Sinfonietta in A major is a composition by Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...

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Background

Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Sinfonietta in A major, Op.

Opus number

An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...

 5, in 1909 and dedicated it to Nikolai Tcherepnin

Nikolai Tcherepnin

Nikolai Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was born in Saint Petersburg and studied under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory...

, his conducting professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory

Saint Petersburg Conservatory

The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...

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Prokofiev subsequently modified it twice, once in 1914 and finally in 1929, publishing the final revision as Op. 5/48. The premiere of the final revision was under Konstantin Saradzhev

Konstantin Saradzhev

Konstantin Saradzhev was an Armenian conductor and violinist. He was an advocate of new Russian music, and conducted a number of premieres of works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian...

 on 18 November 1930.

Analysis

The Sinfonietta is rather similar to the better-known Classical Symphony

Symphony No. 1 (Prokofiev)

Sergei Prokofiev began work on his Symphony No. 1 in D major in 1916, but wrote most of it in 1917, finishing work on September 10. It is written in loose imitation of the style of Haydn , and is widely known as the Classical Symphony, a name given to it by the composer...

, being light in character, while infusing Prokofiev's typical twists of harmony. However, it is rarely performed. Prokofiev himself was surprised by this, commenting: "I cannot understand why the fate of these two pieces should be so different".

Movements

The piece is in 5 movements, lasting around 25 minutes.

1. Allegro giocoso
2. Andante
3. Intermezzo: Vivace
4. Scherzo: Allegro risoluto
5. Allegro giocoso

Instrumentation

The music is scored for 2 flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

s, 2 oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

s, 2 clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

s, 2 bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

s, 4 horns, 2 trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s and string

String section

The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...

s.

Recordings

Orchestra	Conductor	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra	Dzhemal Daigat	Melodiya Melodiya Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...	1972	LP
Philharmonia Orchestra Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...	Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...	HMV HMV His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...	1978	LP
Scottish National Orchestra	Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...	Chandos Chandos Records Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...	1986	CD
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne is a Swiss chamber orchestra based in Lausanne, Switzerland.The violinist and conductor Victor Desarzens founded the orchestra in 1942, and served as its first artistic director for 30 years...	Alberto Zedda Alberto Zedda Alberto Zedda is an Italian conductor and musicologist, a specialist of the 19th century Italian repertoire.Zedda studied in his native Milan with Antonino Votto and Carlo Maria Giulini, and made his debut there as conductor in 1956, with Il barbiere di Siviglia...	Virgin Classics Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...	1989	CD
Chicago Chamber Orchestra	Dieter Kober	Centaur Records Centaur Records Centaur Records is one of the oldest and largest independent classical labels in America. The company is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and was founded in 1976. Their recordings are available in major markets throughout the world, and their catalog includes classical, historical, pops,...	1995	CD