Works of Sergei Prokofiev. Prokofiev

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7 works by Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev is a composer, pianist and conductor, author of operas, ballets, symphonies and many other works, known and popular throughout the world in our time. Read stories about Prokofiev's seven important works and listen to musical illustrations from Melodiya.

Opera "The Giant" (1900)

The musical abilities of the future classic of Russian music Sergei Prokofiev manifested themselves in early childhood, when at the age of five and a half years he composed his first piece for piano - “Indian Gallop”. It was written down with notes by the young composer’s mother, Maria Grigorievna, and Prokofiev recorded all his subsequent compositions on his own.

In the spring of 1900, inspired by the ballet The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, as well as the operas Faust by Charles Gounod and Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin, 9-year-old Prokofiev composed his first opera, The Giant.

Despite the fact that, as Prokofiev himself recalled, his “ability to write down” “did not keep up with his thoughts,” this naive children’s composition in the genre of commedia dell’arte already showed the future professional’s serious approach to his work. The opera had, as it should be, an overture; each of the characters in the composition had its own exit aria - a kind of musical portrait. In one of the scenes, Prokofiev even used musical and stage polyphony - when the main characters are discussing a plan to fight the Giant, the Giant himself passes by and sings: "They want to kill me".

Having heard excerpts from “The Giant,” the famous composer and conservatory professor Sergei Taneyev recommended that the young man take up music seriously. And Prokofiev himself proudly included the opera in the first list of his works, which he compiled at the age of 11.

Opera "Giant"
Conductor - Mikhail Leontyev
The author of the restoration of the orchestral version is Sergei Sapozhnikov
Premiere at the Mikhailovsky Theater on May 23, 2010

First piano concerto (1911–1912)

Like many young authors, in the early period of his work Sergei Prokofiev did not find love and support from critics. In 1916, newspapers wrote: “Prokofiev sits down at the piano and begins to either wipe the keys or try which ones sound higher or lower.”. And regarding the first performance of Prokofiev’s “Scythian Suite,” which was conducted by the author himself, critics spoke as follows: “It is simply incredible that such a piece, devoid of any meaning, could be performed at a serious concert... These are some kind of impudent, impudent sounds that express nothing but endless bragging.”.

However, no one doubted Prokofiev’s performing talent: by that time he had established himself as a virtuoso pianist. Prokofiev performed, however, mainly his own compositions, among which the audience especially remembered the First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, which, thanks to its energetic “percussive” character and the bright, memorable motif of the first movement, received the unofficial nickname “On the Skull!”

Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra in D-flat major, Op. 10 (1911–1912)
Vladimir Krainev, piano
Academic Symphony Orchestra of the MFF
Conductor - Dmitry Kitayenko
1976 recording
Sound engineer - Severin Pazukhin

1st Symphony (1916–1917)

Igor Grabar. Portrait of Sergei Prokofiev. 1941. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Zinaida Serebryakova. Portrait of Sergei Prokofiev. 1926. State Central Museum of Theater Arts named after. Bakhrushina, Moscow

In defiance of conservative critics, wanting, as he himself wrote, to “tease the geese,” in the same 1916, 25-year-old Prokofiev wrote an opus completely opposite in style - the First Symphony. Prokofiev gave it the author’s subtitle “Classical”.

The modest composition of the Haydn-style orchestra and classical musical forms hinted that if “father Haydn” had lived to see those days, he could well have written such a symphony, seasoning it with bold melodic turns and fresh harmonies. Created a hundred years ago “to spite everyone,” Prokofiev’s First Symphony still sounds fresh and is included in the repertoire of the best orchestras in the world, and Gavotte, its third movement, has become one of the most popular classical pieces of the 20th century.

Prokofiev himself subsequently included this gavotte as an insert number in his ballet Romeo and Juliet. The composer also had a secret hope (he himself later admitted this) that he would ultimately emerge victorious from the confrontation with the critics, especially if over time the First Symphony actually became a classic. Which is exactly what happened.

