April 23 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding composer, pianist and conductor Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev.
Russian composer, pianist and conductor, People's Artist of the RSFSR Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev was born on April 23 (April 11 according to the old style), 1891, in the Sontsovka estate in the Yekaterinoslav province (now the village of Krasnoye, Donetsk region of Ukraine).
His father was an agronomist managing the estate, his mother took care of the house and the upbringing of her son. She was a good pianist and, under her guidance, music lessons began when the boy was not yet five years old. It was then that he made his first attempts at composing music.
The range of the composer's interests was wide - painting, literature, philosophy, cinema, chess. Sergei Prokofiev was a very talented chess player, he invented a new chess system in which square boards were replaced by hexagonal ones. As a result of the experiments, the so-called "Prokofiev's nine-chess chess" appeared.
Possessing an innate literary and poetic talent, Prokofiev wrote almost the entire libretto for his operas; wrote stories that were published in 2003. In the same year, a presentation of the complete edition of Sergei Prokofiev's Diaries took place in Moscow, which were published in Paris in 2002 by the composer's heirs. The publication consists of three volumes, bringing together the composer's notes from 1907 to 1933. Prokofiev's Autobiography, written by him after his final return to his homeland, was repeatedly republished in the USSR and Russia; it was last reissued in 2007.
The "Diaries" of Sergei Prokofiev formed the basis of the documentary film "Prokofiev: An Unfinished Diary", filmed by Canadian director Iosif Feiginberg.
Museum. Glinka released three Prokofiev collections (2004, 2006, 2007).
In November 2009, at the State Museum of A.S. Pushkin in Moscow, a presentation of a unique artifact created by Sergei Prokofiev in the period from 1916 to 1921 took place. - "Wooden book by Sergei Prokofiev - a symphony of kindred spirits." This is a collection of quotes from prominent people. Deciding to make an original book of autographs, Prokofiev asked his respondents the same question: "What do you think about the sun?". In a small album bound from two wooden boards with a metal clasp and a leather spine, 48 people left their autographs: famous artists, musicians, writers, close friends and just acquaintances of Sergei Prokofiev.
In 1947, Prokofiev was awarded the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR; was a laureate of the State Prizes of the USSR (1943, 1946 - three times, 1947, 1951), laureate of the Lenin Prize (1957, posthumously).
According to the composer's will, in the year of the centenary of his death, that is, in 2053, the last archives of Sergei Prokofiev will be opened.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
Prokofiev Sergey Sergeevich (1891-1953), composer, pianist, conductor.
Born April 23, 1891 in the Solntsevka estate (now the village of Krasnoye) in the Donetsk region, where his father served as a manager. In 1904, Prokofiev entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory; studied composition with A. K. Lyadov, and instrumentation with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.
He graduated from the conservatory in 1909 as a composer, after which he again entered it already in the piano class. If the composer’s diploma, in Prokofiev’s own words, was of “poor quality” (he did not have good relations with teachers), then graduating from the conservatory in 1914 as a pianist turned out to be brilliant - he was awarded the Anton Rubinstein Prize and issued a diploma with honors.
While still studying at the conservatory, Prokofiev wrote his First Piano Concerto, which he performed with triumph at the final exam. He has a total of five piano concertos, two for violin and one for cello. In 1917, Prokofiev wrote the First Symphony, calling it "Classical". Until 1952, when the last, Seventh Symphony was created, the composer constantly turned to this genre. Nevertheless, the main genres in his work are opera and ballet. Opera "Maddalena" Prokofiev composed in 1911, and the ballet "The Tale of the Jester Who Outwitted Seven Jesters" - in 1915. The opera "The Gambler" (1916) based on the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky was a real success.
