Stefan Geller (1813-1888) was an outstanding Hungarian Romantic composer of Jewish origin, a talented pianist and teacher. He wrote his 25 melodic études for piano in 1844. They are intended for intermediate students and serve as an introduction to the revised edition of L’art de phraser, Op. 16. The set of 25 melodic études is […]
“The play is close in style to Tarantella. It is written in the character of a quick sketch. One can imagine the children enthusiastically catching up with each other, the atmosphere of a merry, moving children’s game”.(V. Delson, “Prokofiev’s Piano Works and Pianism”)
“A piece in which the composer tries – and very successfully – to vividly describe the enormous impression that any bright phenomenon of nature makes on children. There are naturally sounding bold sonic «blots» (a chord-stain of two side-by-side seconds), and, precisely falling drops, slow rehearsals on one note, and simply a «Theme of Amazement» […]
“This is a fast and cheerful piece about joyfully chirping grasshoppers, always arousing the interest of the children with their astonishing leaps. The fantasy of the image here does not go beyond the usual children’s fictions and in this respect differs markedly from, say, the mysterious fantasy of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. In essence, it is an […]
“The fragile, tender, improvisationally direct A major ‘Waltz’ speaks of the links between children’s images and the world of fragile, pure and charming female images of Prokofiev’s theater music. These two lines of his work, or rather two lines of his artistic ideals, cross and cross-fertilize. There is a childlike directness in his maiden images. […]
“A true and subtle psychological miniature, previously titled by the composer ”Ashamed has become”. How directly and touchingly the sad melody sounds, how sincerely and “in the first person” are conveyed the feelings and reflections that encompass a child at the moments of such psychologically complex experiences! Prokofiev uses here the type of “singing-speaking” (according […]
“A genre-dancing, virtuoso piece expressing the joyful temperament of a child captured by the musical and dance element. The lively and vivacious rhythm, elastic accents, the colorfulness of semitone tonal juxtapositions, shifts of single-high tonalities – all this is exciting, easy and joyful. And at the same time childishly simple, without the specific Italian sharpness, […]
“A world of uncomplicated children’s fiction. There is nothing striking to the imagination, scary, monstrous. This is a soft, kind fairy tale-narrative, in which the story and the dream are closely intertwined. We can believe that here are embodied images not a fairy tale, told to children, and their own ideas about the fantastic, always […]
“The toddler’s labor day has begun. His gait is hurried, though somewhat lurching. Already in the first bars its initial rhythm is conveyed. We have to have time to see everything, not to miss anything, in general, there is a lot to do… The graphic contouring of the melody and the character of continuous movement […]
“«In the summer of 1935, at the same time as «Romeo and Juliet», I was composing light pieces for children, in which my old love of sonatinity was awakened, reaching here, as it seemed to me, full childishness. By the fall I had a dozen of them, which then came out in a collection called […]
“The piece, with its broad Russian songfulness and soft coloring, reminds us once again of Prokofiev’s great lyrical gift and the soil of his melodism. The music of this charming piece is saturated with genuine humanity, purity and nobility of feeling. Subsequently, the author used it as the theme of love between Katerina and Danila […]
“Unlike a number of his other marches, Prokofiev in this case did not go down the path of grotesque or stylization. There is no element of puppetry here (as, for example, in Tchaikovsky’s “March of the Wooden Soldiers”), the piece quite realistically depicts children marching. The children’s “March”, Op. 65 was widely disseminated and became […]
