#sergei prokofiev

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Dmitri Shostakovich at Sergei Prokofiev's funeral, 1953.

For context, Prokofiev and Stalin died on the same day- March 5, 1953. Because Stalin's funeral was such a major event in the Soviet Union, Prokofiev's was largely overlooked, despite the fact he was one of the leading Soviet composers of his day. Relatively few people attended his funeral, Shostakovich among them.

Shostakovich and Prokofiev were not particularly close, and had a thorny professional relationship- much of the correspondence between them that I've been able to find appears to be formal criticism of each other's works. As Prokofiev was from an older generation- he was born in 1891, while Shostakovich was born in 1906- they did not always see eye-to-eye musically; Shostakovich experimented with the avant-garde when possible, perhaps in part due to his musical maturation during the socially-liberal NEP era, while Prokofiev's style tended to be more conservative and neoclassical- picking up more influence from Imperial-age composers and fellow emigres to the west (he lived in France and the United States before returning to the Soviet Union in 1936). Their generational difference also partially accounted for how they responded to harsh government criticism- Shostakovich was impacted by the consequences of his 1936 denunciation all his life and, while he suffered greatly during his second denunciation in 1948, was able to develop public and private personas, in both the musical and ideological spheres, to preserve himself and his artistry. However devastating as it was for Shostakovich, the 1948 denunciations took a greater toll on many other composers, Prokofiev included. As Prokofiev did not believe he would be harshly denounced as Shostakovich had been in 1936, he was far less prepared for the censorship and attacks he faced in 1948. As a result of the denunciations, combined with his declining health, his artistic productivity decreased, and he largely regulated himself to writing basic ideological works towards the end of his life.

This is a letter Shostakovich wrote to Prokofiev on the subject of his Seventh (and last) Symphony:

There's speculation as to whether or not Shostakovich was actually impressed by Prokofiev's Seventh Symphony. As Prokofiev was in decline at the time of writing it, the symphony has been criticized for being banal and not being particularly innovative; Rostropovich even claimed that Prokofiev added in its final flourish not for artistic purposes, but to have the piece nominated for a Stalin Prize, which would have meant money and a boost to his reputation after it suffered in 1948. (The Stalin Prize has its own complicated history in its role in Soviet music, and although it was the highest award a Soviet composer could earn, it could sometimes be awarded as a sort of backhanded punishment- an encouragement for composers to write the "right" sort of music, especially after they had been criticized for "formalism." Nonetheless, winning it after suffering a denunciation could mean financial and political security.) Did Shostakovich- who had often traded criticisms with Prokofiev over music- actually like this piece, or was this an effort to encourage a fellow artist to keep composing after suffering mental and physical ailments? This was a private letter and not a public statement, and Shostakovich was typically very straightforward about critiques, so if the entirely positive sentiment for the piece wasn't genuine (the only critique here is that Shostakovich says he wishes the entire symphony was encored!), the letter may have come from a place of concern.

Perhaps the most striking thing about this letter is the line, "I wish you another hundred years to live and create. Listening to such works as your Seventh Symphony makes it much easier and more joyful to live." Maybe by telling Prokofiev that he wished him another hundred years to live and create, Shostakovich was not simply praising the symphony, but encouraging Prokofiev- a composer whom he was often on icy terms with- that he needed to keep living and creating, during a time when it was becoming more and more difficult for him to do so.

#shostakovich #dmitri shostakovich #prokofiev #sergei prokofiev #music history #composers #classical composers #history #soviet history #classical music #music #cw dead body

[tinyicis]

Catpawsers

#classical composers #gustav mahler #richard strauss #dmitri shostakovich #hector berlioz #sergei rachmaninoff #ludwig van beethoven #sergei prokofiev #felix mendelssohn #pyotr ilyich tchaikovsky #franz liszt #johann sebastian bach #antonio vivaldi #anton webern #maurice ravel #george gershwin #arnold schoenberg

[wrongnote-lc]

