Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev was a great Russian composer born April 27, 1891 in Sontzovka. He, like many famous composers, took his first piano lessons from his mother, and showed incredible promise at an early age. He wrote an entire piano score for his first opera, "The Giant", by the age of nine. Two years later, in 1902, he finished an overture and 3 tableaux for another opera, "On Desert Island". From 1904 to 1907, he worked on yet another opera, "Ondine". Upon its completion, Prokofiev went to Moscow to take lessons in compositions from Gliere. While in Moscow, he wrote a Symphony in G, and an opera called "Feast during the Plague".

Prokofiev enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory at the age of 13 and studied with Rimsky-Korsakov. When he graduated in 1914, his First Piano Concerto won him a grand piano, the Anton Rubinstein Prize for best pianist-composer. In 1920, Prokofiev traveled to Paris, where he met Diaghilev, a producer for his ballets. He also met Koussevitzky, who eventually published Prokofiev's works. Prokofiev married Lina Llubera in 1923, a soprano from Spain whose real name was Carlina Codina. However, the marriage was not successful. By 1940, Prokofiev was living with a young writer named Myra Mendelson. He was not yet divorced from his first wife, but this turned out not to be a problem, as she was sent to a concentration camp in 1946 for political crimes and was not released for 8 years. Prokofiev died in Moscow on March 5, 1953. Prokofiev's work was progressive and modernistic in style. Some of his most popular works include an opera called "Love for 3 Oranges", and a children's symphonic fairy tale, "Peter and the Wolf".