Sergei Prokofiev

(Sir-gay Pro-co-fee-ev)
Born: April 27, (O.S. April 15*) 1891, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died: March 5, 1953, Moscow, USSR (now Russia)

Fast Facts

• Born in what is now Ukraine. Mother was a devoted musician, spending two months each year studying piano in Moscow or Saint Petersburg.

• Began piano at an early age and wrote his first piano piece at age five. Started on an opera at age nine.

• Studied at home with composer and pianist Reinhold Glière. With a better knowledge of music theory, Prokofiev began writing more complex and experimental pieces.

• Passed the entrance exams and enrolled at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1904 when he was thirteen.

• Studied piano, theory, and conducting at the conservatory. Became known as a musical rebel with dissonant and unexpected ideas. Became well-known as a performer, often playing his own compositions.

• Travelled to Paris and London in 1914 where he met Sergei Diaghilev who commissioned Prokofiev to write a ballet, the beginning of a successful collaboration.

• Returned to Russia and reenrolled in the conservatory to avoid military conscription in World War I. In 1917, completed his first symphony and violin concerto.

• Due to the political turmoil because of the Communist Revolution in 1917, Prokofiev decided to leave, moving first to the United States. He then spent time in Germany before settling in Paris.

• Several works were premiered in Paris in the early 1920s, but the reception was lukewarm.

• Returned to the Soviet Union on a concert tour in 1927 where his music was enthusiastically received, especially Symphony No. 3 and the ballet The Prodigal Son.

• By the early 1930s, Prokofiev was largely supporting himself through piano performances. However, he thought of himself as a composer first and resented how much time he had to spend performing and practicing.

• After several commissions from Soviet organizations, Prokofiev and his family moved back to the Soviet Union in 1936.

• Although he composed several of his most famous works, including Peter and the Wolf, Prokofiev often struggled with outside political pressures on his work. Soviet composers needed to follow certain unwritten rules to stay on the good side of the government.

• During World War II, Prokofiev, and other composers, were given a bit more freedom. He completed several works and was recognized as the leading Soviet composer.

• In 1945, Prokofiev suffered a serious concussion due to undiagnosed high blood pressure. His doctors recommended he spend significantly less time composing.

• During a conference for composers and musicians in 1948, Prokofiev, along with several other well-known Soviet composers, were denounced for writing music that did not fit Soviet ideals. Several of his works were banned from performance and Prokofiev fell into deep debt.

• Many of his new works were not considered for performance due to the ban causing Prokofiev to withdraw from public life. Following a stroke in 1949, doctors ordered him to only compose for an hour a day.

• He completed a few works over the next few years including the Symphony-Concerto for cello and orchestra and Symphony No. 7, his last completed work.

• Prokofiev died on March 5, 1963, the same day as Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Due to the massive ceremonies for Stalin’s funeral, Prokofiev’s funeral was largely overlooked; only thirty people attended.

• Prokofiev is one of the best known composers of the 20th century, writing innovative music, interesting works for the stage, and concert works that remain audience favorites.

Composer Biography

Sergei Prokofiev
Russian Storyteller

Sergei Prokofiev was born in 1891 in what is now Ukraine. His mother was a gifted and dedicated musician who exposed her son to music at an early age. He began playing the piano and wrote his first composition at age five. When Prokofiev was eleven, his mother arranged for composer Reihold Glière to live with the family and provide piano and composition lessons. In 1904, when Prokofiev was thirteen, the family traveled to Saint Petersburg where Prokofiev applied for and was granted admission to the conservatory there. He studied piano, theory, conducting, and orchestration. Prokofiev began performing around Saint Petersburg, where he had the reputation of a musical rebel, experimenting with new ideas in his piano works. He graduated with a degree in composition in 1909 but stayed on at the conservatory to continue lessons in piano and conducting. He culminated his time at school by entering the “battle of the pianos” a contest for the five best piano students, which he won by performing his Piano Concerto No. 1. Shortly after, Prokofiev traveled to London and met with Sergei Diaghilev, who commissioned a ballet and encouraged Prokofiev to use Russian themes. The ballet, Chout, was a huge success.

