A musical phoenix
Banned in his own country and neglected in the West, Prokofiev’s operas are at last getting their due
SERGEI PROKOFIEV is now widely regarded as one of the greatest Russian composers of the 20th century. Yet when he died, the Times, which was then Britain's newspaper of record, failed to publish an obituary. He had the bad luck to die on February 5th, 1953, the same day as Stalin, and newsprint was rationed. But there was a deeper reason for the omission. Prokofiev's music was felt to be suspect, both at home and abroad.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “A musical phoenix”
From the August 12th 2000 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Germany’s former chancellor sets out to restore her reputation
But her new memoir is unlikely to change her critics’ minds
The best books of 2024, as chosen by The Economist
Readers will never think the same way again about games, horses and spies
What to read to understand Elon Musk
The world’s richest man was shaped by science fiction
Tech and religion are very much alike
They both have gods, rich institutions and secretive cultures
Woodrow Wilson’s reputation continues to decline
A dispassionate new biography chronicles the former president’s hostility to suffrage
The cult of Jordan Peterson
What the Canadian intellectual gets right about young men