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Sergei Prokofiev
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"Prokofiev" redirects here. For other uses, see Prokofiev (disambiguation).
Sergei Prokofiev in New York, 1918
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (/pr?'k?fi?f, pro?-, -'k??-, -'ko?-, -j?f, -j?v, -i
?f/;[1][2][3] Russian: ?????? ????????? ?????????, tr. Sergej Sergeevic Prokof'e
v;[n 1] 11/23 April 1891
5 March 1953) was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianis
t and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous mus
ical genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. H
is works include such widely heard works as the March from The Love for Three Or
anges, the suite Lieutenant Kij, the ballet Romeo and Juliet
from which "Dance of
the Knights" is taken and Peter and the Wolf. Of the established forms and genr
es in which he worked, he created
excluding juvenilia
seven completed operas, se
ven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cel
lo concerto, a Symphony-Concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed pia
no sonatas.
A graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name
as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of feroci
ously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument, including his first two
piano concertos. In 1915 Prokofiev made a decisive break from the standard compo
ser-pianist category with his orchestral Scythian Suite, compiled from music ori
ginally composed for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Ru
sses. Diaghilev commissioned three further ballets from Prokofiev
Chout, Le pas
d'acier and The Prodigal Son which at the time of their original production all
caused a sensation among both critics and colleagues. Prokofiev's greatest inter
est, however, was opera, and he composed several works in that genre, including
The Gambler and The Fiery Angel. Prokofiev's one operatic success during his lif
etime was The Love for Three Oranges, composed for the Chicago Opera and subsequ
ently performed over the following decade in Europe and Russia.
After the Revolution, Prokofiev left Russia with the official blessing of the So
viet minister Anatoly Lunacharsky, and resided in the United States, then German
y, then Paris, making his living as a composer, pianist and conductor. During th
at time he married a Spanish singer, Carolina Codina, with whom he had two sons.
In the early 1930s, the Great Depression diminished opportunities for Prokofiev
's ballets and operas to be staged in America and western Europe. Prokofiev, who
regarded himself as composer foremost, resented the time taken by touring as a
pianist, and increasingly turned to Soviet Russia for commissions of new music;
in 1936 he finally returned to his homeland with his family. He enjoyed some suc
cess there notably with Lieutenant Kij, Peter and the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet, and
perhaps above all with Alexander Nevsky.
The Nazi invasion of the USSR spurred him to compose his most ambitious work, an
operatic version of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. In 1948 Prokofiev was criticiz
ed for "anti-democratic formalism" and, with his income severely curtailed, was
forced to compose Stalinist works, such as On Guard for Peace. However, he also
enjoyed personal and artistic support from a new generation of Russian performer
s, notably Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich: for the latter, he comp
osed his Symphony-Concerto, whilst for the former he composed his ninth piano so
nata.
Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Early childhood and first compositions
1.2 Formal education and controversial early works

2
3
4
5
6

7
8

1.3 The first ballets

1.4 First World War and Revolution
1.5 Life abroad
1.6 First visits to the Soviet Union
1.7 Return to Russia
1.8 War years
1.9 Post-war
1.10 Death
Posthumous reputation
Works
Recordings
Honours and awards
Bibliography
6.1 Autobiography and diaries
6.2 Memoirs, essays, etc.
6.3 Biographies
6.4 Other monographs
6.5 Dictionary articles
Notes and references
External links

Biography
Early childhood and first compositions
Prokofiev was born in 1891[n 2] in Sontsovka (now Krasne, Krasnoarmiisk Raion, D
onetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine), a remote rural estate in the Yekaterinoslav Gov
ernorate of the Russian Empire.[5] His father, Sergei Alexeyevich Prokofiev, was
an agronomist. Prokofiev's mother, Maria (ne Zhitkova), came from a family of fo
rmer serfs who had been owned by the Sheremetev family, under whose patronage se
rf-children were taught theatre and arts from an early age.[6][7][8][9] She was
described by Reinhold Glire (Prokofiev's first composition teacher) as "a tall wo
man with beautiful, clever eyes ... who knew how to create an atmosphere of warm
th and simplicity about her."[10] After their wedding in the summer of 1877, the
Prokofievs had moved to a small estate in the Smolensk governorate. Eventually
Sergei Alexeyevich found employment as a soil engineer, employed by one of his f
ormer fellow-students, Dmitri Sontsov, to whose estate in the Ukrainian steppes
the Prokofievs moved.[11]
By the time of Prokofiev's birth Maria, having previously lost two daughters, ha
d devoted her life to music; during her son's early childhood she spent two mont
hs a year in Moscow or St Petersburg taking piano lessons.[12] Sergei Prokofiev
mostly w
was inspired by hearing his mother practicing the piano in the evenings
orks by Chopin and Beethoven and composed his first piano composition at the age
of five, an 'Indian Gallop', which was written down by his mother: this was in
the F Lydian mode (a major scale with a raised 4th scale degree) as the young Pr
okofiev felt 'reluctance to tackle the black notes'.[13] By seven, he had also l
earned to play chess.[14] Much like music, chess would remain a passion, and he
became acquainted with world chess champions Jos Ral Capablanca, whom he beat in a
simultaneous exhibition match in 1914, and Mikhail Botvinnik, with whom he play
ed several matches in the 1930s.[15][n 3] At the age of nine he was composing hi
s first opera, The Giant,[17] as well as an overture and various other pieces.
Formal education and controversial early works
In 1902, Prokofiev's mother met Sergei Taneyev, director of the Moscow Conservat
ory, who initially suggested that Prokofiev should start lessons in piano and co
mposition with Alexander Goldenweiser.[18] When Taneyev was unable to arrange th
is,[19] he instead organised that composer and pianist Reinhold Glire should spen
d the summer of 1902 in Sontsovka teaching Prokofiev.[19] This first series of l
essons culminated, at the 11-year-old Prokofiev's insistence, with the budding c
omposer making his first attempt to write a symphony.[20] The following summer G

