Sergei Prokoviev

Composer

This month, we chose to shine our spotlight on Sergei Sergeyevich Prokoviev. Second only to Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Prokoviev is hailed as one of Russia’s most celebrated composers for the ballet. Prokoviev was born on April 27, 1891, in rural Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. His father’s family were agriculturalists and his exposure to village life and music influenced his work as a composer. His mother was a music devotée who spent two months out of the year studying music in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Listening to his mother at the piano had an early influence on Prokoviev. By the age five, he had composed his first piano composition which his mother transcribed for him.

In 1904, he began formal music studies at the prestigious St. Petersburg Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was considered a bit of a rebel, as he enjoyed experimenting with harmonic dissonance and polytonality, the use of more than one musical key simultaneously. In 1914, he entered and won the “battle of the pianos”, a competition for the top five students, by playing his own Piano Concerto No. 1.

He made his entry into the world of ballet when he traveled to London, England, and met the ballet impresario, Sergei Diaghilev, who commissioned Prokoviev to compose the music for the ballet, Chout. The music greats, Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel, were in the audience at its premiere. Stravinsky claimed the ballet to be "the single piece of modern music he could listen to with pleasure" while Ravel exclaimed it “a work of genius”. 

After the Russian Revolution, Prokoviev lived many years abroad in the US and Europe but, over time, became a “musical ambassador” for the Soviet Union, often returning there to perform and create new works. In 1936, he moved to Moscow with his family to live permanently. It was after he moved back to his homeland that he created his most famous ballets, Peter & the Wolf, Cinderella and Romeo & Juliet.

Prokoviev died on March 5, 1953, the same day as the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin. His works continue to be performed, recorded and enjoyed by music lovers the world over. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Prokofiev

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sergey-Prokofiev

“What launched me into a career of dance was seeing a live performance of Romeo & Juliet, and it was as much the music of Prokoviev as the dancers, Margot Fonteyn & Rudolf Nureyev, that made me fall in love with

this art form.”

Elizabeth Fisk Barisser 

Artistic Director, Brass City Ballet