Sergei Prokofiev

11. When did Prokofiev return to the Soviet Union, 

      and why?

He returned in 1936 and spent the rest of his life in the Soviet Union.

MAIN REASONS FOR RETURNING:

He had been abroad since 1918, but unlike Stravinsky, he never cut ties with Russia:

1) he spoke Russian at home

2) He read Russian literature constantly

3) He thought of himself as a Russian 

    Composer, not an émigré.

The Soviet Union actively courted him and lavished him with attention throughout the early 1930s, providing him with:

1) guaranteed performances of his works

2) generous commissions

3) public acclaim

4) promises of artistic freedom

He was presented as a hero returning home, not a defector being re-absorbed.

Life in the West wasn’t going as well as he had hoped:

1) his sharp modernist style was falling

    out of fashion

2) Neoclassicism (Stravinsky) and other 

    trends dominated

3) performances were sporadic

4) financial stability was shaky

In the USSR, by contrast, he was promised:

1) regular performances

2) a salary

3) housing

4) a central place in musical life

Prokofiev in the late 1930s

What (who) he really came home to…