Mira Mendelson
Maria-Cecilia Abramovna Mendelson (* December 26, 1914 . Jul / 8. January 1915 greg. 1915 in Kiev , † 8. June 1968 in Moscow ) was a Russian writer and the second wife and collaborator of the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev .
Life
Maria-Cecilia Abramowna Mendelson was the daughter of a Jewish professor. She studied literature at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow .
In 1938 she met the Russian composer, conductor and pianist Sergei Prokofiev. She was 23 and he was 48 years old, and he was married to the Spanish-born singer Lina Prokofiev (1897–1989). The first indication of their relationship was the use of one of their poems in the Sieben Lieder cycle (1939). In 1941 Prokofiev left his first wife Lina and their two sons and lived openly with Mira, who was also his secretary, librettist and literary advisor.
They married on January 13, 1948. Lina had not consented to the divorce, but Prokofiev had used a Soviet law from 1944 that required all existing marriages to be registered in order to be valid. Since the Prokofiev had not done this, Prokofiev was able to marry Mira without a divorce.
Five weeks after the wedding, Prokofiev's ex-wife was arrested on false charges of espionage and sentenced to 20 years in a labor camp; she was not released until 1956, three years after Prokofiev's death. The arrest led to speculation among Russian emigrants in the West that Mira might be an agent of Stalin's secret police, which was supposed to subvert the independent spirit of Prokofiev and keep it in line; authorities may have forced her to marry so they could imprison Spanish-born and therefore suspect first wife, Lina. Mira's friends dismissed this theory as ridiculous - Mira wasn't even a member of the Communist Party and was connected to her husband. Prokofiev was shocked by Lina's fate and did what he could to achieve her freedom.
The couple spent the five years up to Prokofiev's death in poor circumstances. Prokofiev was chronically ill after a fall, his music was banned under Stalinism , and there were no signs of state recognition.
In 1953 Prokofiev died. Mira cataloged his manuscripts and wrote several articles about him. The Soviet censorship prevented them from mentioning their personal coexistence. She died 15 years after Prokofiev.
Publications
- The truth about Prokofiev. The drama of the last few years: a memory diary . Ernst Kuhn (editor, foreword, translator), 2005, ISBN 978-3936637076
Individual evidence
- ^ Mira Mendelson in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved November 19, 2016.
- ↑ archive.wikiwix.com: The Prokofiev Page
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mendelson, Mira |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Abramowna Mendelson, Maria-Cecilia |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 8, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kiev |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 8, 1968 |
| Place of death | Moscow |