Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev ({{lang-ru|??????? ?????????? ??????????}}, Sergej Sergeevi? Prokof'ev, April 271, 1891–March 5, 1953) was a Ukrainian-born Russian composer who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.

Biography

Early years

Prokofiev was born in Sontsovka, Russian Empire (now the village of Krasnoe in Donets'ka oblast', Ukraine) as an only child. His mother was a pianist and his father a relatively wealthy agricultural engineer.

Related Topics:
Russian Empire - Donets'ka oblast' - Ukraine

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Prokofiev displayed unusual musical abilities by the age of five, and by the age of seven had also learned to play chess. Much like music, chess would remain a passion his entire life, and he became accomplished enough to compete against a number of world champions in his day.

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By 1902, when Prokofiev started taking private lessons in composition, he had already produced a number of innovative pieces. One early piano composition was written in F major, but without the customary B-flat--the young Prokofiev didn't like to touch the black notes! As soon as he had the necessary theoretical tools he quickly started experimenting, laying the base for his own musical style.

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After a while, Prokofiev felt that the isolation in Sontsovka was restricting his further musical development. Although his parents were not too keen on forcing their son into a musical career at such an early age, in 1904 he moved to St Petersburg and applied to the Academy of Music. He passed the introductory tests and started his composition studies the same year, being several years younger than most of his classmates. He was viewed as eccentric and arrogant, and he often expressed dissatisfaction with much of the education, which he found boring. During this period he studied under, among others, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Later, he would regret squandering his opportunity to learn more from Rimsky-Korsakov. He also became friends with Boris Asafiev and Nikolai Myaskovsky.

Related Topics:
1904 - St Petersburg - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Boris Asafiev - Nikolai Myaskovsky

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In the St Petersburg music scene, Sergei would gradually get a reputation as an enfant terrible, while also getting praise for his original compositions which he would perform himself on the piano. In 1909 he graduated from his class in composition, getting less than impressive marks. He continued at the academy, but now concentrated on playing the piano and conducting. His piano lessons went far from smoothly, but the composition classes made an impression on him. His teacher encouraged his musical experimentation, and his works from this period display more intensity than earlier ones.

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In 1910 Prokofiev's father died and Sergei's economic support ceased. Luckily, at that time he had started making a name for himself as a composer, although he frequently caused scandals with his forward-looking works. His first two piano concertos were composed around this time.

Related Topics:
1910 - Piano concerto

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In 1914 Prokofiev left the Conservatory, with the highest marks, which won him a grand piano. Soon afterwards he made a trip to London where he made contact with Sergei Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky.

Related Topics:
1914 - Sergei Diaghilev - Igor Stravinsky

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During World War I, Prokofiev returned again to the academy, now studying organ. He composed an opera based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Gambler, but the rehearsals were plagued by problems and the premiere scheduled for 1917 had to be cancelled because of the February Revolution. In summer the same year, Prokofiev composed his first symphony, the Classical. This was his own name for the symphony, which was composed in a style inspired by, for example, Joseph Haydn (see Neoclassicism (music)). After a brief stay with his mother in Kislovodsk, in the Caucasus, because of worries of the enemy capturing Petrograd (the new name for St Petersburg), he returned in 1918, but he was now determined to leave Russia, at least temporarily. In the current Russian state of unrest he saw no room for his experimental music and in May he headed for the USA.

Related Topics:
World War I - Organ - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Gambler - February Revolution - First symphony - Joseph Haydn - Neoclassicism (music) - Kislovodsk - Petrograd

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Life abroad

Arriving in San Francisco he was immediately compared to other famous Russian exiles (such as Sergei Rachmaninoff), and he started out successfully with a solo concert in New York, leading to several further engagements. He also received a contract for the production of his new opera The Love for Three Oranges, but due to illness and the death of the conductor the premiere was cancelled, another example of Prokofiev's bad luck in operatic matters. The failure also cost him his American solo career, since the opera took too much time and effort. He soon found himself in financial difficulties, and in April 1920 he left for Paris, not wanting to return to Russia as a failure.

Related Topics:
San Francisco - Sergei Rachmaninoff - The Love for Three Oranges - 1920 - Paris

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Paris was better prepared for Prokofiev's musical style. He reaffirmed his contacts with the Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and with Stravinsky, and returned to some of his older unfinished works such as the Third Piano Concerto. Later, in 1921, The Love for Three Oranges finally premiered in Chicago, but the reception was cold, forcing Prokofiev to leave America again without triumph.

Related Topics:
Ballets Russes - Third Piano Concerto - Chicago

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Now Prokofiev moved with his mother to the Bavarian Alps for over a year, so as to concentrate fully on his composing. Mostly he spent time on an old opera project, The Fiery Angel. By this time his later music had started sifting back into Russia and he received invitations to return there, but he felt that his new European career was more important. In 1923 he married the Spanish singer Lina Llubera, before moving back to Paris.

