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Sergei Prokofiev

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Born / died

1891-1953

Movement

Romantic

Location

Born in Sontsivka

Friends / contemporaries

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Daniela Ruso +3 more

By breathing new life into the symphony, sonata, and concerto, Sergey Prokofiev emerged as one of the truly original musical voices of the 20th century.Spotify

Bridging the worlds of pre-revolutionary Russia and the Stalinist Soviet Union, Prokofiev enjoyed a successful worldwide career as a composer and pianist. As in the case of most other Soviet-era composers, his creative life and his music suffered under the duress of official Party strictures.Spotify

Despite the detrimental personal and professional effects of such outside influences, Prokofiev continued to produce music marked by a singular skill, inventiveness, and élan until the end of his career. As an only child (his sisters had died in infancy), Prokofiev lived a comfortable, privileged life, which gave him a heightened sense of self-worth and an indifference to criticism, an attitude that would change as he matured. His mother taught him piano, and he began composing around the age of five.Spotify

He eventually took piano, theory, and composition lessons from Reyngol'd Gliere, then enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory when he was 13. He took theory with Lyadov, orchestration with Rimsky-Korsakov, and became lifelong friends with Nicolai Myaskovsky.Spotify

After graduating, he began performing in St. Petersburg and in Moscow, then in Western Europe, all the while writing more and more music. Prokofiev's earliest renown, therefore, came as a result of both his formidable pianistic technique and the works he wrote to show it off.Spotify

He sprang onto the Russian musical scene with works like the Sarcasms, Op. 17 (1912-1914) and Visions fugitives, Op. 22 (1915-1917), and his first few piano sonatas.Spotify

He also wrote orchestral works, concertos, and operas, and met with Diaghilev about producing ballets. The years immediately after the Revolution were spent in the U.S., where Prokofiev tried to follow Rachmaninov's lead and make his way as a pianist/composer. His commission for The Love for Three Oranges came from the Chicago Opera in 1919, but overall Prokofiev was disappointed by his American reception, and he returned to Europe in 1922.Spotify

He married singer Lina Llubera in 1923, and the couple moved to Paris. He continued to compose on commission, meeting with mixed success from both critics and the public. He had maintained contact with the Soviet Union, and even toured there in 1927.Spotify

The Love for Three Oranges was part of the Soviet opera repertory, and the government commissioned the music for the film Lieutenant Kijé and other pieces. In 1936, he decided to return to the Soviet Union with his wife and two sons. Most of his compositions from just after his return, including many for children, were written with the political atmosphere in mind.Spotify

One work which wasn't was the 1936 ballet Romeo and Juliet, which became an international success. He attempted another opera in 1939, Semyon Kotko, but was met with hostility from cultural ideologues. During World War II, Prokofiev and other artists were evacuated from Moscow.Spotify

He spent the time in various places within the U.S.S.R. and produced propaganda music, but also violin sonatas, his "War Sonatas" for piano, the String Quartet No. 2, the opera War and Peace, and the ballet Cinderella. In 1948, with the resolution that criticized almost all Soviet composers, several of Prokofiev's works were banned from performance.Spotify

His health declined and he became more insecure. The composer's last creative efforts were directed largely toward the production of "patriotic" and "national" works, typified by the cantata Flourish, Mighty Homeland (1947), and yet Prokofiev also continued to produce worthy if lesser-known works like the underrated ballet The Stone Flower (1943). In a rather bitter coincidence, Prokofiev died on March 5, 1953, the same day as Joseph Stalin.Spotify

~ TiVo Staff, Rovi

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role: composer · 90%era: Romanticmovement: Romantic1891–1953

Movement

Romantic

How this movement sounds

rubatochromatic harmonybig climaxesricher timbrelong lyrical linesnarrative feel

Romantic listening cues: heightened emotion, longer lyrical melodies, and more freedom with rubato (flexible timing) in performance.

Harmony is often more chromatic, with colorful chords and side-steps that create tension and release over longer spans. You may hear more delayed resolutions and more 'yearning' harmonic motion.

Dynamics and texture often expand: thicker sonorities, bigger climaxes, and a strong sense of narrative or character (even in purely instrumental music).

In piano music, listen for the use of pedaling and resonance to create a halo around harmony; in orchestral music, listen for richer timbre and denser voicing (inner lines matter).

A useful trick: follow the bass line. In Romantic music it often shapes the drama, pulling the harmony through longer arcs rather than short phrase punctuation.

How Sergei Prokofiev sounds

rubatorich harmonylong melodybig dynamicscoloristic pedal

Romantic music tends to foreground emotion and color: long singing melodies, flexible tempo (rubato), and harmony that stretches and sighs.

You often hear thicker textures, wider dynamic range, and a more "orchestral" use of the piano with deep bass and resonant pedaling.

Look for heightened contrast and personal voice: the same musical gesture can feel intimate one moment and heroic the next.

Wikipedia

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (27 April [O.S.Wikipedia

15 April] 1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous music genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.Wikipedia

His works include such widely heard pieces 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, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas. A graduate of the Saint 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.Wikipedia

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…Wikipedia

Interview highlights

Built from indexed interview/masterclass transcripts (podcasts / YouTube). Quotes are direct excerpts with source links.

Interview highlights for Sergei Prokofiev from 2 sources. Quotes below are direct excerpts; open the source link for context.

Topics that recur (auto): Music, Years, Procofiev, First, Later, Work, Russian, During.

Source: youtube_captions · ekHdUBF4jqc · 44:14 · published 2025-10-05 · Open source

outside Moscow. There I try to

Source: youtube_captions · BOzPbLDfS_U · 4:35 · published 2014-11-12 · Open source

I was I had ten encores during the intermission and eight

Source: youtube_captions · ekHdUBF4jqc · 45:22 · published 2025-10-05 · Open source

I had a modest income. She was

Source: youtube_captions · BOzPbLDfS_U · 8:05 · published 2014-11-12 · Open source

orchestras indifferent to my music

Source: youtube_captions · BOzPbLDfS_U · 4:48 · published 2014-11-12 · Open source

The success exceeded all my expectations. There are

Source: youtube_captions · BOzPbLDfS_U · 2:34 · published 2014-11-12 · Open source

on the island. We had to undergo another

Transcript sources (5)

Source: youtube_captions · en

Open source

Published: 2026-04-06

Indexed: 2026-05-16T23:01:22.184Z

Source: youtube_captions · en

Open source

Published: 2025-10-05

Indexed: 2026-05-05T03:30:42.237Z

Source: youtube_captions · en

Open source

Published: 2025-10-05

Indexed: 2026-04-24T15:17:21.589Z

Source: youtube_captions · en

Open source

Published: 2014-11-12

Indexed: 2026-03-15T01:43:59.612Z

Source: youtube_captions · en

Open source

Published: 2025-07-03

Indexed: 2026-03-14T13:31:11.924Z

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YouTube · published 2026-05-12 · 10m

Berkshire Symphony Soloist Gala - Sergei Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, op. 26

2026ConcertoSymphonyOp.10m

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