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AO, 2L3S~7
THE EARLY PIANO SONATAS OF PROKOFIEV
THESIS
Presented to the Graduate Council of the
North Texas State College in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
MASTER OF MUSIC
by
Ida Ledale Meeks, B. A.
Plainview, Texas
January, 1955
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ChapterI. MODERN RUSSIAN PIANO MUSIC . . . . . . .
II. A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF PROKOFIEV'S EARLY
SONATAS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
III. THE STYLE OF ThE EARLY PIANO SONATAS OFPROKOFIEV. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FormMelodic StyleRhythmHarmony and TonalityCompositional Techniques
IV. INFLUENCES ON PROKOFIEV'S STYLE. . . . .
APPENDIX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .* . .
BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
iii
Pageiv
1
18
26
72
80
83
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Page
1. Widest Range of Subject Found in EarlySonatas. . . . . . - - - - . * - * * - - - * 33
2. Narrowest Range of Subject Found in EarlySonatas. . . . - . - . - - - - - - - - - . 3+
3. Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, Second Movement,Meas. 1-7. . . .. *.*.. . . . .. 0 35
4. Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, Fourth Movement,Meas.~17 6-2O. . . . . . . . . . . . .- - . 36
5. Comparison of M'elodic Lines. . . . - - . . . 37
6. Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, Fourth Movement,Meas. 52-75 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7. Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, First Movement,Yeas. 125-127. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8. Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, Third Movement,Meas. 6-8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
9. Recurrent motive - - - - - - - - - - --- - . - 43(a) Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, first movement,
meas. 32.(b) Sonata No. 2, OOp. 14, first movement,
meas. 86.(c) Sonata -. , Op. 29, first movement,
meas. 95.
10. Sonata No_ 2 Op. 14, Fourth Movement,Yeas. 2 6 -2g- - - - . . - . . . . . . . . . . 46
11. Sonata No._ 2, Op. 14, Third Movement, Meas. 23 48
12. Use of Two Signatures Simultaneously,Sonata No. 1, Op. 1, Meas. 37. . . . . . . . 49
13. Sonata o 3., Op. 28, Meas. 25-26. . . . . . . 49
14. (a) Sonata No. 1, Op. 1 meas. 26. . . . . . . 50(b) Sonata . 3, Op. 2 , Meas. 166. . . . . . 50
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Figure Page
15. Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, Third Movement,meas.~4-6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
16. Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, Third Movement,Meas. 34-36. 0.0. * * . . . . . . . . . .# * 52
17. Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, Third Movement,Meas. 49-56. . . . 0 0 * . 0 . . . . . . . . 52
18. Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, Fourth Movement,Meas.145--146. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*I55
19. Sonata No.a1 ,Op. 28, Meas. 22-23. . . . . . . 56
20. Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, Third Movement,Meas. 26-27. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
21. Sonata No. a, Op. 28, Meas. 227-229. . . . . . 5822. Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, Third Movement,
Meas. 23-24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
23. Sonata No. a, Op. 28, Meas. 112-113. . . . . . 6024. Sonata No. 2 Op. 14, First Movement,
Meas.~633-6 . . . . .1. .0. . *.0. . a. .P 61
25. Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, First Movement,Meas.T142-147 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
26. Sonata No. 3, Op. 28, Meas. 146-148. . . . . . 63
27. Sonata l 3, Op. 28, Meas. 231-233. . . . . . 64
28. Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, Second Movement,Meas. 1-4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
29. Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, Second Movement,Yeas. 13-14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
30. Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, Second Movement,Yeas. 25-26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
31. Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, Second Movement,Meas. 73-74., ... * ...0 ... 71
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CHAPTER I
MODERN RUSSIAN PIANO MUSIC
Russian music is perhaps today the greatest untouched
area in the entire field of musicology. Many reasons could
be given for this lack of exploration and knowledge.
During the entire twentieth century, and more especially in
the last fifteen years, Russian music has not aroused the
interest or curiosity that one finds in European and
American music. The Soviet itself has helped in keeping
its musical heritage in the dark because of that nation's
aloofness and withdrawal from the rest of the European
continent and culture.
In order to understand any particular composer it is
necessary to understand his national and cultural back-
ground. It is also necessary to know what events and
personalities help shape his musical personality. For this
reason a chapter on modern Russian music and in particular
modern Russian piano music has been included in this
document.
Russian music of the present day is inter-related with
Russian music of the past. To find the roots of the
twentieth century school of Russian composition, one must
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search back to the middle of the nineteenth century. About
this time there were founded the two foremost musical
schools in modern Russia. At a time when musical tradition
was new for a Russia still supporting an amateurish musical
world the two Rubinstein brothers, Anton (1829-1894) and
7ricolai (1835-1881), founded conservatories in Moscow and
St. Petersburg. The Moscow Conservatory founded by NikOlai
Rubinstein became the conservative and traditional school
while the St. Petersburg Conservatory founded by Anton
Rubinstein assumed the leadership in the promotion of new
musical ideas. There was much antagonism and rivalry be-
tween the two schools. Moscow itself became the city of
musical conservatism and remained so until the second
decade of the twentieth century. The very fact that
Moscow was not as convenient as St. Petersburg to the
western part of Europe served to keep it more traditional
in its artistic activities. St. Petersburg, on the other
hand, was the city of the younger, more adventurous circle
of Russians who kept in touch with western Europe polit-
ically and culturally.
St. Petersburg was the home of the celebrated "Russian
Five," Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Balakireff, Cui and
Moussorgsky. With the break within this mighty five,
Alexander Glazunoff (1865-1936) and Rimsky-Korsakoff became
the leaders of the St. Petersburg school. Both taught at
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the Conservatory for many years and exercised a tremendous
influence upon the younger generation of musical writers.
However, their pupils were more timid than the masters had
been and did not have the initiative to follow their own
bent as had the teachers. Because of this, a whole new
group of composers created nothing but imitations of
Glazunoff and Rimsky-Korsakoff. If the works of this whole
mass of minor composers met the approval of Byelyayeff's
publishing firm they were printed. "The most talented ones
creative art consisted of repeating cleverly and with
technical perfection musical truths discovered by Rimsky-
Korsakoff and Glazunoff. "1 Among the more gifted of these
composers were Nikolai Tcherepnin (1873-1945), Maximilian
Steinberg (1883-1946), Yulia Weisberg (1879-1942).
The Moscow Conservatory promoted Tchaikovsky and the
composers that followed in his musical path. There was no
liking for Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakoff, and especially
Moussorgsky. Recognition in Moscow of the Russian National
School, which grew from the activities of the "Five," did
not come until the twentieth century. Sergei Taneyeff
(1856-1915), who taught composition at the Moscow Conserva-
tory was an isolationist in extreme. The teacher of
Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, he left no impression on new
1Ieonid Sabaneyeff, Modern Russian Composers, p. 223.
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music in Russia except a mere technical influence on these
two composers. Taneyeff consciously cultivated the modal
polyphony of the old masters.
The two most brilliant of a whole group of musicians
who graduated from the Conservatory in Moscow were Sergei
Rachmaninoff (1872-1943) and Alexandre Scriabin (1872-1915).
That Scriabin was a brilliant innovator is not to be denied.
Yet he possessed a certain timidity along with his inno-
vations. His composition embraced only harmony in its
newness without exploring the possibilities of melody and
rhythm. He lacked the boldness to promote or revolutionize
Russian music into a newer field. In spite of his many
imitators at the time, his music soon became less enthusi-
astically embraced as listeners felt they had heard all he
had to offer. Just as Scriabin had been antagonistic to
the music of the preceding era, there were those who became
antagonistic to his methods of composition. There were
those esthetes who believed in music for music's sake who
embraced Scriabin and others who were against the powerful
"Five." Many had not yet begun to understand Scriabin
when those who did understand his music began to want
something new.
Sergei Rachmaninoff did not quite belong to the
twentieth century. Graduated from Moscow Conservatory at
the same time as Scriabin, he followed in the footsteps of
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Tchaikovsky instead of breaking with the traditions of the
past. He became a representative of the older music.
While following Tchaikovsky, he became much greater in one
sense. He conquered the world in the sphere of pianism.
He was a performer of undisputed rank. His apparent
likeness to Tchaikovsky became a distinct disadvantage.
The critics tore him to shreds because of his conservatism.
He became involved in a controversy between the conserva-
tives and innovators without actually trying or wanting to
become a part of it. Rachmaninoff produced numerous works
for the piano, including what is perhaps today the most
universally favorite piano concerto, his Concerto No. 2.
The important link between Rimsky-Korsakoff and the
new Russian composers was Anatole Liadov (1855-1914).
Liadov, a pupil of Rimksy-Korsakoff, succeeded him in the
position of teacher of composition at the St. Petersburg,
or, as it was newly named, the Leningrad Conservatory.
Gniessin (b. 1883), Prokofiev (1891-1951) and Miascovski
(b. 1881) were all trained by Liadov. His teaching of
composition according to the old European concept caused
his pupils to rebel and make efforts to find their own
musical being.
In a world of aroused national and racial conscious-
ness and with their own nation awakening to a strong
national consciousness, the Russian musicians became
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extremely aware of their musical heritage. Rimsky-
Korsakoff had been possessed of a strong nationalistic
tendency. Other composers began to break away from the
imitation of somewhat outdated European styles (for they
were outdated by the time they were recognized in Russia)
into their own style of composition. However, the inno-
vations in Russian music were not as striking as those
which were taking place in western Europe. Saminsky2
stated, in 1932:
In contemporary music there emerges even atechnical aspect of racial division. That form ofchromaticism which leads first to tonal ambiguityand finally to atonality, reveals itself more andmore as being a tendency congenial to the Teutonicmind. Latins and Slavs alike, while availing them-selves of extended resources, seem to cling obstinatelyto the diatonic and modal basis of their music as ameans of definition and clarity.
That this argument is no longer sound can be proven if
one examines carefully those works of Russian composers,
such as Prokofiev, Shostakovitch and Kabalevsky, also
Stravinsky, written in the last twenty years. Their works,
while closely connected with Russian heritage, except for
Stravinsky's, reveal the innovations and characteristics
to be found in any European music of the same period.
The Russian creators born in or shortly before the
twentieth century can be placed into three groups. The
2Lazare Saminsky, Music ofOur Da, p. 185.
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first comprises those personalities of unusual gift and
genius of which Prokofiev would be a member. The second is
made up of theoreticians and idealogists of the new Russian
current in culture who contribute to the revolution by deed
and word. Vissaryon Shebalin (b. 1902), the director of
Moscow Conservatory, is the leader of this group. The
third,and by far the largest group, is comprised of those
young Russians of uncommon gift and merit who create no
sensation in Russia but make up the bulk of the composers.
Valeri Zhelobinsky (b. 1912), Lyubov Streikher (b. 1888)
and Alexander Spendiarov (b. 1871) are but a few among this
group.
Piano music has not been written in any great quantity
since the 1917 Revolution in Russia. Perhaps the most
outstanding reason for this is that the Central Committee
frowns upon music which is written for individuals or small
numbers of people. Piano music simply cannot be enjoyed or
actively participated in by the great masses of the people.
Consequently there has been very little piano music that
would compare with piano music outside Russia. In spite of
this restriction by the government, several Russian com-
posers have written admirable piano compositions, many of
them being the finest musical works produced by the com-
poser and in the nation.
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Among the younger composers is Alexei Stantchinski
(1910-1932). This composer, who died at the age of twenty-
two has been called an extraordinary genius, ". . . blessed
with greater nervous force and impetus than Stravinsky,
and with even more freshness and whim than Prokofiev."3
He was the son of a mad peasant-musician and studied in the
Moscow Conservatory under Taneyev. He left a great number
of works, all for piano, which showed much promise.
Julian Krein (b. 1913) has written in all media --
opera, symphonies, piano concertos, quartets, and sonatas
and suites for various instruments. He has composed end-
less piano works. Koussevitsky and Stokowski have both
favored and presented his works. He is a member of a
musical dynasty, his father and uncle being musicians of
some repute in Moscow.
Several of the younger composers in Russia today are
pupils of Viascovski. Among these is Alexandre Mossolov,
an excellent pianist and writer of five sonatas and several
tone pictures. Of his best works the second piano sonata
is considered the most striking with its first movement
built on polytonal segments.
Alexandre Veprik (b. 1899) has written two piano
sonatas filled with driving vitality and racial color.
3 Ibid., p. 203.
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His Dance, Op. 13, for piano is thought to be one of the
best modern Russian compositions for piano. It is full of
his elemental temperament and harmonic imagination.
Vissarion Shebalin and Liev Polovinkin (1894-1949) are
among other composers who have been active since the 1917
Revolution. Polovinkin has something of Poulenc's quality
in his composition while some of his pieces resemble the
later Prokofiev works. Viera Vinogradova (dates unknown)
is a pianist-composer who is almost entirely unknown. She
has composed a piano concerto and a Ballade for piano and
chamber orchestra. She is one of the few younger Russian
composers who have graduated from the Leningrad Conserva-
tory.
Along with Shostakovitch and Prokofiev, Aram Khacha-
turian is perhaps one of the greatest modern Russian
musicians. This is phenomenal when it is known that he had
no musical training at all until he was nineteen years of
age. Khachaturian began his study in Moscow at the
Musical Technicum School. Until 1926 he studied compo-
sition under Gnessin himself. Some of his early works
which were published show the influence of Ravel. In 1929
he entered the Moscow Conservatory. While studying there
he wrote about forty small pieces. The Toccata in B-flat
minor was written between 1934 and 1937. In 1937 his First
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Piano Concerto appeared and was hailed as an event in
Soviet music.
Of all branches of musical composition, music forthe piano forte had attracted Soviet composers least.This was mainly due to the attitude of the Associationof Contemporary Music which considered music for thepiano 'a form of bourgeois drawing-room music-making,'with the result that in the U.S.S.R. very few pianoconcertos had been composed. Only four had attainedanything like large publicity: Turknenia (BorisShekhter, b. 1900); Second Piano Concerto by Kabalev-sky (b. 1904); Piano concerto by Tikhon Ehrennikov;and a Concerto by Prof. Makarov-Rakitin of the MoscowState Conservatory. Khachaturian brought out hisConcerto at the time when Soviet music was in dangerof ignoring completely the pianistic traditions ofFranz Liszt. Khachaturian reinstated them at onestroke; his Pianoforte Concerto is a v rtuoso rivalrybetween the soloist and the orchestra.
His compositions derive from Armenian folksongs and in
parts imitate national Armenian instruments. The Piano
Concerto is a distinct innovation when compared with the
concertos of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Stravinsky.
Not as well Mown as Ihachaturian but a musician of
some repute is Tikhon Khrennikov (b. 1913). After three
years of study at the Gnessin School he entered the second
year at Moscow Conservatory. In 1933, at the end of one
year of study at the Conservatoryhe composed his Concerto
for Pianoforte and Orchestra. It received immediate
attention and much favorable comment from Soviet music
critics. This was followed by Five Pieces, a cycle for
4Rena Moisenko, Realist Music: Twenty-Five SovietComposers, p. 103.
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piano, and a second Cycle of small works for the piano. In
his early works he shows somewhat of a leaning toward the
style of Shostakovitch. He, as well as the Central Com-
mittee, "does not agree that it is praiseworthy to turn the
pianoforte into a percussion instrument and thump its
keyboard with a fist."5 Many of his contemporaries have
been denounced by Russian music critics for this practice.
A winner of the Order of Lenin in 1943 and considered
the "teacher of all teachers" in the U.S.S.R. is Nikolai
Miaskovsky. He was born in 1881 and spent his youth
alternating between rather strict military training and
musical study. In 1899 while still a student at the
Academy of Military Engineers he studied privately with
Reinhold Glier. Upon his transfer to St. Petersburg he
continued his studies with Kryzhanovsky, a pupil of
Rimsky-Korsakov. During this time he took the preparatory
course for the Conservatory of Music. His first piano
compositions,including two sonatas, were written at this
time. The sonatas were revised by the composer in 1944 and
included in his Op. 64. In 1906 he joined the Conservatory
in the class of Liadov. During this first year of liberty
from military life he spent his entire time composing.
Quantities of short pieces for piano and four piano sonatas
were written in this year.
5Ibid., p. 114.
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Of the four sonatas the First, in D minor, is com-pletely lacking in originality. Bits of Borodin,Tchaikovsky, and Scriabin are strewn all over thework, and the engaging personality of the laterMiaskovsky is conspicuous by its absence. The SecondPianoforte Sonata (Op. 13 in F sharp minor, composedin 1912), in one movement, is certainly the best com-position among all tikolai Miakovsky's music for thepiano, from the point of view of its philosophicconception and depth of feeling. Kreitner comparesit favourably with Liszt's H-moll Sonata, and evenwith Beethoven's Opus 106.6
The Third and Fourth Sonatas were attacked by Russian
critics for being overburdened with harmonic refinements
and formalistic western European style. The third movement
of the Fourth Sonata, an intermezzo, is considered an
exception and the equal of the finest items of Soviet
pianistic literature. In 1938 Twelve Minor Pieces for
Pianoforte were published. All were revised before pub-
lication and were titled Three Books of Children's Pieces.
