Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich

Main article: History of music in Russia

Sergey Sergeevich Prokofiev (April 11 [23], 1891, Sontsovka, Yekaterinoslav province - March 5, 1953, Moscow).

1917: First Symphony "Classical"

Most composers take the composition of the first symphony very seriously and strive to create something weighty and complex. But not Prokofiev, who surprised both fans and critics with a touching and witty rethinking of the samples of the 18th century. It grew at a time when Russian music was entering a period of bold experimentation, when a wide variety of influences combined, generating an exciting fermentation of new ideas. Many of his early works followed this radical direction and show a fair share of audacity and dissonance. Therefore, in the "Classical Symphony" there was something deliberately audacious. Prokofiev completed the work in the summer of 1917, and it was hardly possible to find a greater contrast between the turbulent current events when Russia was engulfed in war and revolution, and this exquisite appeal to the past. "It seemed to me," he explained, "that if Haydn lived these days, he would keep his own style while embracing something new. This is exactly the symphony I wanted to write. " He also observed that it was the first work he had written without a piano, which he had always used to compose before. This probably contributed in part to the exceptional clarity of the symphony's form and texture. It is a concise work both in duration and in the use of the modest, "classical" size of the orchestra.

From the point of view of today, we see how much Prokofiev's natural musical character is revealed in the Classical Symphony. It contains a typical wealth of melodies and rhythms, bright contrasts and a balletic sense of physical movement (indeed, Gavot later entered the ballet Romeo and Juliet).

1918: Emigration

After leaving Russia in 1918, Prokofiev returned to the USSR in the mid-1930s.

1921: Premiere of the opera "Love for Three Oranges"

Prokofiev's opera "Love for Three Oranges" was a product of pre-revolutionary Russian modernism, when more brilliant young artists could no longer cope with the nebulous symbolism or noble realism that had dominated the theater for so long. The seriousness was discarded, and the game was supposed to be both rebellious and fun. Spectacle and movement are as important here as words and music, and, according to the composer, "there should be no time for thought or boredom." The orchestral suite is a summary of various aspects of the opera. It opens with music from the Prologue, in which motley groups of eccentrics, tragedians, comedians, lyricists and prostyles demand exactly the kind of play they want to see.

Here's what they got: entertainment combining farce, burlesque and satire with magical spells, transformations and a gentle fairy tale.

1929: Premiere of the opera "The Player"

Main article: Player (Prokofiev opera)

1952: Seventh Symphony

Prokofiev composed the Seventh Symphony (his last) in 1951-1952, under the burden of ill health. The symphony was received in a highly favorable manner. As the Pravda newspaper kindly explained, Prokofiev sought to "create an image of a bright youth in music in response to the party's call for composers to create beautiful, sophisticated music that can satisfy the aesthetic needs of the artistic taste of Soviet people."

In fact, Prokofiev's plan is shrouded in a kind of mystery. He claimed to have sought simplicity and to have written a symphony "for children." The Seventh Symphony certainly avoids the scale and conflict of the Fifth and Sixth. There is little experimental in its form and musical language, and the level of dissonance is low.

Whatever the components of successful children's music (simplicity, immediacy, perhaps conciseness, but not condescension), Prokofiev could certainly provide them in abundance. But there are still contradictions. Glockenspiel plays an important role by coloring the slow closing theme of the exposure of the first movement; this theme is returned coda at the end of the part and then completely unexpectedly at the end of the finale; or almost at the end, since one of Prokofiev's changes to the symphony after the private run was the addition of a new twenty-stroke ending to the main fast pace of the finale. The ending, as the composer originally conceived it, is fragile and sad, completely does not correspond to the "aesthetic needs of the artistic taste of Soviet people": it had to be replaced with something more positive.