Sergei Prokofiev was born in April 23, 1891 in a small village in the Ukraine. His father was an agronomist. An Agronomist is someone who studies agriculture and how to use plants for things such as food, fuel or land restoration. Prokofiev’s mother was a talented pianist who had studied music and arts as a young child. She greatly influenced Sergei’s love for music by playing Chopin and Beethoven for him from the time he was born. Young Sergei composed his first piano piece at only five years old and his first opera at the age of nine.
|
|
|
Chess is a board game, from Russia, that uses lots of thinking, strategy and guessing what your opponent’s next move will be. It is not an easy game to play. By the age of seven, after having written his first composition “Indian Gallop” at the age of 5, Sergei Prokofiev fell in love with Chess. When he wasn’t composing music, he was playing Chess. He was even able to play several chess grand masters, and even beat them on occasion!
|
|
|
Since Prokofiev was such a talented musician, he was allowed to attend the most prestigious school in Russia: the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. While at the conservatory, Prokofiev would often complain about the lessons being boring, or pick on his fellow classmates by keeping track of all the mistakes they made in their compositions. He was not very popular.
|
|
|
Sergei Prokofiev was from Russia, but during his lifetime, Russia was always in a state of war and unrest. He traveled to America, with permissions from Russian religious leaders. He had great success with his operas in America and began writing his opera “The Love for Three Oranges”. When it debuted in Chicago, “The Love for Three Oranges” was considered a success and he became well known in America, but he ran out of money and chose to move to Paris.
|
|
|
Today’s Listening Example is “Peter and the Wolf”. As you listen to the music, notice how each character is played by a different instrument. For example, the bird is played by the flute and the wolf is played by the french horns.
|
After settling in Russia, Prokofiev was commissioned to write “Peter & the Wolf” for a children’s theatre in Moscow.
Peter & the Wolf is a story about a little boy who sneaks out of his grandfather’s house and forgets to lock the gate behind him. The duck gets out and gets swallowed by the wolf. Peter then uses some creative thinking to “outfox” the wolf. |
|
|