Sergei Prokofiev
Russian Modern enfant terrible who balanced neoclassicism and wit
1891
1953
Russian
Modern
Peter and the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet, Piano Concerto No. 3
Early life
Sergei Prokofiev was born on 23 April 1891 in Sontsovka, a remote village in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Pokrovske, Ukraine). His mother, an accomplished amateur pianist, gave him his first lessons, and by the age of nine he had composed two short operas. In 1904, at thirteen, he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where his teachers included Rimsky-Korsakov (orchestration), Lyadov (counterpoint), and Anna Yesipova (piano). He graduated in 1914, winning the Anton Rubinstein Prize by performing his own First Piano Concerto.
Career and major works
Prokofiev's early works shocked and delighted audiences with their percussive energy, sardonic wit, and brash dissonance. The 'Classical' Symphony No. 1 (1917), an elegant homage to Haydn, and the Piano Concerto No. 3 (1921) date from this period. He left Russia in 1918, spending the next two decades abroad — in the United States, Germany, and France — composing ballets for Diaghilev (including The Prodigal Son, 1929), operas (The Love for Three Oranges, 1921), and symphonies. In 1936 he returned permanently to the Soviet Union, a decision whose consequences proved dire: while he composed some of his greatest works under Soviet patronage — the ballet Romeo and Juliet (1936), Peter and the Wolf (1936), the Symphony No. 5 (1944), the opera War and Peace (1943), and the Piano Sonatas Nos. 6–8 (the 'War Sonatas') — he also suffered the Zhdanov decree of 1948, which denounced his music as 'formalist' and effectively silenced him during his final years.
Musical style and legacy
Prokofiev's music is characterised by motoric rhythmic energy, biting dissonance juxtaposed with soaring lyricism, sharp orchestral colour, and a gift for memorable, often march-like melody. His ability to write music of both visceral excitement and profound tenderness gives his work a unique breadth of expression. He died in Moscow on 5 March 1953 — the same day as Stalin, a coincidence that meant his death went virtually unreported.