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Sergei Prokofiev Russia Modern Era Composer (1891-1953)
Hey Kids, Meet Sergei Prokofiev Russia Modern Era Composer (1891-1953) Sergei Prokofiev was born in Russia on April 27, 1891. He began studying the piano with his mother at the age of three. By the age of five Sergei was displaying unusual musical abilities. His first composition, written down by his mother, was called Indian Gallop. By the age of nine he had written his first opera, The Giant. At the age of thirteen Sergei entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory having already produced a whole portfolio of compositions. While at the conservatory he studied with Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Later in his life, Prokofiev was said to have regretted not having taken full advantage of this opportunity. The music that Prokofiev composed was new and different. He brought to the concert hall strange new harmonies, dynamic rhythms and lots of humor. When the Russian Revolution broke out, Prokofiev traveled to America. He hoped he would be able to compose in peace. American audiences, however, were not ready for his new sounds so he moved to Paris. In Paris, Prokofiev found greater success where his operas and ballets were well liked. Prokofiev returned to Russia in 1932 spending the last 19 years of his life in his home country. During this time, he produced some of his finest works including Peter and the Wolf for chamber orchestra and narrator, and the score for his ballet Romeo and Juliet which contained some of his most inspired music. Sergei Prokofiev died on March 5, 1953 as one of the most admired composers of the twentieth century. -
2018 Petroushka Ball Journal
2018 ROSSINI SEMIRAMIDE METROPOLITAN OPERA METROPOLITAN / PHOTO: MARTY SOHL ON STAGE FEB 19 – MAR 17 High-flying soprano Angela Meade takes on the virtuosic title role in Rossini’s masterpiece of dazzling vocal fireworks. The all-star cast also features Ildar Abdrazakov, Elizabeth DeShong, and Javier Camarena. Maurizio Benini conducts. Tickets start at $25 metopera.org 212.362.6000 TheThe 44th53rd Annual Annual PetroushkaPetroushka Ball Ball FebruaryFebruary 13,9th, 20092018 •• Waldorf=AstoriaThe Plaza Hotel •• NewNew YorkYork CityCity To Benefit thethe RussianRussian Children’s Children’s Welfare Welfare Society Society Dear Guests, It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 53rd Petroushka Ball The Russian Children’s Welfare Society’s mission is to help the thousands of disadvantaged children of Russia. The Society was founded in 1926 and, during the past 92 years, has undergone a number of permutations which were the result of the many political and social shifts over the 20th Century. Originally, the Society exclusively helped children of Russian decent outside of Russia who were victims of the Russian Revolution and World Wars I & II. Eventually Europe, followed by South America, became self-sufficient and the Society refocused its efforts on helping children in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. For the past two decades, the Society has devoted all of its aid to Russia. The Society’s primary activities include: pediatric maxillofacial surgery in partnership with the Russian Aid Foundation; a successful college scholarship program currently supporting 157 students; assisting vetted orphanages; and hosting an an- nual Christmas “Yelka” party where over 1,000 orphans from across Russia celebrate an unforgettable day in Moscow. -
Teacher Notes on Russian Music and Composers Prokofiev Gave up His Popularity and Wrote Music to Please Stalin. He Wrote Music
Teacher Notes on Russian Music and Composers x Prokofiev gave up his popularity and wrote music to please Stalin. He wrote music to please the government. x Stravinsky is known as the great inventor of Russian music. x The 19th century was a time of great musical achievement in Russia. This was the time period in which “The Five” became known. They were: Rimsky-Korsakov (most influential, 1844-1908) Borodin Mussorgsky Cui Balakirev x Tchaikovsky (1840-’93) was not know as one of “The Five”. x Near the end of the Stalinist Period Prokofiev and Shostakovich produced music so peasants could listen to it as they worked. x During the 17th century, Russian music consisted of sacred vocal music or folk type songs. x Peter the Great liked military music (such as the drums). He liked trumpet music, church bells and simple Polish music. He did not like French or Italian music. Nor did Peter the Great like opera. Notes Compiled by Carol Mohrlock 90 Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882-1971) I gor Stravinsky was born on June 17, 1882, in Oranienbaum, near St. Petersburg, Russia, he died on April 6, 1971, in New York City H e was Russian-born composer particularly renowned for such ballet scores as The Firebird (performed 1910), Petrushka (1911), The Rite of Spring (1913), and Orpheus (1947). The Russian period S travinsky's father, Fyodor Ignatyevich Stravinsky, was a bass singer of great distinction, who had made a successful operatic career for himself, first at Kiev and later in St. Petersburg. Igor was the third of a family of four boys. -
Sergey Prokofiev