Symphony No. 1 “Classical”, D major, Op. 25

Conductor - Evgeny Svetlanov
1977 recording

I. Allegro

III. Gavotte. Non troppo allegro

Fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf" (1936)

Until the end of his days, Prokofiev retained the spontaneity of his worldview. Being partly a child at heart, he had a good sense of the child’s inner world and repeatedly wrote music for children: from the fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling” (1914) based on the text of a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen to the suite “The Fire in Winter” (1949), composed in the last years of his life .

Prokofiev's first composition after returning to Russia in 1936 from a long emigration was the symphonic fairy tale for children "Peter and the Wolf", commissioned by Natalia Sats for the Central Children's Theater. Young listeners fell in love with the fairy tale and remembered it thanks to the vivid musical portraits of the characters, who are still familiar to many schoolchildren not only in Russia, but also abroad. For children, “Peter and the Wolf” performs an educational function: the fairy tale is a kind of guide to the instruments of a symphony orchestra. With this work, Prokofiev anticipated a guide to the symphony orchestra for young people (Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell) written almost ten years later and similar in concept by the English composer Benjamin Britten.

"Peter and the Wolf", symphonic fairy tale for children, Op. 67
State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the USSR
Conductor - Evgeny Svetlanov
1970 recording

Ballet "Romeo and Juliet" (1935–1936)

The recognized masterpiece of the 20th century, many of which top international classical music charts, Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet, had a difficult fate. Two weeks before the scheduled premiere, the general meeting of the creative team of the Kirov Theater decided to cancel the performance in order to avoid, as everyone believed, a complete failure. Perhaps such sentiments were partly inspired by the article “Confusion Instead of Music,” published in the Pravda newspaper in January 1936, which harshly criticized Dmitry Shostakovich’s theatrical music. Both the theater community and Prokofiev himself perceived the article as an attack on modern art as a whole and decided, as they say, not to get into trouble. At that time, a cruel joke even spread among the theater community: “There is no sadder story in the world than Prokofiev’s music in ballet!”

As a result, the premiere of Romeo and Juliet took place only two years later at the National Theater in Brno in Czechoslovakia. But the domestic public saw the production only in 1940, when the ballet was finally staged at the Kirov Theater. And despite another attack of the government’s struggle against so-called “formalism,” the ballet “Romeo and Juliet” by Sergei Prokofiev was even awarded the Stalin Prize.

"Romeo and Juliet", ballet in four acts (9 scenes), Op. 64
Symphony Orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR
Conductor - Gennady Rozhdestvensky
1959 recording
Sound engineer - Alexander Grossman

Act I. Scene one. 3. The street wakes up

Act I. Scene two. 13. Dance of the Knights

Act I. Scene two. 15. Mercutio

Cantata for the 20th anniversary of October (1936–1937)

In 1936, Sergei Prokofiev, an emigrant of the first post-revolutionary wave, a mature, successful and sought-after composer and pianist, returned to Soviet Russia. He was greatly impressed by the changes in the country, which had become completely different. Playing according to the new rules also required some adjustments in creativity. And Prokofiev created a number of works, at first glance, of an openly “courtly” nature: the Cantata for the 20th anniversary of October (1937), written on the texts of the classics of Marxism-Leninism, the cantata “Zdravitsa”, composed for the 60th anniversary of Stalin (1939), and cantata “Flourish, mighty land”, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the October Revolution (1947). True, taking into account Prokofiev’s peculiar sense of humor, which manifested itself every now and then in his musical language, music critics still cannot give an unambiguous answer to the question of whether the composer wrote these works sincerely and seriously or with a certain amount of irony. For example, in one of the parts of the cantata “For the 20th Anniversary of October,” which is called “The Crisis is Overdue,” the sopranos sing (or rather, squeak) in the highest register, “The crisis is overdue!”, descending in semitones. This sound of a tense theme seems comical - and such ambiguous decisions are found at every turn in Prokofiev’s “pro-Soviet” works.

