well to Lord Capulet anyway!).
These examples above demonstrate how musical themes can be varied to suit different dramatic situations. Using a theme is a really common and powerful effect. It creates unity and cohesion on the one hand, but allows you to go on a musical journey that underscores the developing narrative, on the other.
“Fate” Theme
In addition to the Romeo & Juliet theme I wanted to create a musical theme that could represent the idea of fate, and the sequence of events spiralling out of control. In the big Capulet party scene, we used the 2022 Italian pop hit ‘La Dolce Vita’ for the moment when Romeo first sees Juliet. This song was all the rage in Italy last summer. It seemed to me that is the soundtrack of Romeo & Juliet’s lives at this moment in time, and probably of all the other young characters. So when we get to the fight in which Tybalt kills Mercutio and Romeo kills Tybalt, I used this song again playing on the cafe radio, but gradually distort it as the fight kicks off, turning it into what I then use as a ‘fate’ theme throughout the rest of the play.
There’s lots going on in this cue. In fact it’s 13 separate cues that underscore the whole fight sequence at the start of the second half. In this recording all the separate cues have been speeded up - in the production this sequence was much longer. Here are some things to listen out for:
The opening song moving from a full sound to a radio sound. In the Lyric this effect was created by having a speaker on the stage out of which the radio effect was played. Using carefully positioned speakers like this in theatre sound design is a common technique. This is also an example of ‘diagetic’ sound: sound that the characters can actually hear in the world of the play. We use this technique a lot in this production (especially in the party scenes).
When the Mercutio and Tybalt start to argue the sound changes. The radio becomes more distant and the rhythm of ‘La Dolce Vita’ is emphasised. This ‘whooshing’ rhythm is what I used as the fate theme in the play.
As the fight develops this rhythm becomes more emphasised and aggressive.
There are moments where the sound becomes weird and distorted as the various characters are wounded. These changes in the sound happened on visual cues in the fight sequence.
At the end of the whole sequence, notice how the weird sounding bells suddenly become like the sound of normal church bells - this happens as Benvolio is snapped out of the nightmare and the reality of what happens hits home.
A Song - Sonnet 29
Another important musical theme in this production comes from a specially composed song. I had the idea of setting a poem (or sonnet) from Shakespeare’s time to music in a modern style. It can be really interesting to hear Elizabethan words sung in a modern style. We had thought about using an existing modern song (by Alicia Keys) but the modern lyrics seemed a bit jarring. Anne Bailie, who edited the script for this production, helped choose an appropriate Sonnet for me to set to music: Sonnet 29. I just used the last four lines:
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
Drama Studio student Tabitha Smyth recorded the vocal for us and I added some cello and piano to the instrumentation. We used this song for the moment in the second half where Juliet is waiting for Romeo to visit her before running away to Mantua.
I used Tabitha’s haunting vocals at other points in the play. Here they are at the moment Juliet takes the sleeping drug. I’ve also weaved together the Romeo & Juliet theme on piano and in the low kick drum there’s a slowed down version of the fate theme: