Steel gallop

"Steel Skok" was the third ballet (after " Aly and Lolly " and " Tales of a jester, who joked seven jesters "), created by S. S. Prokofiev by order of S. P. Diaghilev ^[2] .

By the mid-1920s, interest in Soviet Russia had increased in Europe. Diaghilev realized that with that low - key pre-revolutionary Russia one should switch to depicting the new Soviet system and industrialization of the country in which new industrial giants were being built. Such entrepreneur plans were facilitated by the success of the achievements of the USSR presented in the Soviet pavilion at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts and the Art Industry in Paris. Sergei Prokofiev was at the exhibition, the work of Yakulov impressed the composer ^[3] .

In the summer of 1925 Diaghilev made Prokofiev an unexpected and difficult order - the "Bolshevik" ballet about modern Soviet Russia ^[4] . I. I. Martynov, I. V. Nestiev and N. P. Savkina quote the composer’s words about his reaction to Diaghilev’s order: “I did not believe my ears. For me, a window was opened to the air, that fresh air that Lunacharsky was talking about ” ^{[5] [6] [7]} . At present, many ideologically conditioned statements by musicologists of the Soviet era should be criticized, and some of them have to be challenged or rejected. For example, Savkina wrote: “Prokofiev dreamed of seeing Ilya Ehrenburg , who was then in France, as the librettist of the ballet” ^[7] . From the "Diary" of Prokofiev it follows that the nomination of Ehrenburg was imposed by Diaghilev, but for various reasons, cooperation with him did not take place.

The idea of ​​a new ballet did not consist in glorifying the ideas of Bolshevism, but in a colorful illustration of the actual or desired industrial progress in the Soviet Union ^[8] . Since Prokofiev always himself composed the libretto for his compositions, he did not want to see the names of Kokhno or Ehrenburg on the poster as its authors ^[9] . At some point, Prokofiev realized that Yakulov really had a lot of material and a lot of ideas, only he could not present them and draw them up. The composer possessed the ability to present the material well, and together with Yakulov they soon composed a libretto, not building a dramatic line, but showing the main characters of the new Soviet life: “I was satisfied with the ambiguity of the plot: you won’t figure out whether he is against the Bolsheviks or against them, i.e. just what is required. Yakulov was a little afraid, would not offend such a plot to Moscow, because he had to return there, but he agreed ” ^[10] . According to the composer, "the only useful advice that we pulled from Erenburg" was to change the scene from Sukharevskaya Square to the station ^[10] . The basis of the script without detailed elaboration was completed in August 1925 and sent to Diaghilev in Venice in a letter to Yakulov, who wrote the following about Prokofiev’s music: “The theme is understood very correctly, so to speak,“ from the inside ”. Outside, in the sense of the external form, that is, the correspondence of music with ballet movements, it was possible to find what I consider to be the only acceptable in a new rather than classical ballet, and that was not understood by Tairov in the production of Giroflet, namely, the parallelism of musical and ballet, not unity ” ^[11] .

The composer really liked the first name proposed by George Yakulov for the ballet “Ursinol” ( French Ursiniol ), since, on the one hand, it resembled the official abbreviation of Soviet Russia - URSS, on the other hand, it was consonant with the word teddy bear ( French. Ourson ), in addition it was a kind of hairpin to Igor Stravinsky about the name of his opera The Nightingale ( French: Le Rossignol ) ^[10] . The authors of the biographies of the 20th century composer (Nestiev ^[6] , Martynov ^[12] , Savkin ^[7] ), following the memoirs of Serge Lifar ^[13] , wrote that the name “ Le pas d'acier ” was invented by Diaghilev himself. Modern researchers have greater confidence in the evidence of Sergei Prokofiev’s Diary published in 2002, which states that Leonid Myasin proposed the new name in the spring of 1927, and the composer translated it into Russian, Steel Skok, while Diaghilev did not like the new version in tune with fr. “Puce d'acier” (“Steel Flea” in “The Tale of the Tula Oblique Left-Handed and the Steel Flea” by N. S. Leskov ) ^[14] . Prokofiev did not translate the name of Myasin either as “Steel Pa”, nor “Steel Step” or “Steel Tread”. Already in the Steel Skok translation itself, the composer could not do without his characteristic game with the meanings of words, humor, irony and sarcasm, which makes English-speaking authors difficult to translate the word skok. The ballet had one more, proposed by Boris Asafiev and approved by Sergei Prokofiev, the working title for the failed production in the USSR was “1920”. According to G. F. Kovalenko , this name was proposed by V. F. Nouvel in early 1926 ^[15] . In addition, Kovalenko reports that in the year of the premiere on Paris posters the name was Pas d'acier 1920 , and in the announcements for the next season of the Russian Ballet of 1928 - Pas d'acier 1927 ^[16] .