lire revisited Sontsovka to give further tuition.[21] When decades later Prokofie
v wrote about his lessons with Glire, he gave due credit to his teacher's sympath
etic method but complained that Glire had introduced him to "square" phrase struc
ture and conventional modulations which he subsequently had to unlearn.[22] None
theless, equipped with the necessary theoretical tools, Prokofiev started experi
menting with dissonant harmonies and unusual time signatures in a series of shor
t piano pieces which he called "ditties" (after the so-called "song form"
more a
ccurately ternary form they were based on), laying the basis for his own musical
style.[23]
Despite his growing talent, Prokofiev's parents hesitated over starting their so
n on a musical career at such an early age, and considered the possibility of hi
s attending a quality high school in Moscow.[24] By 1904, his mother had decided
instead on Saint Petersburg, and she and Prokofiev visited the (then) capital t
o explore the possibility of their moving there for his education.[25] They were
introduced to composer Alexander Glazunov, a professor at the Conservatory, who
asked to see Prokofiev and his music; Glazunov was so impressed that he urged P
rokofiev's mother that her son apply to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.[26] B
y this point, Prokofiev had composed two more operas, Desert Islands and The Fea
st during the Plague, and was working on his fourth, Undina.[27] He passed the i
ntroductory tests and entered the Conservatory that same year.[28]
Several years younger than most of his class, he was viewed as eccentric and arr
ogant, and he annoyed a number of his classmates by keeping statistics on the er
rors made by fellow students.[29] During this period, he studied under, among ot
hers, Alexander Winkler for piano,[30] Anatoly Lyadov for harmony and counterpoi
nt, Nikolai Tcherepnin for conducting, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for orchestra
tion (though when Rimsky-Korsakov died in 1908, Prokofiev noted that he had only
studied with him "after a fashion"
he was just one of many students in a heavil
y attended class and regretted that he otherwise "never had the opportunity to stu
dy with him").[31] He also shared classes with the composers Boris Asafyev and N
ikolai Myaskovsky, the latter becoming a relatively close and lifelong friend.[3
2]
As a member of the Saint Petersburg music scene, Prokofiev developed a reputatio
n as a musical rebel, while getting praise for his original compositions, which
he performed himself on the piano.[33][34] In 1909, he graduated from his class
in composition with unimpressive marks. He continued at the Conservatory, studyi
ng piano under Anna Yesipova and continuing his conducting lessons under Tcherep
nin.[35]
In 1910, Prokofiev's father died and Sergei's financial support ceased.[36] Fort
unately he had started making a name for himself as a composer and pianist outsi
de the Conservatory, making appearances at the St Petersburg Evenings of Contemp
orary Music. There he performed several of his more adventurous piano works, suc
h as his highly chromatic and dissonant Etudes, Op. 2 (1909). His performance of
this impressed the organizers of Evenings sufficiently for them to invite Proko
fiev to give the Russian premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstcke, Op. 1
1.[37] Prokofiev's harmonic experimentation continued with Sarcasms for piano, O
p. 17 (1912), which makes extensive use of polytonality.[38] He composed his fir
st two piano concertos around this time, the latter of which caused a scandal at
its premiere (23 August 1913, Pavlovsk). According to one account, the audience
left the hall with exclamations of "'To hell with this futuristic music! The ca
ts on the roof make better music!'", but the modernists were in rapture.[39]
In 1911, help arrived from renowned Russian musicologist and critic Alexander Os
sovsky, who wrote a supportive letter to music publisher Boris P. Jurgenson (son
of publishing-firm founder Peter Jurgenson [1836 1904]); thus a contract was offe
red to the composer.[40] Prokofiev made his first foreign trip in 1913, travelli
ng to Paris and London where he first encountered Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Rus

ses.[41]
The first ballets
Prokofiev as drawn by Henri Matisse for the premiere of Chout (1921)
In 1914, Prokofiev finished his career at the Conservatory by entering the so-ca
lled 'battle of the pianos', a competition open to the five best piano students
for which the prize was a Schreder grand piano: Prokofiev won by performing his
own Piano Concerto No. 1.[42] Soon afterwards, he journeyed to London where he m
ade contact with the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Diaghilev commissioned Prokofi
ev's first ballet, Ala and Lolli; but when Prokofiev brought the work in progres
s to him in Italy in 1915 he rejected it as "non-Russian".[43] Urging Prokofiev
to write "music that was national in character",[44] Diaghilev then commissioned
the ballet Chout (The Fool, the original Russian-language full title was ??????
??? ????, ??????? ????? ????????????? (Skazka pro shuta, semerykh shutov peresh
utivshavo), meaning "The Tale of the Buffoon who Outwits Seven Other Buffoons").
Under Diaghilev's guidance, Prokofiev chose his subject from a collection of fo
lktales by the ethnographer Alexander Afanasyev;[45] the story, concerning a buf
foon and a series of confidence tricks, had been previously suggested to Diaghil
ev by Igor Stravinsky as a possible subject for a ballet, and Diaghilev and his
choreographer Lonide Massine helped Prokofiev to shape this into a ballet scenari
o.[46] Prokofiev's inexperience with ballet led him to revise the work extensive
ly in the 1920s, following Diaghilev's detailed critique,[47] prior to its first
production.[48] The ballet's premiere in Paris on 17 May 1921 was a huge succes
s and was greeted with great admiration by an audience that included Jean Coctea
u, Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel. Stravinsky called the ballet "the single p
iece of modern music he could listen to with pleasure," while Ravel called it "a
work of genius."[49]
First World War and Revolution
During World War I, Prokofiev returned to the Conservatory and studied organ in
order to avoid conscription. He composed The Gambler based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky
's novel of the same name, but rehearsals were plagued by problems and the sched
uled 1917 premire had to be canceled because of the February Revolution. In the s
ummer of that year, Prokofiev composed his first symphony, the Classical. This w
as his own name for the symphony, which was written in the style that, according
to Prokofiev, Joseph Haydn would have used if he had been alive at the time.[50
] It is more or less Classical in style but incorporates more modern musical ele
ments (see Neoclassicism). This symphony was also an exact contemporary of Proko
fiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19, which was scheduled to premiere
in November 1917. The first performances of both works had to wait until 21 Apr
il 1918 and 18 October 1923, respectively. He stayed briefly with his mother in
Kislovodsk in the Caucasus. After completing the score of Seven, They Are Seven,
a "Chaldean invocation" for chorus and orchestra,[51] Prokofiev was "left with
nothing to do and time hung heavily on my hands". Believing that Russia "had no
use for music at the moment", Prokofiev decided to try his fortunes in America u
ntil the turmoil in his homeland had passed. He set out for Moscow and Petersbur
g in March 1918 to sort out financial matters and to arrange for his passport.[5
2] In May he headed for the USA, having obtained official permission to do so fr
om Anatoly Lunacharsky, the People's Commissar for Education, who told him: "You
are a revolutionary in music, we are revolutionaries in life. We ought to work
together. But if you want to go to America I shall not stand in your way."[53]
Life abroad
Sergei Prokofiev (c. 1918)
Arriving in San Francisco after having been released from questioning by immigra
tion officials on Angel Island on 11 August 1918,[54] Prokofiev was soon compare
d to other famous Russian exiles (such as Sergei Rachmaninoff). His debut solo c
oncert in New York led to several further engagements. He also received a contra
ct from the music director of the Chicago Opera Association, Cleofonte Campanini
, for the production of his new opera The Love for Three Oranges;[55] however, d