A PORTRAIT Sergey Prokofiev 1891–1953 Preface Modish confidence and malignant conformity – two extremes that reflect the mores of western liberalism on the one hand and Soviet totalitarianism on the other – are the contradictory social and political poles that shaped the artistic and personal world of Prokofiev. While enjoying the former, and enduring the latter, he displayed an outstandingly original and fertile creativity that places him among the most distinctive and attractive musical voices of the twentieth century. Both his popularity and his status as one of the great composers of recent times are assured, for his music is devoid of intellectual posturing. Rarely does he sacrifice rigorous authenticity for artifice, or exchange well-wrought organic structure for glamour and superficiality. Prokofiev’s orchestral sonorities can be percussively steely and ironic one minute and poignantly romantic and witty the next, but they are always governed by a personal sincerity and fundamental musical honesty. The twentieth century witnessed many trends in music, some of which were self- conscious and indulgent, while others were simply blind alleys. Prokofiev, however, remained largely unaffected by strict artistic creeds (whether self-imposed or compulsorily enforced), and managed to maintain a distinctly independent musical voice that listeners continue to find refreshing. Sergey Prokofiev: A Portrait Contents Page Track List 6 Sergey Prokofiev: A Portrait – by Gregory Hart 10 I: A Provincial Boyhood 12 II: In the Imperial Capital 16 III: Artistic Freedom, War and Revolution 24 IV: An American Interlude 32 V: Paris and Marriage 36 VI: A Russian Interlude 45 VII: Paris Again 50 VIII: Paris or Moscow? 61 IX: Back to Moscow 68 X: Great Patriotic War 77 XI: Post-war Optimism 85 XII: Official Condemnation and Late Flowering 91 Credits 104 5 Sergey Prokofiev: A Portrait Track List CD 1 1 Dreams, Op. -
Behind the Scenes of the Fiery Angel: Prokofiev's Character
CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by ASU Digital Repository Behind the Scenes of The Fiery Angel: Prokofiev's Character Reflected in the Opera by Vanja Nikolovski A Research Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Musical Arts Approved March 2018 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Brian DeMaris, Chair Jason Caslor James DeMars Dale Dreyfoos ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2018 ABSTRACT It wasn’t long after the Chicago Opera Company postponed staging The Love for Three Oranges in December of 1919 that Prokofiev decided to create The Fiery Angel. In November of the same year he was reading Valery Bryusov’s novel, “The Fiery Angel.” At the same time he was establishing a closer relationship with his future wife, Lina Codina. For various reasons the composition of The Fiery Angel endured over many years. In April of 1920 at the Metropolitan Opera, none of his three operas - The Gambler, The Love for Three Oranges, and The Fiery Angel - were accepted for staging. He received no additional support from his colleagues Sergi Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Pierre Souvchinsky, who did not care for the subject of Bryusov’s plot. Despite his unsuccessful attempts to have the work premiered, he continued working and moved from the U.S. to Europe, where he continued to compose, finishing the first edition of The Fiery Angel. He married Lina Codina in 1923. Several years later, while posing for portrait artist Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, the composer learned about the mysteries of a love triangle between Bryusov, Andrey Bely and Nina Petrovskaya. -
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (/prɵˈkɒfiɛv/; Russian: Сергей Сергеевич Прокофьев, tr. Sergej Sergeevič Prokof'ev; April 27, 1891 [O.S. 15 April];– March 5, 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous musical genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include such widely heard works as the March from The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet – from which "Dance of the Knights" is taken – and Peter and the Wolf. Of the established forms and genres in which he worked, he created – excluding juvenilia – seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, and nine completed piano sonatas. A graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument, including his first two piano concertos. In 1915 Prokofiev made a decisive break from the standard composer-pianist category with his orchestral Scythian Suite, compiled from music originally composed for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes. 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 interest, 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 lifetime was The Love for Three Oranges, composed for the Chicago Opera and subsequently performed over the following decade in Europe and Russia. -
Prokofiev, Sergey (Sergeyevich)
