Sergei·Prokofiev "Piano Sonata No.5" Op.38(1923) Analysis Of Compositional Techniques

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev is one of the greatest composers in the first half of thetwentieth century and is a pianist and conductor as well. It is universally acknowledged thathis piano sonata inherits the tradition of piano sonata creation in classical period and sets aprecedent for the new artistic style of piano sonata in twentieth century. Prokofiev composed9piano sonatas in all through his45years creation career which can be served as a clue forexploring his unique creating style in music and fresh composition technique. The spirit ofreform and innovation in Prokofiev’s piano sonata maintains deep connection with classicalmusic tradition which fills in his music. The bold composition experiment and innovation ofProkofiev is based on classic tradition and his unique musical language can be found in hisentire creation career. With respect to the melody of his piano sonata, he replaced the featuresof music in the Romantic Period including the excessive exaggeration, long line and vocalmusic with refine, short and intensive technique with dynamic property. The tonality of pianosonata takes natural mode as the foundation, breaks harmony functionality and relives thetaboo out of dissonant chord. The variable rhythmic stress and sprightly toccata in his worksreflects the rhythm of changing modern life in twentieth century. Prokofiev transformsclassical forms, making his music achievement in classical period adapt to needs of currentsocial audiences. Meanwhile, his distinct knocking style adds the idiophonic effect to thepiano, which enables audiences to experience new piano timbre and expands the performancemethod of piano the traditional instrument.Prokofiev always sticks to the tonal music even when functional harmony extremelyexpands and gradually moves towards the dissolution of tonal function, and most composersadopt new technique to give rid of the constraint of tonality. His piano sonata is consistentwith classical form, but his musical language material breaks the routine and creates adistinctive music style, developing new concept for the tonal music creation in twentiethcentury.The favorable musical tradition of Russia provides superior environment for Prokofiev’screation and gives him endless inspiration. Prokofiev’s creation can be divided into three phases: The first period is from1902to1918, during which his creation focuses on piano andorchestral works and the melody is full of youth, indicating the unique ethnic flavor of Russia;the second creation period is from1918to1932, when Prokofiev resided abroad and wasinfluenced by some western modern music styles, so his works of this period showed strongrhythm and complicated harmony accompanied with long Russian tone; the third creationperiod is from1932to1953, during which his works get closer to the tide of international newmusic.Piano Sonata No.5is the work in an elegant rural style, expressing the composer’sloneliness, confusion and contradiction during staying in a foreign country. It is the sole pianosonata composed by Prokofiev during him living abroad and completed in Paris in1923,whose profound meaning of this work can embody his creation strength really. Prokofievconducted more innovation in this work, adopted new theme and conception to express thelong lyricism of Russian national tone, flexibly integrates traditional melody creationtechnique and tonal basis with new musical creation style of twentieth century. It can be saidthat this work functions as a connecting link between the creation techniques during thelearning phase in his own country before1918and the new exploration of his creation afterhis return.This thesis selects Piano Sonata No.5of Prokofiev as the object of research, takes thedynamic integration of modern musical analytic thinking and Schenk as the pointcut toanalyze the music structure, linear motion feature, the composition and development processof theme and sub-theme and individualized building content and other aspects and thusexplore the creation features of Prokofiev’s piano sonata and demonstrate how he integratesthe music tradition in classical period with the new musical language in twentieth century andmakes innovation.The main body of this thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is the overview;the second chapter analyzes the composition technique of the first movement of Piano SonataNo.5; the third chapter analyzes the technique of the second movement; the fourth chapteranalyzes the third movement; the last chapter is the conclusion. This thesis is designed toexplore how Prokofiev inherits the tradition, integrates the innovation and thus develops themusical vocabulary, composition style, and original writing techniques with personal style, providing references for further study on the techniques of Prokofiev’s piano sonata.