ModernismSerge Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev was born on a big country estate in Ukraine.
Serge Prokofiev’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1891👶 Birth
Born in Sontsovka on 23 April; his mother is a pianist
- 1900🎼 Workage 9
Composes an opera, The Giant, at 9
- 1903🌍 Meanwhile
First powered aeroplane flight (Wright brothers)
- 1904📚 Trainingage 13
Enters the St Petersburg Conservatory at 13
- 1914🎩 Careerage 23
Anton Rubinstein Prize with his Piano Concerto No. 1
- 1917🎼 Workage 26
‘Classical’ Symphony
- 1918🧳 Journeyage 27
Leaves revolutionary Russia for the United States via Japan
- 1918🌍 Meanwhile
End of the First World War
- 1921🎼 Workage 30
The Love for Three Oranges, premiered in Chicago
- 1939🌍 Meanwhile
The Second World War begins
- 1948🏛️ Landmarkage 57
Officially condemned for ‘formalism’; his first wife is deported
- 1948🌍 Meanwhile
The long-playing record (LP) goes on sale
- 1953🕯️ Deathage 62
Dies in Moscow on 5 March, the same day as Stalin
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Sergei Prokofiev was born on a big country estate in Ukraine. His mum, a pianist, taught him music. At nine he had already written an opera, The Giant!
At the Conservatory he was the youngest and a bit cheeky: he liked to surprise with prickly notes and pounding rhythms. He was also very good at chess!
He wrote Peter and the Wolf to introduce children to the orchestra: each character has its own instrument. The bird is the flute, the duck the oboe, the cat the clarinet, the grandfather the bassoon, and the wolf… the horns!
He also composed the ballets Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet. He died on the same day as the dictator Stalin.
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