Cantata for the 20th anniversary of October for two mixed choirs, symphony and military orchestras, an orchestra of accordions and noise instruments, Op. 74 (shortened version)

State Choir
Artistic director - Alexander Yurlov
Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic
Conductor - Kirill Kondrashin
1967 recording
Sound engineer - David Gaklin

Texts by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin:

Introduction. A ghost haunts Europe, the specter of communism

Philosophers

Revolution

Music for the film “Alexander Nevsky” (1938)

Composers of the first half of the twentieth century had to do a lot for the first time, and the examples of new art they created are now considered textbooks. This fully applies to film music. Just seven years after the appearance of the first Soviet sound film (The Road to Life, 1931), Sergei Prokofiev joined the ranks of cinema figures. Among his works in the genre of film music, a large-scale symphonic score stands out, written for Sergei Eisenstein’s film “Alexander Nevsky” (1938), later reworked into a cantata under the same name (1939). Many of the images that Prokofiev laid down in this music (the mournful scene of the “dead field”, the soulless and mechanical-sounding attack of the crusaders, the joyful counterattack of the Russian cavalry) are to this day a stylistic reference point for film composers around the world.

“Alexander Nevsky”, cantata for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra (to lyrics by Vladimir Lugovsky and Sergei Prokofiev), op. 78

Larisa Avdeeva, mezzo-soprano (Field of the Dead)
State Academic Choir of Russia named after A. A. Yurlov
Choirmaster - Alexander Yurlov
State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the USSR
Conductor - Evgeny Svetlanov
1966 recording
Sound engineer - Alexander Grossman

Song about Alexander Nevsky

Battle on the Ice

Field of the Dead

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeevich was born on April 11 (23), 1891 in the village of Sontsovka, Ekaterinoslav province. A love of music was instilled in the boy by his mother, who was a good pianist and often played Chopin and Beethoven for her son. Prokofiev received his primary education at home.

From an early age, Sergei Sergeevich became interested in music and already at the age of five he composed his first work - a small piece “Indian Gallop” for piano. In 1902, composer S. Taneyev heard Prokofiev’s works. He was so impressed by the boy’s abilities that he himself asked R. Gliere to give Sergei lessons in composition theory.

Studying at the conservatory. World tour

In 1903 Prokofiev entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Among Sergei Sergeevich’s teachers were such famous musicians as N. Rimsky-Korsakov, Y. Vitola, A. Lyadova, A. Esipova, N. Cherepnina. In 1909, Prokofiev graduated from the conservatory as a composer, in 1914 as a pianist, in 1917 as an organist. During this period, Sergei Sergeevich created the operas “Maddalena” and “The Gambler”.

For the first time, Prokofiev, whose biography was already known in the musical environment of St. Petersburg, performed his works in 1908. After graduating from the conservatory, since 1918, Sergei Sergeevich toured a lot, visited Japan, the USA, London and Paris. In 1927, Prokofiev created the opera The Fiery Angel. In 1932, he recorded his Third Concert in London.

Mature creativity

In 1936, Sergei Sergeevich moved to Moscow and began teaching at the conservatory. In 1938 he completed work on the ballet Romeo and Juliet. During the Great Patriotic War, he created the ballet Cinderella, the opera War and Peace, and music for the films Ivan the Terrible and Alexander Nevsky.

In 1944, the composer received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. In 1947 - the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR.

In 1948, Prokofiev completed work on the opera The Tale of a Real Man.

Last years

In 1948, a resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was issued, in which Prokofiev was sharply criticized for “formalism.” In 1949, at the First Congress of the Union of Composers of the USSR, Asafiev, Khrennikov and Yarustovsky condemned the opera “The Tale of a Real Man.”

Since 1949, Prokofiev practically never left his dacha, continuing to actively create. The composer created the ballet “The Tale of the Stone Flower” and the symphony-concert “Guardian of the World.”

The life of composer Prokofiev was cut short on March 5, 1953. The great musician died of a hypertensive crisis in a communal apartment in Moscow. Prokofiev was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

Personal life

In 1919, Prokofiev met his first wife, the Spanish singer Lina Codina. They got married in 1923 and soon had two sons.

In 1948, Prokofiev married Mira Mendelson, a student at the Literary Institute, whom he met in 1938. Sergei Sergeevich did not file for divorce from Lina Kodina, since in the USSR marriages concluded abroad were considered invalid.

