- Nestyev, Israel. Prokofiev.Trans. Florence Jonas; foreword by Nicolas Slonim-
sky. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford U.P., 1960. 528p. ML410 .P865 N4.
Originally in Russian (Moscow, 1957). A well-documented life story and pro-
gram notes on the works. An anti-Western point of view is pervasive but does
not bias the facts. Worklist in chronological order, with dates of premieres and
publishers. Expansive name and title index. - Prokofiev, Sergei Sergeevich.Prokofiev by Prokofiev: A Composer’s Memoir.
Ed. David H. Appel. Trans. Guy Daniels. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.
xii, 370p. ISBN 0-385-09960-6. ML410 .P865 A315.
Originally in Russian: Avtobiografiia(Moscow: Sov. Kompozitor, 1973). The
English version of this youthful daily journal is considerably abridged. Notes,
expansive index of names and titles.
Operas in General
- McAllister, Margaret. “The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev.” Ph.D. diss., Cam-
bridge U., 1970.
Individual Works
The Gambler (Igrok)
- Robinson, Harlow. “Dostoevsky and Opera: Prokofiev’s The Gambler.” MQ
70 (1984): 96–108.
Considers the libretto in relation to the Dostoevsky novel. Prokofiev first dis-
cussed the idea in 1914 and had the orchestra score done by 1917, but the rev-
olution interrupted plans and there was no performance until 1929 in Brussels.
The libretto follows the source closely, but the concept of the story is treated in
a “strongly satirical” way.
Maddalena
- Wierzbicki, James. “Maddalena: Prokofiev’s Adolescent Opera.” OQ1-1
(Spring 1983): 17–35.
Written in 1911, the work was not performed until 1979 (on BBC radio) and
not staged until 1981. In America it was first heard in St. Louis, 1982. The
article covers genesis, program notes, and reception. Nine musical examples
and some technical comments.
The Love for Three Oranges (Liubov k trem apelsinam)
ASO133 (1990).
- Taruskin, Richard. “From Fairy Tale to Opera in Four Moves (Not So Sim-
ple).” In Opera and the Enlightenment(#91), 299–307.
The opera is an adaptation from Carlo Gozzi, but it can be traced to a
Neapolitan collection of folk and fairy tales of 1634. The Gozzi revision of the
old tale is described. Vsevold Meierkhol’d, theater director in St. Petersburg,
made a play of it in 1914 and gave it to Prokofiev in 1918 as the composer was
Sergi Sergeevich Prokofiev 273