Why a Classical Symphony?
Edwin Olson
Fall, 1998
Prokofiev was a brilliant composer and pianist from Sontsovka (the Ukraine), who lived from 1891 through 1953—during the heart of the Stalinist era. He was quickly recognized as a master pianist, and developed a reputation of being an enfant terrible, a modernist rogue who was either not willing, or not capable (as a young composer, at least) to restrain his emotional intensity. He reportedly described his pieces as “hard as iron and steel”—a blunt presentation of emotion. He seemed to enjoy being called a rebel, and wanted to prove to the world that he was a avant garde as anyone else.
After an interview with Glazunov at age 12, he was enrolled in the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was difficult, stubborn, prideful, and made very few friends. His disdain for the classics was evident in his refusal to play Mozart of even Schubert without his “improvements”. He left the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where his ten-year stay exposed him to teachers including Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov, and Tcherepnin, and headed for London in 1914. Once there, he began to hear an every widening array of styles. In particular, Stravinsky began to influence him.
With this reputation, it is surprising that Prokofiev would chose to render his first symphony in the classical style. He had expressed in the conservatory a contempt for the crudeness and simplicity of ld works. This, coupled with his fervent desire to be acknowledged as a unique, creatively independent composer, led him to develop fantastic pieces with very little adherence to classical rule. So why did he pursue a classical symphony? Perhaps it was the rejection of a piece commissioned by Dyagilev, or an attempt to weaken claims that he was an unredeemable rebel.
Some visual artists have been known to produce ultra-realistic drawings that almost appear to be photographs in order to counter claims that their modern art is the result of a lack of skill—so perhaps the Classical Symphony was Prokofiev’s proof to his critics that he could write in a classical (and technically recognized) way.
On the other hand, perhaps the Classical Symphony was a caricature (if parody is too strong) of the style of music he had expressed contempt for previously. There is evidence in the score—when did Mozart or Haydn ever rely on such ridiculously over emphasized arpeggios as Prokofiev used in his first movement? Certainly the classical masters used arpeggios, but not in such gratuitous excess as in the first and last movements. Even the third movement is a tremendous exaggeration of the classical form, as though Prokofiev was mocking the simplicity of the masters by being outright clumsy. However, even if it is a caricature, it cannot be denied that it is supremely well done, and that it is more playful than outright antagonistic.
One thing can be sure: the Classical Symphony did not reflect an abandonment of the style Prokofiev felt was his own. We know this to be true since, even while he was working on the Classical Symphony, he was also working on an opera, Dostoyevsky’s Gamber, and Violin Concerto No. 1, both intense and stylistically extreme works. Further, Prokofiev himself declared that e aim of the Classical Symphony was to write “the kind of symphony that Haydn or Mozart might have written if they lived in the twentieth century”—not to write a purely classical symphony, but a modern continuation of an older ideal.
We are left with no clear reason why Prokofiev chose to compose a classical symphony, but there are a number of interesting possibilities. Perhaps he was trying to prove he could compose in a more traditional way, or perhaps he was mocking the classical style. Then again, perhaps he was attempting to challenge himself, or was paying homage to the classical masters. We will likely never know with certainty.
References:
http://www.oberlin.edu/~GARD/prokofiev/biography.html
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/people_n2/music_n2/prokofiev.html
http://www.abt.org/archives/composers/prokofiev_s.html
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/1891/op25.html