Elizabeth Arenas

Today, 23. April born Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev 15/27 April 1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous musical genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include such widely heard works as the March from The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet – from which "Dance of the Knights" is taken – and Peter and the Wolf. Of the established forms and genres in which he worked, he created – excluding juvenilia – seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, and nine completed piano sonatas.
A graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument, including his first two piano concertos. In 1915 Prokofiev made a decisive break from the standard composer-pianist category with his orchestral Scythian Suite, compiled from music originally composed for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev commissioned three further ballets from Prokofiev – Chout, Le pas d'acier and The Prodigal Son – which at the time of their original production all caused a sensation among both critics and colleagues. Prokofiev's greatest interest, however, was opera, and he composed several works in that genre, including The Gambler and The Fiery Angel. Prokofiev's one operatic success during his lifetime was The Love for Three Oranges, composed for the Chicago Opera and subsequently performed over the following decade in Europe and Russia.
After the Revolution, Prokofiev left Russia with the official blessing of the Soviet minister Anatoly Lunacharsky, and resided in the United States, then Germany, then Paris, making his living as a composer, pianist and conductor. During that time he married a Spanish singer, Carolina Codina, with whom he had two sons. In the early 1930s, the Great Depression diminished opportunities for Prokofiev's ballets and operas to be staged in America and western Europe. Prokofiev, who regarded himself as composer foremost, resented the time taken by touring as a pianist, and increasingly turned to Soviet Russia for commissions of new music; in 1936 he finally returned to his homeland with his family. He enjoyed some success there – notably with Lieutenant Kijé, Peter and the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet, and perhaps above all with Alexander Nevsky. The Nazi invasion of the USSR spurred him to compose his most ambitious work, an operatic version of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. In 1948 Prokofiev was criticized for "anti-democratic formalism" and, with his income severely curtailed, was forced to compose Stalinist works, such as On Guard for Peace. However, he also enjoyed personal and artistic support from a new generation of Russian performers, notably Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich: for the latter, he composed his Symphony-Concerto, whilst for the former he composed his ninth piano sonata.

Compositions
Operas

The Giant (1900)
On Desert Islands (1900; unfinished)
    A Feast in Time of Plague (1903, rev. 1908–09; unfinished)
    Undina (1904–07)
    Maddalena, Op. 13 (1911–13)
    Igrok (The Gambler), Op. 24 (1915–16, rev. 1927); after Fyodor Dostoevsky
    The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33 (1919)
    The Fiery Angel, Op. 37 (1919–27)
    Semyon Kotko, Op. 81 (1939)
    Betrothal in a Monastery, Op. 86 (1940–41)
    War and Peace, Op. 91 (1941–52); after Leo Tolstoy
    Khan Buzay (1942; unfinished)
    The Story of a Real Man, Op. 117 (1947–48)
    Distant Seas (1948; unfinished)

Ballets

Ala i Lolli, Op. 20 (1914–15), mostly incorporated into Scythian Suite (see below)
    Chout / The Tale of the Buffoon, Op. 21 (1915, rev. 1920)
    Trapeze, Op. 39 (1924), mostly incorporated into Quintet, Op. 39 (1924) (see Chamber Music below)
    Le pas d'acier / The Steel Step, Op. 41 (1925–26)
    The Prodigal Son, Op. 46 (1928–29)
    On the Dnieper / Sur le Borysthène, Op. 51 (1930–31)
    Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1935–36)
    Cinderella, Op. 87 (1940–44)
    The Tale of the Stone Flower, Op. 118 (1948–53)

Incidental music

Egyptian Nights (1934)
    Boris Godunov, Op. 70bis (1936)
    Eugene Onegin, Op. 71 (1936)
    Hamlet, Op. 77 (1937–38)
Film music
Lieutenant Kijé (1934), also arranged as an orchestral suite (see below)
    Queen of Spades / Pique dame, Op. 70 (1936), after Pushkin
    Alexander Nevsky (1938), film directed by Sergei Eisenstein (also exists in the form of a cantata, see below)
    Lermontov (1941)
    Kotovsky (1942)
    Tonya (1942)
    The Partisans in the Ukrainian Steppes (1942)
    Ivan the Terrible, Op. 116 (1942–45), film directed by Sergei Eisenstein (also exists in various concert forms arranged by various people)
Symphonies
Symphonies - two juvenile (Symphony (1902) and Symphony (1908))
    Symphony No. 1 in D Classical, Op. 25 (1916–17)
    Symphony No. 2 in D minor, Op. 40 (1924–25)
    Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 44 (1928)
    Symphony No. 4 in C (original version), Op. 47 (1929–30)
    Symphony No. 5 in B-flat, Op. 100 (1944)
    Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111 (1945–47)
    Symphony No. 4 in C (revised version), Op. 112 (1947)
    Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 (1951–52)
    Symphony No. 2 in D minor (revised version), Op. 136 (1953; unrealized)