Although he has written only a small quantity of piano
pieces, Dmitri Shostakovitch deserves mention if for no
other reason than that his first fame was as a pianist-
virtuoso. In 1927 he was elected to represent the
Leningrad musicians at the First International Chopin
Festival held in Warsaw where his pianistic ability gained
him an honorary diploma. Perhaps his greatest composition
is the Piano Quintet which was awarded the Stalin Premium
in 1941. While it does not establish a new pianistic
6 Ibid. , pp . 154+-155.
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style, Soviet piano music is better for having his use of
the piano in the ensemble.
A composer of rising popularity in the United States
is the Russian, Dmitri Kabalevsky. He was born in 1904 in
St. Petersburg. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory where
he studied composition with Miaskovsky and piano with
Goldenweiser, he is a composer, teacher and eminent public
figure in the field of Russian music.
His piano works include two concertos, three sonatas,
and numerous smaller works. His Twenty-Four Preludes
deserve special mention. Much of his time and effort has
been devoted to compositions for students and children.
Little is known about his Sonata No. 1. The Sonata No. 2
was written after a long period away from the sonata form.
The Sonata 7o. 3 was introduced in the United States in
1949 by Vladimir Horowitz and achieved wide recognition
ard popularity.
In the center of twentieth century Russian musical
creativity we find Sergei Prokofiev. Scriabin was still
the shining light of Russian music when Prokofiev came
upon the scene. In the same manner that Scriabin had
revolted against his predecessors, Prokofiev reacted
against Scriabin. His music contains no mysticism, no
diffuseness, no complication and refinement of harmony. He
is definitely retrospective in the sense that he returns to
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the old, having much in common with the epoch of Scarlatti.
Prokofiev's position had the double advantage of support
from those who had not seen through Scriabin's music and
those who had and were tired of Scriabin.
Prokofiev declared war upon the romantic pianostyle and resuscitated the cruder style of theclassical era. The lingering broken arpeggiosintroduced by Chopin and Liszt disappear fromProkofiev's music and are replaced by the techniqueof Beethoven and Hummel. The very manner in whichhe treats the piano is classical; from the romanticharp instrument the piano once again becomes thecembalo or the clavichord of the good old times.And simultaneously there is resurrected in him the'ecstasy of virtuosity,' of naive, tonal equili-bristics. Prokofiev brings back to life the fleetnessof passages, long leaps of the hands in the pianotechnique.7
Prokofiev has won much acclaim both in his homeland
and in the rest of the world. He has produced a greater
quantity of music for the piano than any other modern
Russian composer. Some of his greatest works have been
those piano compositions. Prokofiev successfully proved
what was not thought possible in the age of impressionism
-- that new freedom in composition was possible within the
framework of old forms. He is a Russian classicist of
exceptional ability.
Sergei Prokofiev has the advantage of freshness. Heis neither gnawed by the expressionist self-analysisof today, nor overburdened with accumulated sciencelike Miascovski. Prokofiev is satisfied with the
Sabaneyeff, g. cit., pp. 90, 96.
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direct wisdom of his creative instinct. he latteris proudly manifest in his earlier works.0
The political aspect of Russian cultural progress
cannot be overlooked in any survey of twentieth century
Russian music. The actual extent of political influence
upon Soviet music is unknown. It is known that there is
governmental direction and sanction of composition and
other musical activities so long as governmental standards
are met. Once a composer fails to comply with the state
regulations he is quickly denounced and severely punished
if he does not take steps to redeem himself. These govern-
ment regulations are set up by the Central Committee of the
Soviet Union Communist Party. This committee oversees the
production of all musical activities and reprimands the
guilty if they do not follow what seems to the Central
Committee to be the right method of producing music. It
was this committee that bitterly denounced Shostakovich,
Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Ehachaturian, Popov, Kabalevsky
and others at the conference of Soviet Musicians in Feb-
ruary, 1948. The composers were condemned for writing
music of low Western standards without benefitting the
Soviet people. Their music was objectionable because it
was written for a few musical connoisseurs rather than the
masses.
6Saminsky, o.. cit., p. 195.
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Such an attitude by the government of any nation
cannot help but influence the musical output both in
quantity and quality. During the last twenty years the
quantity of music produced in the Soviet has been colossal
but the quality, except for music by the very composers so
denounced by the government, has been of exceptionally poor
quality, as compared with the musical output of the
remainder of the world.
The revolutionary ideology of Russia has tried to
compromise all the former Russian music in the eyes of the
masses as being music of the masters, written for the
intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie. It has demanded new
songs set to revolutionary texts for the working people,
the army and the peasants. It seems ironic that the com-
posers of the new music had to be selected from the former
bourg eo i s specialists. The most advanced and gifted
composers at first refused to give their artistic work for
the needs of the Revolution. The vast majority of these
artists were apolitical, completely disinterested in the
revolution.
Some composers have been occupied with revolutionary
affairs because they would have been failures in any other
style. Among these are Eugen Tikotzy (b. 1893). Others
have sprung up from the laboring class and have consciously
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tried to write for the laborers. Konstantin Listov
(b. 1900) is such a composer.
Two quite opposite viewpoints exist as to the present
state of musical affairs in Russia. Out of the revolution
has come the
. . . dream so striking in Russia, if less so inEurope--the dream of a monumental national art inwhich the enlightened musician and the plain son ofhis people might join hands. The trend towardsmonumentality is exceedingly strong in presentRussian music. It is partly the cause of thecollapse of Scriabin's school; it is likewise thecause of the beginning of a return to old forms,the cause of conservatism in Russian music, and thecause of the surrender of a position formerlyirreconcilable with the Revolution. This surrendermay really bring many musicians into actual creativework in accordance with the revolutionary idea.9
Saminsky, however, has a different viewpoint.
Russia's insularity even more underlined now bypolitical and spiritual isolation, plus typicalSlavic racial inertia, is likely to keep Russia's newmusic in old channels for a long time yet. So far,her social cataclysm has not been able to produce amarked repercussion in her music.10
109Sabaneyeff, M. cit., p. 269.
'0Saminsky, oD. c.i., p. 226.
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CHAPTER II
A PRELIMINARY SULIEY OF PROKOFIEV' S EARLY SONATAS
Sergei Prokofiev composed a total of nine piano sona-
tas, eight of which are published. Sonata No. 1 (F minor)
was written in 1909, Sonata No .2, Op. 14 (D minor) in
1912, Sonata No , Op. 28 (A minor) and Sonata No. 4,
Op. 29 (C minor) in 1917. Sonata No. . Op. 38 (C major)appeared in 1923. He did not again write a sonata for
piano until 1939 when the Sonata .No. 6, Op. 82 (A major)
was started. It was completed in 1940. Sonata No. 2,
Op. 83, written in 1942, is the only one of Prokofiev's
sonatas without a definite key designation. In 1939
Prokofiev had also started SNonataNo. 8, Op. 84 (B-flat
major) which was not completed until 1944. The ninth
sonata, written shortly before his death, has never been
published.
The four piano sonatas written by Prokofiev between
1907 and 1917 make up the group of his early sonatas.
These are divided sharply from his later piano sonatas
both in the time of composition and in the style of com-
position. It was not until five years after he left Russia
in 1918 that Prokofiev composed another large work for
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piano. This fifth piano sonata, composed in Paris in 1923,
is neither like the early sonatas nor like his last great
three sonatas.
The first four sonatas as a group have certain dis-
tinguishing characteristics by which they are recognized as
Prokofiev's upon first hearing as easily as one recognizes
the music of Liszt, Debussy or Chopin. Although these four
Prokofiev sonatas are much alike in their composition and
style, all have features which seem different from the
others of the group and all are interesting from the
stylistic viewpoint.
The germinal ideas of the first four sonatas may be
found in Prokofiev's notebooks dating prior even to his
conservatory days. The early sonatas are not, however, to
be considered totally immature works simply because they
were written by the composer during his student days at the
St. Petersburg Conservatory. While studying with Liadov
and Rimsky-Korsakov from 1906 to 1908 he composed a total
of six piano sonatas. Of these six, those numbered one,
four and six have been lost. The second of this series was
used in part for the Sonata No. 1, Op. 1, while the third
of the youthful series formed the basis of the Sonata No.
Op. 28. Ideas from the fifth student sonata were used in
part in Sonata No. 4, Op. 29. At this time also, he com-
posed the Scherzo of the future Sonata No. 2 and some other
-
20
piano miniatures. The early versions of Sonata No. (1907)
and Sonata No. (1908), along with other piano works com-
posed during these two years may be considered in
Prokofiev's composition what the Fantasiesucke was for
Schumann or the Preludes were for Chopin, Scriabin and
Shostakovich.
