Romeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky) a literary program. Thus, Balakirev had transformed "King Lear" into an instrumental drama and now offered it as a model to Tchaikovsky. While basing "Romeo and Juliet" on "King Lear" was Balakirev's suggestion, reducing the plot of the former to one central conflict and then combining it with the binary structure of sonata form was Tchaikovsky's idea. However, executing that plot in the music we know today came only after two radical revisions. The first version of "Romeo and Juliet" contained basically an opening fugato and a confrontation of the two themes—exactly what an academically trained composer might be expected
Romeo and Juliet the play's "twin themes of love and the total breakdown of understanding between two generations" had contemporary relevance. Recent performances often set the play in the contemporary world. For example, in 1986, the Royal Shakespeare Company set the play in modern Verona. Switchblades replaced swords, feasts and balls became drug-laden rock parties, and Romeo committed suicide by hypodermic needle. In 1997, the Folger Shakespeare Theatre produced a version set in a typical suburban world. Romeo sneaks into the Capulet barbecue to meet Juliet, and Juliet discovers Tybalt's death while in class at school. The play is sometimes given a historical