7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7soon secured for him wide recognition in the most impor-
tant western European musical centres. The production
of The Buffoon by Diaghilev’s ballet troupe in Paris and
London in 1921 and the Paris premiere of the Scythian Suite
in 1921 and that of Seven, They Are Seven in 1924 consolidated
his reputation as a brilliant innovator. The successful per-
formance of his Piano Concerto No. 3 (1921) also marked one
of the peaks of Prokofiev’s dynamic national style.
During 1922–23 Prokofiev spent more than a year and a
half in southern Germany, in the Bavarian town of Ettal.
There he prepared many of his compositions for the
printer and also continued work on the opera The Flaming
Angel, after a story by the contemporary Russian author
Valery Bryusov. The opera, which required many years of
work (1919 –27), did not find a producer within Prokofiev’s
lifetime.
In the autumn of 1923, Prokofiev settled in Paris, where
he was in close touch with progressive French musical
figures, such as the composers Francis Poulenc and Arthur
Honegger. Vexed by criticisms of his melodically lucid
Violin Concerto No. 1, which had its premiere in Paris in
1923, he addressed himself to a search for a more avant-garde
style. These tendencies appeared in several compositions
of the early 1920s, including the epic Symphony No. 2 in D
Minor and the Symphony No. 3 in C Minor (1928). In close
collaboration with Diaghilev, Prokofiev created new one-act
ballets, Le Pas d ’acier (performed in 1927) and The Prodigal
Son (performed in 1929). Le Pas d ’acier had a sensational
success in Paris and London, with its bold evocation of
images of Soviet Russia at the beginning of the 1920s. The
Prodigal Son had a lofty biblical theme and music that was
exquisitely lyrical. It reflects an emotional relaxation and
a clarification of style that are also seen in the String Quartet
No. 1 in B Minor (1930), in the Sonata for Two Violins in C
Major (1932), and in the ballet On the Dnieper (1932).