PROKOFIEV, Sergei
b Sontsovka, Ukraine, 23 April 1891
d Moscow, 7 March 1953, aged sixty-one
He wrote his first music at the age of five and his first opera at nine. He was a pupil of Gliere before entering the St Petersburg Conservatory at the age of thirteen, where he studied harmony and counterpoint with Liadov, orchestration with Rimsky-Korsakov and conducting with Tcherepnin, as well as piano. He graduated with the Rubinstein Prize in 1914. He travelled extensively over the next twenty years, visiting America and touring Western Europe as a pianist and conductor of his own works. By 1936 he had settled permanently back in Russia but his work fell foul of the Soviet authorities in 1948, and it was not until 1959 that his music was officially reinstated and approved in Russia. He died of a brain haemorrhage.
1907-09 (16-20)
Piano Sonata No 1 in F minor
1907-11 (16-18)
Four Pieces for piano
1908-12 (17-21)
Four Pieces for piano
1909 (18)
Four Etudes for piano
Sinfonietta in A major (final version 1929)
(1909-14)
Two Poems for female voices and orchestra (1909-10)
1910 (19)
Dreams, symphonic poem
Autumnal Sketch, for orchestra (revised 1934)
Deux poemes, for voice and piano (1910-11)
1911-12 (20)
Piano Concerto No 1 in Db major
1911-13 (20-2)
Magdalene, opera
1912 (21)
Piano Concerto No 2 in D minor
Ballade, for cello and piano
Piano Sonata No 2 in D minor
Toccata, in C major, for piano
Sarcasms, for piano (1912-14)
1914 (23)
Violin Concerto No 1
Scythian Suite (Ala et Lolly), for orchestra (1914-15)
The Ugly Duckling, for voice and piano 1
915 (24)
The Gambler, opera (revised 1928)
Chout, ballet (revised 1920)
Visions fugitives, for piano
Cinq poésies, for voice and piano 1
916 (25)
Symphony No 1, Classical (1916-17)
Cinq poésies d'Anna Akhmatova, for voice and piano 1
917 (26)
Piano Sonata No 3 in A minor (begun in 1907)
Piano Sonata No 4 in C minor (begun in 1908)
Seven, they are seven, Akhadian incantation for tenor, chorus and orchestra
Piano Concerto No 3 in C major (1917-21)
1919 (28)
The Love of Three Oranges, opera (Symphonic Suite of the same name composed 1919-24)
The Fiery Angel, opera (1919-27)
Overture on Hebrew Themes, for piano, clarinet and string quartet
1920 (29)
Five Songs Without Words, for voice and piano
1921 (30)
Five Songs
1923 (32)
Piano Sonata No 5 in C major
1924 (33)
Symphony No 2 in D minor (1924-5)
Quintet in G minor, for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double-bass
1925 (34)
Pas d'acier, ballet (1925-6)
Divertimento for orchestra (1925-9)
1928 (37)
The Prodigal Son, ballet
Symphony No 3 in C minor
1929-30 (38-9)
Symphony No 4 in C major (second version 1947)
1930 (39)
Sur le Borysthene (On the Dnieper), ballet
Four Portraits, symphonic suite from the opera The Gambler (1930-1)
String Quartet No 1
1931 (40)
Piano Concerto No 4 in Bb major, for the left hand
1932 (41)
Piano Concerto No 5 in G major
Sonata in C for two violins
1933 (42)
Chant symphonique, for orchestra
Cello Concerto in E minor (1933-8)
1934 (43)
Egyptian Night, symphonic suite
Lieutenant Kijé, symphonic suite for orchestra and baritone voice ad lib
1935 (44)
Romeo and Juliet, ballet (1935-6)
Violin Concerto No 2 in G minor
Musique d'enfants, for piano
1936 (45)
Peter and the Wolf, for orchestra and narrator
Russian Overture
Cantata for the Twentieth Anniversary of the October Revolution, for double chorus, military band, accordions and orchestra (1936-7)
1938 (47)
Sonata No 1, for violin and piano
1938-9 (47-8)
Alexander Nevsky, cantata for mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra
1939 (48)
Semeon Kotko, opera
Zdravitsa, cantata for chorus and orchestra
Piano Sonata No 6 in A major (1939-40)
Piano Sonata No 7 in Bb major (1939 42)
Piano Sonata No 8 in Bb major (1939-44)
1940 (49)
The Duenna, opera (1940-1)
Cinderella, ballet (1940-4)
1941 (50)
Symphonic March
Suite for orchestra, 1941
A Summer's Day, suite for small orchestra (transcribed from the Musique d'enfants of 1935)
String Quartet No 2 in E major
1941-3 (50-2)
War and Peace, opera (revised 1946-52)
1942 (51)
Ivan the Terrible, film score
1942-3 (51-2)
Flute Sonata in D major
Ballad of an Unknown Boy, cantata
1943-4 (52-3)
Sonata No 2 in D for violin and piano
1944 (53)
Symphony No 5 in Bb major
1945 7 (54 6)
Piano Sonata No 9 in C major
Symphony No 6 in Eb minor
1947 (56)
Flourish, Mighty Homeland, cantata
Sonata in D, for violin
1947-48 (56-7)
The Story of a Real Man, opera
1948-53 (57-62)
The Stone Flower, ballet
1949 (58)
Cello Sonata in C major
Winter Bonfire, suite for narrator, boys' chorus and orchestra (1949-50)
1950 (59)
On Guard for Peace, choral
1950-2 (59-61)
Sinfonia Concertante in E minor, for cello and orchestra (this is a reworking of the
1933-8 cello concerto)
1951-2 (60-1)
Symphony No 7 in C# minor
1952 (61)
Cello Concertino in G minor
Prokofiev left unfinished a Concerto for two pianos and strings; a Cello Sonata in C sharp minor; a second version of the Symphony No 2; and sketches for a 10th and 11th piano sonata.