When creating music for the ballet, Prokofiev contrasted his aspirations for finding a new musical form with the light music ( French musiquette ) of the Paris composers who composed the Six or were close to her aesthetic views - Millau , Orique , Pulenka , Soge and Rieti . This position of the Russian composer is reflected in the review by V. G. Dukelsky cited by I. G. Vishnevetsky about the Parisian premiere of the ballet “Steel Skok” ^[17] . Vishnevetsky also cites Nicholas Nabokov’s memoirs, where the words of Diaghilev in 1928 testify to his irritation and dissatisfaction with the fake music of Paris composers ^[17] .

While touring the USA with frequent travels, Prokofiev continued to instrument the Steel Gallop ballet and first applied the new method, which he subsequently used to compose many of his works. Details of the method were set forth by the composer in “Brief Autobiography”: “Shaking interfered with the writing of the score, so I decided to do all the preliminary work in the carriage, while not only coming up with which instrument would play that melody or this accompaniment, but modifying every beat to the bottom , until each doubling, before the distribution of instruments in chords, to the last stroke, accent or shade, so that, leaving on solid ground, it remains only to mechanically write out on the score sheet everything that was thought over in the car and a pencil m in spaced clavier " ^[18] . The ballet orchestra was completed in 1926 ^[18] .

According to the recording of the conversation with B. E. Kokhno made by G. F. Kovalenko, in the explanations to the drawings, G. B. Yakulov indicated the nature of the action in one episode or another: “1) Arrival of the train. Dance of the wheels of a steam locomotive and levers that are circulated by the movements of arms and legs ” ^[20] . G. F. Kovalenko wrote: “Recall: from the very beginning, ballet was conceived as constructivist . Diaghilev wanted this, this he demanded from Prokofiev, Myasin, Yakulov. It’s the constructivist that the ballet was criticized by the critic, exactly how this constructivist performance went down in history ” ^[21] .

"Steel Skok" successfully held in the repertoire of the Russian Ballet troupe for 3 seasons until the death of Diaghilev in 1929. Despite Prokofiev’s attempts to stage ballet in the USSR, the Soviet audience could not see the performance during the composer's life. In 1929, it was decided to stage the ballet at the Bolshoi Theater , while before that, in Moscow, the music of Steel Lope was performed three times at concerts. Representatives of the Association of Proletarian Musicians sharply opposed the implementation of this decision. In addition, Prokofiev and his ballet Steel Skok were especially attacked in articles by various authors of the association’s press organ, Proletarian Musician magazine (1929, No. 6, 7-8) ^[22] . Myaskovsky wrote to Prokofiev in January 1935 about some other reasons for this: “I recently had Asafiev . I asked him about your Leningrad affairs. He is pessimistic. His opinion is that in the circles of the Leningrad Union (and wherever it is - the Union - can influence: the Philharmonic and, most importantly, theaters) you are scared and will do everything to prevent you from getting anywhere. Therefore, he believes that your draft productions in b. The Mar [Iinsky] theater is built on sand, and you still spoil the fact that you insist on staging various of your past works (for example, “Steel [skalnoy] skok”) ” ^[23] .

The ballet score was published in 1928 by the Russian Musical Publishing House by S. A. Kusevitsky .

Prokofiev wrote a very vivid orchestration , with colorful and spectacular percussion and skillfully painted themes that were not highlighted in the main ones. This work of Prokofiev became a masterpiece. Boris Asafiev wrote that “the true style of our era is expressed in ballet, because here one can talk about forged rhythms, about steel-like intonations, and about musical tides like the breathing of giant furs!” ^[24] .

There is an opinion that the Steel Skok ballet was created by the composer during his enthusiasm for constructivism , and the aesthetics of Prokofiev’s work is based on a deliberate rejection of emotionality, deliberate dissonance of tight harmonies and mechanics of movements ^{[25] [26]} . Russian musicologists (I. I. Martynov, I. V. Nestiev, N. P. Savkina, I. G. Vishnevetsky) avoided the use of the term “constructivist” with respect to music for ballet. Constructivist music was not called “Steel Skok”, but its production and scenery ^[2] . The music that imitates the noise of cars - “music of cars” - appears in the second part of the ballet. The poetry of industrialization is present in not all ballet numbers, but only in its final part, which Savkina wrote about:

The stage dream of the future was embodied as the apotheosis of technology. In the last part of the ballet, the machines buzzed on the stage, the shafts rotated, the mechanisms worked. Dancers depicted rhythmically working people, and at times their movements merged with the movements of machines on the stage. Such was the author’s intention: “... so that there would be an impression not of abstract ballet movements, but of useful“ work ”,” wrote Yakulov in a commentary on the sketch of the scenery.

