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 ...

composed his Sonata for Two Violins in C major, Op. 56, in 1932 during his vacation near

St. Tropez , INSEE = 83119 , postal code = 83990 , image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Saint-Tropez-A (Var).svg , image flag=Flag of Saint-Tropez.svg Saint-Tropez (; oc, Sant Tropetz, ; ) is a commune in the Var department and the region of Provence-Alp ...

as a commission piece to conclude the inaugural concert of

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

, a Paris-based society dedicated to presenting new chamber music. That concert was held on 16 December 1932. However, with the composer's permission, the sonata was performed for the first time three weeks earlier in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, on 27 November 1932 by Dmitry Tsyganov and Vladimir Shirinsky, both members of the

Beethoven Quartet The Beethoven Quartet (russian: Струнный квартет имени Бетховена, ''Strunnyĭ kvartet imeni Betkhovena'') was a string quartet founded between 1922 and 1923 by graduates of the Moscow Conservatory: violinists Dmitri T ...

. The performance at the Triton concert was the "Western premiere". The performers on that occasion were

Robert Soetens Robert Soetens (19 July 189722 October 1997) was a French violinist, remembered particularly for premiering the Violin Concerto No. 2 of Sergei Prokofiev in 1935. Biography Robert Soetens was born in Montluçon, France in 1897, into a musical ...

- for whom Prokofiev would compose his second violin concerto in 1935 - and

Samuel Dushkin Samuel Dushkin (December 13, 1891 – June 24, 1976) was an American violinist, composer, and pedagogue of Polish birth and Jewish origin. Dushkin was born in Suwałki, Poland. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, as well as with Leopold ...

, for whom

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

composed his

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

a few months earlier.Sonata for Two Violins, Op. 56.
laphil.com, Retrieved March 29, 2014 The work was published in 1932 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

by Éditions Russes de Musique. In his 1941 autobiography, Prokofiev wrote about the origin of the work:

Listening to bad music sometimes inspires good ideas... After once hearing an unsuccessful piece nspecifiedfor two violins without piano accompaniment, it struck me that in spite of the apparent limitations of such a duet one could make it interesting enough to listen to for ten or fifteen minutes....

Regarding the Paris premiere, Prokofiev further adds:

ySonata was presented at the official opening of Triton, which chanced to coincide with the premiere of my ballet ''
On the Dnieper ''On the Dnieper (На Днепре)'', Op. 51, is a ballet in two scenes with prelude and epilogue by Sergei Prokofiev. Composed in 1931 as his fourth work in the genre, it resulted from a commission by the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris ...
''. Fortunately the ballet began half an hour after the end of the concert, and so immediately after the Sonata we dashed over to the Grand Opéra – musicians, critics, composer all together.

Structure

The sonata is structured in the form of a ''

sonata da chiesa Sonata da chiesa (Italian: "church sonata") is a 17th-century genre of musical composition for one or more melody instruments and is regarded an antecedent of later forms of 18th century instrumental music. It generally comprises four movements, t ...

'' from the

Baroque period The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

, in a slow-fast-slow-fast sequence, with a two-part

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

: # Andante cantabile # Allegro # Commodo (quasi allegretto) # Allegro con brio A typical performance lasts for about 14 minutes.

Notes

External links

* {{Portalbar, Classical Music Chamber music by Sergei Prokofiev 1932 compositions

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 ...

Compositions in C major