Program Notes

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

excerpts from the ballet Cinderella (1941-45)

scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes and English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrbassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, harp and strings

In January of 1945, Sergei Prokofiev was on top of the world. He was a famous composer, was still sought after as a pianist and was financially secure. The premier of his Fifth Symphony on January 13 met with resounding success and would turn out to be among his most famous works. Less than two weeks later, he was standing at the top of a staircase ready to go home following a post-concert reception, when he suffered a heart attack. The attack itself was minor, he would recover from it easily, but the immediate effects of the malady caused him to lose hold of the railing, and he toppled to the bottom of the stairs. When he arrived at the hospital he was still unconscious.

By the time Prokofiev woke up, he was told that he had suffered a serious concussion. The doctors were hopeful of a full recovery, but as time went on it became increasingly apparent that he would never be well again. Little by little everything that could be called life was taken away from him. He could no longer drink or smoke, he couldn't drive a car, he was no longer able to take the long walks he so greatly enjoyed, he could no longer play chess, play the piano in public, conduct or even travel more than a few miles. But the greatest blow came when he was forbidden to compose, except for very short periods. Before long he would only be allowed to compose a half-hour a day.

That was not to say that Prokofiev no longer had ideas, imagination or the will to compose. His good friend, the composer Kabalevsky said, "His whole existence, all his energies, his entire mode of life were directed to the one aim, of saving for his work all the strengths he had left. At times it seemed as if he knew his malady would defeat him in the end and was deliberately hurrying to get all his ideas down on paper before it was too late.” Prokofiev would often refused to bend to the constraints on his composition time, but it was the only one of the doctor's orders that he rebelled against.

In the midst of this tragic situation, two of Prokofiev's greatest masterpieces were being premiered and the composer, after an initial attempt, was unable to participate. His opera War and Peace , which, because of costs, was being only partially staged, and Prokofiev would never see a complete performance in his lifetime. The other important work being given its premier was the great ballet Cinderella .

The music for Cinderella had already been written. As a matter of fact, the commission was first given to Prokofiev by the Kirov Ballet in June of 1941. He was thrilled to be working with the company that had so successfully performed his Romeo and Juliet and set to work at once. Not long after starting, though, he was halted in his tracks by the German invasion of Russia. It would not be until 1944 before he could return to it when the company was evacuated to Perm and could resume performing.

Cinderella was a work that had occupied Prokofiev since he had started work on it, and there are many who consider that music from the ballet actually appeared subconsciously in many of the works he had written in the interim.

When the time came it was actually the Bolshoi Ballet, not the Kirov, that gave the first performance of Cinderella in November, 1945. The premier took place in Prokofiev's absence. The Kirov, not to be outdone, were able to present their own interpretation in April of the following year. Like Romeo and Juliet , Cinderella was first heard in several suites for orchestra that the composer extracted from the full score, and which had already gained for it a respectable following.

The composer described the work by saying, “Apart from the dramatic structure of the ballet, I wanted to make it as danceable as possible. In keeping with its mood and period, I decided to write Cinderella in the tradition of the old classical ballet: I gave it a pas de deux , adagios, gavottes, several waltzes, a pavane, passepied, bouree, a muzurka and a galop.”

Thus, the grand gestures of Tchaikovskian tradition have been combined with Prokofiev's characteristic boldness and dissonance, which here are used to heighten and strengthen the dramatic purpose of the work. Traditional dances, given the Prokofiev flourish meld with lavish orchestral effects and rub elbows with transparent instrumental textures. And, of course, there was the leitmotif, which gives specific themes to specific characters, “My music has three basic themes,” the composer said, “first theme, Cinderella, the abused and ill-treated; second theme, Cinderella, the chaste, pure pensive; the third and main theme, Cinderella in love, radiant with happiness. I also took a great deal of trouble to establish every character through the music – the sweet, shy Cinderella, her timid father, her bad-tempered stepmother, her selfish sisters, the gay and passionate young prince – in such a way that audiences felt caught up in their joys and sorrows.”