The foundation of Prokofiev's first four sonatas are
found in those six student sonatas. From them the com-
poser gradually evolved his own style of composition and
developed his technique in the first four piano sonatas to
be published. Of these first four sonatas the Sonata No. 1
(F minor), written in 1907 and revised in 1909, shows the
immature and unsure Prokofiev. Having not yet found his
own artistic individuality, Prokofiev writes in imitation
of Rachmaninoff, Medtner and even Schumann. To the person
not having examined this Sonata No. , the sonata sounds
very much like a composition of Rachmaninoff's. The sub-
ordinate theme, though, is reminiscent of one of the themes
in Schumann's Sonata in F-shap minor. When Prokofiev
revised the sonata in 1909 he deleted the adagio and finale,
leaving only the allegro as the complete one-movement
sonata.
The Sonata No. 2 (D minor) while bearing an earlier
date than the third and fourth sonatas was actually written
later than these two sonatas. The Scherzo was one of the
-
21
pieces which Prokofiev had been required to bring to
Liadov's lessons. Other than this movement, the second
sonata was written entirely in 1912. This sonata is the
only one of the early group which is in four movements.
After its first performance in January of 1914, this sonata,
full of contrasting moods and ideas, became the center of
criticisms by the Moscow music critics who were highly
vindicative in their comments upon most of Prokofiev's
composition.
In 1917 the Sonata No.a 3 (A minor) appeared. It was
designated as being based on old sketches. The first work
in this sonata had actually been done by Prokofiev in
1907. The basis for it had been taken from the third of
the early sonatas written during his first years at the
St. Petersburg Conservatory. In its final form it is
perhaps the greatest of the first four sonatas. It is
considered along with the Violin Concerto, Op. 19, to be
perhaps the best work written by Prokofiev prior to his
stay abroad. It is in one movement combining a compact
unity with a swiftly moving developmental technique. The
entire sonata is a contrast between dynamic, energetic
passages and lyrical themes. The third and fourth sonatas
were first performed in April, 1918, in two recitals in
Leningrad. While the Sonata No. 2 had received much
criticism from the Moscow music critics, the Sonata No. 3
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22
was immediately acclaimed as being the work of a genius.
This sonata was the first of Prokofiev's sonatas to be well
received by the press and public alike.
During the autumn of 1917 Prokofiev went to Kislovodsk
where he completed the Classical Symhony and Seven They
Are Seven, a cantata, his last great works before his
departure from Russia for fifteen years. At this same
time he composed his Sonata No. 4, Op. 29 (C minor). It
was, like the third sonata, made up of fragments taken from
his old notebooks of student days. The allegro and part of
the finale were taken from his fifth student sonata. The
Andante was taken from his youthful Symphony in E minor
which had been composed in 1908. This symphony was kept by
Prokofiev in his archives and never catalogued with his
works. The Sonata No. 4 is in three movements and in
general is more moody and introspective in character than
the previous three sonatas.
In each of the first four sonatas can be found the
five lines along which Prokofiev himself says his talent
developed. In his autobiography written in 1941 he states
these to be: the classical, the innovationary, the
dynamic force of music, the lyrical and the grotesque.1
1 Moisenko, Realist Music: Twenty-Five SovietComposers, p. 173, quoted from the autobiography ofProkofiev which appeared in the monthly magazine,"Sovietskaya Musika,t"1941.
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23
Prokofiev is a classicist in several ways. His com-
position turns from the indefinite and free forms of
impressionism back to the forms of the classic period.
After the extreme complexity of Scriabin's music, Proko-
fiev's composition seems simple and clean-cut. He
deliberately turns back to the most common and basic
rhythms. His use of almost constant rhythmic motion is
another indication of his return to the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries for the patterns of his work. The
way in which he uses the piano is quite different from the
impressionistic style. The two or three voice construction
with parallel movement in octaves at times, is simple.
Prokofiev uses a technique of skips and hand-crossing that
seems almost like the technique of Domenico Scarlatti.
His scale run technique is closely akin to the style of
Haydn and the early Beethoven works.
At the same time he is a classicist, Prokofiev is an
innovator. He uses classic forms but gives to them a
peculiar twist that makes them seem entirely Prokofiev's
own style. At the most unexpected time he deliberately
inserts something quite startling. The development section
of the allegro in Sonata No. 2 is repeated almost in its
entirety in the finale. This feature of unexpectedness in
his style is, however, more often found in his harmonic and
melodic treatment than in his use of form and rhythm.
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24
Between 1914 and 1918 that part of Prokofiev's style
which he calls the dynamic force of his music came into
being. It is found in his Classic Sxymphony; the opera,
The Gambler; the cantata, Seven, They are Seven, for tenor,
mixed choir and orchestra; and in his third and fourth
sonatas. Prokofiev's creative personality emerges at this
time, according to Rena Moisenko, in a domineering, con-
tinuous motion, energy and virility, colossal will-power,
dynamic rhythm, sharpness of harmonic language, brightness
of coloring, constructive clarity and a great deal of
irony.2 Examination of the Sonata No.. reveals clearly
what the composer meant by his dynamic force of the music.
This sonata is relentless in its rhythmic forward motion
with the feeling of quite never pausing long enough to
catch a breath. The themes are short and rapidly developed
with little transition material from one theme to another.
The entire musical idea moves forward steadily, building up
to climax after climax with only brief three or four
measure phrases in which the pace is slackened.
Prokofiev's lyricism is a combination of the romanti-
cism typified by Schumann and the Russian national
traditions of Moussorgsky. There are lyrical passages in
all of his early sonatas. Sometimes these come only as a
brief interruption of a dynamic force of music. The
21..Ibid., P. 175.
-
subordinate theme of Sonata No. 3 and the slow movements of
the second and fourth sonatas are excellent examples of his
lyrical style. Most of Prokofiev's contemporaries failed
to recognize the significance of his lyricism. It was
overlooked as being another evidence of that mockery which
so predominates his music. One Russian author gives this
view: "Tender lyricism is foreign to Prokofiev's nature
and when he attempts any allusion to it I discern the
hideous grin of malice."3
Prokofiev preferred that his humor not be labeled
grotesque but be considered a musical joke. Whatever it
is called, his humor is one of the most easily recognized
characteristics of his music. It is found in all of his
works whether as a form of tongue in cheek observation or
actual mockery. Sometimes it is sheer boisterousness as in
the scherzo of the Sonata No. 2. At other times it comes as
a negation of a lyrical passage such as is found in the
first part of Sonata No.2.
3 Nestyev, Serg Prokofiev, p. 71, quoted fromA. Koptyayev in Berzsheviye Vedomosti, July 23, 1915.
-
CHAPTER III
THE STYLE OF THE EARLY PIANO
SONATAS OF PROKOFIEV
In any discussion of style, whether a single work or
group of works, or a single composer or group of composers,
it is desirable to indicate the extent of the stylistic
study. It is also desirable to enumerate the features
considered to form the basis of the particular style being
analyzed. The four early piano sonatas of Sergei Prokofiev
will be discussed in this chapter as to their form, melodic
content, rhythmic characteristics, harmonic characteristics,
tonality and compositional techniques which seem to be
characteristic of Prokofiev.
Form
The form of all the first four sonatas of Prokofiev
is classical. This does not necessarily mean that they
are written in the exact form used by Haydn and Nozart.
It does not mean that the second subject of each sonata is
in the dominant key to the first subject, or even that the
first movements themselves are in strict sonata-allegro
form. Prokofiev took the framework of the classical form
and proved what composers in his day did not believe was
26
-
27
possible. He composed music that was very new and modern
within the forms thought by many of his contemporaries to
be obsolete. However, Prokofiev uses the classical forms
in his own very individual manner giving them a distinctive-
ness that is entirely Prokofiev's.
Prokofiev is seemingly not satisfied with following
the expected or conventional path in form for very long.
At the most unexpected times he inserts a sudden diversion
from the conventional form that gives the entire movement,
or, in some instances, the entire sonata, a new feeling.
Each one of the sonatas has interesting features in its
formal architecture.
Of the four sonatas, two are complete in one move-
ment. Sonata N1o. 1 and Sonata No. 3 are in this form.
Sonata No. 2 has four movements while Sonata No. 4 has
three movements. Both one-movement sonatas essentially
follow the sonata-allegro pattern in their construction.
Sonata No. 2 is made up of a sonata-allegro, a scherzo,
a two-part song and a sonata-allegro scheme. The three
movements of Sonata No. 4 are sonata-allegro, two-part
song and sonata-allegro.
Within these seemingly conventional schemes Prokofiev
has done many unusual things. In the Sonata No. 1 he
truncates the length of the first subject, a twenty-one
measure theme, to a six measure motive in the re-
capitulation. The remainder of the recapitulation
-
28
is repeated with only minor changes in harmony and tonal-
ity. After an extended coda which is built on thematic
material from the development section, there is presented
the motive which formed the four-measure introduction to
the movement.
