Sergey Prokofiev
and His World

AUGUST 8–10, August 15–17, and October 24–25, 2008

About the Festival

Schedule 2008

back to top

back to top

back to top

About Prokofiev

Three composers educated in Russia before and after the Revolution of 1917 rose to nearly unparalleled prominence during the 20th century: Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. Of the three, Sergey Prokofiev is perhaps the most popular but least well understood and closely studied. Like Stravinsky, Prokofiev left Russia, but unlike him returned voluntarily in the mid 1930s to live out one of the most productive periods of his career in Stalin's Russia. Ironically, he died on the very same day as Stalin. Like Stravinsky, Prokofiev lived and worked in France and the United States. In contrast to Shostakovich, who never emigrated, Prokofiev did not survive Stalin and never assumed a place as an official symbol of the Soviet regime. Like his two contemporaries, Prokofiev showed a striking versatility as a composer and a performer.

Prokofiev is best remembered for a few popular scores, including Peter and the Wolf and Romeo and Juliet. His various works for the violin, piano, flute, and cello became standard in the repertoire of the 20th century. But much of his music is not well known, and the twists and turns in his career and style demand close inspection and reconsideration. Likewise, his views on art, politics, and the spiritual challenges of modern life require an understanding of the several worlds in which he worked: the St. Petersburg of his youth, Paris in the interwar period, and the United States, where he lived periodically and where he composed his greatest operatic success, The Love for Three Oranges. His career taken as a whole allows us to rethink the nature of modernism and the connection of music to 20th-century politics and culture in Russia, Europe, and America.

The Bard Music Festival offers the first close examination of Prokofiev's life and career since the historical archives left behind in Russia at his death were partially opened in 2003. Prokofiev's public was the widest and most international of the three great 20th-century Russian masters. His music reached not only the Soviet masses, but it also had a decisive following in the West.

It was never too closely associated with Soviet communism. Therefore, this year's Bard Music Festival will not be exclusively a rediscovery, but a comprehensive reconsideration of a well-known figure whose personality and achievement have until now only been understood in a fragmentary and selective manner. The festival will present a wide range of Prokofiev's work and music by his teachers, contemporaries, and successors, including Sergey Taneyev, Aleksandr Glazunov, Igor Stravinsky, Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, John Alden Carpenter, and Serge Rachmaninoff, among others. The 19th volume in the award-winning Bard Festival series published by Princeton University Press will be Prokofiev and His World, edited by Simon Morrison.

This season is made possible in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the generous support of the Board of the Bard Music Festival and the Friends of the Fisher Center.

Additional underwriting has been provided by Jeanne Donovan Fisher, James H. Ottaway Jr., Felicitas S. Thorne, Bettina Baruch Foundation, Mimi Levitt, Homeland Foundation, Joanna M. Migdal, Andrea and Kenneth L. Miron, and Margo and Anthony Viscusi.

Past Festivals

• Prokofiev and His World, 2008
• Elgar and His World, 2007
• Liszt and His World, 2006
• Copland and His World, 2005
• Shostakovich and His World, 2004
• Janáček and His World, 2003
• Mahler and His World, 2002
• Debussy and His World, 2001
• Beethoven and His World, 2000
• Schoenberg and His World, 1999
• Tchaikovsky and His World, 1998
• Haydn and His World, 1997
• Charles Ives and His World, 1996
• Bartók and His World, 1995
• Schumann and His World, 1994
• Dvorak and His World, 1993
• Richard Strauss and His World, 1992
• Mendelssohn and His World, 1991
• Brahms and His World, 1990

Book Series

In 2006, the series was honored with an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award.

	Prokofiev and His World, edited by Simon Morrison, 2008 forthcoming
	Elgar and His World, edited by Byron Adams, 2007 $26.95
	Liszt and His World, edited by Christopher H. Gibbs and Dana Gooley, 2006 $26.95
	Copland and His World, edited by Judith Tick and Carol J. Oja, 2005 $22.95
	Shostakovich and His World, edited by Laurel E. Fay, 2004 Out of stock. Order from the publisher. $26.95
	Janacek and His World, edited by Michael Beckerman, 2003 $26.95
	Mahler and His World, edited by Karen Painter, 2002 $26.95
	Debussy and His World, edited by Jane Fulcher, 2001 $26.95
	Beethoven and His World, edited by Scott Burnham and Michael P. Steinberg, 2000 $26.95
	Schoenberg and His World, edited by Walter Frisch, 1999 Out of stock Order from the publisher. $27.95
	Tchaikovsky and His World, edited by Leslie Kearney, 1998 $26.95
	Haydn and His World, edited by Elaine Sisman, 1997 $27.95
	Charles Ives and His World, edited by J. Peter Burkholder, 1996 $26.95
	Bartok and His World, edited by Peter Laki, 1995 $26.95
	Schumann and His World, edited by R. Larry Todd, 1994 $26.95
	Dvorak and His World, edited by Michael Beckerman, 1993 Out of stock Order from the publisher.
	Richard Strauss and His World, edited by Bryan Gilliam, 1992 Out of stock Order from the publisher. $45.00
	Mendelssohn and His World, edited by R. Larry Todd, 1991 $45.00
	Brahms and His World, edited by Walter Frisch, 1990 $26.95

All titles can be ordered from the Bard Music Festival Office or directly from the Princeton University Press by mail or telephone. Credit cards and checks are accepted. Payment is required in advance. A $2.00 charge will be added to all orders to cover postage and handling. Contact:

Bard Music Festival Office
Bard College
PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
Tel: 845-758-7410
E-mail: bmf@bard.edu