Overview

The operas of Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) mark a significant contribution to twentieth-century music and theatre. Opera was Prokofiev's preferred genre; not counting juvenile and unfinished works, he wrote a total of eight. Yet,to date, little has been published about the context, rationale or musical and compositional processes behind this output. While systematic studies of Prokofiev's symphonies and his ballets exist, the operas have come under no such scrutiny. This book is the first in the English language to engage with the composer's operatic output in its entirety and provides a contextual, critical and musico-analytical account of all of Prokofiev's operas, including those juvenile works that are unpublished as well as the incomplete works composed towards the end of his life. It also includes synopses of the operas. Drawing on a wealth of archival material and other sources, the book provides the compelling untold story of Prokofiev the opera composer.

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9781783274482

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Reviews

Christina Guillaumier has made the first comprehensive and critical evaluation of [Prokofiev's operatic] works. The result forms a most persuasive and thoroughly researched case for this least known area of his oeuvre to which he nonetheless had brought his highest powers of thought and imagination to bear. . . . [H]ighly detailed and at the same time lucid and readable, a feat that should satisfy both the scholarly mind and arouse the interest of the non-specialist reader. . . . The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev is to be warmly welcomed for opening a valuable new perspective on this major composer's life and works. -- Andrew Thomson * The Musical Times * [G]ives an in-depth analysis and vivid narrative of the music and would be of particular interest to musicologists and operatic producers, but also to the non-specialist reader. . . . [T]his well considered and compelling monograph does indeed provide 'a coherent and illuminating narrative of Prokofiev's operatic career' (p. 2) and Guillaumier's scholarly work certainly contributes significantly to the existing Prokofev scholarship. -- Viktoria Zora * Slavonic and East European Review *

Christina Guillaumier has made the first comprehensive and critical evaluation of [Prokofiev's operatic] works. The result forms a most persuasive and thoroughly researched case for this least known area of his oeuvre to which he nonetheless had brought his highest powers of thought and imagination to bear. . . . [H]ighly detailed and at the same time lucid and readable, a feat that should satisfy both the scholarly mind and arouse the interest of the non-specialist reader. . . . The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev is to be warmly welcomed for opening a valuable new perspective on this major composer's life and works. -- Andrew Thomson * The Musical Times *

Christina Guillaumier has made the first comprehensive and critical evaluation of [Prokofiev's operatic] works. The result forms a most persuasive and thoroughly researched case for this least known area of his oeuvre to which he nonetheless had brought his highest powers of thought and imagination to bear. . . . [H]ighly detailed and at the same time lucid and readable, a feat that should satisfy both the scholarly mind and arouse the interest of the non-specialist reader. . . . The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev is to be warmly welcomed for opening a valuable new perspective on this major composer's life and works.--Andrew Thomson The Musical Times

Author Information

CHRISTINA GUILLAUMIER is a pianist and music historian with an early background in the dramatic arts. She is Head of Undergraduate Programmes at the Royal College of Music. Her research interests include Russian and Soviet music and opera, piano music and genetic criticism. She is the recipient of several research awards including from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), theEuropean Union, the American Musicological Society and the Russian Federation. Recent publications include a co-edited series of landmark essays entitled Rethinking Prokofiev.

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