Other biography options

• The future composer created his first operas at the age of nine.
• One of Prokofiev's hobbies was playing chess. The great composer said that playing chess helps him create music.
• The last work that Prokofiev was able to hear in the concert hall was his Seventh Symphony (1952).
• Prokofiev died on the day of his death

The outstanding Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev is known throughout the world for his innovative works. Without him, it is difficult to imagine the music of the 20th century, in which he left a significant mark: 11 symphonies, 7 operas, 7 ballets, many concerts and various instrumental works. But even if he had only written the ballet “Romeo and Juliet,” it would have already been inscribed forever in the history of world music.

The beginning of the way

The future composer was born on April 11, 1891. His mother was a pianist and encouraged Sergei's natural inclination towards music from early childhood. Already at the age of 6, he began composing entire cycles of piano pieces; his mother wrote down his compositions. By the age of nine, he already had many short works and two operas to his credit: “The Giant” and “On the Deserted Islands.” His mother taught him to play the piano from the age of five, and from the age of 10 he regularly took private lessons from the composer R. Gliere.

Years of study

At the age of 13, he entered the conservatory, where he studied with outstanding musicians of his time: N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. Lyadov, N. Cherepnin. There he developed friendly relations with N. Myaskovsky. In 1909, he graduated from the conservatory as a composer, then devoted another five years to mastering the art of pianism. Then he studied the organ for another 3 years. For special academic achievements he was awarded a gold medal and a prize named after him. From the age of 18, he was already active in concert activities, performing as a soloist and performer of his own compositions.

Early Prokofiev

Already, Prokofiev’s early works caused a lot of controversy; they were either accepted wholeheartedly or fiercely criticized. From his first steps in music, he declared himself as an innovator. He was close to the theatrical atmosphere, the dramatization of music, and as a person, Prokofiev was very fond of brightness and loved to attract attention to himself. In the 1910s, he was even called a musical futurist for his love of outrageousness and his desire to destroy classical canons. Although the composer could not be called a destroyer. He organically absorbed classical traditions, but was constantly searching for new expressive forms. In his early works, another distinctive feature of his work also emerged - lyricism. His music is also characterized by enormous energy and optimism, especially in the early compositions one can feel this endless joy of life and a riot of emotions. The combination of these specific features made Prokofiev's music bright and unusual. Each of his concerts turned into an extravaganza. From early Prokofiev, the piano cycle “Sarcasms”, “Toccata”, “Obsession”, piano sonata No. 2, two concertos for piano and orchestra, symphony No. 1 deserve special attention. At the end of the 20s, he met Diaghilev and began to write ballets for him, the first experience - “Ala and Lolliy” was rejected by the impresario, he advised Prokofiev to “write in Russian” and this advice became the most important turning point in the composer’s life.

Emigration

After graduating from the conservatory, Sergei Prokofiev travels to Europe. Visits London, Rome, Naples. He feels that he is cramped within the old framework. Troubled revolutionary times, poverty and general preoccupation with everyday problems in Russia, the understanding that no one needs his music in his homeland today lead the composer to the idea of ​​emigrating. In 1918 he went to Tokyo, from there he moved to the USA. After living for three years in America, where he worked and toured a lot, he moved to Europe. Here he not only works a lot, he even goes on tour to the USSR three times, where he is not considered an emigrant; it was assumed that Prokofiev is on a long business trip abroad, but remains a Soviet citizen. He carries out several orders from the Soviet government: the suites “Lieutenant Kizhi”, “Egyptian Nights”. Abroad, he collaborates with Diaghilev, becomes close to Rachmaninoff, and communicates with Pablo Picasso. There he married a Spanish woman, Lina Codina, with whom they had two sons. During this period, Prokofiev created many mature, original works, which made him world famous. Such works include: the ballets “The Fool”, “The Prodigal Son” and “The Gambler”, symphonies 2, 3 and 4, two outstanding piano concertos, and the opera “The Love for Three Oranges”. By this time, Prokofiev’s talent had matured and became an example of the music of a new era: the musician’s sharp, intense, avant-garde compositional style made his compositions unforgettable.

