Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 4 is actually two works, both using material created for The Prodigal Son ballet. The first, Op. 47, was completed in 1930 and premiered that November; it lasts about 22 minutes. The second, Op. 112, is too different to be termed a "revision"; made in 1947, it is about 37 minutes long, differs stylistically from the earlier work, reflecting a new context, and differs formally as well in its grander instrumentation.
Symphony No. 4, Op. 47
Context and genesis As a concert pianist, Prokofiev travelled worldwide, and toured the United States during the 1925-26 season. In early 1927, he went on a two-month concert tour of the Soviet Union. He planned to return in 1928, but those plans fell through. In 1929, another planned Soviet tour was cancelled, this time because of a hand injury Prokofiev suffered in a car accident.
Throughout this time as a touring virtuoso, Prokofiev also continued to compose. Symphony No. 2 in D minor premiered in Paris under the baton of Serge Koussevitzky in the summer of 1925, to tepid critical response. At the same time, Sergei Diaghilev, the ballet impresario, suggested that Prokofiev write a ballet on a Soviet subject. The resulting piece was Le pas d'acier (The Steel Step), Prokofiev's third ballet for Diaghilev, which premiered in Paris in the summer of 1927. He had also been working on an opera entitled The Fiery Angel, of which several premieres had been cancelled. He decided to salvage some of the material from the opera, and turned it into his Symphony No. 3 in C minor. In late 1928, with the aforementioned Soviet tour cancelled, Prokofiev decided to accept another ballet commission from Diaghilev. This piece, rather than being on futurist themes like Le pas d'acier, was based on a Biblical story: L'enfant Prodigue (Parable of the Prodigal Son from the Bible). The moralistic, Biblical subject matter was not an anomaly; such subjects were popular in the Parisian ballet scene in the late 1920s.
As Prokofiev was composing The Prodigal Son in early 1929, he found that many of the themes he was creating would work better in a more developmental symphonic context, rather than the more episodic layout of a ballet. So, he began composing a new symphony, alongside the ballet. The two works share much of the same material, although one does not specifically borrow from the other: they were composed mostly concurrently. The ballet, The Prodigal Son, premiered in Paris in the summer of 1929, to great critical acclaim. It would be the last collaboration between Diaghilev and Prokofiev, because Diaghilev died just months later, in August.
The symphony that resulted, Symphony No. 4, Op. 47, began from material originally written for the ballet's fourth number. Prokofiev expanded the material into a sonata form, and the resulting music is the first movement of Symphony No. 4. The rest of the symphony draws on material that appears in the ballet, or that Diaghilev rejected as not fitting his vision for the ballet.
Koussevitzky had been discussing a commission for the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Prokofiev in 1929. Prokofiev's response was the Symphony No. 4. However, because the commission fee was lower than Prokofiev was willing to accept, Prokofiev only allowed the Boston Symphony to purchase the manuscript of the work, rather than commission it. This meant that Prokofiev received less money, and the Boston Symphony did not get the prestige of a commission. Prokofiev worked on the symphony on the long train rides he had to take during a tour of the United States in early 1930. However, because of disagreements with Koussevitzky, he returned to Paris in March, before the symphony's premiere in Boston in November.
Instrumentation
Woodwinds piccolo 2 flutes 2 oboes English horn 2 clarinets in B and A bass clarinet 2 bassoons contrabassoon Brass
4 horns in F 2 trumpets in C 3 trombones tuba
Percussion timpani bass drum snare drum cymbals suspended cymbal
Strings violins (1st and 2nd) violas cellos double basses
Analysis
I. Andante assai – Allegro eroico
The first movement is in sonata form, beginning with an introduction and ending with a Coda. The introduction, exposition, development, recapitulation, and Coda are clearly distinguished by different tempo markings and time signatures. Though the movement begins and ends in C major the tonal center is ambiguous as it is constantly shifting.
The opening of the movement begins with a slow, newly composed introduction, a warm melody played by the woodwinds (ex.1). This melody also appears in the second movement.
This introduction then leads to the main section, marked allegro eroico. The vigorous, hard-edged theme is taken from the fourth number of the ballet. The excitement of the music is created by the constant 16th-note rhythm played by strings (ex.2). This "machine music" ostinato provides an important part of the texture. The second subject is a lyrical counter-theme, marked Piu tranquillo, introduced by the flute. Following the principles of tripartite first-movement form, the earlier material is developed, and then returns in a varied recapitulation.
II. Andante tranquillo
The second movement is in C major, based on the final episode of the ballet. The serene, glowing theme contains the most memorable melody in the work. Prokofiev exalts the moment with the simplest of the flute melodies (ex.3), blending itself with the strings.
