 |
{prah-koh'-fyeff, seer-gay'}
The composer Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev, b. near Yekaterinoslav
(now Dnepropetrovsk), Ukraine, April 23, (N.S.), 1891, began
studying the piano with his mother when he was four years
old, and composed his first piano work at age five. In the
summer of 1902, he began studying composition with Reinhold
GLIERE, and in 1904, enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
By the time he graduated, in 1914, his works-- including the
first two Piano Concertos--had made him a controversial figure.
Russia, meanwhile, was in revolutionary turmoil, and in May
1918--with his First Violin Concerto and the "Classical"
Symphony behind him--Prokofiev left Russia for the United
States. The premieres of two of his most successful works
were held in Chicago in 1921--the Third Piano Concerto and
the opera Love for Three Oranges, which was commissioned by
the Chicago Opera.
The 1920s were a fertile time for Prokofiev. He settled in
Paris in 1923. His association with Serge DIAGHILEV's Ballets
Russes led to the ballets Chout (1921), The Steel Step (1927),
and The Prodigal Son (1929). Two more operas were completed
during this period, The Fiery Angel (first presented in concert
performance in 1928), and a revised version of an earlier
opera, The Gambler (1929).
In 1932, Prokofiev reached an understanding with Soviet authorities,
and in 1936 he left Paris and settled permanently in the USSR.
Even before returning, his style had mellowed. He embraced
the idea that as an artist supported by Soviet society he
must address a wide public. Not only the pieces d'occasion
(the cantatas Twentieth Anniversary of October and Ode to
Stalin) but such works as the ballet Romeo and Juliet (1938)
and the Fifth Symphony (1945) reveal his mastery of an original,
professionally adroit, yet highly accessible style. Through
his film scores--among them, Alexander Nevsky (1939) and Ivan
the Terrible (1945)--Prokofiev's work became known to a wide
public. His operas include The Fiery Angel (1927) and War
and Peace (1953), and his total opus includes seven symphonies
(among them the Classical, 1918), five piano concertos, two
violin concertos, and chamber music.
In 1948, Prokofiev and other leading Soviet composers were
severely criticized by Communist party spokesmen for "ideological
laxity." His last years were shadowed by illness and
frustration, the latter from petty bureaucrats appointed to
verify the ideological soundness of Soviet music. He died
of a stroke in Moscow on Mar. 5, 1953, on the same day as
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
 |
 |
|
- 
