Violin Sonata No. 1 (Prokofiev) Explained

Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80, was composed between 1938 and 1946, two years after Violin Sonata No. 2. Prokofiev was awarded the 1947 Stalin Prize for this composition.

Structure

The work is about 30 minutes long and is in four movements of roughly equal length:

1. Andante assai (F minor)
2. Allegro brusco (C major)
3. Andante (F major)
4. Allegrissimo – Andante assai, come prima (F major → F minor)

Prokofiev had described the slithering violin scales at the end of the 1st and 4th movements as "wind passing through a graveyard".

The violin sonata was premiered by David Oistrakh (violin) and Lev Oborin (piano) on 23 October 1946, coached by the composer. During rehearsals, Oborin played a certain passage, marked forte, too gently for Prokofiev's liking, who insisted it should be more aggressive. Oborin replied that he was afraid of drowning out the violin, but Prokofiev said "It should sound in such a way that people should jump in their seat, and people will say 'Is he out of his mind?.^[1]

The first and third movements of the sonata were played at Prokofiev's funeral by Oistrakh and Samuil Feinberg.^[2]

External links

• • Recording of Violin Sonata No. 1, Sergei Ostrovsky (violin), Ido Bar-Shai (piano) (Wayback Machine archive).
• , Oistrakh, Oborin (1946)
• , Live recording from Wigmore Hall, Lana Trotovšek (violin), Maria Canyigueral (piano)

Notes and References

1. Barney Zwartz, "A masterclass in Prokofiev", The Age, 5 July 2008. This anecdote was supplied to the writer by Boris Berman, who studied with Oborin.
2. Simon Morrison, The People's Artist: Prokofiev's Soviet Years, Oxford University Press, 2009