Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Sonata no. 8 op. 84
The Piano Sonata no. 8 op. 84 by Sergei Prokofiev is the last and longest of his three so-called “war sonatas”. These are frequently associated with the siege of Leningrad by the German armed forces. This context certainly plays a major role in the reception of these austere-sounding piano sonatas. The world premiere of Sonata no. 8 was given by Emil Gilels on 30 December 1944 in Moscow. The great pianist Sviatoslav Richter also held the work in high regard: “Of Prokofiev’s sonatas, this is the richest. It has a complex inner life with profound conflicts. Sometimes, it seems to listen, as if in a haze, to the inexorable passage of time.”
In addition to the first edition of 1946 and the contemporary editions published in the West, it was possible to examine the autograph manuscript preserved in Saint Petersburg for the present Urtext edition. The preface is by Prokofiev expert Simon Morrison. Alexander Melnikov, who has also recorded this sonata on CD, explores in his fingerings the challenging terrain with an expert’s eye.
About the Composer
Sergej Prokofjew
Together with Shostakovich, Prokofiev is the Soviet Union’s most important composer. He left behind a
wide-ranging oeuvre from the most modern to neo-classically simple works, from
propagandistic commissions to compositions that the CPSU rejected as being formalistic.
| 1891 | Prokofiev is born on 23 April in Sontsovka (Ukraine), the son of a farmer. |
| 1904–14 | He studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. |
| from 1908 | He is a member of the circle around Serge Diaghilev, who occupies himself intensively with contemporary music. |
| 1911–18 | Avantgarde compositions such as Sarcasms, the Piano Concertos nos. 1 and 2, “Visions fugitives”, “Scythian Suite” are dismissed as being futuristic. |
| 1916–17 | The “Symphonie Classique”, drawing on classical models, brings him international renown. |
| 1918 | Prokofiev leaves the Soviet Union and travels to the USA, where his opera “The Love for Three Oranges” is performed in Chicago, and then travels to Paris in 1922. He enjoys a close cooperation with Diaghilev and writes ballet compositions. |
| 1919–23 | He composes the opera “The Fiery Angel”, which receives its first performance posthumously in Venice in 1954. |
| 1923–25 | The composer continues to develop his avantgarde musical language, for instance in the 2nd Symphony. |
| 1927 | He enjoys a successful concert tour around the Soviet Union. |
| 1929 | “The Gambler” is premiered in Brussels. |
| 1936 | Prokofiev returns to his home country. He writes compositions in line with the cultural ideology of the Soviet Union. He turns towards a simpler music as early as the beginning of the 1930s. “Peter and the Wolf” is composed. |
| 1946 | “The Engagement in the Monastery” is performed in Prague and “War and Peace” in Leningrad. |
| 1948 | He is accused of formalism. |
| 1953 | Prokofiev
dies on 5 March in Moscow. |
About the Authors
Andreas Pernpeintner (Editor)
Andreas Pernpeintner, born in 1982, read music pedagogy, musicology and history at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU). Expansion of his thesis into the book publication “Klaviertechnik nach Ansgar Janke. Bewegungsoptimierung beim Instrumentalspiel”. In 2012 doctorate in musicology with the thesis “Aloys Georg Fleischmann (1880–1964). Musikalische Mikrogeschichte zwischen Deutschland und Irland”, research stays in Ireland and Great Britain, doctorate on a scholarship from the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes”. Pernpeintner worked for the “Bayerische Musiker-Lexikon Online”. From 2011 to 2024, he was employed by the “Kritische Ausgabe der Werke von Richard Strauss”, for which he edited all of the composer’s lieder with piano accompaniment. As a music journalist he has written for the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Since 2024 he has been an editor at G. Henle Publishers with a focus on piano music and works by female composers.
Product Safety Informations (GPSR)
G. Henle Verlag
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