Gavotte from Hamlet, Op.77 by Prokofiev, Sergei

Prokofiev extracted this piece from incidental music he wrote for a Leningrad production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in 1938. This music would have been played during the scene in which the ghost of Hamlet’s father recounts his poisoning by Claudius. Due to the morose subject matter of the scene, one might be surprised by the upbeat and jovial mood of the music. For this production, Sergei Radlov, the director of the play, wanted to shift the focus of this scene away from Claudius’ crime to the illicit relationship between Gertrude and Claudius. This music is Prokofiev’s ironic commentary on the subject matter.

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