Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was born on April 27, 1891 (Old Style: April 15), and died on March 5, 1953. He was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century because he created many famous works across different types of music. Some of his well-known pieces include the March from The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet (which includes "Dance of the Knights"), and Peter and the Wolf. He composed seven operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, one cello concerto, one symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine piano sonatas.

Prokofiev studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Early in his career, he gained attention as a pianist for his unusual and highly skilled compositions, such as his first two piano concertos. In 1915, he moved away from being just a pianist by creating the Scythian Suite, an orchestral work originally written for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev later asked Prokofiev to compose three more ballets: Chout, Le pas d'acier, and The Prodigal Son. These works caused great excitement among critics and musicians at the time. Prokofiev was most interested in opera, and he wrote several operas, including The Gambler and The Fiery Angel. His most successful opera during his lifetime was The Love for Three Oranges, which was composed for the Chicago Opera and performed in Europe and Russia over the next decade.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Prokofiev left Russia with the approval of Soviet official Anatoly Lunacharsky. He lived in the United States, then Germany, and later Paris, earning a living as a composer, pianist, and conductor. In 1923, he married a Spanish singer named Carolina (Lina) Codina, and they had two sons. They divorced in 1947. In the early 1930s, the Great Depression limited opportunities for Prokofiev’s ballets and operas to be performed in America and Western Europe. He disliked spending time touring as a pianist and focused more on composing for the Soviet Union. In 1936, he returned to Russia with his family. His most successful works in the Soviet Union included Lieutenant Kijé, Peter and the Wolf, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Alexander Nevsky, the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, On Guard for Peace, and the Piano Sonatas Nos. 6–8.

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Prokofiev was inspired to write an opera based on Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. He worked on the libretto (the story of the opera) with Mira Mendelson, his long-term companion and second wife. In 1948, Prokofiev faced criticism for creating music that was described as "anti-democratic formalism." However, he received support from younger Russian musicians, including Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich. He composed his Ninth Piano Sonata for Richter and his Symphony-Concerto for Rostropovich.

Life and career

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was born on 27 April [O.S. 15 April] 1891 at a rural estate in Sontsovka, a village that was then part of the Bakhmut uezd of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate in the Russian Empire and is now in the Pokrovsk Raion of the Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine. His father, Sergei Alekseyevich Prokofiev, was an agronomist from a family of merchants in Moscow. His mother, Maria (born Zhitkova), came from a family in Saint Petersburg that had once been serfs, meaning they were forced to work on land owned by others. The Sheremetev family, who owned their land, helped them by teaching their children about theater and the arts. Maria was described by Reinhold Glière, Prokofiev’s first composition teacher, as "a tall woman with beautiful, clever eyes… who knew how to create an atmosphere of warmth and simplicity." After marrying in 1877, the Prokofievs moved to a small estate in the Smolensk Governorate. Sergei Alekseyevich later worked as a soil engineer for a former classmate, Dmitri Sontsov, and the family moved to Sontsovka in the Ukrainian steppes.

By the time Prokofiev was born, Maria had already lost two daughters and focused her life on music. She took piano lessons in Moscow or Saint Petersburg for two months each year during her son’s early childhood. Prokofiev was inspired by hearing his mother play the piano, often practicing pieces by Chopin and Beethoven. At age five, he wrote his first piano piece, an "Indian Gallop," which his mother recorded. It used the F Lydian mode, a type of musical scale with a raised fourth note, because he avoided the black keys on the piano. By age seven, he had learned to play chess, a hobby he kept for life. He later played against world chess champions José Raúl Capablanca, whom he beat in a match in 1914, and Mikhail Botvinnik, with whom he played several matches in the 1930s. At age nine, he composed his first opera, The Giant, as well as an overture and other pieces. Opera became his favorite musical genre.

In 1902, Prokofiev’s mother met Sergei Taneyev, director of the Moscow Conservatory, who suggested Prokofiev study with Alexander Goldenweiser. When that was not possible, Taneyev arranged for Reinhold Glière to teach Prokofiev in Sontsovka that summer. At 11, Prokofiev insisted on writing his first symphony. Glière returned the next summer to teach further. Years later, Prokofiev credited Glière’s teaching methods but noted that Glière introduced him to "square" musical structures and conventional techniques that he later had to unlearn. With these tools, Prokofiev began experimenting with dissonant harmonies and unusual time signatures in short piano pieces he called "ditties," which helped shape his musical style.

Despite his talent, Prokofiev’s parents hesitated to send him to music school at such a young age and considered enrolling him in a high school in Moscow. By 1904, Maria decided to move to Saint Petersburg, where she and Prokofiev explored educational opportunities. They met composer Alexander Glazunov, who was impressed by Prokofiev’s compositions, including operas Desert Islands and The Feast during the Plague, and encouraged him to apply to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Prokofiev passed the entrance exams and enrolled that year.

Younger than most students, Prokofiev was seen as eccentric and arrogant. He studied piano with Alexander Winkler, harmony and counterpoint with Anatoly Lyadov, conducting with Nikolai Tcherepnin, and orchestration with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He also studied with Boris Asafyev and Nikolai Myaskovsky, the latter becoming a lifelong friend. At Saint Petersburg, Prokofiev gained a reputation as a musical rebel, performing his own original compositions. He graduated in 1909 with average grades but continued his studies, learning piano from Anna Yesipova and conducting with Tcherepnin.

In 1910, Prokofiev’s father died, ending his financial support. However, Prokofiev had already gained recognition outside the Conservatory, performing at the St. Petersburg Evenings of Contemporary Music. There, he played his bold piano works, such as the highly chromatic *Etudes, Op

Legacy

Arthur Honegger said that Prokofiev would "remain for us the greatest figure of contemporary music," and the American scholar Richard Taruskin wrote that Prokofiev had "a gift, almost unmatched among 20th-century composers, for creating unique and original melodies using traditional scales." However, for a time, Prokofiev's reputation in the West was harmed by Cold War tensions. His music has not received the same level of praise from Western scholars and critics as the works of Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg, whose music had a greater influence on younger musicians. Despite this, Prokofiev's special way of composing, which he described in his own writings, continues to be studied carefully by music experts.

In Donetsk Oblast, the Donetsk State Music Academy Named After Sergei Prokofiev and Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev International Airport are named in his honor. The airport was destroyed in 2014 during the First and Second Battle of Donetsk Airport.

The All-Ukrainian open pianists' competition named after Prokofiev is held every year in Kyiv. It includes three categories: piano, composition, and conducting.

Prokofiev performed as a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, led by Piero Coppola, in the first recording of his Piano Concerto No. 3. This recording was made in London by His Master's Voice in June 1932. Prokofiev also recorded some of his piano music for HMV in Paris in February 1935. These recordings were later released on CD by Pearl and Naxos. In 1938, he conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in a recording of the second suite from his ballet Romeo and Juliet. This performance was later released on LP and CD. A short sound film has been found showing Prokofiev playing some music from his opera War and Peace and then explaining it.

Honours and awards

• Six Stalin Prizes (specific details not listed)
• Lenin Prize (1957, awarded posthumously) – for Symphony No. 7
• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1947)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• In 2011, a Google Doodle celebrated his 120th birthday.