ue to Campanini's illness and death, the premiere was postponed.[56] This delay
was another example of Prokofiev's bad luck in operatic matters. The failure als
o cost him his American solo career, since the opera took too much time and effo
rt. He soon found himself in financial difficulties, and, in April 1920, he left
for Paris, not wanting to return to Russia as a failure.[57]
In Paris Prokofiev reaffirmed his contacts with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.[58]
He also completed some of his older, unfinished works, such as the Third Piano C
oncerto.[59] The Love for Three Oranges finally premired in Chicago, under the co
mposer's baton, on 30 December 1921.[60] Diaghilev became sufficiently intereste
d in the opera to request Prokofiev play the vocal score to him in June 1922, wh
ile they were both in Paris for a revival of Chout, so he could consider it for
a possible production.[61] Stravinsky, who was present at the audition, refused
to listen to more than the first act.[61] When he then accused Prokofiev of "was
ting time composing operas", Prokofiev retorted that Stravinsky "was in no posit
ion to lay down a general artistic direction, since he is himself not immune to
error".[62] According to Prokofiev, Stravinsky "became incandescent with rage" a
nd "we almost came to blows and were separated only with difficulty".[62] As a r
esult, "our relations became strained and for several years Stravinsky's attitud
e toward me was critical."[61]
In March 1922, Prokofiev moved with his mother to the town of Ettal in the Bavar
ian Alps, where for over a year he concentrated on an opera project, The Fiery A
ngel, based on the novel by Valery Bryusov. By this time his later music had acq
uired a following in Russia, and he received invitations to return there, but he
decided to stay in Europe. In 1923, Prokofiev married the Spanish singer Caroli
na Codina (1897 1989, whose stage name was Lina Llubera)[63] before moving back to
Paris.[64]
In Paris, several of his works (for example the Second Symphony) were performed,
but the audiences' reception was now lukewarm and Prokofiev sensed that he "was
evidently no longer a sensation".[65] However the Symphony appeared to prompt D
iaghilev to commission Le pas d'acier (The Steel Step), a 'modernist' ballet sco
re intended to portray the industrialisation of the Soviet Union. It was enthusi
astically received by Parisian audiences and critics.[66]
In around 1924, Prokofiev was introduced to Christian Science.[67] He began to p
ractice its teachings, which he believed to be beneficial to his health and to h
is fiery temperament,[68] and to which, according to biographer Simon Morrison,
he remained faithful for the rest of his life.[69]
Prokofiev and Stravinsky restored their friendship, though Prokofiev particularl
y disliked Stravinsky's "stylization of Bach" in such recent works as the Octet
and the Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments.[70][n 4] However, Stravinsky hi
mself described Prokofiev as the greatest Russian composer of his day, after him
self.[72]
First visits to the Soviet Union
In 1927, Prokofiev made his first concert tour in the Soviet Union.[73] Over the
course of more than two months, he spent time in Moscow and Leningrad (as Saint
Petersburg had been renamed), where he enjoyed a very successful staging of The
Love for Three Oranges in the Mariinsky Theatre.[74] In 1928, Prokofiev complet
ed his Third Symphony, which was broadly based on his unperformed opera The Fier
y Angel. The conductor Serge Koussevitzky characterized the Third as "the greate
st symphony since Tchaikovsky's Sixth."[75]
In the meantime, however, Prokofiev, under the influence of the teachings of Chr
istian Science, had turned against the expressionist style and the subject matte
r of The Fiery Angel.[76] He now preferred what he called a "new simplicity", wh
ich he believed more sincere than the "contrivances and complexities" of so much

