Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78 • Lieutenant Kijé Suite, Op. 60
Sergey Prokofiev was born in 1891 at Sontsovka in Ukraine, the son of a prosperous estate manager. An only child, his musical talents were
fostered by his mother, a cultured amateur pianist, and he tried his hand at composition
at the age of five, later being tutored at home by the composer Glière. In
1904, on the advice of Glazunov, his parents allowed him to enter the St
Petersburg Conservatory, where he continued his studies as a pianist and
composer until 1914, owing more to the influence of senior fellow-students
Asafyev and Myaskovsky than to the older generation of teachers, represented by
Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Even as a student Prokofiev had begun to make his mark as a
composer, arousing enthusiasm and hostility in equal measure, and inducing
Glazunov, now director of the Conservatory, to walk out of a performance of The
Scythian S