The form of Sonata No. 2 is somewhat more complex than
the first sonata. The first movement is in sonata-allegro
form but it is interesting to see how Prokofiev modifies
it. After the initial statement of the first subject
which is twenty bars in length, it is repeated in a
modified twelve bar section. A long transition section
which almost appears to be another theme leads to the
second subject which is in the dominant minor key, E minor.
After the cadence of the second subject there are seventeen
bars of a motive derived from the previously mentioned
transition section, forming the closing section of the
exposition. The treatment of this motive would support the
idea that the transition might be considered an independent
theme. The recapitulation is regular except for the
shortening of the first subject. This technique of
shortening or completely deleting the first subject in the
recapitulation is one used by Prokofiev in all the early
sonatas. At the close of the second subject he repeats
the transition section which had led to the development
section and comes to a full cadence. There follows a
-
29
nineteen-bar coda repeating the first subject of the
movement with slight changes in the last four bars.
The second movement of Sonata No. 2 is a scherzo with
trio in conventional form. The third movement, a slow
movement, is in two-part song form which is repeated with
a quickening of the rhythmic motion of the accompaniment
to the theme.
In the fourth movement the form is again sonata-
allegro. There is no exception to the conventional
pattern of the form until the end of the second subject.
There the transition section which led from the first to
the second subject is repeated followed by a twenty-bar
restatement of the motives from the second subject. It is
the development section, however, that gives the most
unexpected deviation in the entire sonata. The first
twelve bars of the development section from the first
movement are repeated to begin the development section of
the fourth movement. The codas that Prokofiev composed
could never be said to be characterized by fifty bars of
the tonic chord as is said about some classical sonatas.
In the coda to the fourth movement of the Sonata No. 2
Prokofiev uses motives from each of the subjects in the
exposition along with motives from the development
section. Three distinct motives are presented in thirty-
four measures.
-
30
Sonata No. 3 is unusual not only in being entirely
in one movement but in the construction of that movement.
It is basically in sonata-allegro form. The first subject
is repeated in diminution after its initial statement.
This compositional procedure of Prokofiev's will be dis-
cussed more completely in the section of this chapter
devoted to his compositional techniques. After an ex-
tended transition section which is built on the accompani-
ment of the first subject, the second subject is stated.
The second subject is built entirely on a two-bar motive
which is combined contrapuntally with itself. The
development section is in the form of a free fantasia
related only slightly to the rest of the sonata. At the
close of the development Prokofiev omits the first subject
in the recapitulation and leads immediately into the
transition section and the second subject. The second
subject is presented in modified form. Prokofiev balances
the diminution of the first subject in the exposition with
the augmentation of the second subject in the recapitu-
lation. The coda is built upon the theme which closed the
exposition. This closing section theme is not related to
either of the other subjects and is more lyrical than
transitional in character.
Sonata No. 1+ in three movements is not quite so
unorthodox in its form as its predecessor. The first
-
31
movement, in sonata-allegro form, is relatively short.
Each of the two subjects is developed from a single
motive in the short, terse form which becomes more
characteristic of Prokofiev's style as his technique
becomes more mature and stable. There is an absence in
this movement of the long transition passages found in
the first three sonatas. Prokofiev has shortened the
transition sections to only three or four bars, eliminating
much of his former extended modulation in favor of short,
extreme modulations.
The second movement, an andante, is perhaps the most
complex movement of all the four early sonatas. A six-
bar theme is developed contraountally with itself and a
countersubject in eight different variations. This forms
the first section of the two-part song form in which the
movement is written. A shorter contrasting section makes
up the second part of the movement. This slow movement is
much longer and more extensively developed than the slow
movement of Sonata "o. 2.
The third movement of this sonata is also in sonata-
allegro form but has the Prokofiev characteristic use of
the unusual. The first and second subjects are connected
by a transition section constructed from motival figures
in the first subject. In the last movement of Sonata
No. 4, as in the preceding sonata, it is the development
section that gives the most unexpected turn to the
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32
composition. The development section is in two-part song
form creating a scheme of a form within a form in the last
movement. The development is not connected motive-wise in
any way to the remainder of the movement. Both of the
themes used in it provide the lyrical relief in a movement
which is relentless in its rhythmic momentum. Both the
harmony and melody aro much simpler than the surrounding
parts of the movement. The recapitulation is only slightly
different from the exposition and is followed by a short
coda built of fragments of the first subject.
The first, third and fourth sonatas provide a clear
image of the unity and completeness of thematic develop-
ment that are more strongly seen in Prokofiev's early
works than in his later compositions. The second sonata,
with its much smaller episodes less closely related, is
prophetic of the Prokofiev style of the last three sonatas
written twenty years after his early group of four.
Melodic Style
While it is hazardous to state definitely that the
melodic content of the early sonatas of Prokofiev is the
most important, it can safely be said that the melodic
content is the most characteristic of all the elements of
his style. In all of these sonatas the harmonic and
rhythmic aspects support and emphasize the melodic element
but never overshadow it.
-
33
The length and range of Prokofiev's melodies vary
widely. In length, his melodies vary from two-measure
motives (as in the second subject of the third sonata) to
twenty-mea sure lyrical themes (as the first subject of the
first sonata). The length of the subjects also varies
widely. He constructs these subjects through motival
development or ise of his long, lyrical themes. The first
subject, first movement, of Sonata T._o. 4 is thirty-five
measures in length while the second subject, third move-
ment, of Sonata No. 2 is only eight measures in length.
The range of Prokofiev's melodic lines is quite wide.
Most of the principal and subordinate subjects have ranges
that extend over more than two octaves. The idest range
of any single subject is found in the first subject,
second movement, of Sonata _o. 2.
Fig. .-- WJidest range of subject found in earlysonatas.
-
34
The narrowest range of any of the principal or subordinate
subjects is also found in the second sonata. This is the
first theme in the development section, first movement.
Fig. 2 shows the range of this theme.
Fig. 2.--Narrowest range of subject found in earlysonatas.
There is a direct relation between the range of
Prokofiev's melodic lines and the type of melodic line he
writes. In general, Prokofiev writes two types of melodic
lines. The first is the long, lyrical line which is
usually ofca narrower pitch range than the less lyrical
melody. In the early sonatas at times Prokofiev uses
octave transposition of his melodic lines to extend the
range to a greater width, often more than three and one-
half octaves. Of the themes in his first four sonatas,
the theme from which is built the second movement of
Sonata No. 4 is perhaps the most beautiful and illustrates
well the lyric type of theme.
-
35
A W
~' A m A
IA
Fig. 3.--Sonata No . , Or. 29, second movement,meas. 1-7.
The second principI type of rielodic line that
Prokofiev develops is the subject built of short,-energetic
figures repeated extensively. Because these figures must
be shifted from one position to another quickly to maintain
interest, these m elodic lines re wider in range than the
lyrical passages. The first subject, last movement, of
l
-
36
sonata T0._ 2 is a good example of this type of melodic
construction.
4-
Fig. 4 .-- Sonata No 2, Op. 14, fourth movement,s. 1-20.
It is interesting also to note that with each
successive sonata the melodic lines of the rriicipal
subjects become shorter in length and less lyrical.
Angularity, which is one of the distinguishing charac-
teristics of Prokofiev's melodies, becomes more prominent.
A comparison of the first subject, Sonata Nom _, with the
first subject, first movement, of Sonata io. 4, shows this
difference in melodic construction.
-- ads*WONT
gco
-
37
V7I I' - I
-1*
m -
v U,1
-~
-t
E~ yw1*w
~i-.
t1'
~F- ~
-r~ "--
~
11 1
Fig. 5.--Comparison of melodic lines
(a) SonataNo. 1, Op. 1, meas. 5-10(b) Sonata 1, . N Op.29, first movement, meas. 1-4
A ,
I
w
; o
-Am
1%
dpAlk
I
1% 1,
A
t)e4oo,m
L4
tolol 'A
-
38
It is often difficult to ascertain whether the main
direction of a melodic line is ascending or descending.
This factor is of importance in the style of any particular
composer because the main direction of the melodic line
will in part determine the feeling of tension in the
particular work or works. An ascending melodic line tends
to give a feeling of mounting tension and excitement while
a descending melodic line tends to reverse this process
and give a feeling of more calm and relaxation. Of the
seventeen principal and subordinate themes in the first
four sonatas, seven have melodic contours that are primarily
descending while four of the melodic lines are well balanced
between ascending and descending motion. This fact is
interesting because Prokofiev's music is usually thought
to be extremely tense and nervous. If the theory of the
relation between the direction of the melodic line and the
tension produced is true, it is necessary to look further
than the melodic lines for the source of the tension and
energy that prevails in Prokofiev's music. It is inter-
esting, however, to note that the principal themes are
ascending in direction seven times while descending in
direction only once. This instance is found in a slow
movement which has a highly lyrical theme. Three of the
subordinate themes are primarily descending in motion
while three are primarily ascending in motion. The
-
39
remainder of the themes are too well balanced between the
two motions to make a distinction.
