Prokofiev, Sergei

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev – Suite from Sergei Prokofiev’s On the Dnieper

(b. Sontsovka, 27 April 1891 – d. Moskow, 5 March 1953)

Preface
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was one of the most innovative and influential composers of the 20th century. Born in Sontsovka (now Ukraine), he was recognised early on as a prodigious talent in both composition and piano. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where he quickly developed a reputation as a modernist. After the Russian Revolution, Prokofiev embarked on a long period of self-imposed exile in the United States and Western Europe. During this time, he composed some of his most striking and forward-looking works, often experimenting with form, tonality and rhythmic vitality. His career took a new direction when he returned permanently to the Soviet Union in 1936, where he had to reconcile his musical voice with the demands of the Soviet cultural policy3.

In the early 1930s, during his time in Paris, Prokofiev was commissioned to compose a ballet for the Paris Opera Ballet by Serge Lifar (1904–1986), a former principal dancer of the Ballets Russes and protégé of Serge Diaghilev. Following Diaghilev’s death, the 24-year-old Lifar took over the company and sought to reinvigorate its repertoire. He envisioned a ballet set in his native Ukraine, drawing on personal and cultural themes from his life. Lifar commissioned Prokofiev, then already an internationally celebrated composer, to compose the score (3). …

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