PROKOFIEV, SERGEI ( b. Sontsovka, Ukraine, 23 April 1891; d. Moscow, 5 March 1953 )
Prokofiev studied piano from an early age, taught by his mother who was a talented amateur. From the age of five he wanted to write for the instrument and as early as 1902 his parents were trying to find him suitable teachers.
In 1904 he was admitted to the Conservatory in St. Petersburg. His studies always bored him and teachers always found him lazy. Nevertheless, in 1908 he made his concert début as a pianist and composer. As was to happen for the rest of his life, many audience members preferred his playing to his music.
Early attempts to have work published came to nothing, but his international reputation continued to grow, as did his interest in writing for the opera. Inspired by the success of Stravinsky he also began writing seriously for the ballet.
The First World War and the Russian Revolution of 1917 seem to have had little effect on Prokofiev's output, beyond the cancelling of his opera The Gambler. But the general unrest in his homeland may have influenced his decision to move to the New World.
In 1920 he received a large advance to write an opera to be performed in Chicago. This was to be The Love for Three Oranges, which still has a place in the operatic repertoire. It premièred in 1925, while Chicago Opera was under the directorship of its star soprano, Mary Garden.
Prokofiev then returned to Europe and moved to Paris, where he married. By 1926 he had completed a series of concert tours and finished writing his opera, The Fiery Angel. This was not to be staged successfully until after his death.
In 1934 he returned permanently to Russia. Commissions to write opera, ballet and film music followed. His final, magnificent, opera, War and Peace, never fully performed in the composer's lifetime, was written under the Stalinist régime, when its patriotic subject matter was approved by the Russian authorities.
Some years later his work, like that of many Russian artists, was denounced by the same authorities as decadent. However, Prokofiev was fortunate enough to be permitted to continue working. He produced choral, orchestral and ballet music up to his death - on the same day as Joseph Stalin - in 1953.
