Romeo and Juliet Overture and Capriccio Italien

Writtenin1869andrevisedupto1880，theRomeoandJulietOverturewasTchaikovsky'sfirstacknowledgedmasterpieceandtodayremainsamongthemostpopularorchestralcompositionseverwritten.ComposedwhenTchaikovskywas29，theOverture，accordingtoGrove'sDictionary，was"carriedoutwithsuchardentconvictionthattheworkseemstoglowandthrobwithyouthfulpassionandtenderness."
Bycomparison，hisbrilliantlyscoredCapriccioItalienisaspiritedevocationofMediterraneanlifeandscenery，animatedandfullofvitality.Awork，saysGrove's，"ofunshadowedgaietyandaboundinginstrikingeffects."Writtenin1880，whenTchaikovsky'spositioninthemusicworldwasfairlywellestablishedinRussia，thepiecebroughthimtothebrinkofinternationalfameandrecognition.
Permeatedwithimaginationandawealthofmelodicinspiration，thesecompositionscontinuetoevokeanenthusiasticresponsefrommusiciansandlistenersalike.Students，teachers，andmusicloverseverywherewillbedelightedwiththisconvenient，one-volumeeditionofbothscores，reprintedfromanauthoritativeRussianeditionofTchaikovsky'sworks.TheoriginalRussianfootnoteshavebeenspeciallytranslatedintoEnglishforthisedition.