Orchestral suites

Suites (3) from "Romeo and Juliet"
        Suite No. 1, Op. 64bis (1936)
        Suite No. 2, Op. 64ter (1936)
        Suite No. 3, Op. 101 (1946)
    Suites (3) from "Cinderella"
        Suite No. 1, Op. 107 (1946)
        Suite No. 2, Op. 108 (1946)
        Suite No. 3, Op. 109 (1946)
    Suites (4) from "The Tale of the Stone Flower"
        Wedding Suite, Op. 126 (1951)
        Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127 (1951)
        Urals Rhapsody, Op. 128 (1951)
        The Mistress of Copper Mountain Op. 129 (1951; unfinished)
    Scythian Suite, Op. 20 (from "Ala i Lolli") (1914–15)
    Suite from "Chout", Op. 21bis (1920)
    Suite from "The Love for Three Oranges", Op. 33bis (1919, rev. 1924)
    Vocal Suite from "The Fiery Angel", Op. 37bis (1923; incomplete)
    Suite from "Le pas d'acier", Op. 41bis (1926)
    Suite from "The Prodigal Son", Op. 46bis (1929)
    Suite from "The Gambler" ("Four Portraits and Denouement"), Op. 49 (1931)
    Suite from "On the Dnieper", Op. 51bis (1933)
    Suite from "Lieutenant Kijé", Op. 60 (1934)
    Suite from "Egyptian Nights", Op. 61 (1938)
    Suite from "Semyon Kotko", Op. 81bis (1941)
    Waltz Suite, Op. 110 (1946) (includes waltzes from "War and Peace," "Cinderella," and "Lermontov")
    Summer Night, suite from "Betrothal in a Monastery", Op. 123 (1950)

Other orchestral works

Sinfonietta in A (original version), Op. 5 (1909)
    Dreams, Op. 6 (1910)
    Autumnal, Op. 8 (1910)
    Andante from Piano Sonata No.4, arranged for orchestra, Op. 29bis (1934)
    Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34bis (based on chamber version) (1934)
    American Overture, Op. 42 (1926), for 17 instruments
    American Overture, Op. 42bis (1928), for full orchestra
    Divertimento, Op. 43 (1925–29) (also exists in a piano transcription, see transcriptions for piano below)
    Sinfonietta in A (revised version of Op. 5), Op. 48 (1929)
    Andante from String Quartet No. 1, arranged for string orchestra, Op. 50bis (1930)
    Symphonic Song, Op. 57 (1933)
    Russian Overture, Op. 72 (1936) (2 differently orchestrated versions)
    Symphonic March, Op. 88 (1941)
    The Year 1941, Op. 90 (1941)
    Ode to the End of the War, Op. 105 (1945), for winds, 8 harps, 4 pianos, percussion, and double basses
    Thirty Years, Op. 113 (1947), festive poem for orchestra
    Pushkin Waltzes, Op. 120 (1949)
    The Meeting of the Volga and the Don, Op. 130 (1951), festive poem for orchestra

Concertos

Piano:
        Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat, Op. 10 (1911–12)
        Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16 (1912–13, lost, re-written in 1923)
        Piano Concerto No. 3 in C, Op. 26 (1917–21)
        Piano Concerto No. 4 in B-flat, Op. 53 (1931), for left hand (written for Paul Wittgenstein)
        Piano Concerto No. 5 in G, Op. 55 (1932)
        Piano Concerto No. 6, Op. 134 (1953–unfinished)

Violin:
        Violin Concerto No. 1 in D, Op. 19 (1916–17)
        Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 (1935)
Cello:
        Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 58 (1933–38)
        Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 125 (1950–52)
        Cello Concertino in G minor, Op. 132 (1953–unfinished) (one version completed by Kabalevsky, another by Vladimir Blok)