Return

In the early 30s, Prokofiev's creativity became more moderate, he experienced strong nostalgia, and began to think about returning. In 1933, he and his family came to the USSR for permanent residence. Subsequently, he would only be able to travel abroad twice. But his creative life during this period is distinguished by the highest intensity. The works of Prokofiev, now a mature master, are becoming distinctly Russian, and national motifs are heard more and more in them. This gives his original music greater depth and character.

At the end of the 40s, Prokofiev was criticized “for formalism”; his non-standard opera “The Tale of a Real Man” did not fit into the Soviet musical canons. The composer was ill during this period, but continued to work intensively, almost constantly living in the country. He shuns all official events and the music bureaucracy pays him with oblivion; his existence is almost invisible in the Soviet culture of that time. And at the same time, the composer continues to work a lot, writing the opera “The Tale of the Stone Flower”, the oratorio “Guardian of the World”, and piano works. In 1952, his 7th symphony was performed in the Moscow concert hall; this was the last work that the author heard from the stage. In 1953, on the same day as Stalin, Prokofiev died. His death went almost unnoticed by the country; he was quietly buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Prokofiev's musical style

The composer tried himself in all of them; he sought to find new forms, experimenting a lot, especially in his early years. Prokofiev's operas were so innovative for their time that spectators left the hall en masse on premiere days. For the first time, he allowed himself to abandon the poetic libretto and create musical creations based on such works as “War and Peace,” for example. Already his first composition, “A Feast during the Plague,” became an example of a bold approach to traditional musical techniques and forms. He boldly combined recitation techniques with musical rhythms, creating a new operatic sound. His ballets were so original that choreographers believed that it was impossible to dance to such music. But gradually they saw that the composer sought to convey the external character of the character with deep psychological truthfulness and began to stage a lot of his ballets. An important feature of the mature Prokofiev was the use of national musical traditions, which at one time were proclaimed by M. Glinka and M. Mussorgsky. A distinctive feature of his compositions was enormous energy and new rhythms: sharp and expressive.

Opera heritage

From an early age, Sergei Prokofiev turned to such a complex musical form as opera. As a young man, he began working on classic opera plots: “Ondine” (1905), “A Feast in Time of Plague” (1908), “Maddalena” (1911). In them, the composer boldly experiments with the use of the capabilities of the human voice. At the end of the 30s, the opera genre was experiencing an acute crisis. Major artists no longer work in this genre, not seeing in it expressive possibilities that would allow the expression of new modernist ideas. Prokofiev's operas became a bold challenge to the classics. His most famous works: “The Gambler”, “The Love for Three Oranges”, “Fire Angel”, “War and Peace”, today are the most valuable heritage of music of the 20th century. Modern listeners and critics understand the value of these works, feel their deep melody, rhythm, and special approach to creating characters.

Prokofiev's ballets

The composer had a passion for theater since childhood; he introduced dramatic elements into many of his works, so turning to the ballet form was quite logical. Acquaintance with him prompted the musician to take up writing the ballet “The Tale of a Jester Who Tricked Seven Jesters” (1921). The work was staged at Diaghilev's enterprise, as were the following works: "Steel Leap" (1927) and "Prodigal Son" (1929). This is how a new outstanding ballet composer appears in the world - Prokofiev. The ballet “Romeo and Juliet” (1938) became the pinnacle of his work. Today this work is staged in all the best theaters in the world. Later he creates another masterpiece - the ballet Cinderella. Prokofiev was able to realize his hidden lyricism and melody in these of his best works.

"Romeo and Juliet"

In 1935, the composer turned to Shakespeare's classic plot. For two years he has been writing a new type of essay, and even in such material the innovator Prokofiev manifests himself. The ballet “Romeo and Juliet” is a choreographic drama in which the composer deviates from established canons. Firstly, he decided that the story would have a happy ending, which was in no way consistent with the literary source. Secondly, he decided to focus not on the dance beginning, but on the psychology of the development of images. This approach was very unusual for choreographers and performers, so the path of ballet to the stage took five long years.

