Musicians - Sergei Prokofiev

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	Musicians - Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (, Sergej Sergejevič Prokof'ev, 15/April 27¹, 1891 – March 5, 1953) was a Ukrainian-born Russian composer who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. (Alternative transliterations of his name include Sergey or Serge, and Prokofief or Prokofieff.)

Biography

Early years

Prokofiev was born in Sontsovka, Russian Empire (now the village of Krasnoe in Donets'ka oblast', Ukraine). He was an only child. His mother was a pianist and his father a relatively wealthy agricultural engineer.

Prokofiev displayed unusual musical abilities by the age of five, and by the age of seven had also learned to play chess. Much like music, chess would remain a passion his entire life, and he became accomplished enough to compete against a number of world champions in his day.

By 1902, when Prokofiev started taking private lessons in composition, he had already produced a number of innovative pieces. One early piano composition was written in F major, but without the customary B-flat--the young Prokofiev didn't like to touch the black notes. As soon as he had the necessary theoretical tools he quickly started experimenting, laying the base for his own musical style.

After a while, Prokofiev felt that the isolation in Sontsovka was restricting his further musical development. Although his parents were not too keen on forcing their son into a musical career at such an early age, in 1904 he moved to St. Petersburg and applied to the Academy of Music. He passed the introductory tests and started his composition studies the same year, being several years younger than most of his classmates. He was viewed as eccentric and arrogant, and he often expressed dissatisfaction with much of the education, which he found boring. During this period he studied under, among others, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Later, he would regret squandering his opportunity to learn more from Rimsky-Korsakov. He also became friends with Boris Asafiev and Nikolai Myaskovsky.

In the St. Petersburg music scene, Sergei would gradually get a reputation as an enfant terrible, while also getting praise for his original compositions which he would perform himself on the piano. In 1909 he graduated from his class in composition, getting less than impressive marks. He continued at the Academy, but now concentrated on playing the piano and conducting. His piano lessons went far from smoothly, but the composition classes made an impression on him. His teacher encouraged his musical experimentation, and his works from this period display more intensity than earlier ones.

In 1910 Prokofiev's father died and Sergei's economic support ceased. Luckily, at that time he had started making a name for himself as a composer, although he frequently caused scandals with his forward-looking works. His first two piano concertos were composed around this time.

In 1914 Prokofiev left the Conservatory with the highest marks of his class, a feat which won him a grand piano. Soon afterwards he made a trip to London where he made contact with Sergei Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky.

During World War I, Prokofiev returned again to the Academy, now studying organ. He composed an opera based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Gambler, but the rehearsals were plagued by problems and the premiere scheduled for 1917 had to be cancelled because of the February Revolution. In summer the same year, Prokofiev composed his first symphony, the Classical. This was his own name for the symphony, which was composed in a style inspired by, for example, Joseph Haydn (see Neoclassicism). (Prokofiev said that the premise of the work was that were Haydn still alive, he'd compose basically the same way, with a few amendments to his style.) After a brief stay with his mother in Kislovodsk in the Caucasus, because of worries of the enemy capturing Petrograd (the new name for St Petersburg), he returned in 1918, but he was now determined to leave Russia, at least temporarily. In the current Russian state of unrest he saw no room for his experimental music and in May he headed for the USA.

Life abroad

Arriving in San Francisco he was immediately compared to other famous Russian exiles (such as Sergei Rachmaninoff), and he started out successfully with a solo concert in New York, leading to several further engagements. He also received a contract for the production of his new opera The Love for Three Oranges but, due to illness and the death of the conductor, the premiere was cancelled. This was another example of Prokofiev's bad luck in operatic matters. The failure also cost him his American solo career, since the opera took too much time and effort. He soon found himself in financial difficulties, and in April 1920 he left for Paris, not wanting to return to Russia as a failure.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Sergei Prokofiev ]

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