Melodic progression, whether diatonic or chromatic,
is another factor in the recognition of one composer's
style from that of another composer. In twentieth century
music it is often difficult to distinguish clearly what is
chromatic and what is diatonic in any particular movement
or, more especially, in one particular section of a move-
ment. Prokofiev is no exception to this statement.
Because of the almost constantly shifting tonality and
harmony found in his music, even the early sonatas, close
examination is necessary to determine whether the melodies
are primarily diatonic or chromatic.
Prokofiev builds the melodic lines of these four
early sonatas diatonically in most instances. Although
there is much chromaticism used, especially in transition
sections and in development sections, the principal
themes are for the most part diatonic. Such chromaticism
as exists is usually centered around the principal triad
of the harmony upon which it is built. Some exceptions
are found in chromatic scale passages. An example of this
centering of chromaticism around the harmony is found in
the melodic theme and the accompanying harmonic figure of
the second subject, last movement, of Sonata No. 2.
-
Fig. 6.--2onate N. , Op. 14, fourth movementmeans . 52-55.
It would be expected that Prokofiev's melodic lines
would be much more disjunct (movement by leap) than con-
junct (step-vrise movement). Upon the first hearing of the
early sonatas this conclusion would be formed. Investi-
gation proves the validity of this statement. Of the
seventeen principal and. subordinate themes in the first
sonatas, eleven are composed of. melodic lines that are
primarily built from disjunct motion. The six themes which
are composed of primarily conjunct motion are the most
lyrical of Prokofiev's melodies in the early sonatas and
are found most often in the slow movements or slow sections
within movements.
Tho main devices are found to make ip the themes of
dis junct motion. One of these is angularity, or multiple
change of direction. Figure 7 illustrates angular melody
of Prokofiev's,
40
-
'I
Fig 7-SonaPta No. 4, Op. 29, first movP ien t ,meas. 125-127.
The second device found in disjunct melodic themes
in the early Prokofiev sonatas is chord delineation. The
following example shows chord delineation used in the
first subject, third movement, of the Sonata No. 4.
N
Fig. 8.--Sonata Jo. 4, Op. 29, third movement,meas. 6-8.
Another feature in the melodic style of any composer
is th presence or absence of characteristic melodic
repetitions or sequences. If a melodic pattern is used
hit
d v j T
a, Q
WF
71F
--"I Uum-
7TW.,,J --t.,
SZE1, 0 OLOOP ift -1-60%olp-
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41
,.OoodA g xftftft d.
5OF
-
42
by the composer repeatedly in his compositions then it is
possible to assume that the particular motive or pattern
is characteristic of the melodic style of the composer.
In the early sonatas of Prokofiev very few of the same
melodic motives are repeated from sonata to sonata. In
any one sonata Prokofiev is fond of using one particular
motive throughout a section or even movement. This is
similar to a leit-motiv device but it is used by Prokofiev
in a way different from that of classic and romantic usage
of the motival idea. Prokofiev uses the same melodic
figure without alteration for an entire section of a sub-
ject, merely shifting the pitch of the figure. For the
next section or subject he chooses a different motive and
uses it in the same way.
In the first four sonatas there is only one prominent
motive which recurs from one sonata to another. Sonata
Jo. 2 and Sonata No. 4 make use of the figure illustrated
below with some variations. This figure is used*
extensively in both sonatas.
CL-.
p' 4 t
w
l
I
-
43
~4-. 4
Fig. 9.--Recurrent motive(a) SonataNo. 2, Op. 14, first movennent,
meas. 32.(b) SonataNo.2., Op. 14, first movement,
meas.~~V6.-(c) Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, first movement,
mens.97.-
There is little use of melodic ornamentation (trills,
grace notes and other embellishments) in the early
Prokof iev sonatas. In sonata No. 3 there is a short,
three-note figure preceding the bass notes in the opening
bars. In the development section of this same sonata
Prokofiev used a two-octave arpeggio preceding the melodic
tones. The first movement of Sonata No. 4 is highlyornamented melodically. Te second motive of the first
subject shows how Prokoflev uses grace notes before each
-
44
of the melody notes. These grace notes are all at an
interval of a third or sixth below or above the principal
tone. In the second subject of the same movement Prokofiev
uses a series of grace notes before the principal melodic
note. This series is made up of an octave arpeggio with
one or two added tones. In the second movement, second
subject, is the only extensive use of the trill in the
four early sonatas of Prokofiev. A very short trill is
found in Sonata No. 2.
Prokofiev's melodic construction is another evidence
of his clasicism. His melodies are built primarily on the
essential major and minor triads or else the simplest
scale movement. The melodies in the four early sonatas
are well defined, without being overshadowed by harmonic
or rhythmic schemes. The construction of his melodic lines
is simple. The method in which Prokofiev uses and com-
bines his melodic lines is the thing which gives to them
that peculiar Prokofiev character. He makes extensive useof distortion and shifting of the melodic lines. Many of
his melodies have that leaping, angular scheme which is
associated so often with Prokofiev's music. Others of his
melodic lines are long,.lyrical themes of almost a vocal
character.
-
45
Rhythm
The rhythmic structure of Prokofiev's early sonatas
is not the most prominent element in these sonatas. The
rhythmic construction is neither very complex nor very
diverse. Prokofiev sets a rhythmic figuration at the
beginning of a section or subject of the sonata and
maintains that figuration throughout the entire section.
When a new section is begun another rhythmic pattern
usually appears anM continues through the new section.
New rhythmic patterns do not appear within a section.
The effect of this recurrence of rhythmic figuration is
almost monotonous.
The most striking feature about the rhythmic style of
the early Prokofiev sonatas is the almost continuous rhyth-
mic motion. This motion gives a definite impetus and
energy to the entire composition of each of the first four
sonatas. Few measures can be found in these sonatas which
do not have a constant background of eighth, triplet
eighth or sixteenth notes. This device gives the feeling
of rapid motion in passages where actually the melodic
rhythm is comparatively slow. The following example from
the fourth movement, Sonata No. 2, illustrates this use:
-
Fig. 10.--gonataNo. 2, Or. 14, fourth movement,meas. 26-28.
At times when Prokofiev does relax this constant
rhythmic motion, it is to emphasize the rhythm by a series
of block chords, one chord per beat. This tends to bring
the feeling of motion to an abrupt change.
The element of tempo is not of tremendous importance
in the first four sonatas. Prokofiev has given no
metronomic markings, using just the conventional Italian
tempo indications. Tempo changes are quite explicitly
marked in the score rather than being left to the per-
former's discretion. The one-movement sonatas, the first
and third, are marked in an allegro tempo. The movements
of Sonata No. 2 are marked allegro, allegro marcato,
andante and vivace. Sonata No.4 + in three movements is
marked allegro, andante assai and allegro con brio.
The meter of the four sonatas consists primarily of
conventional patterns. Prokofiev has a definite prefer-
ence for compound meter. Sonata No. 1 and Sonata No.
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47
are written with a compound meter signature. The first
movement of Sonata o. 2 uses a triplet rhythm although
the signature is simple. The fourth movement of this
sonata is written in compound meter. In Sonata No. 4 the
second movement contains two sections of compound meter.
Prokofiev quite freely changes the meter without
indicating this by a change of signature. These changes
are irregular in pattern. Often it is just an insertion
of one or two bars in length. Usually the change in meter
accompanies a change in subject or sections of a movement.
These changes of meter are used as a device for obtaining
contrast between subjects and are not frequent.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Prokofiev does not
write unusual meter signatures extensively. In the first
four sonatas there is only one instance of the use of an
unconventional meter signature. The third movement of
Sonata Yo. 2, a two-part song form, has the second section
written in a meter. Prokofiev has grouped the background
of eighth notes into a group of two plus two plus three by
the way he has scored them.
-
Fig. 1l.--Sonata Jo. 2, Op. 14, third movement,means. 23.
Prokofiev's use of polymeter is very slight. In
Sonata Fo. 1. he writes two signatures simultaneously.