modern music of the 1920s.[77][n 5] During 1928 29, Prokofiev composed what was t
o be the last ballet for Diaghilev, The Prodigal Son. When first staged in Paris
on 21 May 1929, with Serge Lifar in the title role, both audience and critics w
ere particularly struck by the final scene in which the prodigal son drags himse
lf across the stage upon his knees to be welcomed by his father.[79] Diaghilev h
ad recognised that in the music to this scene, Prokofiev had "never been more cl
ear, more simple, more melodious, and more tender."[80] Only months later, Diagh
ilev was dead.[81]
That summer, Prokofiev completed the Divertimento, Op. 43 (which he had started
in 1925) and revised his Sinfonietta, Op. 5/48, a work started in his days at th
e Conservatory.[82][n 6] In October that year, he had a car crash while driving
his family back to Paris from their holiday: as the car turned over, Prokofiev p
ulled some muscles on his left hand.[83] Prokofiev was therefore unable to perfo
rm in Moscow during his tour shortly after the accident, but he was able to enjo
y watching performances of his music from the audience.[84] Prokofiev also atten
ded the Bolshoi Theatre's "audition" of his ballet Le pas d'acier, and was inter
rogated by members of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM) ab
out the work: he was asked whether the factory portrayed "a capitalist factory,
where the worker is a slave, or a Soviet factory, where the worker is the master
? If it is a Soviet factory, when and where did Prokofiev examine it, since from
1918 to the present he has been living abroad and came here for the first time
in 1927 for two weeks [sic]?" Prokofiev replied, "That concerns politics, not mu
sic, and therefore I won't answer." The RAPM condemned the ballet as a "flat and
vulgar anti-Soviet anecdote, a counter-revolutionary composition bordering on F
ascism". The Bolshoi had no option but to reject the ballet.[85]
With his left hand healed, Prokofiev toured the United States successfully at th
e start of 1930, propped up by his recent European success.[86] That year Prokof
iev began his first non-Diaghilev ballet On the Dnieper, Op. 51, a work commissi
oned by Serge Lifar, who had been appointed maitre de ballet at the Paris Opra.[8
7] In 1931 and 1932, he completed his fourth and fifth piano concertos. The foll
owing year saw the completion of the Symphonic Song, Op. 57, which Prokofiev's f
told him
riend Myaskovsky thinking of its potential audience in the Soviet Union
"isn't quite for us ... it lacks that which we mean by monumentalism a familiar
simplicity and broad contours, of which you are extremely capable, but temporar
ily are carefully avoiding."[88]
By the early 1930s, both Europe and America were suffering from the Great Depres
sion, which inhibited both new opera and ballet productions, though audiences fo
r Prokofiev's appearances as a pianist were in Europe at least undiminished.[89] How
ever Prokofiev, who saw himself as a composer first and foremost, increasingly r
esented the amount of time that was lost to composition through his appearances
as a pianist.[90] Having been homesick for some time, Prokofiev began to build s
ubstantial bridges with the Soviet Union. Following the dissolution of the RAPM
in 1932, he acted increasingly as a musical ambassador between his homeland and
western Europe,[91] and his premieres and commissions were increasingly under th
e auspices of the Soviet Union. One such was Lieutenant Kij, which was commission
ed as the score to a Soviet film.[92] Another commission, from the Kirov Theatre
(as the Mariinsky had now been renamed) in Leningrad, was the ballet Romeo and
Juliet, composed to a scenario created by Adrian Piotrovsky and Sergei Radlov fo
llowing the precepts of "drambalet" (dramatised ballet, officially promoted at t
he Kirov to replace works based primarily on choreographic display and innovatio
n).[93] Following Radlov's acrimonious resignation from the Kirov in June 1934,
a new agreement was signed with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on the understandi
ng that Piotrovsky would remain involved.[94] However, the ballet's original hap
py ending (contrary to Shakespeare) provoked controversy among Soviet cultural o
fficials;[95] the ballet's production was then postponed indefinitely when the s
taff of the Bolshoi was overhauled at the behest of the chairman of the Committe
e on Arts Affairs, Platon Kerzhentsev.[96] Nikolai Myaskovsky, one of his closes

t friends, mentioned in a number of letters how he would like Prokofiev to stay

in Russia. [97]
Return to Russia
In 1936, Prokofiev and his family settled permanently in Moscow.[98] In that yea
r he composed one of his most famous works, Peter and the Wolf, for Natalya Sats
's Central Children's Theatre.[99] Sats also persuaded Prokofiev to write two so
ngs for children
"Sweet Song", and "Chatterbox";[100] these were eventually join
ed by "The Little Pigs", published as Three Children's Songs, Op. 68.[101] Proko
fiev also composed the gigantic Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October
Revolution, originally intended for performance during the anniversary year but
effectively blocked by Kerzhentsev, who demanded at the work's audition before t
he Committee on Arts Affairs, "Just what do you think you're doing, Sergey Serge
yevich, taking texts that belong to the people and setting them to such incompre
hensible music?"[102] The Cantata had to wait until 5 April 1966 for a partial p
remiere (just over 13 years after the composer's death).[103]
Forced to adapt to the new circumstances (whatever misgivings he had about them
in private), Prokofiev wrote a series of "mass songs" (Opp. 66, 79, 89), using t
he lyrics of officially approved Soviet poets. In 1938, Prokofiev collaborated w
ith Eisenstein on the historical epic Alexander Nevsky. For this he composed som
e of his most inventive and dramatic music. Although the film had a very poor so
und recording, Prokofiev adapted much of his score into a large-scale cantata fo
r mezzo-soprano, orchestra and chorus, which was extensively performed and recor
ded. In the wake of Alexander Nevsky's success, Prokofiev composed his first Sov
iet opera Semyon Kotko, which was intended to be produced by the director Vsevol
od Meyerhold. However the premire of the opera was postponed because Meyerhold wa
s arrested on 20 June 1939 by the NKVD (Joseph Stalin's Secret Police), and shot
on 2 February 1940.[104] Only months after Meyerhold's arrest, Prokofiev was 'i
nvited' to compose Zdravitsa (literally translated 'Cheers!', but more often giv
en the English title Hail to Stalin) (Op. 85) to celebrate Joseph Stalin's 60th
birthday.[105]
Later in 1939, Prokofiev composed his Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, 7, and 8, Opp. 82 84,
widely known today as the "War Sonatas." Premiered respectively by Prokofiev (No
. 6: 8 April 1940),[106] Sviatoslav Richter (No. 7: Moscow, 18 January 1943) and
Emil Gilels (No. 8: Moscow, 30 December 1944),[107] they were subsequently cham
pioned in particular by Richter. Biographer Daniel Jaff argued that Prokofiev, "h
aving forced himself to compose a cheerful evocation of the nirvana Stalin wante
d everyone to believe he had created" (i.e. in Zdravitsa) then subsequently, in
these three sonatas, "expressed his true feelings".[108] As evidence of this, Ja
ff has pointed out that the central movement of Sonata No. 7 opens with a theme b
ased on a Robert Schumann lied, 'Wehmut' ('Sadness', which appears in Schumann's
Liederkreis, Op. 39): the words to this translate "I can sometimes sing as if I
were glad, yet secretly tears well and so free my heart. Nightingales ... sing
their song of longing from their dungeon's depth ... everyone delights, yet no o
ne feels the pain, the deep sorrow in the song."[109] Ironically (because, it ap
pears, no one had noticed his allusion) Sonata No. 7 received a Stalin Prize (Se
cond Class), and No. 8 a Stalin Prize First Class.[107]
In the meantime, Romeo and Juliet was finally staged by the Kirov ballet, choreo
graphed by Leonid Lavrovsky, on 11 January 1940.[110] To the surprise of all its
participants, the dancers having struggled to cope with the music's syncopated
rhythms and almost having boycotted the production, the ballet was an instant su
ccess,[111] and became recognised as the crowning achievement of Soviet dramatic
ballet.[112]
War years
Prokofiev and his second wife, Mira Mendelson
Prokofiev had been considering making an opera out of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel W