From 1918 to 1933 Prokofiev lived in America. Abroad, he successfully gave concerts and wrote music. In 1919, his famous opera "Love for Three Oranges" by C. Gozzi appeared, in 1925 - the ballet "Steel Lope", in 1928 - the ballet "Prodigal Son". The peaks of his ballet creativity are Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Cinderella (1944). In the operatic genre, War and Peace (1943) based on Leo Tolstoy and Betrothal in a Monastery (1940) based on the plot of R. Sheridan's Duenna are considered to be Prokofiev's greatest achievements.
Prokofiev's outstanding talent was highly appreciated both at home and abroad. In 1934, the composer was elected a member of the National Academy "Santa Cecilia" in Rome, in 1946 - an honorary member of the Prague "Handy Conversation", in 1947 - a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
He was repeatedly a laureate of the State Prize of the USSR, and posthumously (1957) Prokofiev was awarded the Lenin Prize.
Prokofiev died in Moscow in a communal apartment in Kamergersky Lane from a hypertensive crisis on March 5, 1953. Since he died on the day of Stalin's death, his death went almost unnoticed, and relatives and colleagues of the composer faced great difficulties in organizing the funeral. S. S. Prokofiev was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery. In memory of the composer, a memorial plaque was erected on the house in Kamergersky Lane.
Prokofiev Sergey Sergeevich (April 23, 1891 - March 5, 1953) - the greatest Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, conductor. He composed 11 operas, 7 symphonies, 8 concertos, 7 ballets, a huge number of instrumental and vocal works, as well as music for films and performances. Laureate of the Lenin Prize (posthumously), laureate of six Stalin Prizes, People's Artist of the RSFSR. There was no more performed composer in the 20th century.
Childhood and studies at the conservatory
At the end of the 19th century, the Yekaterinoslav province was in the Russian Empire, and the Bakhmut district was in it. Here in this county on April 23, 1891, in the village, or, as it was then customary to call it, the estate of Sontsovka, Sergey Prokofiev was born (now his homeland is better known to the whole world as Donbass).
His father, Sergey Alekseevich, was an agronomist, at the time of the birth of his son he worked as a manager on the estate of a landowner. Two girls were born in the family before that, but they died in infancy. Therefore, the boy Seryozha was a very long-awaited child and his parents gave him all their love, care and attention. The boy's mother, Maria Grigoryevna, was almost completely involved in the upbringing. She is from the serf family of the Sheremetovs, where children were taught music and theatrical art from an early age (and not just like that, but at the highest level). Maria Grigorievna was also a pianist.
This influenced the fact that little Seryozha was already studying music at the age of 5, and gradually the gift of writing began to manifest itself in him. He came up with music in the form of plays and songs, rondos and waltzes, and my mother wrote for him. As the composer recalled, the most powerful childhood impression for him was a trip to Moscow with mom and dad, where they were in the theater and listened to Prince Igor by A. Borodin, Faust by Charles Gounod. Seeing "Sleeping Beauty" by P. Tchaikovsky, the boy returned home simply obsessed with writing something like that. Already at the age of ten, he wrote two works under the titles "The Giant" and "On the Deserted Islands."
Seryozha's second visit to Moscow was at the beginning of the winter of 1901. Professor of the Conservatory S. Taneyev listened to him. An experienced teacher noticed the child's talent and recommended that he study music with all seriousness and systematicity. In the summer, the well-known composer Reinhold Gliere came to the village of Sontsovka. He recently graduated from the conservatory, received a gold medal and, on the recommendations of Taneyev, arrived at the estate. He taught little Prokofiev the musical theories of improvisation, harmony, composition, and became an assistant in writing the work A Feast in the Time of Plague. In the fall, Gliere, together with Maria Grigoryevna, Seryozha's mother, again took the child to Moscow to Taneyev.
A decision was made about the talented boy, and Sergei became a student of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His teachers are A.N. Esipova, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A.K. Lyadov, N.N. Cherepnin. In 1909 he graduated from the conservatory as a composer, and in 1914 as a pianist. At the end of the conservatory, Prokofiev received a gold medal. And at the final exams, the commission unanimously awarded him the Prize. A. Rubinstein - piano "Schroeder". But he did not leave the conservatory, but continued to study in the organ class until 1917.
