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Summary Of Prokofiev 's Harmonic And Key Relations

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Prokofiev’s Harmonic Idiosyncrasies and Key Relations in the Classical Symphony Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony is, oddly enough, one of his few pieces to garner much theoretical and musicological interest. However, much of it seems to be misguided at best and more likely missing the point altogether. This is not to say that everyone is wrong, to the contrary, most folks are not, the problem is that the theorist and musicologist cannot seem to get on the same page. The enduring question is not, as most would see it, whether or not the Classical Symphony is in fact “classical” (or for that matter, if it is a symphony at all—some have stated that it is more of a divertimento) but rather why it is so infectiously hip and so absolutely …show more content…

Richard Bass, however, does seem to understand Prokofiev’s language, even though he does not write about the first movement of the Classical Symphony. He describes Prokofiev 's language as chromatic displacement. I describe it the way a jazz musician might, which is sidestepping, but it is really the same thing. Malcom Brown rails against Prokofiev for his shoe-horned return to the tonic in the second half of the primary theme, yet that is what makes the whole phrase work. That is what made it Prokofiev’s and no one elses. This detour, by half step or whole step is the underlying modus operandi for much of Prokofiev 's melodic ideas. We hear it in Peter and the Wolf, in the 5th symphony Scherzo, in Mercutio, from Romeo and Juliet, and we hear it in the first twenty seconds of the Classical Symphony. So with that in mind, I will be analysing Prokofiev 's Classical Symphony through the lense of harmonic variance, and occasionally rhythmic variance, since harmonic weight and hypermeter are so often entwined. I will discuss, along with the basic formal structure of each movement, Prokofiev’s unique harmonic language as sussed out in the classical style. The opening bars of the first movement is a Mannheim Rocket, straight out of the classical world of Haydn. This leads immediately into the first theme, in the key of D major. All is well and good until the first theme repeats, but this time down a whole step to C major. I-bVII is

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