Vocal orchestral

Two Poems for Female Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 7 (1909–10)
    The Ugly Duckling, Op. 18 (1914), for soprano and orchestra
    Seven, They are Seven, Op. 30 (1917–18, rev. 1933), cantata for tenor, chorus, and large orchestra
    Melodie, Op. 35bis (1920), for female voice and orchestra
    Vocal Suite from The Fiery Angel, Op. 37bis (1923–incomplete)
    Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67 (1936), a children's story for narrator and orchestra
    Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Op. 74 (1936–37), cantata for 2 choruses, orchestra, military band, accordion band, and percussion band
    Songs of Our Days, Op. 76 (1937), for chorus and orchestra
    Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78 (1939), cantata for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra
    Zdravitsa, Op. 85 (1939), cantata for chorus and orchestra (also known as 'Hail to Stalin')
    Ballad of an Unknown Boy, Op. 93 (1942–43), for soloists, chorus, and orchestra
    Flourish, Mighty Land, Op. 114 (1947), cantata for chorus and orchestra
    Winter Bonfire, Op. 122 (1949–50), for boy's choir and small orchestra
    On Guard for Peace, Op. 124 (1950), cantata for chorus and orchestra

Choral

Six Songs, Op. 66 (1935)
    Seven Songs and a March, Op. 89 (1941–42)
    National Anthem and All-Union Hymn, Op. 98 (1943 and 1946)
    Soldiers' Marching Song, Op. 121 (1950)

Songs

Two Poems, Op. 9 (1910-11)
    The Ugly Duckling, Op. 18 (1914)
    Five Poems, Op. 23 (1915)
    Five Poems after Akhmatova, Op. 27 (1916)
    Five Songs Without Words, Op. 35 (1920)
    Five Poems after Bal'mont, Op. 36 (1921)
    Five Kazakh Songs (1927)
    Two Songs from Lieutenant Kijé, Op. 60bis (1934)
    Three Children's Songs, Op. 68 (1936)
    Three Romances after Pushkin, Op. 73 (1936)
    Three Songs from Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78bis (1939)
    Seven Songs, Op. 79 (1939)
    Twelve Russian Folksongs, Op. 104 (1944)
    Two Duets, Op. 106 (1945)
    Broad and Deep the River Flows (19??; incomplete)

Chamber music

Humoresque scherzo, Op. 12bis (1915) (for four bassoons)
    Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34 (1919) (for clarinet, string quartet and piano)
    Quintet in G minor, Op. 39 (1924) (for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass)
    String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, Op. 50 (1930)
    Sonata for Two Violins in C, Op. 56 (1932)
    String Quartet No. 2 in F, Op. 92 (1941)

Instrumental

Violin
        Five Melodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35bis (1925)
        Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80 (1946)
        Violin Sonata No. 2 in D, Op. 94a (1943; based on Flute Sonata in D, Op. 94)
        Sonata for Solo Violin / Unison Violins in D, Op. 115 (1947)
Cello
        Ballade for Cello and Piano, Op. 15 (1912)
        Adagio for Cello and Piano, Op. 97bis (1944)
        Cello Sonata in C, Op. 119 (1949)
        Sonata for Solo Cello in C# minor (incomplete), Op. 134 (1953?)
Flute
        Flute Sonata in D, Op. 94 (1943)
Piano sonatas
Piano Sonatas - six juvenile: 1904, 1907 (revised for Op.1), 1907 (revised for Op.28), 1907–08, 1908 (revised for Op.29), 1908–09
    Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 1 (1907–09)
    Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14 (1912)
    Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 (1907–17)
    Piano Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29 (1908–17)
    Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (original version), Op. 38 (1923)
    Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82 (1939–40)
    Piano Sonata No. 7 in B flat major Stalingrad, Op. 83 (1939–42)
    Piano Sonata No. 8 in B flat major, Op. 84 (1939–44)
    Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103 (1947)
    Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major (revised version), Op. 135 (1952–53)
    Piano Sonata No. 10 in E minor, Op. 137 (unfinished) (1952)
    Piano Sonata No. 11, Op. 138 (unrealized)
Other piano works
Four Etudes for Piano, Op. 2 (1909)
    Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 3 (1911)
    Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 4 (1910–12)
    Toccata in D minor, Op. 11 (1912)
    Ten Pieces for Piano, Op. 12 (1906–13)
    Sarcasms, 5 Pieces for Piano, Op. 17 (1912–14)
    Visions fugitives, 20 Pieces for Piano, Op. 22 (1915–17)
    Tales of an Old Grandmother, Op. 31 (1918)
    Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 32 (1918)
    Things in Themselves, 2 Pieces for Piano, Op. 45 (1928)
    Two Sonatinas for Piano, Op. 54 (1931–32)
    Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 59 (1933–34)
    Pensées, 3 Pieces for Piano, Op. 62 (1933–34)
    Music for Children, 12 Easy Pieces, Op. 65 (1935)
    Dumka (after 1933)