Since 1908 he was a soloist and performed his own works. After graduating from the conservatory, Prokofiev went to London for the first time (his mother promised him such a gift). There he met Diaghilev, who at that time was organizing the Russian Seasons in the French capital. From that moment on, the young musician opened the way to popular European salons. His piano evenings were a huge success in Naples and Rome.
Since childhood, the character of Sergei was not simple, this was even reflected in his early works. While studying at the conservatory, he often shocked those around him with his appearance, he always tried to seize leadership and be in the spotlight. People who knew him in those years noted that he always looked special. Prokofiev had excellent taste, he dressed very beautifully, allowing himself to use bright colors and catchy combinations in clothes.
Much later, Svyatoslav Richter will say about him:
“One sunny day I was walking on the Arbat and met an extraordinary person who carried strength and challenge in himself, passed me by like a phenomenon. He was wearing bright yellow boots and a red and orange tie. I couldn't help but turn around and look after him. It was Sergei Prokofiev.
Life outside Russia
At the end of 1917, Sergei decides to leave Russia. As he wrote in his diary, the decision to change Russia for America was based on the desire to see life in full swing, and not souring; culture, not game and slaughter; to give not miserable concerts in Kislovodsk, but to perform in Chicago and New York.
On a spring day in May 1918, Prokofiev leaves Moscow and leaves it, taking a ticket for the Siberian Express. On the first day of summer, he gets to Tokyo and waits for an American visa there for about two months. In early August, Sergei Sergeevich sailed to the United States of America. There he lived for three years and in 1921 moved to France.
In the next fifteen years, he worked hard and gave concerts in American and European cities, even three times he came to the Soviet Union with concerts. At this time, he met and became very close to such famous people in the cultural world as Pablo Picasso and Sergei Rachmaninov. Prokofiev also managed to get married, the Spaniard Carolina Codina-Lubera became his life partner. The couple had two sons - Oleg and Svyatoslav. But more and more often, Sergei was overcome by thoughts about returning home.
In 1936, Prokofiev, together with his wife and sons, came to the USSR and settled in Moscow.
Until the end of his life, he only twice traveled abroad with concerts - in the seasons of 1936/1937 and 1938/1939.
Prokofiev talked a lot with famous artists of that time. Together with Sergei Eisenstein, they worked on the film "Alexander Nevsky".
On May 2, 1936, the premiere of the world-famous fairy tale-symphony "Peter and the Wolf" took place at the Central Children's Theater.
Just before the start of the war, the composer worked on the operas Duenna and Semyon Kotko.
The war period was marked in the composer's creative life by the opera "War and Peace", the Fifth Symphony, the music for the film "Ivan the Terrible", the ballet "Cinderella" and many other works.
Changes in Prokofiev's family life took place as early as 1941, before the start of the war. At this time, he no longer lived with his family. Much later, the Soviet government declared his marriage invalid, and in 1948 Prokofiev again entered into legal marital relations with Mira Mendelssohn. Lin's wife survived arrest, camps and rehabilitation. In 1956 she left the Soviet Union for Germany. Lina lived a long life and died at an advanced age. All this time she loved Prokofiev and until the last days she remembered how she saw and heard him for the first time at a concert. She adored Seryozha, his music and blamed Mira Mendelssohn for everything.
For Prokofiev himself, the post-war years turned into a sharp deterioration in health, and hypertension progressed. He became an ascetic and did not go anywhere from his dacha. He had a strict medical regime, but despite this, he completed work on the ballet "The Tale of the Stone Flower", the Ninth Symphony, the opera "The Tale of a Real Man".
The death of the great composer went unnoticed by the Soviet people and the media. Because it happened on March 5, 1953, when Comrade Stalin also died. Moreover, the musician's colleagues, his relatives and friends even experienced considerable problems in organizational funeral matters. The composer died in a Moscow communal apartment due to a hypertensive crisis. The funeral took place at Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.