14 12Since both of these, one 4 and the other 8, have a basic
beat of four, the use of two signatures seems to be
merely y a convenience in scoring. It excludes the necessity
of designating the groups of two against three background
beats. In Sonata No. *2, last movement, Prokofiev writes
6and 8 signatures simultaneously. In both instances in
the early sonatas where he uses two signatures at once,
the section is built on a two-against-three rhythmic
pattern. In many other passages in the first four
sonatas Prokofiev writes the same effect without writing
two meter signatures. At the beginning of Sonata No 3.4 12Prokofiev gives a 4 signature followed by a 8 signature
in parenthesis, indicating that the two signatures will
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49
Fig. 12.--Use of two signatures simultaneously,Sonata 'No. 1, Op. 1, meas. 37.
be alternated frequently and freely. It is interesting
to note that in this same sonata at the end of the first
subject there is introduced one measure of 3 rhythm. This
measure is interesting for the rhythmic effect it gives
of changing the motion of the melody and breaking the
monotony of the triplet motion.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _a ll
071" 1- fA,
ok V I 3AL W J
fp -AIIA%'V. r 'l, V
4 1 0 '1 fbA, A LXWAL._L9,04:: v:l wl I L :j M, Ai-
13.--Sonata No. , op. 28, meas. 25-26
With Prokofiev's evident fondness for the number three
in his early compositions, it is logical that he would use
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50
the same rhythmic patterns in many passages in the dif-
ferent sonatas. Other than the first ad third sonatas
which are written with a triplet background beat, the
first movement of the fourth sonata and a large part of
the first movement of the second sonata are written in
triple meter. The rhythmic figures that Prokofiev
builds from these meters are very similar in each of the
sonatas. A comparison of passages from the first and
third sonatas shows the use of a rhythmic figure that is
used extensively in both these sonatas and to some extent
in the other early sonatas. This pattern is made up of an
eighth rest followed by two eighth notes.
Fig. 14F.--(a) Sn No. , Op. I meas. 26(b) Sonata No. 3, Op. 2 , meas. 166
-
Prokofiev's use of background rhythmic motion is
unusual. He uses this background motion to build the
feeling of a section to a climax or to let it down after
a climax by reversing the process. Within a section he
writes an eighth note background, two per beat, followed
by triplet eighth notes per beat as he approaches the
melodic climax and finally sixtee!nt notes, four per beat
at the climax melodically and harmonically. The third
movement of Sonata No,. 2 illustrates this process. With
the first presentation of the main theme the background
division of beat is two (see Fig. 15). Subsequent
.......
Ar J I tIF 12r~1rrr-i - - 1 -
Fig S. .- onataNo..2,Op.. 14, third movement,meas. 4-6.
repetitions of the theme have four sixteenth notes per
beat in the counterpoint to the theme. The last
statement of the theme uses four sixteenth notes against
a pattern of six sixteenth notes to further agitate the
rhythmic motion.
JK~l.L.NE77
-
KTin V q-w- -f
me ~ M AsL4-6
Id IL I I If III.2 a.: rr. iIl 7 q-
Fig. 17.--Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, third movement,meas. 49-50.
"OWN.*-
-at 406-
.gap& a a- -V
-U-TJMJ
44 X
Aj j,
a now am 0 M
I
41
.....................
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53
The rhythm of any particular melodic line is not
complex in its structure. Any complexity that appears in
the rhythmic construction is the result of the combination
of two different rhythms in two melodic lines or the
combination of different rhythmic patterns in the melodic
line and its accompanying counterpoint or harmony.
Usually each melodic line has its definite rhythmic pattern
that is followed throughout the subject or section which
is built from that melodic line. The total effect of
Prokofiev's rhythmic construction, both melodic rhythm and
otherwise, is that of rhythmic ostinato.
Harmony and Tonality
The harmonic and tonal aspects of the early sonatas
of Prokofiev while not as innovational as the harmonic
idioms of some other contemporary composers, still afford
much that is of stylistic interest. Prokofiev composed
these four first sonatas around the basic major-minor
tonalities. Eis harmony is characterized by simple chord
construction on the basic major and minor triads. Analysis
of these sonatas Thows that while the effect upon the
listener is one of unusual sounds, the actual construction
of the harmony is quite simple. As was the case with his
melodic construction, the manner in which Prokofiev com-
bines his harmonies is the factor that gives to them the
distinguishing Prokofiev character.
-
After the peculiar tonalities of impressionism and
the lack of tonality as such in some other twentieth cen-
tury styles, Prokofiev's music shows a definite trend
toward the classic in his choice of tonality. Prokofiev
composes in the most common major and minor keys. The
first four sonatas are all in minor keys. He has used
what are probably the most often used minor keys for these
first four sonatas. The first sonata is in F minor, the
second in D minor, the third in A minor and the fourth in
C minor. Prokofiev, however, uses the classic tonalities
in unusual combinations which tend to give to his sonatas
a feeling of new and original tonal schemes. Sudden
transitions to distantly related keys and combinations of
totally unrelated harmonies provide the unexpected tonal
feeling of the sonatas. The tonality of each of the
principal and subordinate subjects of the early sonatas is
given in the Appendix.
At times the key feeling is obscured by chromaticism
and harmonic dissonance. Even in these passages there is
a feeling of suspended tonality rather than complete
negation of the tonality. Prokofiev builds his chromatic
passages principally in transitions and the development
sections. The most complex of his chromatic schemes are
often nothing more than enharmonic spellings of some
simple scale or nonharmonic tones combined with the basic
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55
chords. Prokofiev builds his chromaticism most often just
a half-step away from a basic chord tone always returning
to this chord tone to give a feeling of coming back to his
tonality. A passage from. the development section in the
last movement of Sonata No. 2 illustrates this usage of
chrora ticis.
Fig. 18.--Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, fourth movement,meas. 14+-l46.
Another use of chromaticism in the early sonatas is
found in the transition sections between subjects or
movements. Tbese modulations usually are quite chromatic
proceeding through unexpected and distantly related keys.
The development section of Sonata No. 3 beginning in the
tonality of the entire composition, A minor, modulates
through E major, A-flat major, G-flat major, E-flat minor,
E major, D-flat major, B-flat minor and C major before
returning to the A minor tonality. This modulation series
l
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56
is typical of the chromatic modulation which Prokofiev
uses in the early sonatas.
Sonata No. 3 provides another feature which Prokofiev
uses in modulation quite extensively. He shifts tonality
suddenly an augmented fourth (diminished fifth) up or down.
In the first subject of this sonata Prokofiev makes an
abrupt change from the central A minor tonality to E-flat
minor tonality. This shift of tonality an augmented
fourth (diminished fifth), or, in some instances, an aug-
mented second, is quite characteristic of Prokofiev's
harmonic idiom.
Fig. 19.--Sonata Jq. 3, Op. 28, meas. 22-23.
Hany passages of the early sonatas are polytonal.
This polyton ality is not built from the use of two dif-
ferent key signatures simultaneously as is some contem-
porary music. Neither is a consistent scheme of poly-
tonality carried out throughout an entire sonata.
Prokofiev in his structure uses polytonality in much the
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57
same manner he uses melodic and rhythmic motives. There
is a definite combination of tonalities upon which one
subject or section is built. With the beginning of a
different section, the harmonies change in their relation-
ship. They may merge into the same tonality or may shift
to entirely new tonalities.
The polytonality of these Provofiev sonatas appears
as a result of several different devices which the composer
uses. The most often used of these is the simple com-
bination of two melodic lines each in a different tonality.
The following example from Zonata No. , third movement,
iliustrates this device:
Fig. 20.--Sonata No. , Op. 29, third movement,meas. 26-27.
Another device is the s ifting of harmonies above a
pedal point. In the coda of Sonata No. 3 is found the most
notable example of this. Prokofiev uses an octave motive
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58
repeated to form the pedal point with four different
harmonies above it.
PAD-
A-1A 0 - A- & 0
-IOL
z- zdo
F ig. 21.--Sonata No. Ops 28, mea.s. 227-2210,3
The most notable instance of polytonality found in
the first four sonatas is found in the third movement of
Sonata No. 2. Here Prokofiev has combined a pedal-point
with two different harmonic schemes above it. With the
exception of the first chord at the beginning of the
passage, the two upper harmonies are in different tonali-
ties. This combination yields a total of three different
harmonic schemes used in this section. Prokofiev not only
repeats the harmonic formation in different triad position but
moves it from the original position with the pedal-point on
F'
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59
G-sharp to a position with the pedal-point on B. The
repetition of this pattern four times constitutes the
entire second section of this third movement.'
F. 22.--Sonata No_. 2, eOpr14 temnt,meas. 23-24.
In the style ol any particular composer the chord
progre ssion or relation between successive chords is an
important feature. Analysis of the early Prokofiev
sonatas reveals one pattern of chord progression that
is predominant in all movements of all the sonatas. This
progression is simple step-wise progression of the har-
monies. In some instances the progression moves step-wise
Al
Ak AN
A-At
t a
Tf
&"low1w,
S ft
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60
from one chord to the next. In other passages an entire
melodic or harmonic motive is repeated several times
moving by step-wise motion up or down with each repe-
tition. This device of harmonic progression by step is
the most distinguishing feature of the entire hearmonic
style of Prokofiev.