"Cinderella"

Prokofiev wrote the ballet “Cinderella” over the course of 5 years - his most lyrical work. In 1944, the work was completed and a year later it was staged at the Bolshoi Theater. This work is distinguished by the subtle psychological nature of its images; the music is characterized by sincerity and complex versatility. The image of the heroine is revealed through deep experiences and complex feelings. The composer's sarcasm was evident in the creation of the images of the courtiers, the stepmother and her daughters. Neoclassical stylization of negative characters became an additional expressive feature of the work.

Symphonies

In total, the composer wrote seven symphonies during his life. In his work, Sergei Prokofiev himself identified four main lines. The first is classical, which is associated with understanding the traditional principles of musical thinking. It is this line that is represented by Symphony No. 1 in D major, which the author himself called “classical.” The second line is innovative, associated with the composer’s experiments. This includes Symphony No. 2. The 3rd and 4th symphonies are closely related to theatrical creativity. 5 and 6 emerged as a result of the composer's war experiences. The seventh symphony began with reflections on life, a desire for simplicity.

Instrumental music

The composer's legacy includes more than 10 or so sonatas, many plays, opuses, and etudes. The third line of Prokofiev's creativity is lyrical, represented mainly by instrumental works. These include the first violin concerto, the plays “Dreams”, “Legends”, “Grandmother’s Tales”. His creative heritage includes an innovative sonata for solo violin in D major, which was written in 1947. Works from different periods reflect the evolution of the author's creative method: from sharp innovation to lyricism and simplicity. His Flute Sonata No. 2 is a classic work for many performers today. It is distinguished by melodic harmony, spirituality and soft wind rhythm.

The piano formed a huge part of his legacy, and their distinctive style made his works extremely popular with pianists all over the world.

Other works

In his work, the composer also turned to the largest musical forms: cantatas and oratorios. His first cantata, “The Seven of Them,” was written by him in 1917 to the poems of K. Balmont and became a striking experiment. Later he wrote 8 more major works, including the cantata “Songs of Our Days” and the oratorio “Guardian of the World.” for children constitute a special chapter in his work. In 1935, Natalya Sats invited him to write something for her theater. Prokofiev responded to this idea with interest and created the famous symphonic fairy tale “Peter and the Wolf,” which became an unusual experiment by the author. Another page in the composer’s biography is Prokofiev’s music for cinema. His filmography consists of 8 films, each of which has become a serious symphonic work.

After 1948, the composer's works from this period were not very successful, with the exception of a few. The composer's work is today recognized as classical, it is studied and performed a lot.

Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev (1891 - 1953), who went down in the history of Russian music as a great composer, innovator, master of musical theater, creator of a new musical language and subverter of old canons, always remained a truly Russian artist.
M. Tarakanov notes that this is the main historical significance of Prokofiev, who continued the work in this direction and; his

“can rightfully be called the sun of Russian music.”

At the same time, continuing in a sense to follow the path of A. Borodin and, he brings to the music pressure, dynamics, energy, filled with deep ideas and bright optimism.

Prokofiev Musical Theater

The continuous creative process of the composer’s work in this vein is determined by the development of musical and stage dramaturgy in connection with three main lines (highlighted by L. Danko):

• comedy-scherzo, marked by connections with the traditions of folk fair performances, fairy-tale parody performances (for example, the ballet “The Jester”, the opera “The Love for Three Oranges”);
• conflict-dramatic, originating from the opera “The Gambler” - up to the opera “War and Peace”;
• lyric-comedy(opera “Duenna”, ballet “Cinderella”).

The fourth line, associated with folk song, was formed in the last years of the composer’s life (the opera “The Tale of a Real Man,” the ballet “The Tale of the Stone Flower.”