After 4 years, the Soviet authorities seemed to have tried to make amends with the famous musician and awarded him the Lenin Prize posthumously.
Works - masterpieces with world fame
In the world, ballets written by S.S. are especially popular and loved. Prokofiev.
| Premiere year | Title of the work | Premiere location |
| 1921 | "The Tale of the Jester Who Outsmarted the Seven Jesters" | Paris |
| 1927 | "Steel Jump" | Paris |
| 1929 | "Prodigal son" | Paris |
| 1931 | "On the Dnieper" | Paris |
| 1938, 1940 | "Romeo and Juliet" by W. Shakespeare | Brno, Leningrad |
| 1945 | "Cinderella" | Moscow |
| 1951, 1957 | "The Tale of the Stone Flower" by P.P. Bazhov | Moscow, Leningrad |
For orchestras, Prokofiev created 7 symphonies, the Scythian suite "Ala and Lolly", two Pushkin waltzes and many other overtures, poems, suites.
The world remembers the great man and reveres his works. Very many music schools and concert halls, airplanes and airports, streets and children's music schools, symphony orchestras and music academies bear the name of S. S. Prokofiev. Two museums are open in Moscow and one in his homeland, in the Donbass.
THE GREAT SON OF THE LAND OF DONETSK SERGEY PROKOFIEV
Considered one of the largest, most influential and most performed composers of the 20th century. He was also a pianist and conductor. Two years ago, on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the birth of the great composer, concerts and festivals were organized in Ukraine, Russia, France, Germany and other countries with which the name of the master is associated. Donbass, where the musician was born and spent his childhood, announced 2011 Year of Prokofiev.
From Sontsovka
Disputes often broke out around the work of this composer, since originality and originality always cause a contradictory reaction. However, not only fans Prokofiev feel the power and brightness of his talent. What is now called charisma was inherent in the composer. Strict, collected, extremely picky about everything related to his work, he cursed with performers and directors, once even scolded David Oistrakh right at the concert, and Galina Ulanova said: “You need drums, not music.”
For 50 years of creative activity, he wrote 130 pieces of music. The composer's talent was embodied in a wide genre palette: ballets, operas, symphonies, music for films and, of course, music for children.
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great musician, UNESCO declared 1991 Year of Prokofiev. At the same time, thanks to the efforts of grateful fellow countrymen, a memorial zone was created in the village of Krasnoe Prokofiev. The St. Peter and Paul Church was restored, in which the future musician was baptized.
DATA
Svyatoslav Richter wrote: “One sunny day I was walking along the Arbat and saw an unusual person. He carried a defiant power and passed me by like a phenomenon. 
In bright yellow boots, with a red-orange tie. I could not help but turn around after him - it was Prokofiev».
Name Prokofiev the Concert Hall of the Donetsk Regional Philharmonic Society, the academic orchestra and the Academy of Music were named. For more than a decade, the international festival "Prokofiev's Spring" has been held, in which the competition of young pianists "In the homeland of Sergei Prokofiev" is organically intertwined. Award established Sergei Prokofiev, which is awarded to musicians for creative achievements.
Updated: April 13, 2019 by: Elena
In the early period of Prokofiev's work, piano music of various forms is in the lead - from miniatures to small cycles, concertos and sonatas. It is in small program piano pieces that the original style of the composer matures. The second wave of the rise of Prokofiev's piano music was the late 1930s - early 1940s, when the triad of sonatas (Nos. 6, 7, 8) was born, which, in terms of epic power and depth of dramatic conflicts, is almost as good as the symphonies of the same time - the Fifth and Sixth.
Prokofiev's contribution to piano literature of the 20th century is comparable only to that of Debussy, Scriabin and Rachmaninov. Like the latter, he creates a number of monumental piano "concert-symphonies", continuing in this sense the tradition bequeathed by Tchaikovsky.
