Sergey Prokofiev Diaries 1924–1933: Prodigal Son
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good. Jacket: small tear on rear panel, worn edges. Page Condition: Good. Markings: No markings. Usual shelf-wear.
Few documents in the history of classical music offer as intimate and revelatory a portrait as the diaries of Sergey Prokofiev, one of the twentieth century's most towering compositional figures. This second volume, covering the years 1924 to 1933, chronicles the composer's restless years in self-imposed exile — traversing Paris, London, and the United States — as he navigates the treacherous currents of international fame, creative ambition, and the ever-present pull of his Russian homeland. Translated and annotated with scholarly precision by Anthony Phillips, the entries detail Prokofiev's encounters with the luminaries of his age, from Diaghilev and Stravinsky to Chanel and Picasso, painting a vivid tableau of the interwar cultural world. The diaries reveal a man of fierce intellect and dry wit, whose observations on music, politics, and human nature are as sharp as his compositions. Written with disarming candour, they illuminate the private tensions behind some of the century's most celebrated works — including The Prodigal Son ballet — while tracing his slow, fateful drift back toward Soviet Russia. For devotees of music history and biography alike, these pages present an irresistible question: what compels a man of genius to surrender the freedom of the world for the cage of his origins?
Author: Sergey Prokofiev
Format: Hardback
Published: 2012, Faber and Faber
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good. Jacket: small tear on rear panel, worn edges. Page Condition: Good. Markings: No markings. Usual shelf-wear.
Few documents in the history of classical music offer as intimate and revelatory a portrait as the diaries of Sergey Prokofiev, one of the twentieth century's most towering compositional figures. This second volume, covering the years 1924 to 1933, chronicles the composer's restless years in self-imposed exile — traversing Paris, London, and the United States — as he navigates the treacherous currents of international fame, creative ambition, and the ever-present pull of his Russian homeland. Translated and annotated with scholarly precision by Anthony Phillips, the entries detail Prokofiev's encounters with the luminaries of his age, from Diaghilev and Stravinsky to Chanel and Picasso, painting a vivid tableau of the interwar cultural world. The diaries reveal a man of fierce intellect and dry wit, whose observations on music, politics, and human nature are as sharp as his compositions. Written with disarming candour, they illuminate the private tensions behind some of the century's most celebrated works — including The Prodigal Son ballet — while tracing his slow, fateful drift back toward Soviet Russia. For devotees of music history and biography alike, these pages present an irresistible question: what compels a man of genius to surrender the freedom of the world for the cage of his origins?