С днём рождения Митя🌌✨️

#classic composers #art #classical composer #dmitri shostakovich #sergei prokofiev

[kapukvati]

i love having too much free time on hand

#fun fact i know the enture chorus to this song word to word #idek swedish but i still know it word to word #i used to have a phase in 2022 where it was stuck in my head for weeks #i listened to it on loop 24/7 #im not joking #isnt that great #my art #classical composers #classical music #prokofiev #sergei prokofiev #shostakovich #dmitri shostakovich

[fiammee]

Hello guyssss!! ^^

Here's my new Jon WIP (I always loved this pic for its details)

+ some close-ups

+ this guy

He's lovely isn't he

#jon lord #deep purple #sergei prokofiev #art #my art #work in progress

[nancyboy1997]

#if i didn’t add your fave im srory there’s only 10 options :( #classical composers #btw i have beef with vivaldi if you didn’t know. #composers #pyotr ilyich tchaikovsky #felix mendelssohn #antonio salieri #wolfgang amadeus mozart #sergei prokofiev #vivaldi #ludwig van beethoven #johann sebastian bach #frederic chopin #franz liszt #i hate tagging but i want poepke to see this

[shosty-we-understand]

While the two of them often crossed paths due to their similar careers, Sergei Prokofiev (left) and Dmitri Shostakovich (centre) did not particularly get along. In fact, they shared such distain for each other that at one point a fellow composer attempted to get them to sit down and put their animosity behind them. The well-meaning mediator's efforts were met poorly, and neither composer showed any interest in reconciling. They remained acquaintances and nothing more until Prokofiev's death in 1953.

#classical music #shostakovich #dmitri shostakovich #history #music #soviet union #ussr #sergei prokofiev #prokofiev

[charlottan]

Dmitri Shostakovich similar artists map

#charlotte's webs #Dmitri Shostakovich #classical #Claude Debussy #Johannes Brahms #Sergei Rachmaninoff #Maurice Ravel #Leonard Bernstein #Sergei Prokofiev #Richard Wagner #Gustav Holst #Igor Stravinsky

[mikrokosmos]

Sergei Prokofiev

(27 April 1891 - 5 March 1953)

Happy Birthday, Sergei!

#prokofiev #sergei prokofiev #soviet composers #classical music #20th century music #modernism #modern music #happy birthday #composer birthday

[sixty-silver-wishes]

thinking about this supposed exchange between shostakovich and prokofiev again (source- alex ross, "the art of noise")

#classical music #music #music history #composers #classical composer #prokofiev #sergei prokofiev #shostakovich #dmitri shostakovich #shost's style of sarcasm was so cutting lmao #I haven't seen anyone else recount this anecdote but I'd believe it #he was just. a salty bitch sometimes

[tinyicis]

More catpawsers

#classical composers #sergei prokofiev #dmitri shostakovich #maurice ravel #alexander scriabin #sergei rachmaninoff #hector berlioz

[wrongnote-lc]

Some Russian Composers

#classic composers #classical composer #sergei prokofiev #sergei rachmaninoff #dmitri shostakovich #igor stravinsky

[kapukvati]

pisskofiev and shostasskovich or whatever

#my art #urghhh😢 #classical music #classical composers #composers #sergei prokofiev #prokofiev #dmitri shostakovich #shostakovich #digital art #art #fanart

[xosogo]

This is my Clone High own character, Sergei Prokofiev! I'm also writing a Topher Bus x Sergei fic on AO3, "If I Play Your Guitar..." (Can't share the link right now, AO3 is having A Moment as you all might now)

#Clone High #OC #sergei prokofiev

[unabashedqueenfury]

Reign 2013-2017

Francis and Louis

#francis de valois #louis de condé #toby regbo #sean teale #dance of the knights #sergei prokofiev #spotify #rivals #till the last breath #mary stuart #adelaide kane #frary #mondé #face expression #reign #romeo and juliet #francis and mary #season2

[antronaut]

Sergei Prokofiev

#Sergei Prokofiev #listeningroom