Date/Place of Birth:

23 April, 1891 in Sontsovka, Ukraine.

Personality:

A stubborn, ill-tempered but very talented man. Prokofiev was unpleasant to everyone and always disturbed people around him with his rude speaking; with a irritating chuckle and a cunning look. If he disliked somebody, he could be crude and behaved brutally. As a disobedient but confident student, he was not impressed with what his great teachers, like Liadov, Glazounov and Rimsky-Korsakov, taught. He considered them being too conservative; not open to innovation; and being ignorant about anything outside their previous experience.

Piano-Playing Style:

Prokofiev considered piano as a percussion instrument. Therefore, he played it percussively. In other word, he treated it like a machine. At the piano, Prokofiev was an ice-cold demon who played in a pushing-forward style with complete control and emotional detachment. In other words, he would drive the music turbulent, wild and yet exciting. A fine example of his exciting works is Toccata op 11. Because of his sharp, percussive and wildly propulsive playing, Prokofiev was called "The Bolshevik pianist" or considered as "a steel pianist - with steel fingers, steel biceps, steel triceps."

Music:

Prokofiev's music represents a turning away from emotional thoughts and formal complexity of late German Romanticism. Instead his music represents pistons (cyclical movements of metal in engine); clankings (sounds of the heavy piece of metal struck together); and the machinery of a new age. Therefore, such a new music created an enormous stir in the 1920's and made many people uncomfortable. Once the Resolution was launched by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Prokofiev's music had been criticized as 'formalism', which means "anti-national and contained a strong spirit of European and American music". In other words, Prokofiev's music was blamed for threatening and weakening the Soviet musical culture. Among his formalistic works were 'War and Peace', Piano Sonata no 6 and some other piano works. However, today some people considered that the above-mentioned critic was misjudged. Prokofiev's music had enriched the Russian musical culture and influenced other Russian composers very greatly. In conclusion, though Prokofiev's music was sometimes very lyrical, his music was generally sharp, mechanical and slashing attack on the romantic musical conventions. This means that his music was anti-Romantic or termed as "Neo-Classicism".

Composing Habit:

Prokofiev usually composed within a traditional framework. He used 19th Century forms for most of his works. He used to apply complex rhythms to make his music motoric and driving; graceful and vigorous too. Besides that, he would twist aound the tonality and sharp dissonances - suggesting his intelligent imagination or sometimes occasional humor. The textures of his works often seemed to have a shining brilliance of polished steel. Moreover, Prokofiev could compose fine, lyrical melodies whenever possible - they could be sorrowful, touching and charming for its fresh simplicity. However, lyricism is not what Prokofiev emphasized on but as described above, it is "Neo-Classicism".

Prokofiev's Quote:

"Formalism is the name given to music not understood on first hearing," Prokofiev's opinion on the vague term 'formalism' "The Resolution...had separated decayed tissue in the composers' creative production from healthy part...The Resolution is very important because it demonstrates that the formalist movement is alien to the Soviet people..." Prokofiev

Prokofiev's Death:

Being troubled by ill health and depressed by his breakup of his marriage, Prokofiev finally died in Moscow on 5 March, 1953, the same day that Stalin died.