''Songs of Our Days'', Op. 76 (russian: Песни наших дней), is a rarely performed
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
for
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
and
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...
1937
Events
January
* January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua.
* January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...
, during the height of Stalin's power. With rousing marches and text extolling (somewhat unrealistically) Russian virtues and Stalin's magnanimity, the work is composed in a much more approachable style than one would expect of Prokofiev's music during this period.
The total work contains eight songs:
# ''March'' – a Russian march for the full orchestra only
# ''Over the Bridge, Cavalry Song'' – for the male chorus
# ''Goodbye!'' – solo baritone and chorus
# ''Golden Ukraine, Folksong'' – full chorus
# ''Brother for Brother'' – solo baritone and chorus
# ''Girls'' – solo baritone and chorus
# ''A Twenty-year old'' – solo baritone and chorus
# ''Lullaby'' – mezzo-soprano and chorus
# ''October Flame'' – full orchestra and chorus
The text contains many references to Stalin. These were subsequently removed during the
Khrushchev Thaw
The Khrushchev Thaw ( rus, хрущёвская о́ттепель, r=khrushchovskaya ottepel, p=xrʊˈɕːɵfskəjə ˈotʲ:ɪpʲɪlʲ or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period ...
.
The work was premiered on January 5, 1938 in Moscow, conducted by Aleksandr Gauk.Booklet for CD, Prokofiev: On the Dnieper / Songs of our days,
Chandos Records
Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester. It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.Alexander Ivashkin.