Sergei Prokofiev:
Dance of the knights
Sergei Prokofiev biography
Sergei Prokofiev is a composer born in Sontsovka, Eastern Ukraine on April 23rd 1891. That would make him 124 years old today. He didn't live in Sontsovka for his entire life, he later moved to a small estate in the Smolensk area. Sadly, Prokofiev died March 5th, 1953 of a heart attack. He was only 62 years old.
Sergei Prokofiev was taught theatre and arts from an early age. His mother also taught him the piano when he was young. His family was very musically inclined. Prokofiev did have two sisters, but they both died in infancy. His parents were Sergei Prokofiev and Maria Zhitkova.
Sergei Prokofievs personality was very child-like and he was filled with optimism. He was also very free spirited. He was very well known as being a 'musical rebel' for not always following the musical rules.
Prokofiev was always interested in music. He was composing music by the age of 6 and performed his first opera by the age of 9. Throughout his entire life span Sergei had fifty one compositions, even though he had unimpressive marks in The Conservatory. His claim to fame was how he was driven from a young age.
Discussion of Musical Era
Since Prokofiev was born in 1891, his music was right at the end of the romantic era, but was mainly part of the modern era. Critics call his music Neo-Classical, meaning his music followed the rules of the classical era. His music is classical.
Sergei Prokofiev's music did not fit in with the romantic or modern era, but the classical. It fit in with the classical because his music normally requires a full orchestra, like I said, he followed the classical era rules,
Talk About the Music Selection
The song usually is played in an orchestra and contains many intruments from the woodwind, brass, percussion, string and keyboard families.