Notes for: August 12, 2014
In 1918, Prokofiev became convinced that revolutionary Russia, with the upheaval of its political and cultural institutions, was no place for a still unknown composer and concert pianist to build his career. In August, consequently, he left his homeland for the United States. Although he started out successfully with a solo concert in New York City, he found himself in financial difficulties and in April 1920, he moved to Paris, the liveliest music center in Europe. The site of his early successes in composition, Paris remained his principal residence until 1935 when he resettled in the Soviet Union.
In 1924, Prokofiev met a young Russian dancer, Boris Romanov, at the Paris home of the impresario Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballet Russe. Romanov was planning a series of short choreographic works depicting the life of traveling circus entertainers, and he commissioned Prokofiev to write the music for a ballet, Trapeze. Romanov asked for an instrumental suite in six brief episodes with sharply contrasting rhythms, scored for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass.
The ballet was premiered by Romanov’s company in Berlin late in 1925. In addition, Prokofiev used the music for this concert piece, which had its premiere in Moscow in 1927. Today the ballet is all but forgotten, but the quintet stands on its own as absolute music. While the dance origins of the score are clearly evident in its sharply accented rhythms, it does not illustrate any specific dramatic action, and is not evocative of the circus in mood, rhythm or instrumental color.
The quintet is one of Prokofiev’s most challenging works for both performers and listeners. I. I. Martinov, in his article on Soviet chamber music in Cobbett’s Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, cites the quintet’s “fondness for harsh and rigid harmonic complexes,” “complicated melodic phrases superimposed one above the other” and “intricate rhythmic patterns.”
The first movement is a playful theme and two variations. The theme is in two parts, as is each variation. The theme and the first variation are in moderato tempo; the second variation is in a contrasting vivace with a vigorously assertive rhythm.
The second movement is sardonic, with the woodwinds supported by complex counterpoint in the strings. The replacement of the cello by the double bass adds a jazz element to the bass line.
The third movement is in a difficult 5/4 rhythm, with constantly changing stressed beats.
The fourth movement suggests a slow, dramatic processional, its continuous sound from the winds testing the endurance of the musicians.
The fifth movement brings back the sardonic quality of the second movement and challenges the skills of the double bass player.
The concluding movement begins as an ironic, slow-moving minuet and becomes increasingly jagged in rhythm and harmony. After a more animated middle section, the opening theme returns, leading to an exuberant coda with oriental colors.