Piano Sonata No. 5 (Prokofiev)

Last updated

Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 5 in C Major, Opus 38, was written at Ettal near Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps during the composer's stay there in 1923. He would revise it thirty years later, at the end of his life, but not drastically, as his Opus 135, and it is this version that is usually played. The work is dedicated it to Pierre Souvtchinski, a musicologist and friend. [1] [2] All eight of Prokofiev's other piano sonatas were written in Russia. [3] The revisions to this piece, made in 1952–53 in Russia, are mostly in the last movement. [4]

Contents

Movements

  1. Allegro tranquillo
  2. Andantino
  3. Un poco allegretto

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonata</span> Type of instrumental composition

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikolai Medtner</span> Russian composer and pianist

Nikolai Karlovich Medtner was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. After a period of comparative obscurity in the 25 years immediately after his death, he is now becoming recognized as one of the most significant Russian composers for the piano.

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.

Sergei Prokofiev set to work on his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16, in 1912 and completed it the next year. However, that version of the concerto is lost; the score was destroyed in a fire following the Russian Revolution. Prokofiev reconstructed the work in 1923, two years after finishing his Piano Concerto No. 3, and declared it to be "so completely rewritten that it might almost be considered [Piano Concerto] No. 4." Indeed, its orchestration has features that clearly postdate the 1921 concerto. Performing as soloist, Prokofiev premiered this "No. 2" in Paris on 8 May 1924 with Serge Koussevitzky conducting. It is dedicated to the memory of Maximilian Schmidthof, a friend of Prokofiev's at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, who had committed suicide in April 1913 after having written a farewell letter to Prokofiev.

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.

Sergei Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, Op. 50 (1931) was commissioned by the Library of Congress. The Quartet was first performed in Washington, D.C., on 25 April 1931 by the Brosa Quartet and in Moscow on 9 October 1931 by the Roth Quartet. The string quartet is in three movements, lasting around 20–25 minutes.

Sergei Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 92 (1941) was first performed by the Beethoven Quartet in Moscow on 7 April 1942. A later concert in Moscow, on 5 September 1942, was delayed by a Nazi air raid and started late. Prokofiev thought it "an extremely turbulent success." The string quartet, lasting for 20–25 minutes, is in three movements.

Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 7 in B major, Op. 83 is a sonata for solo piano, the second of the three "War Sonatas", composed in 1942. The sonata was first performed on 18 January 1943 in Moscow by Sviatoslav Richter. Performances of this sonata can last anywhere from 17 to about 20 minutes.

Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82 is a sonata for solo piano, the first of the "War Sonatas". It was composed in 1940 and first performed on 8 April of that year in Moscow, with the composer at the piano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Sonata No. 8 (Prokofiev)</span> 1944 piano sonata by Sergei Prokofiev

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.

Boris Berman is a Russian pianist and pedagogue.

Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29, subtitled D’après des vieux cahiers, or After Old Notebooks, was composed in 1917 and premiered on April 17 the next year by the composer himself in Petrograd. The work was dedicated to Prokofiev's late friend Maximilian Schmidthof, whose suicide in 1913 had shocked and saddened the composer.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Winkler (composer)</span> Russian composer

Alexander (Gustav) Adolfovich Winkler, also Alexandre Adolfovitch Winkler, was a Russian pianist, composer and music educator of German descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cello Sonata (Prokofiev)</span>

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Boris Berman, Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer (Yale University Press, 2008), p. 102.
  4. Boris Berman, Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas: A Guide for the Listener and the Performer (Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 103–104.