Operas by S.S. Prokofiev

The subject matter of opera plots covers examples of Russian and European classical literature; time range from the Middle Ages to the period of the Soviet Union. In addition to those completed, many operatic plans remained unrealized; N. Lobachevskaya cites some as an example:

• “A Story about a Simple Thing” (based on the story by B. Lavrenyev), existing in the form of a brief outline of the opera;
• “The Spendthrift” (based on the play by N. Leskov), which is a lengthy summary of the plot;
• “Taimyr is calling you” (based on the play by A. Galich and K. Isaev) - individual characters and scenes are developed here;
• plans for the operas “Khan Buzai” and “Distant Seas” (the 1st picture has been preserved).

Among the completed operas:

• “A Feast in Time of Plague,” born as a result of the composer’s studies with Glière;
• “Maddalena” (1911, 2nd edition 1913) – one-act lyric-dramatic opera;
• “The Player” (1916, 2nd ed. 1927), where a type of conflict dramaturgy originates;
• "The Love for Three Oranges" (1919), harking back to the dell arte tradition;
• “The Fiery Angel” (1919-1927/1928, based on the novel of the same name by V. Bryusov), combines the features of a chamber lyrical-psychological opera and social tragedy;
• “Semyon Kotko” (1939), combining the features of love drama, comedy, and social tragedy;
• “Duenna” (or “Betrothal in a Monastery”, 1946) - synthesizes the genres of lyrical comedy and social satire;
• “War and Peace” (1941-1952) - an opera-duology based on the novel by L. Tolstoy;
• “The Tale of a Real Man” (1948, 2nd ed. 1960) is dedicated to one of the most important problems of Soviet art: national character during the Great Patriotic War.

Prokofiev, in the musical texts of his works, is a supporter of the rational use of musical expressive means; as a playwright, he updates the opera genre by introducing elements of dramatic theater and cinema into it. Thus, the specifics of Prokofiev’s montage dramaturgy were characterized by M. Druskin: “Prokofiev’s dramaturgy is not a simple change of “frames”, not a kaleidoscope of alternating episodes, but a musical reincarnation of the principles of either “slow” or “fast” shooting, sometimes “influx”, sometimes “ close-up." Also, Prokofiev's operas are distinguished by the diversity of images and stage situations, the polarity in the reflection of reality.

Prokofiev's ballets

Characteristic of the 20th century. the tendency towards symphonization elevates the ballet genre not only to the rank of one of the leading ones, but also makes it a serious competitor to opera. In many ways, it (the trend) is associated with the name of S. Diaghilev, on whose order almost all of Prokofiev’s early ballets were created.

• the composer continues and completes the ballet reform begun, bringing it to the pinnacle where ballet turns from a choreographic performance into musical theater;
• of the three leading lines of the Soviet ballet theater (heroic-historical, classical, satirical), it is the classical one, which has a lyrical and psychological nature, that turns out to be fundamental for Prokofiev’s ballets;
• , the important role of the orchestra, a developed leitmotif system.

• “Ala and Lolliy” (1914), which is based on a Scythian plot. His music is also known as the "Scythian Suite"; daring, sharp, bold “The Jester”, or “The Tale of the Jester of Seven Jesters Who Told a Jester” (1915 – 1920), staged in Paris.
• Ballets of the 20-30s: (“Trapezium”, 1924; “Leap of Steel”, 1925; “Prodigal Son”, 1928; “On the Dnieper”, 1930, in memory of S. Diaghilev).
• Three ballets are masterpieces created upon returning to their homeland (“Romeo and Juliet”, 1935; “Cinderella”, 1940-1944; “The Tale of the Stone Flower”, 1948-1950).

Prokofiev's instrumental works

Symphonies

• No. 1 (1916 – 1917) “Classical”, where the composer turns to the conflict-free type of symphonism of the pre-Beethoven period (Haydn type of symphonism);
• No. 2–4 (1924, 1928, 1930) – symphonies of the foreign period. Asafiev called Symphony No. 2 a symphony “of iron and steel.” Symphonies No. 3 and No. 4 - based on the material of the opera “Fiery Angel” and the ballet “Prodigal Son”;
• No. 5–7 (1944, 1945–47, 1951–1952) – written in the late period. The heroic-epic symphony No. 5 reflected the spirit of wartime; Symphony No. 7, completed less than a year before the composer’s death, is nevertheless filled with optimism and joy of life.
• S. Slonimsky also classifies the symphony-concert for cello in B minor (1950 – 1952) as a symphony.