- N.P. Savkina. Sergey Sergeevich Prokofiev ^[27] .

On the other hand, the lack of emotionality in the music for ballet is easily disputed, as the lyrical theme No. 6 with its softened unearthly melody is repeated in No. 9 ^[8] .

The theme of the first scene, “The Exit of Characters,” which opens the action, is repeated by the reprise in the final part of the play (No. 11. “Final”). The musical culmination of the performance was the number “ Procession of the Burghers ” (from the English - “Procession of burghers”), the scene “Iris and cigarettes” is built on the rhythm, the canted melody in “Orator” turns into a lively mobile dance ^[8] .

Israel Nestyev considered it a great mistake to represent Prokofiev as a “singer of machines, mechanical rhythms of the modern city”: “Even during the years of the“ leftist ”hobbies, he sharply rejected the noise experiments of Italian futurists and was clearly skeptical of urban opuses like Mosolov’s “ Plant ”. As for the notorious “Steel Lope”, already in it new lyricism decisively prevailed over a few pages of “machine” sound recording ” ^{[28] [29]} . I.I. Martynov suggested that the "production" motives of the ballet could have been inspired by the "music of the" Plant "by A. V. Mosolov, which at that time had considerable success in the West. The ballet’s intent was also something of biomechanics , known, of course, to Yakulov, who met Meyerhold more than once ” ^[30] . Victor Vanslov wrote that the ballet “reproduces the pictures of modern reality (station, factory) and is written in the spirit of urbanism ”, the characteristic features of which, in particular, include the mechanism of rhythms, constructivism and caricature-satirical sketches ^[31] .

Two flutes , two oboes , piccolo flute , English horn , two clarinets , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion, harpsichord [?].

The ballet consists of two paintings and 11 numbers lasting about 30 minutes:

• First picture

1. The exit characters ( Entrée des personnages )

2. Train with sackcloths ( Train des paysans-ravitailleurs )

3. Commissioners ( Les commissaires )

4. Distributors of goods: Toffee and cigarettes ( Les petits camelots )

5. Speaker ( L'orateur )

6. A sailor in a bracelet and a female worker ( Matelot à bracelets et ouvrière )

• Second picture

7. Restructuring scenery ( Changement de décors )

8. Conversion of a sailor to a worker ( Le matelot devient un ouvrier )

9. Factory ( L'usine )

10. Hammers ( Les marteaux )

11. The final. The final scene ( Finale )

Arthur Lurie spoke about Prokofiev as the successor of Dargomyzhsky : “Such ballets as“ Jester ”and“ Steel Skok ”, his piano“ Sarcasm ”,“ Fleeting ”and even his opera technique up to“ War and Peace ”according to sharply defined intonations, in terms of clarity of a simplified and rigid drawing, close to engraving or etching, they are related to Dargomyzhsky ” ^[32] . And Vladimir Dukelsky compared Prokofiev with Mozart : “With Steel Lope we return to Mozart. Which is simply quoting the late Sergey Diaghilev; and although the idea may seem paradoxical, it’s hard for me to struggle with its logic. “Steel Skok”, in the form in which it was given in 1927 [year] by the Russian Ballet, turned out to be one of the pinnacles of genuine classicism. By this I mean that ballet designated our era (Russia 1917-1927) as a classical one, in sharp contrast to simple concessions to classicism among others ” ^[33] .

• April 21 and 22, 1931 - in New York at the Metropolitan Opera , accompanied by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by L. Stokowski . Director L. Simonson, choreographer E. Strobridge ^[34] . The same production was presented in April in Philadelphia. About these performances, Prokofiev wrote to Myaskovsky from Paris: “They say that the musical side was brilliantly performed, but the plot and choreography were shredded beyond recognition and, moreover, very unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, a sickle and a hammer, pieces of red matter and other emblems of Soviet life flickered on the stage ^[35] .
• 1948 - staged ballet in the new edition of the choreographer Serge Lifar at the Champs Elysees Theater , artist Fernand Leger ^[36] .
• May 20, 2015 - premiere of the first production in Russia at the Saratov Academic Opera and Ballet Theater directed by Yuri Kochnev , choreography by Kirill Simonov , scenography by Honored Artist of Russia Sergei Boldyrev, costumes by Olga Kolesnikova ^[37] . The new edition of Steel Skok does not follow the libretto of Prokofiev and Yakulov, the action, according to recent fashion, has been transferred to the present, constructivist scenery of Yakulov is missing ^[38] . For this staging of the ballet, Yuri Kochnev received the title of laureate of the 2016 Golden Mask Award in the nomination “The Best Conductor's Work” ^[39] .

