Study composers

Prokofiev
- Student at St Petersburg Conservatory while Rachmaninov & Scriabin were famous in Russia
- Stubborn, intelligent, obstinate, cocky, undeniable talent
- Born 4/23/1891 in Sontsovka, Ukraine
- 6 yrs old: facile pianist, 9 yrs old: trying to compose opera
- Teachers – Rimsky-Korsakov, Nicolai Tcherepnin, Anatol Liadov
- Disturbed everyone w/ music & personality
- Suggestion diaboligue & concerto 1 written while in St. Peters. Cons. and he was denounced as “extreme leftist”
- Music: bleak dissonances, propulsive rhythms, complete control, emotional detachment
- Didn’t like chopin & liszt’s music
- Moved to USA, where he was somewhat admired but generally disliked, after Russian revolution
- Then moved to Paris
- Melody isn’t was his music is about; He represented sharp, eager, slashing attack – antiromanticism
- Returned to Russia
- Died in Moscow 3/5/1953 – same day as Stalin
- Music constantly heard: 2 of his 5 piano concertos, violin concertos, fifth symphony, sonata 3 7 and 8, ballets: l’enfant prodigue, romeo and juliet, cinderella

Shostakovich
- Born 9/25/1906 in Petersburg
- Serious, nervous, shy, chain-smoking, talented
- Composed his 1st symphony (impressive one) at 19 yrs old
- Adventurous, 12-tone, abstract music banned in Russia; no more bartok, shostakovich, stravinsky, etc
- criticized “formalism” composers – anything modern and dissonant, pessimistic; Prokofiev said “Formalism is the name given to music not understood on first hearing.”
- Composers were left alone until 1930’s. But Stalin got more paranoid, created ideological restrictions – 3 criteria for soviet opera: 1) “realistic” music language, 2) w/o harsh tonalities & based on Russian folksong, 3) positive plt w/ happy ending.
- Stalin “attacked” Shostakovich
- So horrified Shostakovich wrote only “safe” music starting w/ 5th symphony in 1937. At very end of his life, he finally wrote music he wanted to write.
- Heart attack and disappeared from public life, but stil composed
- 1962: completed 13th symphony, some of which represented massacre of Jews in WWII, so officials disapproved, and was performed rarely
- Became sad, bitter and depressed, knowing what he could’ve done w/ complete freedom
- Related himself to hamlet & King lear
- 4th, 7th and 8th (and other) symphonies are about terrible prewar years (Stalin)
- majority of his symphonies and tombstones – too many of his ppl died and were buried in unknown places, even to their relatives: “I’m willing to write a composition for each of the victims, but that’s impossible, and that’s why I dedicate my music to them all”
- After Khrushchev’s fall, artistic doctrine relaxed; radios unjammed, students and young composers had freedom; heard stravinsky and bartok again; but new composers didn’t imitate after shostakovich and prokofiev
- But freedom cracked after Czechoslovakian uprising of 1968
- Genius who lost confidence in himself andworld
- “No, I can’t go on describing my unhappy life”—last page of his book as unhappy as his 14th symphony
- “And perhaps their [young people of Soviet Union] lives would be free of the bitterness that has colored my life gray.”

Both
- Restricted by Central Committee of the Communist Party
- All composers under attack apologized to Communist party & Stalin
- After 1948, all individualistic music squashed – period of complete uniformity
- second All-Union Congress of Composers spoke up for more freedom in 1957, party decree of 1958 that exonerated composer who had been attacked in 48.

• Poor Shostakovich. I remember searching and digging around for more of his piano music last year, because his few works were amazing. I loved it! But turned up w/ very litte, and now I can see why. His talent was unfortunately boxed and squashed.

One of my favorite & toughest composers to master.

- Born 10/22/1811 in Raiding, Hungary
- Was everything: Kind, generous, arrogant, capricious, humble, cocky, etc
- Genius & good looking
- Influenced by Berlioz, Paganini (transcendental technique & showmanship), Chopin (poetry)
- Popular w/ the women
- Invented the term “recital” in 1839
- Met countess d’Agoutl who left her husband for Liszt; later separated, she wrote a book & Liszt cuts a pretty poor figure in it
- Liszt’s daughter married Liszt’s 1st great pupil, Bulow, then left him for Wagner
- Appointed at Weimar court
- Liszt & Wagner leaned and influence each other
- Liszt’s music needs pianists of unbounded technique, of daring (bold enough to make mistakes), great sonority, of delicate shadings, of exhibitionism, and extroversion tempered w/ an ability to float an aristocratic line, of steady yet flexible rhythm…—great, more pressure on my current Liszt piece. lol
- His long thumb extended even further than the middle knuckle of his pointer finger! .. no fair!

Scriabin
- born 1/6/1872
- died Moscow 4/27/1915 from blood poisoning
- almost insane (toward the end)
- precocious, convivial, party-going, alcoholic-prone
- sensuous, colorful work
- suffered from rare genetic peculiarity “synesthesia” – sound is translated directly into color; can’t hear music w/o seeing colors
- left his wife, Vera, for another woman
- He identified with God – journal quotes “I am freedom, I am life, I am a dream, I am the world, I am nothing. I am God! I am nothing. I am play…” etc. Strange.
- Chart of colors: C – red, C sharp – Violet, A – Green, B – Pearly blue, etc.
- Thought of himself as true Messiah
- Strong parallel btwn music of Shoenberg & late Scriabin; break away from triadic harmony into fourths; more dissonant; Schoenberg wrote atonal, Scriabin was very close to atonal

Rachmaninov
- born 4/1/1873
- died in Bev Hills 3/28/1943
- wrote essentially same kind of music throughout his life
- stubborn; wouldn’t be pushed around
- dour, serious, taciturn, and open to few friends
- sought help from Tchaikovsky
- After failed performance, wrote nothing for 3 years until saw Dr. Nikolai Dahl; successful treatment; composed his most popular work – C minor Concerto
- clear, precise, strong & logical work
- Amazing, almost frightening, memory – hear music, like symphony, and play it back next day, next yr, or next decade
- Moscow Conservatory Prof. would assign long & demanding piece to learn; He’d memorize it overnight; played 2 days later w/ complete artistic finish

Both
- students together of Nikolai Zverev
- Moscow Conservatory

• I know more Rachmaninov pieces and played his Moment Musical, but I’m not familiar enough with Scriabin. I’ll have to listen to his earlier works vs his later works when he became a bit “insane.” Should be interesting.

Studied Ravel & Isang Yun

1. Beethoven
2. Bach
3. Mozart
4. Debussy
5. Ravel
6. Liszt
7. Rachmaninov
8. Shoenberg
9. Isang Yun
10. Prokofiev