Symphony No. 5 (Prokofiev)

Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100, in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1944.

Background

From 1925 onward, Prokofiev’s status as a composer grew, with his 1942 Piano Sonata No. 7 receiving the Stalin Prize (Second Class). Prior to composing his Fifth Symphony, Prokofiev relocated to Moscow as a result of his increasing reliance on financial support from the Soviet Union and their threat of revoking their contributions.

The creation of the Fifth Symphony can be traced to musical ideas explored during the composition of Prokofiev's earlier work, particularly the Symphony No. 4 in C major composed fourteen years prior. Prokofiev incorporated these musical motifs into a piano score over less than a month during his stay at The Composers' House in Ivanovo, under the background of the Soviet Union’s involvement in World War II.

He gave out in a statement at the time of the work's premiere that he intended it as "a hymn to free and happy Man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit." He added, "I cannot say that I deliberately chose this theme. It was born in me and clamoured for expression. The music matured within me. It filled my soul."

Movements

The piece is in four movements, lasting 40–45 minutes:
# Andante (in B-flat major)
# Allegro marcato (in D minor)
# Adagio (in F major)
# Allegro giocoso (in B-flat major)

Movement I

The first movement is in a tightly argued sonata form: its exposition presents two themes, one calm and sustained, the other soaring with tremolo accompaniment from strings, which are then involved in an elaborate and climactic development section. The movement is wrapped up with an electrifying coda punctuated by a roaring tam-tam and low piano tremolos.
;1st theme, mm. 1–7
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Movement II

The second movement is an insistent scherzo in Prokofiev's typical toccata mode, framing a central theme in triple time.
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Movement III

The third movement is a dreamy slow movement, full of nostalgia, which nevertheless builds up to a tortured climax before receding to a quiet end.
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Movement IV

The finale starts with a cello choir playing a slow introduction recalling the first theme of the first movement, which then launches into the movement proper, a rondo. The playful ("giocoso") main theme is contrasted with two calmer episodes, one introduced by the flute, the other a chorale in the strings. Just as the movement is striving to end with a victorious tone, the music degenerates into a frenzy (rehearsal mark 111), which is stripped down to a string quartet playing staccato "wrong notes" (rehearsal mark 113) with rude interjections from low trumpets, making the ultimate orchestral unison on B-flat sound all the more ironic.
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;Theme from first movement, mm. 15–22
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Instrumentation

The work is scored for the following:

Premiere

The symphony was premiered on January 13, 1945, in the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Prokofiev himself.

As he took the stage, artillery fired. He paused until it finished. This left a great impression upon the audience, who upon leaving the Great Hall learned the gunfire marked the Red Army's crossing of the Vistula into Germany. The premiere was very well-received, and the symphony has remained one of the composer's most popular works.

Then, in November of that year, Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra introduced the score to America and recorded it in Boston's Symphony Hall on February 6 and 7, 1946, for RCA Victor, using an optical sound film process introduced by RCA in 1941; it was initially issued on 78-rpm discs and later on LP and CD. The symphony's rapid insertion into the repertoire was referenced by Dennis Dobson in his review of the 1951 Edinburgh Festival for Music Survey, where he panned the work as "noisy, uncouth" and a "falling off in maturity" from works such as ''Chout'' and the Piano Concerto No. 3 and went on to say, "that this work is well thought of and much played in both America and the Soviet Union speaks sociological and cultural volumes".''Edinburgh Festival, 1951'', Dennis Dobson. Music Survey, vol. IV, no. 2, February 1952, p. 425.

Notable recordings

References

External links

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{{Authority control

Symphonies by Sergei Prokofiev
1944 compositions
Compositions in B-flat major
Stalin Prize–winning musical compositions