Prokofiev returned to Russia and spent World War I studying at the conservatory to avoid being drafted into the military. He completed an opera, his first symphony, and a violin concerto. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Prokofiev felt discouraged, believing Russia “had no use for music at the moment.” He arrived in San Francisco in 1918 and began performing piano recitals throughout the country. He was commissioned to write an opera for the Chicago Opera Association, The Love for Three Oranges. Prokofiev focused solely on the opera, not performing any concerts while he worked on the score. The production was delayed several times, which caused financial difficulties for Prokofiev. He decided to leave for Paris in 1920 where he completed several works and once again collaborated with Diaghilev. He spent 1922 in Germany working on a new opera, The Fiery Angel, before returning to Paris the following year with his new wife, Lina. Prokofiev’s latest works, including Symphony No. 2, received lukewarm receptions by Paris audiences. In 1927, Prokofiev made a concert tour to the Soviet Union and his opera The Love for Three Oranges was performed in Leningrad. He completed his last ballet for Diaghilev, The Prodigal Son, which featured a new simpler style of music.

In October 1929, Prokofiev and his family were in a car crash, which damaged the muscles in his left hand, leaving him unable to play the piano. He continued with a tour in the Soviet Union, where his concert and stage works were performed. By 1930, his hand was healed, allowing him to complete a concert tour in the United States. Prokofiev’s concerts were well-received, but he had always thought of himself as a composer first and a performer second. He longed to spend more time composing and was able to do so thanks to several commissions from the Soviet Union, including Lieutenant Kijé and Romeo and Juliet. After four years of splitting time between Moscow and Paris, Prokofiev and his family returned to Moscow permanently in 1936.

Prokofiev had to adapt his musical style to fit with the politics of the Soviet Union. He wrote songs with approved Soviet poets and completed film scores which portrayed idealized heroes. Like many other composers, some of his works were not accepted by the government, sometimes because the music was deemed “anti-Soviet” or because other people he had collaborated with were arrested, casting a shadow on Prokofiev’s association with “enemies of the state.” While his larger orchestral works followed the dictates of the Communist Party, Prokofiev was able to express himself more personally in smaller works, such as his Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, 7, and 8. During World War II, Soviet composers actually had more artistic freedom with less oversight from the state. He completed a violin sonata, film music, piano sonata, and a symphony. His works were performed often and he was considered the leading Soviet composer. In early 1945, Prokofiev suffered a concussion after fainting due to untreated high blood pressure. His doctors recommended restricting his composing due to his poor health.

In January 1948, many composers and musicians were called to a conference by Andrei Zhdanov, a government official. One month later, six composers, including Prokofiev, were denounced for writing anti-Soviet music. Eight of Prokofiev’s works were banned from public performance. Fearing his tainted reputation, most of his other works were not performed either and his new projects were cancelled. These political issues, as well as his frail health, caused Prokofiev to largely withdraw from public life. He suffered a stroke the following year and his doctors further limited his work, telling him to compose for only an hour per day. He did write a few final works, a cello sonata and a Symphony-Concerto for cello as well as his Symphony No. 7, his final work, completed in 1952. Prokofiev died on March 5, 1953, the same day as Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Because of the elaborate state funeral and mourning for Stalin, Prokofiev’s death was largely overlooked; only about thirty people attended the funeral.

A Symphonic Fairy Tale - Peter and the Wolf

Prokofiev and his family moved back to Russia in 1936. Soon after, he was commissioned by Natalya Sats, director of Moscow’s Central Children’s Theater, to write a musical symphony for children. Prokofiev knew the director because he had taken his sons to performances there. The idea for the work was to introduce kids to the instruments in the orchestra through a fun and short musical performance. Prokofiev didn’t like the first story idea, provided by a popular Soviet children’s author, so he wrote a new story himself. In Prokofiev’s new version, a young boy named Peter is the hero, who was vigilant, brave, and resourceful, all prized values in Soviet Russia. Prokofiev wrote the piano version in about a week and finished the orchestrated version ten days later. The first performance was held at the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow Philharmonic in May 2, 1936. The performance was not a great success. Sats had planned to narrate the story, however she was sick, and her substitute was inexperienced. Later that month, the piece was performed again, this time with Sats as the narrator. This performance was much more successful. Peter and the Wolf was first performed in America in March 1938 with Prokofiev conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Since then, the work has been performed countless times and has become a family favorite. Walt Disney produced an animated version in 1946. Bill Clinton, Patrick Stewart, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and Alice Cooper have all served as narrators in various recordings. This brief orchestral work showcases the instruments of the orchestra, helping to tell an exciting story, with lively and memorable music, as we follow Peter’s adventure.