Transcriptions for piano

March and Scherzo from "The Love for Three Oranges", Op. 33ter (1922)
    Divertissement, Op. 43bis (1938)
    Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 52 from a variety of sources (1930–31)
    Ten Pieces from "Romeo and Juliet", Op. 75 (1937)
    Gavotte from "Hamlet", Op. 77bis (1938)
    Three Pieces from "Cinderella", Op. 95 (1942)
    Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 96 from "War and Peace" and "Lermontov" (1941–42)
    Ten Pieces from "Cinderella", Op. 97 (1943)
    Six Pieces from "Cinderella", Op. 102 (1944)

Band music

Four Marches, Op. 69 (1935–37)
March in A-flat, Op. 89bis (1941)
March in B-flat, Op. 99 (1943–44)

Analysis Second Piano Concerto Op. 16
The first and last movements are each around twelve minutes long and constitute some of the most dramatic music in all of Prokofiev's piano concertos. They both contain long and developed cadenzas with the first movement's cadenza alone taking up almost the entire last half of the movement.
Andantino-Allegretto
The first movement opens quietly with strings and clarinet playing a two-bar staccato theme which, Prokofiev biographer Daniel Jaffé suggests, "sounds almost like a ground bass passacaglia theme, that musical symbol of implacable fate". The piano takes over, constructing over a left hand accompaniment of breathing undulation a G minor narrante theme which, in the words of Soviet biographer Israel Nestyev, "suggests a quiet, serious tale in the vein of a romantic legend". This opening theme contains a second idea, a rising scalic theme; as Robert Layton observes, when it is later taken up by unison strings as "a broad singing melody, one feels that the example of Rachmaninov has not gone altogether unheeded".
A brief forte, backed by the orchestra, leads to a third, expansive, walking theme performed again by the solo pianist; Layton notes that this "looks forward to its counterpart in the Third Piano Concerto: there is no mistaking its slightly flippant character". The development section is in effect carried entirely by the soloist's notoriously taxing five-minute cadenza, one of the longer and more difficult cadenze in the classical piano repertoire, taking the listener all the way to the movement's climax. Noted in two staves, the piano plays a reprise of its own opening theme. A third staff, which requires the pianist to perform large jumps with both hands frequently, contains the a motif from the earlier orchestral accompaniment.
The colossale portion of the cadenza is profuse with giant runs and large chords.
The accumulated charge is eventually released in a premature climax (G minor), fff and colossale, which consists of oscillating triplet semiquaver runs across the upper four octaves of the piano, kept in rhythm by a leaping left-hand crotchet accompaniment. Prokofiev himself describes this as one of the hardest places in the concerto. The last bars before the absolute climax are marked tumultuoso and reach supreme discord as C sharp minor collides with D minor.
As both hands move apart, to embrace the piano fff in D minor, an accent on every note, the orchestra announces its return, strings and timpani swelling furiously from p to ff. The listener is exposed to the apocalyptic blare of several horns, trombones, trumpets and tuba, which, as Jaffé describes it, "balefully [play] the opening 'fate' theme fortissimo", while piano, flutes and strings still shriek in unison up and down the higher ranges. Two cymbal crashes end the cataclysm in G minor.
A decrescendo brings the music back to an almost spooky piano in which the piano timidly puts forth the second narrante theme, echoes its last notes, repeats it pianissimo, ever fading. Pizzicato strings point several more times to the opening theme, the significance of which has now been revealed.
Scherzo: Vivace
The scherzo is of an exceptionally strict form considering the piano part. The right and left hand play a stubborn unison, almost 1500 semiquavers each, literally without a moment's pause: Robert Layton describes the soloist in this movement being like "some virtuoso footballer who retains the initiative while the opposing team (the orchestra) all charge after him". At around ten notes a second and with hardly any variations in speed, this movement lasts circa two-and-a-half minutes and is an unusual concentration challenge to the pianist. It displays the motor line of the five "lines" (characters) Prokofiev describes in his own music. (Other such pieces include Toccata in D minor and the last movement of Piano Sonata No. 7). One fleeting motif, to make a major appearance in the final movement, appears (fig. 39 in the score) in the cellos' part – "a chromatically inflected triplet plus quaver, played twice before tailing off".