Prokofiev's piano work

“glassy” coloring, “exactly corresponding to the nonlegal pianism of Prokofiev himself” (L. Gakkel).

Kuchka composers, on the other – to representatives of Western musical culture. Thus, the cheerful tone of creativity, the harmony of music, methods of harmonic development (organ points, parallelisms, etc.), rhythmic clarity, laconicism in the presentation of musical thought make him similar to Grieg; ingenuity in the field of harmony - with Reger; the grace of tarantella rhythms is with Saint-Saens (notes L. Gakkel).

For Prokofiev, the clarity of musical ideas, maximum simplicity and clarity in their implementation are important. Hence the desire for “transparency” of sound (characteristic of early works), where themes are often in the upper register, and as dynamic tension increases, the number of sounding voices is reduced (so as not to overload the sonority). The general logic of development, as a rule, is determined by the movement of the melodic line.

Prokofiev’s piano heritage includes 9 sonatas (No. 10 remained unfinished), 3 sonatinas, 5 concertos (No. 4 for the left hand), many pieces, piano cycles (“Sarcasms”, “Fleetness”, “Tales of an Old Grandmother”, vol. etc.), about 50 transcriptions (mostly of his own compositions).

Cantata-oratorio creativity

Prokofiev created 6 cantatas:

“Seven of them” 1917-18, “Cantata for the 20th anniversary of October” 1936-37, “Zdravitsa” 1939, “Alexander Nevsky” 1938-39, “Ballad of a boy who remained unknown” 1942-43, “Flourish, mighty land "1947, oratorio "Guardian of Peace" 1950.

One of the first examples of a new approach to the genre of historical cantata is considered to be Prokofiev’s one-movement cantata “The Seven of Them”, written to the texts of Balmont’s “Calls of Antiquity” - Chaldean spells turned into verse for the spell of seven monsters, anti-gods, interfering with life. In the cantata, Scythian tendencies are intertwined with constructivist ones, which is also characteristic of the Scythian Suite and Symphony No. 2; sonorous techniques of choral writing are anticipated. The main expressive means is the ostinato technique, close, on the one hand, to ancient spells; on the other hand, it comes from the music of modern times.

“Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of October” was born under the impression of the composer’s return to his homeland and the desire to capture the epoch-making events of Soviet Russia. Its ideological essence: the Great October Socialist Revolution, victory, industrialization of the country, the Constitution. Textually, it contains fragments of the works of Marx, Stalin, and Lenin. The work was rejected by the Arts Committee because the idea of ​​translating these themes into music was considered blasphemous. The premiere took place only in 1966.

The widely known historical (heroic-patriotic) opus “Alexander Nevsky” is a monumental creation by Prokofiev, based on the musical material of the film of the same name (texts by the composer and V. Lugovsky). In 7 parts of the cantata (“Rus under the Mongol yoke”, “Song of Alexander Nevsky”, “Crusaders in Pskov”, “Arise, Russian people”, “Battle of the Ice”, “Dead Field”, “Alexander’s Entry into Pskov”) there is observed close interaction between the dramatic principles of epic composition and cinematic editing:

1. epic - in highlighting the people as the main character, a generalized interpretation of the image of Alexander Nevsky, characterized through a song about him;
2. the montage principle is clearly manifested in the ice battle scene through the inclusion of new musical material, due to the dynamics of the visual range. At the same time, it operates at the level of forms - in a sequence of independent sections, while sometimes internal structures are formed, sometimes development does not obey the logic of any of the standard forms.

The general dynamics of the evolution of S. Prokofiev’s style is marked by a gradually increasing inclination towards melodization in comparison with motor skills and scherzo, which were of leading importance in the early period of creativity, which, however, was not always associated with the evolution of the composer’s work, but was determined by what country and when he lives.

Along with other innovators (C. Debussy, B. Bartok), in his work he identified new ways for the development of music of the twentieth century.