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Sonata, in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata, a piece sung. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance. Sonata is a vague term, with varying meanings depending on the context and time period. By the early 19th century, it came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas still maintain the same structure.
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time.
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Sergei Prokofiev began his Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19, as a concertino in 1915 but soon abandoned it to work on his opera The Gambler. He returned to the concerto in the summer of 1917. It was premiered on October 18, 1923 at the Paris Opera with Marcel Darrieux playing the violin part and the Paris Opera Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. Igor Stravinsky made his debut as conductor at the same concert, conducting the first performance of his own Octet for Wind Instruments.
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Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80, written between 1938 and 1946, is one of the darkest and most brooding of the composer's works. Prokofiev was awarded the 1947 Stalin prize for this composition.
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Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 8 in B♭ major, Op. 84 is a sonata for solo piano, the third and longest of the three "war sonatas", with performances typically lasting around 30 minutes. He completed it in 1944 and dedicated it to his partner Mira Mendelson, who later became his second wife. The sonata was first performed on 30 December 1944, in Moscow, by Emil Gilels.
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Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 14, is a sonata for solo piano, written in 1912. First published by P. Jurgenson in 1913, it was premiered on 5 February 1914 in Moscow with the composer performing. Prokofiev dedicated the work to his friend and fellow student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Maximilian Schmidthof, who committed suicide in 1913. Concert pianist Boris Berman has said of this sonata that it 'covers a huge emotional range: from Romantic lyricism to aggressive brutality'.
Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 (1917) is a sonata composed for solo piano, using sketches dating from 1907. Prokofiev gave the première of this in Saint Petersburg on 15 April 1918, during a week-long festival of his music sponsored by the Conservatory.
The Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103 by Sergei Prokofiev is his final completed piano sonata. It is dedicated to pianist Sviatoslav Richter.
Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 10 in E minor, Op. 137 (1952) (unfinished) is a sonata composed for solo piano.
Alexander (Gustav) Adolfovich Winkler, also Alexandre Adolfovitch Winkler, was a Russian pianist, composer and music educator of German descent.
The Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 119, was composed by Sergei Prokofiev in 1949. The year before, Prokofiev was accused of formalism by the Zhdanov Decree and much of his music was banned. However, he continued to compose music, though he was not sure if his new works would ever be performed in public.
References
- ↑ Sorensen, Sugi (2005). "The Prokofiev Page – Piano Sonata No 5 in C major, Op 38". Allegro Media. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ↑ Sorensen, Sugi (2005). "The Prokofiev Page – Piano Sonata No 5 in C major, Op 135". Allegro Media. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ↑ Boris Berman, Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer (Yale University Press, 2008), p. 102.
- ↑ Boris Berman, Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer (Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 103–104.