In the development section of Sonata No. 3 there is
an excellent example of this shift in harmonies. Against
a trill-like figure in the treble clef, the bass clef
harmonies are moved upward a half-step at a time. The
chord structure remains the same for the entire passage.
A I
Fig. 23.- -Sonata No. 3, Op.28, meas. 112-113
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61
A different use of the same harmonic progression
principle is found in Sonata No. 2. The harmonic pattern
moves step-wise in the second subject of the first move-
ment. The pattern here is a two-measure pattern with the
harmony of the second measure being a whole or balf step
above the root of the previous harmony. The harmonic
accompaniment in arpeggio figures -moves from E minor to
F major, from C major to D minor and from A minor to
B-flat major.
Fig . 2. --Sonat a No._ 2, Op . 114, f ir st movement ,meas. 63-68.
In the same movement of sonata 1_._ 2 Prokofiev uses
still another pattern of step-wise progression. Taking a
melodic pattern from the first subject he repeats it
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62
against a bass ostinato figure with different harmonies
above. After moving the melodic figure using first F,
then E, then D as the beginning note, he repeats the
section starting the melodic sequence on G and moving the
entire harmony of the section upward one step. In this
manner be combines step-wise motion both upward and down-
ward in a seventeen measure section of the development.
*ld
Fig. 25.--Sonata No. 2, Op. 14, first movement,meas. 142-147.mopt
Prokofiev, while turning his
a whole, has made use of a device
impressionistic style of writing.
ism of chord movement. Prokofiev
back on impressionism as
quite common to the
That device is parallel-
uses it to quite a
.1r~/
IV
Ago
lz Jw:;4L- jEW- iz
"1 F-
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63
different effect from impressionism, however. With
Prokofiev it is never a blurring of harmonies. It is
used to build up a rising feeling of climax. Perhaps the
outstanding use of parallelism in all the early sonatas
is found in the development section of Sonata o3.
Against a melodic motive repeated three times Prokofiev
uses a series of chords, extending over two octaves, with
AkA
LLL~~~t I I 1 1 t r
Fig. 26.--Sonata ;o. 3, Op. 28, means . 146-148
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64
each repetition of the motive. After this climactic
procedure he breaks the musical progression sharply before
returning to the recapitulation of the sonata.
Prokofiev's cadential treatment is not unusual in
most of the sonatas. Almost as if to balance the unexpect-
edness of so much else in his composition, he becomes
rather conventional in his writing of cadences. There are
some exceptions to this rule. At the end of the first
subject of Sonata No. 2. he writes an extended cadence on
the dominant chord, then proceeds to shift his tonality
abruptly from the expected dominant tonality to subdominant
tonality for the second subject. There is also his
insertion of a completely foreign, unexpected harmony,
sometimes just one chord, into his cadence. In several
cadences in the four sonatas this chord is a D-flat major
chord and entirely remote from the key of the sonata. The
final cadence of Sonata No.3 is an illustration of this
4ff
Fig. 27, Sonata No* a Cp.28, meas. 231-233
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65
technique. D-flat major is completely foreign to the
tonic key of A minor.
Compositional Techniques
Whatever the melodic, rhythmic and harmonic devices
used by a composer may be like, it is the treatment of
these elements that indicate whether he is a genius at
composition or merely a mediocre technician. Prokofiev is
recognized as being a composer of genius. It is inter-
esting to note some of the technical devices used in the
composition of the group of early piano sonatas by
Prokofiev not because these techniques are unique with
Prokofiev but because they show his maturity of style.
This maturity comes from a composer who was only a student
in the St. Petersburg Conservatory when these sonatas were
written. The four early sonatas were composed when
Prokofiev was between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five
years.
In the previous sections of this chapter there has
been a discussion of the methods in which Prokofiev used
melodic, rhythmic, harmonic and tonal elements in his
writing. In this section a discussion will be made of some
of the most interesting passages of the early sonatas.
The development sections of each of the sonatas afford the
most interesting examples of Prokofiev's compositional
technique. In each development section Prokofiev introduces
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66
material that appears nowhere else in the movement. In
Sonata No. 2 this material is a long, lyrical passage
which provides the only relief from the energetic motion
of the rest of the movement. Only twelve bars in length,
this theme is a definite contrast to the short-motive sub-
jects of the exposition. The unusual feature about this
theme is not the initial statement of it but the restate-
ment of it in its entirety in the development section of
the last movement. In Sonata .Yo. 4 the development section
of the last movement is built in three-part song form from
entirely new motival and melodic ideas. The development
section of Sonata No. 3 introduces briefly a new lyrictheme but returns quickly to developing motival ideas of
the principal subjects. The development section of
Sonata No. 1 is more closely connected with the conven-
tional development concepts and presents some new motival
material along with material derived from the principal
subjects.
With each successive one of the early sonatas Proko-
fiev uses more of the leit-motiv technique in the con-
struction of his subjects and sections. The entire first
movement of Sonata Po. 4 is unified by the use of tworhythmic motives. The first motive is made up of four
sixteenth notes followed by a quarter note (or sometimes
an eighth note). This motive takes the melodic form of a
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67
trill, a one-octave arpeggio or an octave leap with a turn
either at the top or bottom of the octave. The second
motive, constructed of two eighth notes followed by a
quarter note, usually combinls the intervals of a dimin-
ished fifth leap downward and a perfect fourth lep upward.
This motive is sometimes used with just the intervals of
a major or minor second.
Although most of Prokofiev's compositional con-
struction is very simple, be is capable of writing
extremely complex passages. The most interesting and
complex structurallv of any part of the early sonatas is
the second movement of Sonata N\Ulo. 4. This slow movement
is much longer than the slow movement of Sonata No. 2
frn-i mrn
1ig. 28 .--Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, second movement,meas. -4.s
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68
Prokofiev takes an ordinary two-part song form and
transforms it with his owjn peculiar touches. The movement
begins quite simply with the statement of a three-measure
lyric theme wit chorodal accompaniment. He then states
the same theme a diminished fifth higher with a counter-
subject and retaining the chordal accompaniment. After
a short transitional passage he presents it in its first
variation.
1. Io
Tq
Fig. 29.--Sonata No. 4, Op. 29, second movement,mess. 13-14 .
The entire process of development of this theme is
the addition of one new element to it each time it is
presented, gradually building the form from simple to
complex. Keeping the essential structure of the first
-
69
variation on the theme, be doubles the theme in octaves.
After the statement in octaves he adds octave grace notes
to the notes of the theme which are still doubled in
octaves.
The second principal variation of th . theme starts
with the twenty-fifth measure. This jives the theme and
colntersubject tro octaves apart at the beginning. He
brings the two melodies closer together and exchanges them
between clefs. The theme which had been given in the bass
a9 A--A,
-on .....AlAr -A.
Ir
Ir 04
70. 1
Fig. 30.--Sonata o Op 29, second movement,neas. 2 -26.
L-W in7w
II'll,
(11
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70
clef is moved to the treble clef with the countersubject
moving to the bass clef.
A brief transition section leads to the second section
of the two-part form which is quite simply constructed. In
the transition section Prokofiev has used his favorite
harmonic device of modulating by shifting harmonies step-
wise. The rhythmic pattern of the second section is a
triple background where the first section had been built
upon a duple background. At the end of the second
section, Prokofiev repeats his second variation of the
main theme and the transition which led from the first to
the second part of the song-form.
After establishing a chordal and broken chord
accompaniment, the main theme of the first section is
combined with the main theme of the second section in the
climax of the movement. Prokofiev has built up through
the movement a growing feeling of complexity by different
combinations of his two themes with themselves, with
countersubjects and finally together.
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71
Fig. 3W.--Sonat 1o. 4, Op. 2?, second movement,meas. 73-7+.
NTo one feature of The early piano sonatas of Prokofiev
stands above another. The total combination of his use of
melody, rh-ythm, harmony, totality and the manner in xhich
he treats these elements gives to them that style which is
so individualistic in Prokofiev. Prok ofiev fs not famous
because of his melodies, however lyric or sarcastic, nor
his startling harnonic con cepts nor his relentless rhythmic
drive, but he is known for his compositions which brought
something~ new into the stream of twentieth century piano
music. Prokofiev might not be considered the most excel-
lent nor the most representative composer of the twentieth
century, bt he is a composer of undisputed genius.
-
CHAPTER IV
INFLUENCES ON PROKOFIEV'S STYLE
The question of who and what have influenced the style
of any composer is always a provoking one. It is recog-
nized that no composer writes music that has come entirely
from within himself. Conditions of his musical environ-
ment, his social environment and his physical surroundings
all have a tremendous effect upon his musical output. The
effect of the musical training he receives, even the music
to which he first is introduced, appears in his compositio