The form of this movement is ABCB1A1DXA2, with A being the glowing melody and X a reminiscence of the symphony's introduction. The BCB1 component can be considered a ternary episode. B suggests a sonata transition, while the C material arrives with the weight of a sonata second subject. In a purported sonata allegro scheme, the B1 section would inaugurate the development, given its more active texture and return to the main key of C. The A theme is developed next, with canonic imitations in E major, after which surface the mysterious B-major chords of section D. These two sections (D and X) shatter the proposed sonata scheme, and in place of a recapitulation, the movement closes with another reprise of the lyrical A theme.
III. Moderato, quasi allegretto The form of this movement is Scherzo and Trio. This elegant and spirited movement is the only movement that Prokofiev borrowed completely from the ballet, including the third number as the main body, and the fifth as the ending. The music of the ballet's third number proceeds up to the last four bars, when it switches to a reprise of the ballet's fifth number.
At the Scherzo, Prokofiev indulges in new delicacies of orchestration, giving a sinuous dance theme to the strings (ex.4), and decorating it on its return. The angular unisons framing the Trio section benefit from a touch of counterpoint in the trumpet and horn parts, and the ballet dance's form lends itself perfectly to a classically proportioned scherzo.
IV. Allegro risoluto The fourth movement draws on material from numbers 1, 2, 5, and 9 of the ballet, and is in sonata form. The first theme (in C major) is formed of a combination of the toccata-like opening of the ballet's first number with the lyrical melody from the ballet's second number. These elements are altered both as a unit and as separate elements throughout the movement. The transition to the second theme consists of a quick sequence of variations on the lyrical portion of the first theme, modulating quite a distance (to G major at one point). The second subject is newly composed for the symphony, and is a minor third away, in A major.
The development consists primarily of a large section from the ballet's fifth number, dominated by horns and tuba. The toccata-like material from the first theme is also subjected to heavy development. The recapitulation is prefaced by a jarring statement of the theme from the fifth number in B major, followed by a blaring diminished-seventh fanfare. The recapitulation begins with the newly composed second theme, and transitions to the Coda through some variations of the fanfare motive from the end of the development. The coda consists of a push and pull between C major and C minor, with the major key winning, based largely on material from the ballet's ninth number.
Early reception
In addition to Prokofiev, other reputable composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, and Arthur Honegger were also commissioned to write music for Boston in the 1930-1931 season. The Fourth Symphony was premiered on November 14, 1930 in Symphony Hall in Boston with Serge Koussevitzky conducting in the composer's absence. This symphony would be his third and final symphony to be composed outside of the Soviet Union.
Prokofiev finished the Fourth Symphony well before the deadline, and was optimistic about the work. Koussevitzky on the other hand was skeptical of Prokofiev's reworking of ideas from the ballet, and the premiere received a lukewarm reception. Music critics began accusing Prokofiev of running dry of ideas after several unsuccessful performances of the work. Prokofiev consequently provided a statement to a Soviet magazine protesting these accusations.
The European premiere of the Fourth Symphony occurred on December 18, 1930 in Brussels under Pierre Monteux. The program at this premiere would prove to be problematic, because Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor (which was first on the program) was a triumphant success, and overshadowed the Fourth Symphony, which immediately followed. The Fourth Symphony also received little to no positive attention at its Soviet premiere on October 30, 1933 at the Bolshoy Theater. Prokofiev persevered despite this trend of disappointment, and later in 1937 he performed the Fourth Symphony at a festival celebrating the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution. At this concert, Israel Nestyev states that the Fourth Symphony "was received coldly." These poor receptions not only hindered Prokofiev's confidence, but also drew negative attention from the Soviet Committee of Arts and Affairs.
Symphony No. 4, Op. 112
Context and genesis
In 1932, Joseph Stalin created the Union of Soviet Composers, and laid out a doctrine of "socialist realism" in art. This meant that for art to be supported by the regime, it had to be relevant to everyday people, and it needed to glorify the best of socialism. In reality, this led to bans of material disliked, or deemed "formalist", by the regime.
In the summer of 1936, after many recent trips and performances in the Soviet Union, the Prokofiev family moved there. Prokofiev had been promised many privileges, including the freedom to move freely, which were eventually curtailed. As Prokofiev was considering a return to the Soviet Union, he believed that the direction his music was taking at the time (a simpler, more straightforward style) would allow him to excel there.
Starting in 1946, there was an even more extreme crackdown on Soviet musicians, led by Andrei Zhdanov. Many works and composers were banned and warned, including Prokofiev himself, although he had been relatively successful and popular in the Soviet Union up until that time. In the winter of 1946-1947, he finished work on Symphony No. 6. Prokofiev was also working on his opera War and Peace, the second part of which would be subject to cancellation in the summer of 1947 by the authorities, due to the composer's refusal to cut certain controversial scenes.