Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1915-1923 : behind the mask / translated and annotated by Anthony Phillips.

Author/creator Prokofiev, Sergey
Other author Phillips, Anthony, 1936 December 19- translator, editor.
Format Book
Publication InfoIthaca, NY : Cornell University Press, 2008.
Descriptionxxiii, 775 pages : illustrations, map, portraits ; 25 cm
Subjects

Uniform titleDiaries. Selections. English
Contents The Diaries -- 1915 -- 1916 -- 1917 -- 1918 -- 1919 -- 1920 -- 1921 -- 1922 -- 1923 -- Appendix 1. Prokofiev's notes on characters in The Gambler, based on the descriptions in Dostoyevsky's novella -- Appendix 2. Description of 'The Seven' -- Appendix 3. 'The Russian Composer Prokofiev in Japan' / Eleonora Sablina -- Appendix 4. Musical America, 28 September 1918 / Frederick H. Martens -- Appendix 5. Interview in Vechernye Birzhevye Novosti, 12 May 1916 -- Appendix 6. 'Fantastic Lollypops' / Ben Hecht.
Abstract This second volume of Prokofiev's diary records an astonishing record of artistic accomplishment against a backdrop of cataclysmic change. The composer dodges gunfire in Petrograd during the February Revolution, but as a rule pays attention to political events only as they affect him personally. Composition and performance are the main concerns, along with the persistent and ultimately failed struggle to arrange a performance of his opera The Gambler. As in his Conservatory years, he also reveals his own aesthetic principles as he reacts to the work of others, sometimes with dark humor ("bored out of my life" by Mahler's 7th Symphony, "it is like kissing a stillborn child.").
General noteMap on lining papers.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN9780801447020
ISBN080144702X