Prokofiev

1960 · P5286 — 1960. Moscow: Sovetskii kompozitor 1960. Quarto 29.2 × 21.8 cm. Original embossed cloth boards; 409 4 pp. Very good. Second edition first published in 1944. Considered one of the happiest and brightest compositions of Sergei Prokofiev this comic opera based on the work of the Irish playwright Richard Sheridan was completed in 1940 just prior to WWII. The war interfered with the first planned production at the Bolshoi Theater and the opera opened only in 1946 at the Kirov Theater Mariinsky Theater in Leningrad. Prokofiev wrote the score of the opera but collaborated with the young librettist Mira Mendelson 1915-1968 on the verse sections. Mendelson who would later become his second wife also wrote the libretto for his subsequent opera "War and Peace."<br/><br/>Sergei Prokofiev 1891-1953 is considered one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. An early talent and a reputed rebel of classical music in his creative life he composed eight ballets seven operas seven symphonies nine piano sonatas and much more. In 1918 following the two Russian revolutions Prokofiev left Russia for the United States subsequently living in France and Germany before re-settling in the Soviet Union in 1936. Finding himself in Soviet Russia in the darkest of times Prokofiev continued to lead a productive creative life even as he was "encouraged" to write patriotic pieces such as his 1939 "Zdravitsa" Cheers to celebrate Joseph Stalin's sixtieth birthday. Prokofiev also had the misfortune of dying on the same day as the great leader on March 3 1953 with his death going virtually unnoticed by the Soviet press and the public. For more information see Shlifstein S. and Rose Prokofieva trans. Sergei Prokofiev: Autobiography Articles Reminiscences 2000. One of 550 copies printed. KVK OCLC show copies of this edition at Notre Dame Indiana Dallas Berkeley Santa Barbara Goldsmiths London Oxford UDK Berlin Austrian National Library Marburg and Rome. hardcover books