ar and Peace, when news of the German invasion of Russia on 22 June 1941 made th
e subject seem all the more timely. Prokofiev took two years to compose his orig
inal version of War and Peace. Because of the war he was evacuated together with
a large number of other artists, initially to the Caucasus where he composed hi
s Second String Quartet. By this time his relationship with the 25-year-old writ
er and librettist Mira Mendelson (1915 1968) had finally led to his separation fro
m his wife Lina, although they were never technically divorced: indeed Prokofiev
had tried to persuade Lina and their sons to accompany him as evacuees out of M
oscow, but Lina opted to stay.[113]
During the war years, restrictions on style and the demand that composers should
write in a 'socialist realist' style were slackened, and Prokofiev was generall
y able to compose in his own way. The Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 80, The Year 1941
, Op. 90, and the Ballade for the Boy Who Remained Unknown, Op. 93 all came from
this period. In 1943 Prokofiev joined Eisenstein in Alma-Ata, the largest city
in Kazakhstan, to compose more film music (Ivan the Terrible), and the ballet Ci
nderella (Op. 87), one of his most melodious and celebrated compositions. Early
that year he also played excerpts from War and Peace to members of the Bolshoi T
heatre collective.[114] However, the Soviet government had opinions about the op
era which resulted in many revisions.[115] In 1944, Prokofiev spent time at a co
mposer's colony outside Moscow in order to compose his Fifth Symphony (Op. 100).
Prokofiev conducted its first performance on 13 January 1945, just a fortnight
after the triumphant premieres on 30 December 1944 of his Eighth Piano Sonata an
d, on the same day, the first part of Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible. With the p
remiere of his Fifth Symphony, which was programmed alongside Peter and the Wolf
and the Classical Symphony (these conducted by Nikolai Anosov), Prokofiev appea
red to reach the peak of his celebrity as a leading composer of the Soviet Union
.[116] Shortly afterwards, he suffered a concussion after a fall due to chronic
high blood pressure.[117] He never fully recovered from this injury, and was for
ced on medical advice to restrict his composing activity.[118]
Post-war
Sergei Prokofiev with Mstislav Rostropovich
Prokofiev had time to write his postwar Sixth Symphony and his Ninth Piano Sonat
a (for Sviatoslav Richter) before the so-called "Zhdanov Decree". In early 1948,
following a meeting of Soviet composers convened by Andrei Zhdanov, the Politbu
ro issued a resolution denouncing Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Myaskovsky, an
d Khachaturian of the crime of "formalism", described as a "renunciation of the
basic principles of classical music" in favour of "muddled, nerve-racking" sound
s that "turned music into cacophony".[119] Eight of Prokofiev's works were banne
d from performance: The Year 1941, Ode to the End of the War, Festive Poem, Cant
ata for the Thirtieth Anniversary of October, Ballad of an Unknown Boy, the 1934
piano cycle Thoughts, and Piano Sonatas Nos 6 and 8.[120] Such was the perceive
d threat behind the banning of these works that even works that had avoided cens
ure were no longer programmed:[121] by August 1948, Prokofiev was in severe fina
ncial straits, his personal debt amounting to 180,000 rubles.[120]
Meanwhile, on 20 February 1948, Prokofiev's wife Lina was arrested for 'espionag
e', as she had tried to send money to her mother in Spain. After nine months of
interrogation,[122] she was sentenced by a three-member Military Collegium of th
e Supreme Court of the USSR to 20 years of hard labour.[123] She was eventually
released after Stalin's death in 1953 and in 1974 left the Soviet Union.[124]
Prokofiev's latest opera projects, among them his desperate attempt to appease t
he cultural authorities, The Story of a Real Man, were quickly cancelled by the
Kirov Theatre.[125] This snub, in combination with his declining health, caused
Prokofiev progressively to withdraw from public life and from various activities
, even his beloved chess, and increasingly he devoted himself exclusively to his
own work.[126][127] After a serious relapse in 1949, his doctors ordered him to
limit his activities, limiting him to composing for only an hour a day.[128]

In spring 1949 he wrote his Cello Sonata in C, Op. 119, for the 22-year-old Msti
slav Rostropovich, who gave the first performance in 1950, with Sviatoslav Richt
er.[129] For Rostropovich, Prokofiev also extensively recomposed his Cello Conce
rto, transforming it into a Symphony-Concerto, his last major masterpiece and a
landmark in the cello and orchestra repertory today.[130] The last public perfor
mance he attended was the premire of the Seventh Symphony in 1952.[131] The music
was written for the Children's Radio Division.[132]
Death
Grave of Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
Prokofiev died at the age of 61 on 5 March 1953, the same day as Joseph Stalin.
He had lived near Red Square, and for three days the throngs gathered to mourn S
talin, making it impossible to carry Prokofiev's body out for the funeral servic
e at the headquarters of the Soviet Composers' Union. He is buried in the Novode
vichy Cemetery in Moscow.[133]
The leading Soviet musical periodical reported Prokofiev's death as a brief item
on page 116. The first 115 pages were devoted to the death of Stalin. Usually P
rokofiev's death is attributed to cerebral hemorrhage. He had been chronically i
ll for the prior eight years;[134] the precise nature of Prokofiev's terminal il
lness remains uncertain.
Lina Prokofiev outlived her estranged husband by many years, dying in London in
early 1989. Royalties from her late husband's music provided her with a modest i
ncome, and she acted as storyteller for a recording of her husband's Peter and t
he Wolf (currently released on CD by Chandos Records[135]) with Neeme Jrvi conduc
ting the Scottish National Orchestra. Their sons Sviatoslav (1924 2010), an archit
ect, and Oleg (1928 1998), an artist, painter, sculptor and poet, dedicated a larg
e part of their lives to the promotion of their father's life and work.[136][137
]
Posthumous reputation
A Soviet stamp marking Prokofiev's centenary in 1991
Arthur Honegger proclaimed that Prokofiev would "remain for us the greatest figu
re of contemporary music,"[138] and the American scholar Richard Taruskin has re
cognised Prokofiev's "gift, virtually unparalleled among 20th-century composers,
for writing distinctively original diatonic melodies."[139] Yet for some time P
rokofiev's reputation in the West suffered as a result of cold-war antipathies,[
140] and his music has never won from Western academics and critics the kind of
esteem currently enjoyed by Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg, composers pur
ported to have a greater influence on a younger generation of musicians.[141]
Today Prokofiev may well be the most popular composer of 20th-century music.[142
] His orchestral music alone is played more frequently in the United States than
that of any other composer of the last hundred years, save Richard Strauss,[143
] while his operas, ballets, chamber works, and piano music appear regularly thr
oughout the major concert halls world-wide.
The composer received honours in his native Donetsk Oblast, when the Donetsk Int
ernational Airport was renamed to be "Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Air
port," and when the Donetsk Musical and Pedagogical Institute was renamed in 198
8 to "S.S. Prokofiev State Music Academy of Donetsk."
Works
Main article: List of compositions by Sergei Prokofiev
Important works include (in chronological order):
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat major, op. 10
Toccata in D minor, Op. 11, for piano

Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14

Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16
Sarcasms, Op. 17, for piano
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19
Scythian Suite, Op. 20, suite for orchestra
Chout, Op. 21, ballet in six scenes
Visions fugitives, Op. 22, set of twenty piano pieces
The Gambler, Op. 24, opera in four acts
Symphony No. 1 in D major Classical, Op. 25, an early neo-classical composit
ion
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26
The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33, opera in four acts, includes the famous
March from the Love for Three Oranges
Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34, for clarinet and piano quintet
Quintet, Op. 39, for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and double-bass
The Fiery Angel, Op. 37, opera in five acts
Symphony No. 2 in D minor, Op. 40
Le pas d'acier, ballet in two scenes, Op. 41
Divertimento, Op. 43
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 44
The Prodigal Son, Op. 46, ballet in three scenes
Symphony No. 4 in C major, Op. 47 (revised as Op. 112)
Sinfonietta, Op. 5/48
Four Portraits from The Gambler, Op. 49
String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, Op. 50
Symphonic Song, Op. 57
Lieutenant Kije, Op. 60, suite for orchestra, includes the famous Troika
Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63
Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64, ballet in four acts, contains the famous "Dance of
the Knights"
Orchestral suites extracted from Romeo and Juliet:
Suite No. 1 from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64bis
Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64ter
Suite No. 3 from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 101
Ten Pieces for Piano from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75
Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67, a children's tale for narrator and orchestra
Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78, cantata for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra
Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80
The Three War Sonatas:
Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82
Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83
Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat major, Op. 84
Betrothal in a Monastery, Op. 86, opera.
Cinderella, Op. 87, ballet in three acts
War and Peace, Op. 91, opera in thirteen scenes
String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op. 92
Flute Sonata in D, Op. 94 (later arranged as Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 94a))
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100
Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103
Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111
Ivan the Terrible, Op. 116, music for Eisenstein's classic film of the same
name.
The Tale of the Stone Flower, Op. 118, ballet in two acts
Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 125, written for M
stislav Rostropovich
Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131
Recordings
Overture on Hebrew Themes

Menu
0:00
Overture on Hebrew Themes (1919), performed by members of the Advent Chamber Orc
hestra
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Prokofiev was a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Piero C
oppola, in the first recording of his Piano Concerto No. 3, recorded in London b
y His Master's Voice in June 1932. Prokofiev also recorded some of his solo pian
o music for HMV in Paris in February 1935; these recordings were issued on CD by
Pearl and Naxos.[144] In 1938, he conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra i
n a recording of the second suite from his Romeo and Juliet ballet; this perform
ance was later released on LP and CD.[145] Another reported recording with Proko
fiev and the Moscow Philharmonic was of the First Violin Concerto with David Ois
trakh as soloist; Everest Records later released this recording on an LP. Despit
e the attribution, the conductor was Aleksandr Gauk. A short sound film of Proko
fiev playing some of the music from his opera War and Peace and then explaining
the music has been discovered.[146]
Honours and awards
Six Stalin Prizes:
(1943), 2nd degree
(1946), 1st degree
(1946), 1st degree

for Piano Sonata No. 7

for Symphony No. 5 and Piano Sonata No. 8
for the music for the film "Ivan the Terrible" Part 1 (19

44)
(1946), 1st degree
(1947), 1st degree
(1951), 2nd degree
io "On Guard for Peace"

for the ballet "Cinderella" (1944)

for Violin Sonata No. 1
for vocal-symphonic suite "Winter bonfire" and the orator
on poems by S. Marshak

Lenin Prize (1957

posthumous)
for Symphony No. 7
People's Artist of RSFSR (1947)
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Bibliography
Autobiography and diaries
Prokofiev, Sergei (1979). David H. Appel, ed. Prokofiev by Prokofiev: A Comp
oser's Memoir. Guy Daniels (translator). New York: Doubleday & Co. ISBN 0-385-09
960-6.
Prokofiev, Sergei (1991). Soviet Diary 1927 and Other Writings. London: Fabe
r and Faber.
Prokofiev, Sergei (2000) [1960]. S. Shlifstein, ed. Sergei Prokofiev: Autobi
ography, Articles, Reminiscences. Rose Prokofieva (translator). The Minerva Grou
p, Inc. ISBN 0-89875-149-7.
Prokofiev, Sergei (2006). Anthony Phillips (translator), ed. Diaries 1907 1914
: Prodigious Youth. London/Ithaca: Faber and Faber/Cornell University Press. ISB
N 978-0-8014-4540-8.
Prokofiev, Sergei (2008). Anthony Phillips (translator), ed. Diaries 1915 1923
: Behind the Mask. London / Ithaca: Faber and Faber/Cornell University Press. IS
BN 978-0-571-22630-6.
Prokofiev, Sergei (2012). Anthony Phillips (translator), ed. Diaries 1924 1933
: Prodigal Son. London/ Ithaca: Faber and Faber/Cornell University Press. ISBN 9
78-0-571-23405-9.
Prokofiev, Sergei (2002). Dnyevnik 1907 1933 (3 vols, in Russian). Paris. ISBN
2-9518138-0-5. ISBN 2-9518138-1-3, ISBN 2-9518138-2-1
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Memoirs, essays, etc.

Sats, Natalia (1979). Sketches From My Life. Sergei Syrovatkin (translator).