Prokofiev's pianism is graphic, muscular, pedalless, which is the opposite of Rachmaninov's romantic style and Debussy's impressionistic fluctuation. B. Asafiev: "Severe constructivism is combined with psychological expressiveness." Features: vigor, toccato, constant dynamics, instrumental melody, transparent texture, inclination towards psychologism, bold timbre combinations, clear forms, playing in extreme registers (Debussy). Sharp figurative contrasts: primitiveness and elegance, barbaric fauvism and sophistication, prose passages and fairy-tale episodes, sarcasm and lyrics.
Prokofiev's piano work is diverse in genre (piano cycles, miniatures, transcriptions of ballet compositions, concert sonatas). Prokofiev is rightfully considered a representative of the anti-romantic tradition of the first half of the 20th century, along with Stravinsky, Bartok, Hindemith.
Overcoming the romantic interpretation of the piano is due to several factors:
Refusal of sensual interpretation of sound (dry, hard, glassy). The special role of emphasis, non legato style;
sound unloaded. Frequent use of extreme registers. No feeling of fullness;
percussion interpretation of the piano. Prokofiev continues the traditions of the early classical art of Scarlatti, Haydn, French clavisinists, Debussy's clavier classicism, and in the Russian tradition of Mussorgsky.
Despite the predominance of anti-romantic traditions, Prokofiev's piano style also has features of romantic piano music. This is true especially in relation to the moments of cantilena themes. Prokofiev's piano work is usually divided into three periods:
1) Early . Before leaving abroad (1908 - 1918). During this period, four sonatas, two concertos, etudes (op. 2), plays (op. 3,4), Toccata (op. 11), Sarcasm (op. 17), Transience (op. 22) were written;
2) Foreign (1918 - 1933). In creativity there is a deepening of the lyrical sphere. Written 3rd, 4th, 5th concertos, 5th sonata, "Tales" (op. 31), four pieces (op. 32);
3) Soviet (mid 1930s). According to Prokofiev himself, during this period of creativity, a “transition to a new simplicity” takes place. Written "Children's Music" (op. 65), transcriptions, sonatas 6-9.
Subject: N.Ya. Myaskovsky. Creation. Style features.
Introduction.
He entered the history of Soviet music as a great symphonist and an outstanding teacher. He stood at the origins of the formation of Soviet symphony. External showiness, concert brilliance are alien to his style, there are no traces of passion for colorful sound painting or super-rationalism. The work of Myaskovsky is an independent branch of Russian philosophical symphonism, where the traditions of Liszt, Wagner, Tchaikovsky and the "Kuchkists" were originally developed and reworked in the spirit of expressionism.
Early period of creativity.
The evolution of Myaskovsky, like many other composers of the 20th century, was directed towards speaking simply about the complex, without losing depth. His early works are characterized by: dense musical fabric, complicated harmony. The 5th symphony opens the central period of Myaskovsky's work.
E years.
One of the most difficult creative periods. The capture of deeply personal feelings and subjective tragic emotions in these years noticeably prevails over the objective sphere (symphonies No. 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, sonatas No. 3, 4, “Fads”, “Yellowed Pages”). Symphony Nos. 5 and 8 contain folk-mass images.
E years.
The role of folk images, the heroic, courageous and strong-willed principle, is growing. Lyrical thematicism, melodiousness, melodic breadth and smoothness (symphonies No. 15, 17, 18, 19, 21), quotations from mass songs.
E years.
The established style of the composer acquired features of academic rigor. Lyrical-epic-dramatic symphonism of the war years and suite-type works (Symphony No. 23). Genre coexists with disturbing themes, narrative episodes, lyrical monologues. The musical fabric is clear and transparent.
As a result, two lines of Myaskovsky's creativity crystallized: lyrical-psychological and epic-genre. Of the most important styles of the 20th century, late romanticism and expressionism were reflected in the composer's work.
Subject: S.S. Prokofiev. Cantata "Alexander Nevsky".
Introduction.