Prokofiev composed the orchestral suite op. 41 bis, consisting of four rooms:

1. The phenomenon of participants
2. Commissars
3. Sailor in a bracelet and a female worker
4. Factory

The score of the suite from the ballet “Steel Gallop” was published by the Russian Music Publishing House by Kusevitsky in 1927.

• 1927 - October 21 and 22 the first performance of the suite in Boston under the direction of S. A. Kusevitsky ^[40]
• 1929 - January 7 and 14 performance of the suite in the program of concerts of Persimphans in Moscow ^[41]

The performance of the suite should not be confused with the concert performance of excerpts from the ballet, which do not coincide with the parts that made up the suite. For the first time in Moscow, excerpts from the ballet Steel Gallop were performed on May 27, 1928 in an AFM concert conducted by V. Savich ^[42] :

1. The phenomenon of participants
2. Train with sacking
3. Sailor in a bracelet and a worker
4. Redesigning the scenery
5. Factory
6. Final scene

A. N. Drozdov described their perception by the public: “Fragments from Prokofiev’s Steel Skok ballet were completely unexpectedly unsuccessful; it was felt as though some disappointment. I think there are several reasons: the neighborhood of the bright things of Respighi was unfavorably influenced, detached from isolation from the stage situation; perhaps the selection of passages was unsuccessful; and finally, perhaps there has been some reaction against the extremes of “prokofievism”. The excerpts are witty by the usual Prokofievsky wit (maybe a little more ordinary), but nevertheless one feels some isolation of thought, some “self-repeatability” ”(Music and Revolution, 1928 No. 5-6, p. 46) ^[43] .

• Vishnevetsky I.G. Eurasian deviation in the music of the 1920-1930s. - M .: New Literary Review , 2005. - 512 p. - (Scientific Library). - ISBN 5-86793-371-7 .
• Kovalenko G. F. “All wheels will spin ...”: Georgy Yakulov - artist-designer of the ballet “Steel Skok” // Questions of the theater: Scientific journal. - M .: State Institute of Art Studies, 2012. - No. 1-2 . - S. 274-303 . - ISSN 0507-3952 .
• Martynov I.I. Sergey Prokofiev. Life and art. - M .: Music, 1974. - 560 p. - (Classics of world music culture).
• Nestiev I.V. Life of Sergei Prokofiev / Editor I. Prudnikova. - 2nd revised and supplemented. - M .: Soviet composer, 1973. - 663 p.
• Nestiev I.V. Prokofiev S.S. // Musical Encyclopedia: in 6 volumes / Ch. ed. Yu. V. Keldysh . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia. Soviet composer, 1978. - T. 4. - 976 stb.
• Prokofiev. The ballet "Steel Lope" (neopr.) . "Belcanto.ru". Date of treatment March 9, 2017. Libretto of ballet
• Prokofiev S. S. Diary 1919-1933 / Foreword by Svyatoslav Prokofiev. - Paris: sprkfv [DIAKOM], 2002. - T. 2. - 813 p. - ISBN 2951813813 .
• Prokofiev S. S. , Myaskovsky N. Ya. Correspondence / Entry. article by D. B. Kabalevsky ; comp. and sub. text by M. G. Kozlova and N. R. Yatsenko; comm V. L. Kiseleva; foreword and pointers M. G. Kozlova. - M .: Soviet composer, 1977 .-- 600 p.
• Savkina N.P. Sergey Sergeevich Prokofiev. - M .: “Music”, 1982. - 144 p. - (Russian and Soviet composers). - 100,000 copies.
• Le pas d'acier (The Steel Step), ballet, Op. 41
• Le Pas d'Acier: The Steel Step - “'Lost ballet' by Prokofiev to have world premiere on campus April 7-9.” By Jennifer Greenstein Altmann
• Press, Stephen. By way of Le Pas d'acier Prokofiev and Iakulov's Ursiniol comes to the stage (English) // Three oranges: Journal. - The Serge Prokofiev Association, 2005 .-- November ( no. 10 ).

Video

• Le pas d'acier on YouTube - music (1)
• Le pas d'acier on YouTube - music (2)
• Le pas d'acier on YouTube - music (3)
• Le pas d'acier on YouTube - ballet