I discovered Sergei Prokofiev's Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Opus 74 quite by accident.
It was a Sunday, I was at work sitting at the secretary's desk, doing our weekly inventory when I heard the Ural Rhapsody from his ballet "The Tale of the Stone Flower" played on the radio. I immediately decided to purchase a CD of the work and next time I was at the Rose Records downtown I purchased it. While I thoroughly enjoyed the excerpts from the ballet, I fell in love with the Cantata.
The Patriotic Cantata, a genre of music that was taken to its zenith in the former Soviet Union and has no real counterpart in the rest of the world. The genre can trace it's lineage back to the years immediately after the revolution. Here's the recipe: it must be based on a national historical event that had to be treated dramatically and stirringly, it must be monumental in concept, where the people would not merely listen but actively participate in the performance and it should not pose a 'problem' for the unsophisticated listener. All these elements should enhance the sense of togetherness.
Composers who wrote in this genre included Alexander Kastalsky, Vassilev Buglai, Dmitri Shostakovich, Alexander Krein, Lev Knipper, Alexander Davidenko and of course Prokofiev. Because of the vast forces needed to perform many of these works they have not been performed regularly.
Prokofiev became interested in writing a work based on the original texts of Lenin and Stalin after studying them in the 1930s. Upon receiving a commission from the All Union Radio Committee, he began work on the cantata in 1936 and completed it the following year. He was expecting it to be performed at the festivities celebrating the 20th anniversary of the revolution. But it was not performed (too modernist) or published during his lifetime. Prokofiev did show parts of the work to other composers whose general reaction was also negative.
The first performance of the Cantata took place in 1966. Since Stalin was at this time dead and disgraced, the two movements which Prokofiev wrote using his words were dropped from the performance. Unfortunately, one of those movements was the final one and the conductor Kirill Kondrashin substituted a repeat of the second movement. The first performance of the complete cantata wouldn't take place until 1992 in London, under Neeme Jarvi. (the CD I had purchased including excerpts from the ballet)
The forces Prokofiev required for this piece include a large choir which at times divides into two, and oversized orchestra made up of quadruple woodwinds, eight horns, four trumpets, four trombones, two tubas, the usual compliment or percussion with keyboard added and a large number of strings. In addition to this group of forces he included three extra groups: an accordion orchestra, brass band and a percussion ensemble. Oh, and not to forget the speaker and his megaphone.
Here is a very good look into Prokofiev's relationship with the Soviet government.
The cantata is divided into 10 movements:
1. Prelude (Moderato - Allegro) Text from the Communist Manifesto
2. The Philosophers (Andante assai) Text by Marx
3. Interlude (Allegro - Andante - Allegro)
4. "A Tight Little Band" (Allegretto) Text by Lenin
5. Interlude (Tempestoso)
6. Revolution (Andante non troppo - Piu Mosso - Allegro moderato - Precipitato - Adagio molto) Text by Lenin
7. Victory (Andante) Text by Lenin
8. The Oath (Andante Pesante) Text by Stalin
9. Symphony (Allegro enerico - Meno mosso)
10. The Constitution (Andante assai - Andante molto) Text by Stalin
The videos are the recording of the 1966 performance:
Recitant: Ivan Petroff (Petrov)
Conductor: Kirill Kondrashin
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
I. Prelude
II. The Philosophers
III. Interlude
IV. A Tight Little Band
V. Interlude
VI. The Revolution
VII. Victory
IX. Symphony
II. The Philosophers
An interesting side note is that this work was referenced by James Horner in the score for the movie Red Heat...
Next Week: Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
Coming Weeks: Liszt: Either the Dante Symphony or the Faust Symphony, William Walton's Facade, Gian Carlo Menotti: Various works, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Music for Halloween, Lesser known ? (lesser known works by a well known composer TBD)
If Prokofiev isn't your style, maybe you'd enjoy some Mozart, specifically his Sinfonia Concertate K364, as diaried in this excellent post by Dumbo. I understand that this week we'll be exploring the famous Mozart Requiem, a work I'm really looking forward to exploring.