Sergei Prokofiev 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, p ...

began composing his Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 134, in 1952. The sonata was intended to be written in four movements, but as it was one of seven compositions which the composer was writing during this time, only the beginning of the first movement (marked Andante) was completed before Prokofiev's death in March 1953. While the first subject of the exposition of the Andante was written entirely by Prokofiev, the second subject was partially written by his friend, the cellist

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was wel ...

. Prokofiev's writing resumes at the beginning of the development section of the Andante, yet the rest of the movement – and the rest of the sonata – was left unwritten. Years later, in 1972, the Russian musicologist and composer,

Vladimir Blok Vladimir Mikhailovich Blok (russian: Влади́мир Миха́йлович Блок, 7 November 1932, Moscow – 28 August 1996, Moscow) was a Russian musicologist, composer and orchestrator of the works of Prokofiev, of Udmurt ethnicity. ...

, set about completing Prokofiev's ''Sonata for Solo Cello'' as a single, performable movement.

Performances

Blok's reconstruction of the ''Sonata for Solo Cello'' was premiered by

Natalia Gutman Natalia Grigoryevna Gutman (russian: Наталья Григорьевна Гутман) (born 14 November 1942 in Kazan), PAU, is a Russian cellist. She began to study cello at the Moscow Music School with R. Sapozhnikov. She was later admitted t ...

in Moscow in 1972, and was published the next year by Musikverlag Hans Sikorski. It was not until a decade later, in 1984, that the first recording of the work was made by the British cellist, Steven Isserlis. Rostropovich himself never recorded the sonata although he is known to have performed it during his lifetime. In addition to Isserlis, recordings were made by Alexander Ivashkin,

Raphael Wallfisch Raphael Wallfisch (born 15 June 1953 in London) is a British cellist and professor of cello. As a soloist he performs regularly with leading orchestras around the world, as well as together with duo partner John York (piano), or as member of the ...

, and

Yan Levionnois Yan may refer to: Chinese states * Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty * Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC * Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed indep ...

. Performances generally run between 8 and 12 minutes. Isserlis performed this work at the funerals of both

Lina Prokofiev Lina Ivanovna Prokofieva ( rus, Ли́на Ива́новна Проко́фьева), born Carolina Codina Nemísskaia, (21 October 1897 – 3 January 1989) was a Spanish singer and the first wife of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. They mar ...

(the composer's first wife) and

Oleg Prokofiev Oleg Sergeyevich Prokofiev (russian: link=no, Оле́г Серге́евич Проко́фьев; 14 December 1928, Paris – 20 August 1998, Alderney) was an artist, sculptor and poet, and the son of composer Sergei Prokofiev. Artistic lif ...

(the composer's youngest son).

Catalog inconsistencies

There is some disagreement when it comes to assigning the proper opus number to this sonata. Prokofiev marked the sonata's manuscript itself with Opus 133, but when dictating a list of his final compositions to his second wife Mira Mendelson just before he died, he told her that the sonata was to be Opus 134. Some scholars, such as Vladimir Blok, believe that the correct opus number is the one found on the manuscript itself – yet a consensus was never reached and therefore the ''Sonata for Solo Cello'' can now be found as Opus 133 or Opus 134 depending on the particular catalog, edition, or recording. In addition to the inconsistent opus number, the sonata is often cataloged as ''"Sonata for Solo Cello in C-sharp minor"''. This would likely have made sense if Prokofiev had completed the composition, but no part of the extant manuscript is in that key; Blok's reconstruction of the sonata is clearly based in the key of

F-sharp minor F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major). T ...

References

External links

* * Prokofiev Sonata for Solo Cello in C-sharp minor, Op. 134.
Daniel Muller-Schott - Prokofiev Sonata for Solo Cello - (8:25).

Alexander Ivashkin - Prokofiev Sonata for Solo Cello - (12:48).

Yan Levionnois - Prokofiev Sonata for Solo Cello. - (8:30).
{{Portalbar, Classical Music Prokofiev 1952 compositions Chamber music by Sergei Prokofiev Compositions in C-sharp minor