Prokofiev. Undoubtedly one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, and one of the most unique musical voices to come out of a century preoccupied with conformity to stylistic agendas. Serialism, the process of creating atonality through the systematic organization of tones, cast a heavy shadow over Europe, with nearly all composers adopting its tenets. Even though it enjoyed wide popularity in academic circles, Serialism was still considered radical due to its complete abandonment of traditional tonal harmony. Fortunately, for diversity's sake, the USSR under Stalin and his prescription of "Socialist Realism", was cut off from the avant garde, including Serialism.
This isolation, from the western vantage, is traditionally viewed as negative, and detrimental to the development of Soviet composers. But the Russian's enjoyed a certain freedom not afforded to the "free" countries of the West. They didn't have to bear the pressure and influence of the academics and composers of the West. In a way, this let Russian composers finally develop mature styles unique to themselves. By being cut off from the West, the Russian composers neither had to prove their influence or absorb Western ideas.
So from this scene, emerges Sergei Prokofiev. He was born in 1891 in the Donetsk Oblast province of Eastern Ukraine, and showed exceptional interest and ability in music from an early age. He even began composing at 5 years of age. His mother supported her son wholly, and arranged summer lessons for the boy with a composer pianist from the Moscow Conservatory. By 1904 the 13 year old musician met Alexander Glazunov, the composition teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Glazunov was very impressed by the young boy, and convinced his mother that Prokofiev should apply, despite his young age. Prokofiev promptly enrolled at the Conservatory and his family moved to St. Petersburg to support him.
Even though he was quite talented, Prokofiev did not mesh very well with the Conservatory. He found much of the education boring, and perhaps even below his abilities. Furthermore the Conservatory was not very fond of his forward-looking and highly original ideas, and thus he gained the reputation of a rebel. Still, Prokofiev warranted some praise at the school, and finished his career there by winning a prestigious piano competition in 1914. He performed his own Piano Concerto No. 1.
Here is a clip from that piano concerto, written when Prokofiev was only 20 years old.
The concerto is still widely performed today, along with his other 4 piano concertos.
After winning this competition, Prokofiev decided to travel, and visited Paris and London. He became interested in ballet, after fellow statesman and founder of the Ballets Russes, Sergei Diaghilev proposed that Prokofiev should write a ballet for the group. The composer obliged, and the resulting work, Chout, gained Prokofiev the respect of such cultural luminaries as Ravel, Cocteau, and Stravinsky.
By the time of the October Revolution in 1917, Prokofiev was a well established composer. He now wished to live abroad in the United States, and the newly empowered Bolsheviks did not prevent him. Prokofiev was on good terms with the party, and friends with some of its members, who viewed him as a "revolutionary in music" and thus a kindred spirit.
So Prokofiev lived in America for a few years, and garnered some success. However, the failure of his opera The Love for Three Oranges prompted him to move to Paris in 1920 and reestablish his connections with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, in order not to return to Russia as a failure.
After 15 more years in Europe, the composer finally returned to his homeland. Prokofiev had quite a large following in Russia, and was commissioned to write the music for some of Eisenstein's films, including Lieutenant Kije, and Alexander Nevsky, both of which received much acclaim from the public and the Soviets. But soon enough, Prokofiev and his originality came under suspect of the Soviet authorities. He was branded as a "formalist", that is, a dissenter from the standard "Socialist realism".
Many of his works were banned, or performances postponed on these grounds. Even his Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution was banned, and was still only allowed a partial performance in 1966.
Prokofiev grew tired and angry with his repeated censorship, and famously vented his feelings in 3 piano sonatas, generally known as the "War Sonatas". These were Piano Sonatas 6, 7, and 8. Most people interpret these sonatas as an expression of Prokofiev's contempt for Stalin, thanks to an allusion in the 7th Sonata to a lied by Schumann. The words to Schumann's song, in English translation--"I can sometimes sing as if I were glad, yet secretly tears well and so free my heart." --make clear the plight of the Soviet composer under Stalin's regime. Ironically, Sonatas 7 and 8 were both awarded the Stalin Prize.
As the USSR, entered the Second World War, the restrictions placed on Prokofiev and other Soviet artists were loosened. Prokofiev began composing very emotional works, including the opera War and Peace after Tolstoy. Still, it seems that Prokofiev was not so much inspired by the war, but by his own struggles with his family, and his discontent with Stalin.
By the war's end, the authorities came down on Soviet artists and tightened up restrictions again. Most of Prokofiev's music written during the war was banned, and he was once again declared a "formalist" and a dangerous one at that. As a result, many concert halls and theaters were afraid to program his work and Prokofiev fell into financial need the last few years of his life.
He died on March 5, 1953, the same day Stalin's death was publicly announced. Since Prokofiev lived near Red Square, the crowds of people mourning Stalin prevented the removal of Prokofiev's body for three days. The composers death received one small section on the last page of the paper. It seems that even in death Stalin could obstruct Prokofiev.
Here is one of Prokofiev's best known works, Peter and the Wolf. It was written while under Soviet censorship, but it is still a charming and original piece, aimed at children. This is the March, and a great example of Prokofiev's unconventional yet memorable melodies.
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