Moscow: Raduga Publishers. ISBN 5-05-001099-3.
Shlifstein (ed.), Semyon (1956). Prokofiev: Autobiography, Articles, Reminis
cences. Rose Prokofieva (translator). Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House
.
Biographies
Dorign, Michel (1994). Serge Prokofiev. Paris.
Jaff, Daniel (1998). Sergey Prokofiev (2008 ed.). London.
Morrison, Simon (2009). The People's Artist: Prokofiev's Soviet Years. Oxfor
d.
Morrison, Simon (2013). The Love & Wars of Lina Prokofiev. London.
Nestyev, Israel (1946). Prokofiev, his Musical Life. New York.
Nestyev, Israel (1961). Prokofiev. Florence Jonas (translator). Stanford: St
anford University Press.
Nice, David (2003). Prokofiev: From Russia to the West 1891 1935. London.
Rakhmanova, Marina Pavlovna, ed. (1991). ?????? ?????????: ? 110-????? ?? ??
? ????????: ??????, ????????????, ?????? [Sergei Prokofiev on the 110th annivers
ary of his birth: letters, reminiscences and articles] (in Russian). Moscow. ISB
N 978-5-201-14607-8.
Samuel, Claude (1971). Prokofiev. London. ISBN 0-7145-0490-4.
Seroff, Victor (1968). Sergei Prokofiev: A Soviet Tragedy. New York.
Vishnevetskiy, Igor (2009). Sergei Prokofiev (in Russian). Moscow. ISBN 9785-235-03212-5.
Other monographs
Ezrahi, Christina (2012). Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet R
ussia. Pittsburgh. ISBN 978-1-85273-158-8.
Tomoff, Kiril (2006). Creative Union: The Professional Organization of Sovie
t Composers, 1939 1953. Ithaca. ISBN 978-0-8014-4411-1.
Dictionary articles
Slonimsky, Nicolas (ed).The Concise Edition of Baker's Biographical Dictiona
ry of Musicians, 8th ed. New York, Schirmer Books, 1993. ISBN 0-02-872416-X
Taruskin, Richard. "Prokofiev, Sergei" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera,
ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
Notes and references
Notes
Russian pronunciation: [s??'rg?ej s??'rg?e?v??t? pr?'kof?j?f]; alternative trans
literations of his name include Sergey or Serge, and Prokofief, Prokofieff, or P
rokofyev.
While Sergei Prokofiev himself believed 11/23 April to be his birth date, the po
sthumous discovery of his birth certificate showed that he was actually born fou
r days later, on 15/27 April.[4]
Prokofiev has the rare distinction for a composer of having won a game against a
future world chess champion, albeit in the context of a simultaneous match: his
win over Capablanca of 16 May 1914 can be played through at chessgames.com (Jav
a required). For extracts from Prokofiev's notebooks recounting his games agains
t Capablanca, see: The Game (part 2), sprkfv.net.[16]
It has been suggested that Prokofiev's use of text from Stravinsky's Symphony of
Psalms to characterise the invading Teutonic knights in the film score for Eise
nstein's Alexander Nevsky (1938) was intended as a dig at Stravinsky's "pseudo-B
achism".[71]

That is not to say that Prokofiev approved of simplistic music: when in June 192
6 he arranged "a simplified version of the March from Oranges as a crowd-pleaser
", Prokofiev observed in his diary, "The process of denuding for the sake of sim
plicity is highly disagreeable".[78]
Prokofiev wrote in his autobiography that he could never understand why the
Sinfonietta was so rarely performed, whereas the "Classical" Symphony was played
everywhere.[82]
References
Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917], Peter Roach, James Hartmann and Jane Setter, eds.,
English Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 3-12
-539683-2
"Prokofiev". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House.
"Prokofiev". Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Slonimsky, p. 793
Prokofiev 1979, pp. 8 & 10; Nestyev 1961, p. 1; and Nice 2003, p. 6
Vishnevetskiy (2009): pp. 15 16
Sidorov, Yuriy (2 August 2012). "????????????? ???????". Retrieved 7 August 2014
.
"Sergei Prokofiev". Music Academy Online. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
"Sergei Prokofiev by Paul Shoemaker". MusicWeb International. Retrieved 23 March
2014.
Reinhold Glire. "First Steps" from Shlifstein (1956): p. 144
Nice 2003, p. 6
"Prokofiev". Ballet Met. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
Autobiography by Sergey Prokofiev: reprinted in Sergei Prokofiev: Soviet Diary 1
927 and Other Writings. London: Faber and Faber, 1991.
Prokofiev 1979, p. xi
See: Winter, Edward. "Sergei Prokofiev and Chess", chesshistory.com.
All references retrieved 19 December 2011.
"He was a child prodigy on the order of Mozart, composing for piano at age five
and writing an opera at nine". [1]
Nice 2003, p. 15
Prokofiev 1979, p. 46
Prokofiev 1979, pp. 51 53
Prokofiev, Sergey, article in Encyclopdia Britannica
Prokofiev 1979, pp. 53 54
Prokofiev 1979, p. 63
Nice 2003, p. 21
Prokofiev 1979, p. 85
Nice 2003, p. 22
Layton, Robert: "Prokofiev's Demonic Opera" Found in the introductory notes to t
he Philips Label recording of The Fiery Angel
Nice 2003, pp. 28 29
Jaff 1998, p. 16
Berman, Boris (2008). Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and th
e Performer. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-30
0-11490-4.
Prokofiev 2006, p. 57
Nice 2003, p. 43
Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music, Michael Kennedy & Joyce Kennedy: Oxford: Oxf
ord University Press, 5th edition 2007
Rita McAllister "Sergey Prokofiev" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musi
cians: London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980
Prokofiev 2000, pp. 240 41
Jaff 1998, pp. 29 30
Jaff 1998, p. 30
polytonality (music) Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Britannica.com. Retrieved o

