Sergei Prokofiev was an innovative composer born on the 23rd of April, 1891 in Sontsocka. His mother taught him piano and his father taught him to play chess when he was young. Both activities were major hobbies of his and allowed him to improve his intelligence. His studies were led by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and he graduated with some of the highest remarks of his class at St. Petersburg Conservatory (1914), and received a grand piano because of them. After the Russian revolution, he went on concert tours across Europe and the US. While in New York in 1918, he met a Spanish vocalist named Carolina Codina. They were married in 1923 and had two boys.
Prokofiev was a man of beaming optimism and was an open minded individual. He used “Sarcasms” to emphasize these
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characteristics. His most popular orchestral pieces included “Peter and the Wolf” and “Classical Symphony”. He wrote film scores for 'Lieutenant Kije (1934)', Alexander Nevsky (1938), 'Cinderella (1960)', and the two-part "Ivan the Terrible" (1944, 1958), directed by 'Sergei Eisenstein’. Some Soviets were jealous of his success and fame; this caused the authorities of Moscow to repeated invite him to perform and offered to pay for his and his family’s hotel fees.
Once they decided to move from Paris to Moscow the Soviets trick had worked. His wife was sent to a prison-camp in Siberia, all of his music created while he was outside of the Soviet Union was banned as it was seen as anti-Soviet, and Shostakovich wrote in his testimony that Prokofiev was “scared out of his wits”. Vsevolod Meyerhold, a friend director of Prokofiev was arrested and eventually executed by association.
Prokofiev life was saved by his second wife Mira Mendelson. His feelings were so strong with her that she inspired him to write powerful late symphonies. He also wrote the ninth piano sonata, a solo piano piece with four movements, for Svyatoslave Ritcher. In 1948, another attack on Prokofiev’s music affected him and many other composers and musicians including Anna Akhmatova, Aram Khacturayan, and Boris Pasternak. The attacks stopped after Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953. Prokofiev ironically died the same say and hour of Stalin on March 5 1953. An innovative, inspiring man died that day, and it wasn’t
Stalin.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a celebrated Ukrainian Soviet sniper in the World War II. She is the most famous of the snipers and is credited with 300+ confirmed kills. She is often known as the most successful female military sniper of all time. Pavlichenko was born on 12th July in 1916 in Bila Tserkva (former Ukrainian Soviet Nation). While at the age of 14 years in 1930, Pavlichenko moved with her family to Kyiv. She started working at the Kiev Arsenal Factory as a grinder.While working at the ammunition company, Pavlichenko also developed her amateur sharpshooting skills as a member of the OSOAVIAKhIM shooting club. In 1937, Pavlichenko graduated from the Kyiv University with a master’s degree in history. She majored on the life of popular Ukrainian
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev is considered one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. Not only was Sergeyevich an accomplished pianist, but he was an outstanding and famous conductor as well. He was infinitely skilled at a wide range of musical genres, including symphonies, concerti, operas, program pieces, film music, and ballets. His works were considered both ultra-modern and innovative for their time. Ironically, Prokofiev died on the same day as Stalin - 05 March 1953.
In 1861, he had taken a job as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice in St. Petersburg when he enrolled in the newly formed St. Petersburg Conservatory to continue his learning. He began to study composition under the direction of Anton Rubinstein, a highly celebrated pianist and composer; also, he was the director of the conservatory. Rubinstein was impressed by Tchaikovsky and once commented that while he was a bit careless, the young man was "definitely talented." This commentary from his instructor inspired Tchaikov...
Russian composers of Prokofiev’s time were generally restrained and classical in their approach. (In class) Prokofiev on the other hand was known for his romantic tendencies for which he was scorned. However, his Symphony no.1 is known as his “classical” symphony as it is extremely classical in form and was written according to classical design attempting to emulate the style of Haydn. Similarities between Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony no.1 and Haydn include its orchestrion size and use of the sonata allegro form, of which is classical. Although Prokofiev's symphony is classical in many aspects, elements of Prokofiev's unique voice are clearly heard. (Ferris)
Prior to the competition, he had had a far greater success as a composer with the First Symphony (1924-25), which quickly achieved worldwide recognition. The symphony was influenced by composers as diverse as Tchaikovsky, Paul Hindemith, and Sergey Prokofiev. The cultural climate in the Soviet Union was, compared to the Soviet Union at its peak, free at the time. Even the music of Igor Stravinsky and Alban Berg, then in the avant-garde, was played. Bela Bartok and Paul Hindemith visited Russia to perform their own works, and Shostakovich toyed openly with these novelties. His first opera, The Nose, based on the satiric Nikolay Gogol story, displayed a thorough understanding of what was popular in Western music combined with his "dry" humor. Not surprisingly, Shostakovich's undoubtedly finer second opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (later renamed Katerina Izmaylova), marked a stylistic retreat. However, this new Shostakovich was too avant-garde for Stalin.
Motivations for Shostakovich’s revolutionary musical changes were brought about by the confinement of the artistic society. Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union for most of Shostakovich’s lifetime, had very strict rules. All forms of art were required to reflect the pride of Russia. Opportunities for self expression were very slim. Therefore, there was a standard for music that was not to be modified or challenged. Shostakovich was motivated by the opportunity to challenge the state and create new, rigid compositions that were never heard of at that time, let alone attempted. Shostakovich relied on jagged rhythms, tonal ambiguity, as well as expressive dissonance to identify his music as undeniably his (Travisano 2). He believed that combining different styles and forms of music into an unidentifiable style would be ...
