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 Church in Sontsovka. [link] |
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Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was born on Wednesday 23-April in the year 1891.
The date of his birth according to the 'old style' Julian calendar is
11-April. The calendar was changed in 1918 when the newly formed Soviet Union
adopted the Gregorian calendar used by the rest of the world. Sergei was born
in the farming village of Sontsovka in what is now the Ukraine, and what was then
part of the Russian Empire. His father Sergei Alekseevich Prokofiev was an
agricultural engineer, and his mother Maria Grigoryevna Prokofieva (born Zhitkova)
was a well-educated woman with a keen musical sense and piano skills to match.
She was to be the most important influence in young Sergei's musical development.
By all accounts, young Sergei had an idyllic childhood -- spoiled by loving, doting parents who had twice earlier tried to have children (two daughters died early in infancy.) Sergei spent his first thirteen years in Sontsovka, enjoying the privileges of living in the manor house on a large farming estate, treated like gentry even though his father was merely the estate manager. Although Sontsovka was located far from the cultural centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg, young Sergei was not isolated from music. In his memoirs, he wrote of his childhood:
When I was put to bed at night, I never wanted to sleep. I would lie there and listen as the sound of a Beethoven sonata came from somewhere far off, several rooms away. More than anything else, my mother played the sonatas of Volume I.The seeds of his musical genius had been sown. The piano would remain at the core of his musical soul throughout his life. Sergei was a precocious child, although not a prodigy on the level of Mozart. Prokofiev's mother taught him to play the piano and by age five he had written his first composition -- a tune which his mother helped to transcribe as "Indian Galop." Far from immature musical ramblings, Prokofiev's early piano compositions revealed a mature understanding of established musical forms, imprinted with hints of harmonic and rhythmic innovations which would characterize his later style. In fact, he meticulously collected these works, which he called his "little puppies", into notebooks that he would use many times later in life. His mother nurtured his piano skills although she never forced him to study. She did not begin formal music lessons with Sergei until he was seven, preferring instead to let him discover music on his own. In fact, Prokofiev's parents focused most of his educational energies on non-musical subjects, particularly mathematics and the sciences. Thus it is not without surprise that the young Prokofiev took a liking to the game of chess. He taught himself the rules of the game by age seven. Much like music, chess was a passion which was to remain with Prokofiev throughout his life. |
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 Sergei at the piano with his opera "The Giant." [link] |
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Although Sontsovka was isolated far from major cities, Maria Grigoryevna
usually travelled at least once a year to visit family in St. Petersburg.
She also recognized the importance of exposing young Sergei to the cultural
offerings of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Sergei did not accompany his mother
on the long trips to the major Russian cities until he was eight. Sergei's
first big-city trip occured in 1900 when he accompanied his mother to Moscow.
There he saw two operas, Charles Gounod's Faust and Alexander Borodin's
Prince Igor. Both performances had a profound effect on Prokofiev. As
soon as he returned to Sontsovka, he set about writing his own opera, which
he called "The Giant." Sergei wrote both the libretto and music, 'staging'
a production of the work with family members and friends in 1901.
Recognizing her son's prodigious musical talent and her limitations as a music teacher, Maria Grigoryevna decided her son needed better instruction. In December of 1901, Maria and Sergei senior took their son back to Moscow, stopping first in St. Petersburg. In Moscow, Maria arranged a meeting with Yuri Nikolayevich Pomerantsev, a friend of the family who was then studying at the Moscow Conservatory. Pomerantsev recognized the ten-year old's potential and arranged an audition for Sergei in front of the famous Moscow professor and composer Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev. Taneyev was impressed enough to convince another music teacher from Moscow to travel to Sontskova in the summer of 1902 to teach Sergei. The teacher was Reinhold Moritsevich Gliere (1875-1956), a young, but accomplished composer and capable pianist. Gliere immediately took to the eleven year old Sergei and the lessons were roundly successful. Gliere returned again in the summer of 1903 to teach Sergei. By then, Sergei had composed another opera, a four-movement symphony with Gliere's help, and about 70 small piano pieces. By this time in his young life, Prokofiev recognized his future lay in music. He was self-assured and had developed a confident stage presence, forged from frequent recitals and performances in front of friends, family, and the Sontsovka staff. In spite of a disciplined upbringing by his father and mother, Sergei still possessed a mischievous and playful streak -- his love of fairy tales and youthful innocence would show in his music throughout his life. The year was 1904, Prokofiev was thirteen, and it was clear to Maria Grigoryevna that the geographical isolation of Sontsovka was not conducive to the development of her son's burgeoning musical potential. Much to the lament of his father who stayed behind in Sontsovka, Maria and Sergei moved to St. Petersburg in the spring of 1904. 
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