n 28 August 2010.
The Many faces of Prokofiev. Part 2. Sprkfv.net. Retrieved on 28 August 2010.
Nice 2003, p. 74
Prokofiev 2006, pp. 424 56
Nice 2003, pp. 99 100
Prokofiev 2008, p. 22
Prokofiev 2008, p. 23
Jaff 1998, p. 44
Prokofiev 2008, pp. 26 27: diary entry 6 9 March 1915
"Diaghilev pointed out a number of places which had to be rewritten. He was a su
btle and discerning critic and he argued his point with great conviction. ... we
had no difficulty in agreeing on the changes." Prokofiev 2000, p. 56
Jaff 1998, p. 75
Wakin, Daniel J. (8 March 2009). "THE WEEK AHEAD: March 8 14 March: Classical". Th
e New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
As detailed in Prokofiev's autobiography. Listen to Discovering Music from 1:00
to 3:02, particularly from 1:45 to 2:39
Prokofiev 1991, pp. 259 61
Prokofiev 1991, p. 261
Prokofiev 2000, p. 50
Prokofiev 2008, p. 321
Prokofiev 2008, p. 364
Prokofiev 1991, p. 266
Prokofiev 1991, pp. 267 68
Prokofiev 1991, p. 268
Prokofiev 1991, pp. 270 71
Prokofiev 2008, p. 654
Prokofiev 1991, p. 273
Prokofiev 2008, p. 680
Prokofiev 2008, p. 428
Nice 2003, pp. 196 97
Prokofiev 1991, p. 277
Nice 2003, p. 245
Prokofiev 2012, p. 65
Prokofiev 2012, p. 635, p. 647
"Simon Morrison: review of Sergei Prokof'ev Dnevnik 1907 1933 (part 2)". Sprkfv.ne
t. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
Nice 2003, p. 200
Kerr, M. G. (1994) "Prokofiev and His Cymbals", Musical Times 135, 608 609. Text a
lso available at Alexander Nevsky and the Symphony of Psalms at the Wayback Mach
ine (archived January 9, 2009)
Martin Kettle (21 July 2006). "First among equals". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved
29 May 2014.
Prokofiev 2012, pp. 407 569
Prokofiev 2012, pp. 487 90
Prokofiev 2012, p. 826
Quote: "I decided a long time ago that I must compose in a quite different style
, and that I would set about it as soon as I had extricated myself from the revi
sions of Fiery Angel and The Gambler. If God is the unique source of creation an
d of reason, and man is his reflection, it is abundantly clear that the works of
man will be better the more closely they reflect the works of the Creator".Prok
ofiev 2012, p. 699
Prokofiev 2012, p. 779
Prokofiev 2012, p. 341
Jaff 1998, pp. 110 11
Nice 2003, p. 259
Nice 2003, p. 267
Prokofiev 1991, p. 288
Nice 2003, p. 271
Prokofiev 1991, p. 289

Jaff 1998, p. 118

Prokofiev 1991, p. 290
Nice 2003, p. 279
Nice 2003, p. 310
Nice 2003, pp. 294 95
Nice 2003, pp. 284
Nice 2003, p. 303
Nice 2003, p. 304
Ezrahi 2012, p. 43
Morrison 2009, pp. 32 33
Morrison 2009, pp. 36 37
Morrison 2009, p. 37
[In Spanish] Garca, E. "Sergei Prokofiev: De Francia a Rusia", Musiccato. Availab
le on http://musiccato.blogspot.com/2015/12/sergei-prokofiev-de-francia-rusia.ht
ml Retrieved 17/01/2016
Jaff 1998, pp. 143 44
Jaff 1998, p. 141
Sats 1979, pp. 225 26
Jaff 1998, p. 222
Morrison 2009, p. 65
Morrison 2009, p. 66
Jaff 1998, p. 158
Jaff 1998, p. 159
Morrison 2009, p. 163
Morrison 2009, p. 164
Jaff 1998, p. 160
Jaff 1998, p. 172
Jaff 2008, p. 161
Jaff 2008, pp. 160 61
Ezrahi 2012, p. 54
Morrison 2009, p. 177
Morrison 2009, p. 211
"Prokofiev wrote the first version of War and Peace during the Second World War.
He revised it in the late forties and early fifties, during the period of the 1
948 Zhdanov Decree, which attacked obscurantist tendencies in the music of leadi
ng Soviet composers." [2]
Jaffe 1998, pp. 182 84
Morrison 2009, p. 252
Jaffe 1998, p. 186
Tomoff 2006, p. 123
Morrison 2009, p. 314
Morrison 2013, p. 244
Morrison 2013, p. 7
Morrison 2013, p. 254
Morrison 2013, p. 289
Morrison 2009, p. 293
Nestyev 1961, pp. 408 09
Jaff 1998, pp. 205 06
Nestyev 1961, p. 409
Nestyev 1961, pp. 412 13
Nestyev 1961, pp. 426 29
Nestyev 1961, p. 430
Nestyev 1961, p. 429
Morrison 2009, p. 388
"The tragedy of Sergei Prokofiev. [Semin Neurol. 1999]
PubMed
NCBI". Ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov. 2012-04-04. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
"Sergei Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf". Chandos. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
Norris, Geoffrey (23 January 2003). "My father was nave". The Daily Telegraph (Lo
ndon). Retrieved 29 May 2014.
Mann, Noelle (26 August 1998). "Obituary: Oleg Prokofiev". Independent, The (Lon

don). Retrieved 7 June 2013.

Nestyev 1961, p. 439
Taruskin, R. in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Sadie, S. (Ed.) Oxford, 2004.
Robinson, H. "A Tale of Three Cities: Petrograd, Paris, Moscow." Lecture at Stan
ley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, 24 March 2009.
Dorothea Redepenning. "Grove Music Online." This tertiary source reuses informat
ion from other sources but does not name them.
"Sergey Prokofiev (1891 1953), arguably the most popular composer of the twentieth
century, led a life of triumph and tragedy."Morrison 2009
American Symphony Orchestra League
Pearl Records, Naxos Records, amazon.com
"Prokofiev and Stravinsky
Composers Conduct". Parnassus Classical CDs and Record
s. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
"Prokofiev plays and talks about his music ...". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-0610.
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sergei Prokofiev
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sergei Prokofiev.
Works by or about Sergei Prokofiev at Internet Archive
Prokofiev Museum in Krasnoe at the Wayback Machine
The Serge Prokofiev Foundation
Prokofiev-Center Information portal of Donetsk State Musical Academy named a
fter S.Prokofiev
S. Prokofiev Donetsk State Academy of Music
Free scores by Sergei Prokofiev at the International Music Score Library Pro
ject
Prokofiev material in the BBC Radio 3 archives
Holdings of the Serge Prokofiev Archive listed under AIM25.
The chess games of Sergei Prokofiev
Works by or about Sergei Prokofiev in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Prokofiev's gravesite at findagrave.com
"Bad Boy of the Keyboard An Interview with Recording Artist Barbara Nissman"
on AdventuresInMusic.biz, 2008
"Finding Unlikely Ideology in Prokofiev: Polyphonic and Anti-Authoritarian G
estures in The Gambler
Bright Lights Film Journal article on Prokofiev and Meyerhold's Boris Goduno
v
Piano Rolls (The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation)
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GND: 118596721 SUDOC: 030891272 BNF: cb13898702c (data) MusicBrainz: 0e43fe9d-c

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