The tale of Romeo and Juliet as told in Shakespeare’s play has inspired artists, writers, and composers for centuries. Even Shakespeare himself was inspired by earlier 16th century Italian sources, which were in turn part of a tradition of tragic romances that reaches into classical antiquity. Shakespeare’s version is thought to have been written between 1591and 1595, and in the world of music alone, has spawned no less than 24 operas and countless other works. Perhaps most famous among those are Tchaikovsky’s