Press About S. S. Prokofiev’s Creative Work: Problems of Studying and Comprehending the Material

Main Article Content

Svetlana A. Petukhova

Abstract

The article deals with the problems of actualization of the newspaper and magazine publications related to the existence of Prokofiev’s musical heritage. Sources of this kind include not only critical reviews of compositions performances, but also general reviews, advertisements, announcements, notes and other brief mentions. In the overwhelming majority of musicological studies, references to these materials are few or nonexistent. Among the reasons, the main one stands out – the traditional division of musicology into two unequal fields: researching music itself and performing arts history. The emergence in the Soviet country of a new genre of journalism “creative reports” of artists was also noted.


These tendencies influence led to the fact that at the time of Prokofiev’s maximum fame in Russian literature arose a tradition about him which has been flourishing today: to replace the polyphony of critical assessments with one voice – his own, loudly sounded from interviews, articles and autobiographies.


Meanwhile, the composer himself persistently and scrupulously collected all available reviews for his performances. The corpuses of these sources occupy a prominent place in the huge Prokofiev archive.


Some of them Prokofiev turned to in the process of writing autobiographies, letters and diaries. All this prompts a comprehensive study of these materials. The article firstly classifies them depending on the genres of compositions and performances which they are dedicated to. The attempt to establish a hierarchy of popularity of such publications and their relevance by scholars, by starting with reviews of Prokofiev’s recitals and ending with reviews, accompanying post-mortem theatrical premieres, has been made in the article.


Keywords: Prokofiev, heritage, existence, newspaper and magazine materials, musicology, performing arts history, archival sources.

Article Details

How to Cite
Petukhova С. А. (2021). Press About S. S. Prokofiev’s Creative Work: Problems of Studying and Comprehending the Material. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 45(4), 20–29. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1303
Section
To S. Prokofiev Anniversary
Author Biography

Svetlana A. Petukhova, State Institute for Art Studies

PhD (Arts), Senior Research Worker