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There a number of his works (for example the Second Symphony) were performed, but critical reception was lukewarm, perhaps because he could no longer really lay claim to being a "novelty". He did not particularly like Stravinsky's later works and even though he was quite friendly with members of "Les Six", musically he had very little in common with them.

Related Topics:
Second Symphony - Les Six

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Around 1927 things started looking up; he had some exciting commissions from Diaghilev and made a number of concert tours in Russia; in addition he enjoyed a very successful staging of The Love for Three Oranges in Leningrad (as Petrograd was now known). Two older operas (one of them The Gambler) were also played in Europe and in 1928 he produced the Third Symphony which was broadly based on his unperformed opera The Fiery Angel. The years 1931 and 1932 saw the completion of his fourth and fifth piano concertos.

Related Topics:
Leningrad - Petrograd - Third Symphony - The Fiery Angel

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In 1929 he had a car accident in which his hands were slightly injured, preventing him from touring in Moscow, but permitting him to enjoy some of the contemporary Russian music instead. After his hands healed he made a new attempt at touring in the USA, and this time he was received very warmly, propped up by his recent success in Europe. This in turn propelled him to do a large tour through Europe.

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In the early 1930s Prokofiev was starting to long for Russia again, moving more and more of his premieres and commissions to his home country instead of Paris. An example of the later is Lieutenant Kije, which was commissioned as the score to a Russian film. Another commission, from the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad, was the ballet Romeo and Juliet, today one of Prokofiev's best known works. However, there were numerous choreographic problems, postponing the premiere for several years.

Related Topics:
Lieutenant Kije - Kirov Theatre - Romeo and Juliet

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Return to Russia

In 1936 Prokofiev and his family moved back to Russia permanently. At this time, the official Russian policy towards music changed; a special bureau, the "Composers' Union", was established in order to keep track of the artists and their doings, and regulations were drawn up outlining what kind of music was acceptable. These policies would gradually cause almost complete isolation for the Russian composers from the rest of the world, by limiting outside influences. Still mostly untouched by this, Prokofiev turned to composing music for children (Three Songs for Children, Peter and the Wolf, and so on) as well as the gigantic Cantata for the Twentieth Anniversary of the October Revolution, which was, however, never performed. The premiere of the opera Semyon Kotko was postponed, this time because the producer Vsevolod Meyerhold was imprisoned and executed. Most of Prokofiev's opera projects were plagued by ill luck.

Related Topics:
1936 - Peter and the Wolf - Semyon Kotko - Vsevolod Meyerhold

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In 1941 Sergei suffered his first heart attack. It would be followed by others, resulting in a gradual decline in health. Because of the war, he was periodically evacuated south together with a large number of other artists. This had consequences for his family life in Moscow, and his relationship with the 25-year-old Mira Mendelson finally led to his separation from his wife, although they remained married. It should also be mentioned that marriage with foreigners was made illegal at this time and that the breakup with his wife was probably forced.

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The outbreak of war inspired Prokofiev to a new opera project, War and Peace, which he worked on for two years, along with more film music for Sergei Eisenstein (Ivan the Terrible) and the second string quartet. However, the Union had many opinions about the opera which had to undergo numerous revisions and no premiere. In 1944, Prokofiev moved to an estate outside of Moscow, to compose his Fifth Symphony (Op. 100) which would turn out to be his most successful. It was overwhelmingly received, but shortly afterwards, Sergei suffered a concussion from which he never really recovered, and which severely lowered his productivity in later years.

Related Topics:
Sergei Eisenstein - Ivan the Terrible - Fifth Symphony

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Prokofiev had time to write his postwar Sixth Symphony and a ninth piano sonata (for Richter) before the Party suddenly changed its opinion about his music. The end of the war allowed the attention to turn inwards again and the Party saw fit to tighten its reins on domestic artists. Prokofiev's music was now suddenly seen as a grave example of "formalism", and generally dangerous to the Soviet people.

Related Topics:
Sixth Symphony - Ninth piano sonata

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On February 20 1948 his wife Lina was arrested for 'espionage'—she tried to send money to her mother in Spain via an embassy. She was sentenced to 20 years, but was eventually released after Stalin's death and later left the Soviet Union; her later years were financially secure due to music royalties. In that same year, Prokofiev married Mira.

Related Topics:
February 20 - 1948

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His latest opera projects were quickly cancelled from the Kirov Theatre and this, in combination with his declining health, caused Prokofiev to retire more and more from the scene. His last performance was the premiere of the Seventh Symphony in 1952, a piece of a somewhat bittersweet character, for which Prokofiev was asked to substitute a cheerful ending. He died from a cerebral haemorrhage on 5 March 1953 (ironically, the same day as Stalin). He is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russia.

Related Topics:
Seventh Symphony - 5 March - 1953 - Stalin - Novodevichy Cemetery - Moscow, Russia

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Lina Prokofiev outlived her husband for many years, dying in London in early 1989, relatively affluent through royalties from Sergei's music. She was reportedly somewhat paranoid in her old age about people in positions of authority, possibly as a result of her earlier experiences in the Soviet Union.

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