We will be performing Peter and the Wolf at our concert this year, but that isn’t the only piece of music that Prokofiev wrote! Check out some of his other famous compositions below.

Fun Facts

• Prokofiev wrote his first composition, a piano piece called “Indian Gallop,” at age five. His mother transcribed his ideas. The piece is in F Lydian mode, which is a major scale with note 4 raised a half step. Prokofiev apparently felt “reluctance to play the black notes.”

• Prokofiev was an avid chess player. He beat world chess champion José Raúl Capablanca in a simultaneous exhibition match in 1914.

• Prokofiev’s mother was a talented pianist. When Prokofiev was young, his mother would spend two months each year in either Saint Petersburg or Moscow to take piano lessons.

• Prokofiev was several years younger than his fellow classmates at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. His habit of keeping statistics on their errors likely did little to help him make friends.

• In his early career, Prokofiev wrote very experimental and dissonant music. At the premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 2, one audience member remarked, “To hell with this futuristic music! The cats on the roof make better music!”

• The Saint Petersburg Conservatory held a “battle of the pianos” at the end of the year. The five best piano students were allowed to enter. The grand prize was a Schroeder grand piano. In 1914, Prokofiev won. He performed his Piano Concert No. 1.

• Prokofiev’s ballet Chout premiered in Paris in 1921. Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel were in the audience. Afterward, Stravinsky called it “the single piece of modern music he could listen to with pleasure.” Ravel called it “a work of genius.”

• Prokofiev called his Symphony No. 1 the Classical. He felt that he had written music in a style that Franz Joseph Haydn would have, had he been alive at the time.

• In 1922 Prokofiev and Stravinsky were both in Paris. Stravinsky thought that Prokofiev was wasting his time writing operas. The two exchanged a series of derisive remarks and almost had a fist fight. The two had a strained relationship for many years thereafter. Eventually the two did reconcile, with Stravinsky calling Prokofiev the greatest Russian composer of the day, after himself.

• Prokofiev became a Christian Scientist in 1924 and followed the teachings for the rest of his life. He felt these religious ideas were beneficial to his health and “fiery temperament.”

• Russian conductor Serge Koussevitzky called Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3 the “greatest symphony since Tchaikovsky’s Sixth.”

• Prokofiev wrote Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution in 1938. However, it wasn’t performed during his lifetime because the performance was blocked by the chairman of the Committee on Arts Affairs. The work was finally premiered in 1966.

• Prokofiev was commissioned to write a birthday song for Stalin’s 60th birthday. The piece was titled Zdravitsa which translates to “Cheers!” but the work is often performed with the title Hail to Stalin.

• Prokofiev was evacuated from Moscow due to the war in 1941. He spent the next year in Tbilisi, Georgia. Later, he spent time in Kazakhstan before returning to Moscow.

• In 1945, Prokofiev suffered a concussion after fainting in his apartment. In the hospital, the doctors realized he had chronic hypertension that had not been diagnosed. Prokofiev never fully recovered from the injury and restricted his composing activities at his doctor’s recommendation.

• Prokofiev, along with several other prominent Soviet composers, was denounced for his anti-Soviet music in 1948. Eight of his works were banned from performance. But many other works weren’t programmed either for fear of reprisals. By August 1948, Prokofiev had a debt of 180,000 rubles.

• Prokofiev’s first wife, Lina, was arrested for espionage after their divorce. She was held for interrogation for nine months then sentenced to twenty years hard labor. She was released after eight.

• Prokofiev died the same day as Joseph Stalin. Due to all the activities for Stalin’s funeral, Prokofiev’s was a very minor affair. The hearse couldn’t get to Prokofiev’s house, since it was near Red Square. The coffin had to be carried by hand through the back streets. Only thirty people attended Prokofiev’s funeral, among the most prominent attendees was Dmitri Shostakovich.

• Shostakovich wrote to Prokofiev saying, “I wish you at least another hundred years to live and create. Listening to such works as your Seventh Symphony makes it much easier and more joyful to live.”

• Prokofiev’s death was reported on page 116 of the leading Soviet music magazine. The other 115 pages were about Stalin’s death.

*Until 1918, Russia followed the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar. When it was switched in 1918, there was a thirteen-day difference. Events that took place in Russia prior to 1918 are often labeled with both dates with the indication O.S. or old style for the Julian calendar dates and N.S. with new style for the Gregorian dates. For composers born prior to 1918, both dates will be given for their birthdate.