The Tales of the Old Grandmother ( French: Contes de la vieille grand-mère ), op. 31 - a cycle of 4 chamber pieces for piano by Sergei Prokofiev , created in 1918 . The first finished work in the United States overseas period, which presents the piano style of young Prokofiev. The premiere was performed by the author on January 7, 1919 in New York . The cycle refers to the lyrical line of the composer's work. The total duration of all four plays is from 8 to 11 minutes. The musical score was published in 1922 by the publishing house A. Gutheil . Arrangement for symphony orchestra made by L. D. Hoffmann.
| "Tales of the old grandmother" | |
|---|---|
| fr. Contes de la vieille grand-mère | |
| Composer | Sergey Prokofiev |
| The form | |
| The writing | Op. 31 |
| Time and place of composition | 1918 , New York |
| First performance | January 7, 1919 , New York author |
| First post | 1922, A. Gutheil [1] |
| Duration | 8-11 minutes |
| Instruments | |
| the piano | |
| Parts | I. Moderato II. Andantino III. Andante assai IV. Sostenuto |
The composition is preceded by the author's epigraph: “Some memories were half erased in her memory, others will never be erased” [2] .
Content
Creation History
At 6 a.m. on August 21, 1918, Prokofiev went onto the deck of a ship in the San Francisco Bay , but passengers from Russia were not allowed ashore, fearing that there were German spies or Bolsheviks among them [3] . For several days the composer was kept in quarantine for medical examination and interrogation of officials, which was a common thing in wartime. Then Prokofiev moved from the west coast of the United States to the east and arrived in New York.
Staying idle and engaged in the opera Love for Three Oranges , in September 1918, Prokofiev tried to improve his financial affairs, deciding to compose small piano pieces in the hope of receiving some kind of fee from the publisher to pay off his debts. About the beginning of work on a new work, the composer wrote the following in his Diary:
Composed without a piano. We need small carcasses for the publisher, simpler. Sonatins or "Tales". But there is more tendency to several “Tales of the old grandmother”, in which distant memories slip through the decrepitude of the narrator.
- S. S. Prokofiev. A diary. 1907-1918 [4] .
Feature
I. V. Nestiev wrote that in The Tales of the Old Grandmother, and later in the ballets The Jester and The Stone Flower , the national basis of Prokofiev’s work appeared when he addressed Russian fairy tales [5] . Regarding S. S. Prokofiev as the successor of M. P. Mussorgsky’s heritage [6] , the musicologist found a connection between “ Pictures from the Exhibition ” and the cycles of piano plays “The Ugly Duckling ”, “ Fleeting ”, “Tales of the Old Grandmother” and some parts of the piano and violin concerts of the first mentioned composer [7] . In addition, the biographer Prokofiev mentioned threads connecting A.K. Lyadov ’s magical miniatures “Baba Yaga”, “Magic Lake” and “ Kikimora ” with the music of “Tales” [8] . According to Nestiev, this composition belongs to the lyric line of the composer's work, and his fairy-tale images are anticipated in the Fourth Sonata, op. 29 [9] .
Parts
The cycle consists of four parts with a total duration of 8 to 11 minutes:
- I. Moderato
- II. Andantino
- III. Andante assai
- IV. Sostenuto
- II. Andantino
According to I.V. Nestiev, each of the four “Tales” is three-part [8] .
Premiere and Performance
After the first performance of “Tales of the Old Grandmother” by the author on January 7, 1918, parts of the cycle entered the repertoire of the Prokofiev pianist, performed on tours both abroad and in the USSR, where the author preferred plays by Andantino and Andante assai [10] [11] which were recorded in Paris in 1935.
In the USSR, the composition was first performed by K. N. Igumnov on October 19, 1923 in Moscow at the “Musical Exhibitions” organized by the International Book Society [12] , then in October the Overture on Jewish themes was presented for the first time in the composer's homeland.
Records
Archival records of two plays of the cycle - Andantino and Andante assai - performed by S. S. Prokofiev, made in Paris in February - March 1935, which the company " Melody " released on the plates M10-39515-18 (1976) [13] and compact discs MEL CD 10 02000 (2012) [14] . The full cycle was recorded by A.B. Goldenweiser (1955), V.V.Sofronitsky (1961), V.K. Eresko (1968), O.D. Boshniakovich (1977), V.K. Merzhanov (1982).
Orchestrations
L. D. Hoffman orchestrated the piano plays “Tales of the Old Grandmother” in versions for the symphony orchestra and string orchestra. The premiere of the transcription for the symphony orchestra took place in Yaroslavl at the opening of the season in September 2005, performed by the Yaroslavl symphony orchestra conducted by M. A. Annamamedov [15] .
Notes
- ↑ Prokofiev, 1977 , Comment 10 on letter 164, p. 505.
- ↑ Nestiev, 1973 , Chapter VI. Years of wandering, p. 186.
- ↑ Prokofiev, 2002 , 1918.August 21, p. 724.
- ↑ Prokofiev, 2002 , 1918. September 21, p. 736.
- ↑ Nestiev, 1973 , Chapter XV. Good master, p. 606
- ↑ Nestiev, 1973 , Chapter V. At the Crossroads, p. 179.
- ↑ Nestiev, 1973 , Chapter XV. Good master, p. 609.
- ↑ 1 2 Nestyev, 1973 , Chapter VI. Years of wandering, p. 187.
- ↑ Nestiev, 1973 , Chapter V. At the Crossroads, p. 175.
- ↑ Prokofiev, 1977 , Comment 4 on letter 351, p. 537.
- ↑ Prokofiev, 1977 , Comment 2 on letter 358, p. 538.
- ↑ Prokofiev, 1977 , Comment 1 on letter 182, p. 509.
- ↑ Sergey Prokofiev - pianist (archival records) . Catalog of Soviet records. Date of treatment July 24, 2017.
- ↑ Prokofiev plays Prokofiev / Prokofiev plays Prokofiev . Catalog of Soviet records. Date of treatment July 24, 2017.
- ↑ The opening of the new concert season of the Yaroslavl Symphony Orchestra took place under the direction of composer Leonid Hoffman . City TV channel (September 7, 2005). Date of treatment May 5, 2018.
Literature
- Nestiev I.V. Life of Sergei Prokofiev / Editor I. Prudnikova. - 2nd revised and supplemented. - M .: Soviet composer, 1973. - 663 p.
- Prokofiev S. S. Diary 1907-1918 / Foreword by Svyatoslav Prokofiev. - Paris: sprkfv [DIAKOM], 2002. - T. 1. - 813 p. - ISBN 2951813805 .
- 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.
Links
- Tales of an Old Grandmother, Op.31: sheet music by International Music Score Library Project
- Tales of the Old Grandmother, op. 31. Andantino on YouTube Prokofiev performs Prokofiev. Record 1935, Paris
- Tales of the Old Grandmother, op. 31. Andante assai on YouTube Prokofiev performs Prokofiev. Record 1935, Paris
- Prokofiev. Tales of the Old Grandmother, op. 31 on YouTube performed by V.K. Merzhanov . 1982 Record
- Prokofiev. "Tales of the Old Grandmother" on YouTube - a transcription for the L. D. Hoffman Symphony Orchestra, the Yaroslavl Symphony Orchestra conducted by M. A. Annamamedov. 2005 Entry