Unlike the other three movements, it is mainly in D minor.
Intermezzo: Allegro moderato
Instead of a lyrical slow movement which might have been expected after a scherzo (cf Brahms's Second Piano Concerto), Prokofiev provides an Intermezzo. Layton characterises this movement as "in some ways the most highly characterized of all four movements, with its flashes of sardonic wit and forward-looking harmonies".
The movements starts with a heavy-footed walking bass theme – directed to be played heavily (pesante) and fortissimo. The music has returned to G minor. Strings, bassoon, tuba, timpani and gran cassa (bass drum) march along with moody determination. Trombones sharply pronounce a D, followed by tuba and oboe in a sudden diminuendo. For several bars, the orchestra issues ever waning threats, at the same time making inexorably for the tonic. At which point the piano enters and the music immediately gains force. There is one moment of respite from this "sarcastically grotesque procession" with the single appearance of "an introverted theme of numbed lyricism".
Finale: Allegro tempestoso
Five octaves above the intermezzo's end note, a fortissimo tirade pounces out of the sky, written in four-four-time but played in seven-eight (one-two-three-four-one-two-three etc.). After six bars it settles down in the vicinity of middle C. Running up to an acid semitonal acciaccatura in both hands, the piano goes over into a sprint of octave-chords and single notes, jumping manically up and down the keyboard twice a bar. An audible theme is picked out, and during a piano and staccato repetition of the theme, the strings and flutes rush up, bringing the music to the briefest of halts. A moment later the piano goes back to forte and the sprint sets off anew. It is repeated three more times in total before the piano performs a stormy gallop of triads (tempestoso), the hands flying apart more or less symmetrically, while the strings throw in a frantic accompaniment of regular staccato eighths. The piano puts a momentary end to its own fury with a barely feasible manoeuvre, both hands jumping up three or four octaves simultaneously and fortissimo in the time of a semiquaver. But by then the sprint has transformed into a "fearful pursuit with an obsessively repeated triplet motif [first heard fleetingly in the Scherzo movement] overshadowed by the baleful roars of tuba and trombones".Only moments later, the orchestra has reached a halt and the piano, unaccompanied, plays soft but dissonant chords which, Jaffé suggests, are "reminiscent of the bell-like chords which open the final piece in Schoenberg's Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19" which were composed in homage to Mahler shortly after his death. (Jaffé points out that Prokofiev had introduced Schoenberg's music to Russia by playing the Op. 11 pieces, and suggests that Prokofiev may have known and been inspired by Schoenberg's Op. 19 to use a similar bell motif to commemorate Schmidthoff.)
The piano stands aside for eight bars while the strings, still mf, embark on a new episode. The soloist then plays a wistful theme similar in character to the first movement's piano opening theme, characterised by Jaffé as "lullaby" while noting (as does Nestyev) its affinity to Musorgsky. The bassoons take up the wandering piano-theme, while the piano itself goes over into a pp semiquaver accompaniment. The music eventually winds down, with "a despondent-sounding version of the lullaby theme on bassoon abruptly cut off by a sharply articulated and very final sounding cadence from the orchestra". But, as Jaffé notes, "The pianist won't let things rest... but hammers out the 'pursuit' theme", so initiating "not so much a cadenza... but a post-cadential meditation on the 'bell' chords". The orchestra joins in after some time, reintroducing the piano's "lullaby" theme, while the soloist's part still flows across the octaves. The key regularly changes from A-minor to C-minor and back again, the music becomes ever broader and harder to play. Rhythm and tune then fall into an abrupt piano, no less threatening than the previous forte. Trundling chromaticism has the music roll up to a fortissimo, the orchestra still proclaiming the originally wistful piano-theme. This is the only place outside the andantino where the piano exceeds the older range of seven octaves, jumping two octaves up to B7 just one single time.
A long diminuendo of gliding piano rushes brings the volume to a minimum pp (Prokofiev does not once use a ppp in the concerto's piano part). Then a ferocious blast (ff) from the orchestra starts off the reprise.