Scythian suite

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Sergei Prokofiev around 1918

The Scythian Suite op. 20 by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofjew (1891–1953) was compiled from the unfinished ballet “Ala and Lolli” on old Russian material and caused a scandal when it was first performed in 1916.

Emergence

Prokofiev had successfully completed his studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in the spring of 1914 and made a trip to London that summer , where he met Sergei Djagilew , the founder of the Ballets Russes , among others . He commissioned him to compose a ballet based on a Russian fairy tale or a prehistoric subject. With “Ala und Lolli”, the Russian poet Sergei Gorodezki proposed an old Slavic fairy tale, based on motifs from his own volume of poetry. Prokofiev began work immediately and presented Dyagilev, who was staying in Italy at the time, with a piano reduction that was completed in early February 1915. However, he rejected both the music and the text as too little individual and interesting. Nonetheless, he commissioned Prokofiev with another ballet based on motifs from Russian folk tales (the ballet Le chout, later published as op. 21 ). Prokofiev put together a four-movement orchestral suite from the ballet music “Ala and Lolli” , which Dyagilev had rejected, and named it Scythian Suite .

World premiere and reception

The Scythian Suite was premiered on January 29, 1916 under Prokofiev's own direction as part of the concerts organized by Alexander Siloti in St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater . The performance became the greatest scandal in the history of Prokofiev's premieres. The then Conservatory Director Alexander Glasunow left the hall during the concert, the majority of the audience was outraged and the reviews were partly devastating. Prokofiev, however, was not very impressed and the next day wrote succinctly to Moscow that the performance had "[...] went on with a real noise [...]"

The score of the Scythian Suite was published in 1923 as Prokofiev's op. 20 by A. Gutheil .

Cast and characterization

The very large ensembles Orchestra includes the following instruments: piccolo , 3 flutes (the third flute and alto flute), 3 oboes , English horn , three clarinets (3rd clarinet and clarinet ), bass clarinet , 3 bassoons , contrabassoon , eight horns , four ( optional 5) trumpets (3rd trumpet also E flat trumpet), 4 trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion (2 pair cymbals , bass drum , triangle , tam-tam , tambourine , military drum , glockenspiel , xylophone ), celesta , 2 harps , piano and strings .

Sentence sequence:

  • I. The invocation of Veles and Alas. Allegro feroce
  • II. Tschuschbog and the dance of the evil spirits. Allegro sostenuto
  • III. The night. Andantino
  • IV. The departure of lollipops and the sunrise. Tempestoso

The performance of the Scythian Suite is around 20 minutes. The underlying plot refers to legends of early Russian history: The Scythians worship Veles, the sun god, and Ala, the goddess of spring. The god of death Tschuschbog tries to steal the statue of Alas with his sinister helpers at night, whereby the hero Lolli confronts him and with the help of Veles wins over Tschuschbog, who sets in the rays of the sunrise.

Prokofiev's music is unmistakably influenced by Stravinsky 's ballet Le sacre du printemps , which premiered in 1913 , and which had a great impact on him: ostinate rhythms , archaic-evocative motor skills and garish timbres dominate. However, there is no constant change of meter as with Stravinsky. In contrast, lyrical insertions (as in the first movement) and the third movement with almost impressionistic colors appear. The sunrise at the end is portrayed with a tremendous increase in sound over an organ point in B.

The Schoenberg -Students Winfried Zillig conceded the work decades later "[...] the lack of melody in the thematic sense at all, the wild juxtaposition of harmonious excesses in terms of atonality or at best in terms of a kind of fourth harmonic , and finally the almost non-stop penetrance a steely sound fantasy, translated into the roar of a giant orchestra. And yet this piece still exerts a fascination that cannot be explained theoretically. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Introduction to the work Robert Cummings (Engl.)
  2. ↑ quote from Natalja Pawlowna Sawkina: Sergei Sergejewitsch Prokofjew . Schott, Mainz / Piper, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-7957-8281-3 , p. 81
  3. ↑ Winfried Zillig: Variations on New Music. List Verlag Munich, 1964, pp. 94/95

literature

  • Natalja Pavlovna Sawkina: Sergei Sergejewitsch Prokofjew . Schott, Mainz / Piper, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-7957-8281-3 , pp. 73-81.
  • Hansjürgen Schaefer: Concert book orchestral music. PZ. VEB Dt. Publisher f. Musik, Leipzig 1974, pp. 41–42.
  • CD supplement SWR music / hänssler Classic, CD-No. 93.289: Les Ballets Russes Vol. 8; SWR SO Baden-Baden and Freiburg, led by Alejo Perez and Kirill Karabits. Text by Rainer Peters.

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