Prokofiev, Sergey (Sergeyevich) (b Sontsovka, Bakhmutsk region, Yekaterinoslav district, Ukraine, 11/23 April 1891; d Moscow, 5 March 1953). Russian composer and pianist. He began his career as a composer while still a student, and so had a deep investment in Russian Romantic traditions – even if he was pushing those traditions to a point of exacerbation and caricature – before he began to encounter, and contribute to, various kinds of modernism in the second decade of the new century. Like many artists, he left his country directly after the October Revolution; he was the only composer to return, nearly 20 years later. His inner traditionalism, coupled with the neo-classicism he had helped invent, now made it possible for him to play a leading role in Soviet culture, to whose demands for political engagement, utility and simplicity he responded with prodigious creative energy. In his last years, however, official encouragement turned into persecution, and his musical voice understandably faltered. 1. Russia, 1891–1918. 2. USA, 1918–22. 3. Europe, 1922–36. 4. The USSR, 1936–53. WORKS BIBLIOGRAPHY DOROTHEA REDEPENNING © Oxford University Press 2005 How to cite Grove Music Online 1. Russia, 1891–1918. (i) Childhood and early works. (ii) Conservatory studies and first public appearances. (iii) The path to emigration. © Oxford University Press 2005 How to cite Grove Music Online Prokofiev, Sergey, §1: Russia: 1891–1918 (i) Childhood and early works. Prokofiev grew up in comfortable circumstances. His father Sergey Alekseyevich Prokofiev was an agronomist and managed the estate of Sontsovka, where he had gone to live in 1878 with his wife Mariya Zitkova, a well-educated woman with a feeling for the arts. -
The Nineteenth-Century Russian Operatic Roots of Prokofyev’S
THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY RUSSIAN OPERATIC ROOTS OF PROKOFYEV’S WAR AND PEACE by TERRY LYNN DEAN, JR. (Under the Direction of David Edwin Haas) ABSTRACT More than fifty years after Prokofyev’s death, War and Peace remains a misunderstood composition. While there are many reasons why the opera remains misunderstood, the primary reason for this is the opera’s genesis in Stalinist Russia and his obligation to uphold the “life-affirming” principles of the pro-Soviet aesthetic, Socialist Realism, by drawing inspiration from the rich heritage “Russian classical” opera—specifically the works of Glinka, Chaikovsky, and Musorgsky. The primary intent of this dissertation is to provide new perspectives on War and Peace by examining the relationship between the opera and the nineteenth-century Russian opera tradition. By exploring such a relationship, one can more clearly understand how nineteenth-century Russian operas had a formative effect on Prokofyev’s opera aesthetic. An analysis of the impact of the Russian operatic tradition on War and Peace will also provide insights into the ways in which Prokofyev responded to official Soviet demands to uphold the canon of nineteenth-century Russian opera as models for contemporary composition and to implement aspects of 19th-century compositional practice into 20th-century compositions. Drawing upon the critical theories of Soviet musicologist Boris Asafyev, this study demonstrates that while Prokofyev maintained his distinct compositional voice, he successfully aligned his work with the nineteenth-century tradition. Moreover, the study suggests that Prokofyev’s solution to rendering Tolstoy’s novel as an opera required him to utilize a variety of traits characteristic of the nineteenth-century Russian opera tradition, resulting in a work that is both eclectic in musical style and dramaturgically effective. -
Behind the Scenes of the Fiery Angel: Prokofiev's Character
Behind the Scenes of The Fiery Angel: Prokofiev's Character Reflected in the Opera by Vanja Nikolovski A Research Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Musical Arts Approved March 2018 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Brian DeMaris, Chair Jason Caslor James DeMars Dale Dreyfoos ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2018 ABSTRACT It wasn’t long after the Chicago Opera Company postponed staging The Love for Three Oranges in December of 1919 that Prokofiev decided to create The Fiery Angel. In November of the same year he was reading Valery Bryusov’s novel, “The Fiery Angel.” At the same time he was establishing a closer relationship with his future wife, Lina Codina. For various reasons the composition of The Fiery Angel endured over many years. In April of 1920 at the Metropolitan Opera, none of his three operas - The Gambler, The Love for Three Oranges, and The Fiery Angel - were accepted for staging. He received no additional support from his colleagues Sergi Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Pierre Souvchinsky, who did not care for the subject of Bryusov’s plot. Despite his unsuccessful attempts to have the work premiered, he continued working and moved from the U.S. to Europe, where he continued to compose, finishing the first edition of The Fiery Angel. He married Lina Codina in 1923. Several years later, while posing for portrait artist Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, the composer learned about the mysteries of a love triangle between Bryusov, Andrey Bely and Nina Petrovskaya. It was then that Prokofiev’s characters took shape, reflecting the conflicting relationships in Bryusov’s real life and characters from the novel, as well as themes from Prokofiev’s own life. -
Travels with an Opera: Prokofiev's War and Peace
