On Guard For Peace
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On Guard For Peace
''On Guard for Peace'' (russian: link=no, На страже мира, Na strazhe mira), also translated as ''On Guard of Peace'', Op. 124 is an oratorio by Sergei Prokofiev scored for narrators, mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, boys choir, mixed choir, and symphony orchestra. Each of its ten movements sets texts by Samuil Marshak, who had collaborated previously with the composer in the work ''Winter Bonfire'', Op. 122. Prokofiev composed ''On Guard for Peace'' under difficult personal circumstances. He had been among six composers censured by the Union of Soviet Composers in its 1948 Anti-Formalist Resolution on Music, which had immediate professional and financial consequences for him. The resulting stress exacerbated his chronic health problems from hypertension, which led to a stroke in 1949. Against his doctors' advice, Prokofiev wanted to compose a large oratorio on the theme of world peace, which he hoped would result in a paid commission from the Union of Soviet Composer ...
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Oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio, the choir often plays a central role, and there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as w ...
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Symphony Orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, and double bass * woodwinds, such as the flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon * Brass instruments, such as the horn, trumpet, trombone, cornet, and tuba * percussion instruments, such as the timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, and mallet percussion instruments Other instruments such as the piano, harpsichord, and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone as soloist instruments, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments and guitars. A full-size Western orchestra may sometimes be called a or philharmonic orchestra (from Greek ''phil-'', "loving", and "harmony"). The actual number of musicians employed in a gi ...
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Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter, group= ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet classical pianist. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoire." Biography Childhood Richter was born in Zhytomyr, Volhynian Governorate, in the Russian Empire (modern-day Ukraine), the hometown of his parents. His father, (1872–1941), was a pianist, organist and composer born to German expatriates; from 1893 to 1900 he studied at the Vienna Conservatory. His mother, Anna Pavlovna Richter (née Moskaleva; 1893–1963), came from a noble Russian landowning family, and at one point she studied under her future husband. In 1918, when Richter's parents were in Odessa, the Civil War separated them from their son, and Richter moved in with his aunt Tamara. He lived with her from 1918 to 1921, and it was then that his interest in art first ...
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Postwar
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date (such as the period between World War I and World War II). By contrast, a post-war period marks the cessation of armed conflict entirely. Post–World War II Chronology of the post–World War II era The term "post-war" can have different meanings in different countries and refer to a period determined by local considerations based on the effect of the war there. Some examples of post-war events are (in chronological order) ;The Cold War (1947–1991) The Cold War was a geopolitical conflict between the capitalist and liberal democratic United States of America, the authoritarian and Communist Marxist–Leninist Union of Soviet Soc ...
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ...
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Prokofiev And Mendelson Zhdanov Campaign 1948
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous music genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include such widely heard pieces as the March from ''The Love for Three Oranges,'' the suite ''Lieutenant Kijé'', the ballet ''Romeo and Juliet''—from which "Dance of the Knights" is taken—and ''Peter and the Wolf.'' Of the established forms and genres in which he worked, he created—excluding juvenilia—seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas. A graduate of the Saint ...
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Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945. Aside from the nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race. The Western Bloc was led by the United States as well as a number of other First W ...
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USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation. The State Stalin Prize ( Государственная Сталинская премия, ''Gosudarstvennaya Stalinskaya premiya''), usually called the Stalin Prize, existed from 1941 to 1954, although some sources give a termination date of 1952. It essentially played the same role; therefore upon the establishment of the USSR State Prize, the diplomas and badges of the recipients of Stalin Prize were changed to that of USSR State Prize. In 1944 and 1945, the last two years of the Second World War, the award ceremonies for the Stalin Prize were not held. Instead, in 1946 the ceremony was held twice: in January for the works created in 1943–1944 and in June for the ...
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State Committee Of Television And Radio Broadcasting Of The Soviet Union
The State Committee of Television and Radio Broadcasting of the Soviet Union (Russian: Государственный комитет СССР по телевидению и радиовещанию) commonly known as Gosteleradio of the USSR (Гостелерадио СССР) was the main state body of that supervised over all television and radio broadcasting of the Soviet Union from September 10, 1931 to December 27, 1991. History On September 10, 1931, the All-Union Committee on Radio Broadcasting was created under the People's Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs of the USSR and changed names and functions multiple times. Two years later on January 31, 1933, it was liquidated, and on its basis the All-Union Committee for Radioification and Radio Broadcasting was created under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. In 1949 it was liquidated, and on its basis the Radio Information Committee was created under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, which led the Central ...
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Sergey Balasanian
Sergey Artemyevich Balasanian (russian: Серге́й Арте́мьевич Баласаня́н; 13 August 1902 in Ashgabat, Russian Empire13 June 1982 Moscow, Russian SFSR) was a Soviet Armenian composer. He taught composition in the Moscow Conservatory. Balasanian wrote the first Tajik opera – ''The Uprising at Vosse'' (first staged in 1939). It was debuted in Moscow in 1941 as part of a 10-day exhibition of Tajik art. Sergey Balasanian was awarded the Stalin Prize (1949) and five orders. In 1957 he was decorated as People's Artist of the Tajik SSR People's Artist of the Tajik SSR (Народный артист Таджикской ССР), is an honorary title awarded to citizens of the Tajik SSR in the Soviet Union. It is awarded for outstanding performance in the performing arts, whose me ..., and in 1963 as Honored Art Worker of the Russian SFSR. Works * Sakuntala (ballet) * The Uprising at Vosse (opera,1939) * Blacksmith Kova (opera, 1941) * Song of Anger (music ...
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Alexander Fadeyev (writer)
Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeyev (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Фаде́ев; – 13 May 1956) was a Soviet writer, one of the co-founders of the Union of Soviet Writers and its chairman from 1946 to 1954. Biography Fadeyev was born in Kimry, Tver Governorate. From 1908 to 1912, he lived in Chuguyevka, Primorsky Krai. He joined the Bolshevik Party in 1918 and took part in the guerrilla movement against the Japanese interventionists and the White Army during the Russian Civil War. In 1927, he published the novel ''The Rout'' (also known as ''The Nineteen''), in which he described youthful guerrilla fighters. In 1930, he published the first part of the novel ''The Last of the Udege'', on which he continued working the rest of his life (an edition containing the second volume, all he was able to complete, was published in 1940.) In it, Fadeyev intended to show "that an extremely primitive people may experience a leap from tribal communism ...
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Ministry Of Culture (Soviet Union)
The Ministry of Culture of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (), formed in 1936, was one of the most important government offices in the Soviet Union. It was formerly (until 1946) known as the State Committee on the Arts (). The Ministry, at the all-Union level, was established in 1953, after existing as a State Committee of the Council of Ministers for several years. The Ministry was led by the Minister of Culture (Soviet Union), Minister of Culture, prior to 1953 a Chairman, who was nominated by the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Soviet Union), Council of Ministers and confirmed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and was a member of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. It was responsible for the cultural affairs and activities within the Soviet Union. List of Ministers of Culture * Panteleimon Ponomarenko (March 15, 1953 - March 9, 1954) * Georgy Aleksandrov (March 9, 1954 - March 10, 1955) ...
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