Sergei Prokofiev

In 1923, while Sergei Prokofiev was living in the Bavarian Alps, he married the Spanish singer Carolina Codina, whose stage name was Lina Llubera. They had two sons, Sviatoslav, who grew up to be an architect and Oleg, who became a painter, sculptor and poet.

In 1940, Prokofiev became involved with the 25-year-old writer and librettist Mira Mendelson. In 1943, it led to separation from Lina; but they were not formally divorced. Mira remained his common-law-wife until his death in 1953.

Prokofiev had been ill for the last eight years of his life and died on 5 March 1953 from an unspecified illness.

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was born on 23 April 1891 in Sontsovka, then a remote rural estate under Russian Empire. It is now part of Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine and is known by the name Krasne.

His father, Sergei Alexeyevich Prokofiev, an agronomist, was a soil engineer at Sontsovka at the time of his birth. His mother Maria/Grigoryevna (née Zhitkova) Prokofieva, was an accomplished pianist. The daughter of a former serf, she was tutored in theatre and art by her master’s family from an early age.

Sergeyevich was his parents’ only surviving child, having two elder sisters who died in infancy. Watching his interest in music, he mother gave him his first lesson in piano as he turned three.

As Sergeyevich turned five, he composed his first piece. Meant for piano, it was called ‘Indian Gallop’. The composition was written by his mother in the F Lydian mode. Subsequently, he wrote a few more pieces.

In 1899, his parents took him to Moscow, where he for the first time heard an opera. Intrigued, he began to write one. Very soon a libretto in three acts and six scenes was ready. Later with the help of his mother, he transcribed the music.

Although it was evident that Sergei Prokofiev was a musical genius his parents were hesitant about pushing him into a career in music at such an early stage. Contrarily, they were keener on taking him to Moscow, where he could attend a good school. Later however, they decided on St. Petersburg.

In 1904, mother and son traveled to Petersburg, where they met composer Alexander Glazunov, also a professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Impressed by the boy’s talent, he urged his mother to allow him to enter the Conservatory.

Prokofiev studied at Petersburg Conservatory from 1904 to 1914. Much younger than his batch mates, he often annoyed them by keeping a list of their mistakes, but impressed his teachers with his innovative skills.

In 1908, while he was still a student at the Conservatory, Prokofiev made his first public appearance at the St Petersburg Evenings of Contemporary Music. In the following year, he graduated from his class in composition, but remained attached to the Conservatory till 1914, improving his techniques in piano conducting.

In 1910, as his father died, it fell upon him to earn his upkeep. He had by then made a name for himself outside the Conservatory and therefore, he was able to sustain himself. His mother too helped him financially.

In 1914, soon after winning the Anton Rubinstein Prize, Sergei Prokofiev set out for England. Here he met Sergei Diaghilev, who commissioned him to write his first ballet, ‘Ala and Lolli’. Subsequently, as the World War I broke out, he returned to Russia, but continued to work on it.

Exempted from joining the war as the only son of a widow, he spent the time perfecting his techniques in organ, concurrently composing a number of pieces. Meanwhile in 1915, he completed ‘Ala and Lolli’; but when he submitted the work, Diaghilev rejected it because it lacked Russian character.

Diaghilev then helped Prokofiev to choose the topic from a collection of Alexander Afanasyev’s folktales. The result was ‘Chout (The Fool)’. However, it needed to be revised several times before it met Diaghilev’s approval. Meanwhile between November 1915 and April 1916 he wrote ‘The Gambler’, an opera in four acts.

In January 1917, he completed the orchestration of ‘The Gambler’, but with the onset of the February Revolution, it could not be premiered. Therefore, he concentrated on completing ‘Symphony No. 1 in D major ‘, a work he had started the previous year. It was premiered on April 21, 1918 in Petrograd.

Although he continued to work, completing his work on ‘Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19’, Prokofiev soon realized music had no future in Russia at that moment. Therefore, he decided to visit the USA.