Mussorgsky’s importance to and influence on later composers are quite out of proportion to his relatively small output. The 65 songs he composed, many to his own texts, describe scenes of Russian life with great vividness and insight and realistically reproduce the inflections of the spoken Russian language. "Mussorgsky was recognized by both the Kuchka and Tchaikovsky as a powerful musical force." Rimsky-Korsakoff, for example, regarded some of his friend's boldest strokes as "mistakes, particularly in his harmonies."
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) was a Russian composer and considered an innovator of Russian music during the romantic era. Mussorgsky began to receive piano lessons from his mother, a trained pianist, at the age of six . The production and popular success of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov early in 1874 had marked the peak of Mussorgsky’s career. However, during this time, many problems arose from betrayal and harsh criticism towards many of his works that caused a negative attribute to his life.. Mussorgsky expressed this feelings of loneliness though his dark pessimistic sounding song cycle, Bez solntsa, completed in August 1874, prior to that composition, Mussorgsky wrote Pictures from an Exhibition revealed by a memorial exhibition of the architectural drawings, stage designs and various watercolors of his friends Viktor Hartmann, whom died the year before.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov's life was one of triumph in spite of tragedy; nevertheless he lived life on his on terms. While a child, he was involved in an accident that prevented him from beginning school until he was 11 years old. Yet, still had the wherewithal to abandon theological seminary at the age of 21 to pursue physiology. The son of an Orthodox priest, he was ironically diverted from becoming a second-generation clergy, by the works of Charles Darwin and Russian physiologist Ivan Sechenov, which he read while in seminary. Even his marriage was not spared the cyclic heartbreak then elation pattern that appeared to prevail in his life. He married Seraphima Karchevskaya, with whom he had six children. Of their six children, two died prematurely, the first of a miscarriage, the second while as a young child. Yet, despite the odds to the contrary, one of the surviving children followed their father's career path and made his own reputation in physics. Pavlov's love of physiology apparently made a lasting impression.
Unlike most of the contemporaries, Dvorak was not a pianist/composer. His compositions for the piano are rare. His piano compositions have a quality that makes them both beautiful and powerful. Someone said that they are much like a jewel: they are revered by those who appreciate the beauty of their shape, the smoothly polished surface, and the glow that comes from within.
Ivan the terrible, or Ivan IV Vasilyevich was the ruler of Russia from 1547-84. He is responsible for much of the advancement of Russia during the late 16th century. During his reign, he expanded his empire, brought about changes in government policy and opened the country to trade and economic relationships with the outside world.
Samuel Butler once said, “Look before you leap for as you sow, ye are like to reap.” This statement has never been so correct until this political cartoon, Escaped, by Petar Pismestrovic revealed the cause of the war against ISIS. If the United States did not meddle with the Middle East in the past, they would not have to “reap” the ISIS of today. Although people can say that if we had not intervened in the Middle East, it would have been more chaotic than it would currently. However, that is incorrect because ISIS was formed out of hate for other divisions of the religion and other religions in general. The United States entering the Middle East was the trigger that set the fires of war in the region. Providing weapons to the Iraqi military, the United States caused a chain of events that would later form ISIS. Petar Pismestrovic's political cartoon effectively shows that the United States was really the ones in the wrong and the Middle East is not fully responsible for this mess. Using symbolism and the emotions of a person, Petar successfully shows that the United States is currently facing the wrongs of their previous presidents.
During the hard and cruel era of Stalinism, Shostakovich had the courage to express the desolation of his people by method of remarkable dramatic feeling; hence, his music became a moral support for all who were persecuted. Sofia Gubaidulina reflected, "The circumstances he lived under were unbearably cruel, more than anyone should have to endure." With Stravinsky and Prokofiev, Shostakovich embodies the culmination of 20th Century Russian music, but unlike his contemporaries, he is unique in having composed his entire opus within the framework of Soviet aesthetics. When forced onto the defensive, he did not dispute; but instead overcame the limitations of socialist realism and infused throughout his works his belief in the final victory of justice, which transformed his music into a powerful stimulus to the spirit of resistance and freedom.
Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky are two very well-known theorists who emphasized the development of cognition in their theories. In Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental theory, he claimed that children go through a series of stages, which he used to describe human development. In Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Learning, he believed culture and social interaction played a role in cognitive development. Although Piaget and Vygotsky both focused their theories on cognitive development they take different stances a series of developmental issues. This paper will look at the similarities and differences between these theorist’s views on critical developmental issues, such as view of human nature, mechanisms of development, and their
During the Crimean War, Tolstoy commanded a battery, and was at the siege of Sebastopol . In 1857 he visited France, Switzerland, and Germany to learn more about society and how to improve it. After traveling for a time, Tolstoy settled in Yasnaja Polyana, where he started a school for poor children. He saw that the secret of changing the world was in education. He investigated during his travels to Europe educational theory and practice, and published magazines and textbooks on the subject. In 1862 he married Sonya Andreyevna Behrs, and they had 13 children. Sonya also acted as Tolstoy’s secretary.