7 Carter Family 7

rebellious persona, Cash married June Carter in 1968
during a period of waning popularity, after she helped him
combat his drug addiction. The signal event in Cash’s
turnaround was the album Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison
(1968), recorded live at California’s Folsom Prison. He won
a new generation of fans in 1994 after the release of his
acoustic album American Recordings. The recipient of
numerous awards, Cash won 13 Grammy Awards, including
a lifetime achievement award in 1999, and 9 Country
Music Association Awards. Cash was elected to the
Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and to the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. In 1996 he received a Kennedy
Center Honor.

Sergey Prokofiev

(b. April 23 [April 11, Old Style], 1891, Sontsovka, Ukraine, Russian
Empire—d. March 5, 1953, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.)

T

wentieth-century Russian (and Soviet) composer
Sergey Sergeyevich Prokofiev wrote in a wide range
of musical genres, including symphonies, concerti, film
music, operas, ballets, and program pieces.

Prerevolutionary Period

Prokofiev was born into a family of agriculturalists. Village
life, with its peasant songs, left a permanent imprint on
him. His mother, a good pianist, became the child’s first
mentor in music and arranged trips to the opera in Moscow.
Meanwhile, the Russian composer Reinhold Glière twice
went to Sontsovka in the summer months to train and
prepare young Sergey for entrance into the conservatory
at St. Petersburg. Prokofiev’s years at the conservatory—
1904 to 1914—were a period of swift creative growth, and
when he graduated he was awarded the Anton Rubinstein