Why is Prokofiev’s Sonata Opus 115 So Intriguing?
When I listen to Sergei Prokofiev’s music, often the following word comes to mind: quirky. Why is it that my ears tend to perk up every time I hear his music? What is the odd sensation that I have when listening, a sensation of playfulness yet seriousness? How can music be playful and serious at the same time? Why do I feel this sense of quirkiness, a mixture of gravity and light-heartedness all at the same time in the same piece of music? Prokofiev was highly effective in writing that makes us feel these often mismatched and quirky emotions by creating contrast throughout his composition, as will be discussed in the following Arnie Cox-style analysis of the first movement of the Solo Sonata Op. 115.
Encouraging Mimetic Participation: Why Do I Want to Bop My Head?!
Whenever I listen to and perform the first movement of Prokofiev’s Solo Sonata, Opus 115, my toe starts to tap and my head begins to bop and within a matter of a minute. I find myself fully drawn into the epic world of this music. Let’s take a deeper look at why. When looking at the score (the printed sheet music) of the first movement, the rhythms are noticeably square. What I mean by this is that there are quite a lot of evenly divided rhythms. For example, if we compare this to fractions in math, it would be the equivalent of having nice even fractions like 2/4 or 4/8 or 2/8 or 4/16 versus fractions like 2/7 or 5/9.
Another aspect of the music that caught my attention is whenever Prokofiev put accents, abrupt punches in sound, most prominently on the first and third beats of the measures, and occasionally on beats one, two and three. This particular combination of accents ends up making a pattern that sounds like “One _ Two _ Cha Cha Cha” which is how we count the cha-cha dance. When studying the music in depth, I also noticed a distinct lack of syncopation throughout. By composing the piece in this way, every beat in every measure of the piece is clearly heard and this contributes to the feeling of marching when listening to it performed.
Acoustic Impact: Dynamics, Timbre and Performance Space
When I perform this piece, I imagine myself playing alone in a big hall with the sound echoing to the far corners of the room. The loud and soft dynamics of the movement create several waves of sound that wash over the listener, the forte (loud) dynamics as waves cresting and the piano (soft) dynamics as waves receding. Every once in awhile, an occasional accent or even the rare fortissimo dynamic in the movement acts as a wave, taking listeners by surprise and smacking us up the side without our knowledge. The soft dynamics in the few dolce sections of the piece offer us peace as though the seas have calmed and we can rest until SMACK, percussive eighth note chords interrupt the solitude and pummel us in the side.
Now, imagine all of that multiplied by SEVERAL violinists.
Prokofiev originally composed the piece with the intent that it be performed by multiple unison violins, which is quite unique (Steinhauser, 1). The result of this is that when performed by multiple unison violins, every punch, every peak, every dolce, all of the markings in the piece are exponentially impactful. This also challenges the performers in that they must listen and respond to each other even more closely because the slightest mismatch would stand out significantly. There is a fantastic recording of this on YouTube that provides an example of what this is really like (Wellesz Theatre., YouTube):
Exploring Taboos: Quirky Half-step (Chromatic) Movement and Abrupt Changes from Minor to Major and Augmented to Major
Now, to get into the heart and soul of the first movement, here are the primary reasons why Prokofiev’s sonata is so quirky.
Abrupt Harmony Changes
Prokofiev did something so jarring at three of the most influential transitional moments of the movement, and that was to alternate back and forth between minor and major harmonies and augmented (wider stretched than major) and major harmonies. By going back and forth between these different harmonies, Prokofiev effectively created a strong sense of unease in the listener. When listening to these moments in the movement, I feel as though I’m standing on a balance board, rocking back and forth, searching for my center of balance. Prokofiev used harmony to search for the key center (the central pitch that the melody of the section relates to). Below, I have included an image that illustrates and analyzes this back-and-forth.
Half-Step Motion
This movement is FULL of these little half step (chromatic) movements in the music. One way to understand chromatic movement is that if you’ve ever sat at a piano and hit every key in sequence, like going up or down a staircase, this is what we call chromatic movement: moving by half steps. Below is an image of the “reduction” and analysis that I created of this chromatic movement. Every V drawn in red connects the notes that are half-steps apart (keys directly next to each other on the keyboard). Of mention is the fact the most apparent chromatic melodies are heard directly ahead of a major section change in the music (i.e. going from an aggressive passage to a calmer passage). In measures 15 through 23 of my analysis is the longest section of the movement that features half-step movement and, quite fittingly, it leads to the ending phrase of the movement. It’s sort of this epic downhill journey to the end of the piece, as though we’re rolling down a hill to the landing zone.
The first movement of Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata for Solo or Unison Violins (Op. 115) to me is like riding the “Wild Mouse” roller coasters that are quickly put together at the local county fairs in that the structure seems precarious and possibly unsteady but provides a wild ride of jarring fun, with ups and downs, peaks and lows and the occasional head jerking motion that makes all those rides so worthwhile. I have included a video of my own performance of the piece for your listening pleasure! I hope you enjoy the piece as much as I do!
Wallesz Theatre. Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata for unaccompanied violins in unison (1947). YouTube. September 22, 2013. 13:33 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hawByEQeuts.
Prokofiev, Sergei.Sonata for Violin Solo (Op.115). New York, NY: G. Schirmer, 1952.
Steinhauser, Joanna, “A historical analysis and performer’s guide to Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata for Solo or Unison Violins, Op.115" (2009). LSU Major Papers. 42. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_majorpapers/42.