Music to the film by S. Eisenstein “A. Nevsky" is one of the recognized pinnacles of Prokofiev's creative life. In this work, he first turned to Russian heroic-epic themes. Further, this line was continued in the opera "War and Peace", Symphony No. 5, the First Sonata for Violin and Piano, and the music for the film "Ivan the Terrible". In May 1939, the premiere of the cantata took place.
Dramaturgy.
In many respects the genre of the cantata is original. The composer achieved a bold combination of picturesque and pictorial orchestral episodes with song and choral scenes. Thus, a new genre fusion of programmatic symphony with a specific operatic and choral action arose.
The dramaturgy of the cantata is based on a sharp contrast between two conflicting intonational spheres: the Russian patriotic army and the repulsive face of the Teutonic crusaders. The first are characterized by songs of an epic warehouse, sad parables, funny buffoon tunes. The second is depicted with puffy military fanfare, Catholic chant and an automated march. Prokofiev, as always, emphasized the contrast between them with the help of harmonic and orchestral means. In "Russian" music, light diatonicism, softness of timbres, melodious sonority of strings, soulful timbres of voices predominate. "German" is marked by harsh polytonal sounds, "mechanical" rhythms, heavy brass tread and percussion. A special place is occupied by the methods of contrapuntal combinations of various themes (“Battle on the Ice”).
The compositional scheme of the work attracts with its careful thoughtfulness. Seven parts - very different in content - are built on a contrasting alternation of pictorial and visual episodes ("Russia under the Mongol yoke", "Crusaders in Pskov", "Battle on the Ice") with relatively compressed song and choral numbers ("And it was on the Neva -river", "Get up, Russian people", "Dead field"). The composition clearly shows the features of the sonata-symphony cycle:
The first 4 parts are introduction and exposition;
5th - development;
6th - lyrical intermezzo;
7th - synthesizing finale.
Analysis of the cantata.
First part "Rus under the Mongol yoke" is a symphonic prologue to the cycle. The feeling of emptiness is achieved by a special phonic effect, often found in Prokofiev: high and low timbres move in unison with an unfilled middle. Thus, a landscape full of anxiety and sorrow arises.
The second part is epic Song about Alexander Nevsky". Mean range, leisurely deployment, clarity of movement. The harsh coloring is emphasized by the predominance of low timbres in the orchestra and choir. The battle-pictorial element is reinforced in the middle section.
The features of dramatic conflict are fully revealed in the third part - "Crusaders in Pskov". For the first time, polar images collide in it: the cruel Teutonic invasion (extreme sections) and the suffering of the vanquished (middle). The crusaders are depicted using three themes: a Catholic chant, a bass motif, and a military fanfare. In the middle there is a mournful melody: a sad melody of lamentation, a rich subvocal fabric.
Fourth part - "Get up, Russian people"- like the second one, it is built in the form of a choral scene of a song warehouse. The main theme is filled with combat courage and prowess. The middle section (“Native in Rus'”) captivates with light poetry.
In the most expanded fifth part - "Battle on the Ice"- the main events of the entire symphonic drama are concentrated. Here, the proximity to the nature of cinema is most noticeable: the principle of “montage”, counterpoint techniques, the through development of image-themes. Introduction, conclusion, features of rondality. The frightening theme of the crusaders is opposed by the Russian buffoon tune. The themes of the previous parts - the 3rd and 4th - sound. After the grandiose climax (tutti, fff) and the failure of the Germans under the ice, there is a calm and a poetic conclusion.
Sixth part "Dead Field"- lyric-epic discharge after a tense battle. The only aria in the entire cantata, for the first time introducing an element of personal feeling into music. Muffled strings, mournful intonations, natural minor, variability of mode, chant - a vivid example of Slavic melos.
The seventh part - "Alexander's Entry into Pskov". The victorious-patriotic finale of the cantata is almost entirely based on Russian themes from the 2nd, 4th and 5th movements. The main mood is popular jubilation, the joy of the Russian people.
D.D. Shostakovich. (1906-1975).