Travels with an opera: Prokofiev’s War and Peace This is the story of two musical journeys: the road travelled by Prokofiev’s late operatic masterpiece, from its initial composition in 1941/2 to the first performance of that original version – scheduled for 22 January 2010; and the present writer’s forty-year journey away from, and then back to, the Russian composer and his operas. My association with the music of Sergei Prokofiev began in 1966, when I had to choose a subject for my doctoral research at the University of Cambridge. I wanted to work on twentieth-century opera: Alban Berg was my first choice, but someone else (the musicologist Douglas Jarman) was already working on him. Martinu? Hindemith? – not really. Prokofiev? - now there was a composer about whose orchestral music I had mixed views, whose piano music I found fascinating but singularly awkward to play, and about whose operas I knew absolutely nothing. Zilch. Hasty research revealed that I was not alone: the March and Scherzo from Love for Three Oranges apart, Prokofiev’s operatic repertoire was largely unknown and certainly unstudied in Western Europe. It seemed an excellent choice; though it was not long before I discovered that there were clear, if not good, reasons for both of these facts. Throughout his life Prokofiev was captivated by opera as a medium: he wrote his first operatic work – The Giant – at the age of nine; and a fortnight before his death he was still trying to find the perfect middle section for Kutuzov’s grandiose aria in War and Peace. -
Open Brown SHC Thesis.Pdf
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DEPARTMENT OF GERMANIC AND SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES THE EARLY COMPOSITIONAL EDUCATION OF SERGEY PROKOFIEV: A SURVEY OF PEDAGOGY, AESTHETICS, AND INFLUENCE LAURA BROWN SPRING 2014 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for baccalaureate degrees in Music and Russian with interdisciplinary honors in Music and Russian Reviewed and approved* by the following: Charles D. Youmans Associate Professor of Music Thesis Supervisor Mark E. Ballora Associate Professor of Music Honors Adviser Adrian J. Wanner Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature Honors Adviser * Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College. i ABSTRACT As the creative mind behind Peter and the Wolf—perhaps the most time-tested childhood staple from the world of orchestral music—Sergey Prokofiev has touched the musical experiences of children across the world for generations. This composer, however, was not only one of the most accomplished musical personalities of the twentieth century, but also a composer who had enjoyed a remarkable childhood of his own. Sergey Prokofiev was one of the youngest and most accomplished pupils ever admitted to the St. Petersburg Conservatory. This thesis investigates why. Prokofiev was already writing operas on fantastic, fairy-tale subjects at the age of nine. He had an appetite for the spotlight and a determination to be taken seriously, even from a young age. What would happen, then, when such a precocious youth was taken seriously? In the summer of 1902, when Prokofiev was eleven years old, Reinhold Glière—a promising graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, preceded only by his reputation as a gold medalist in composition and the endorsement of his former Moscow mentors—stepped off a train in Sontsovka, Ukraine to become Prokofiev’s first significant professional music teacher. -
Over 100 Opera Makers
#OPERAHARMONY CREATING OPERAS IN ISOLATION 1 3 WELCOME TO #OPERA HARMONY FROM FOUNDER – ELLA MARCHMENT Welcome to #OperaHarmony. #Opera Harmony is a collection of opera makers from across the world who, during this time of crisis, formed an online community to create new operas. I started this initiative when the show that I was rehearsing at Dutch National Opera was cancelled because of the lockdown. Using social media and online platforms I invited colleagues worldwide to join me in the immense technical and logistical challenge of creating new works online. I set the themes of ‘distance’ and ‘community’, organised artist teams, and since March have been overseeing the creation of twenty new operas. All the artists involved in #OperaHarmony are highly skilled professionals who typically apply their talents in creating live theatre performances. Through this project, they have had to adapt to working in a new medium, as well as embracing new technologies and novel ways of creating, producing, and sharing work. #OperaHarmony’s goal was to bring people together in ways that were unimaginable prior to Covid-19. Over 100 artists from all the opera disciplines have collaborated to write, stage, record, and produce the new operas. The pieces encapsulate an incredibly dark period for the arts, and they are a symbol of the unstoppable determination, and community that exists to perform and continue to create operatic works. This has been my saving grace throughout lockdown, and it has given all involved a sense of purpose. When we started building these works we had no idea how they would eventually be realised, and it is with great thanks that we acknowledge the support of Opera Vision in helping to both distribute and disseminate these pieces, and also for establishing a means in which audiences can be invited into the heart of the process too .