About this Piece

Prokofiev’s score for the film Lieutenant Kijé was particularly meaningful to him. It was the first music he composed upon returning to his Russian homeland in 1933 after a 10-year residency in Paris that had made him, in his own words, “restive, and afraid of falling into academism”; and it was his first effort in the film medium.

Prokofiev’s biting humor and penchant for the grotesque were tailor-made for the satiric story of Kijé, which evolves from an incident of Hollywood-type madness: Through a wildly unlikely mistake, a nonexistent Lieutenant Kijé has been entered into the rolls of a military company, and to prevent official embarrassment, a Kijé is invented. The film chronicles the Lieutenant’s arrival, promotion, marriage, and burial.

Prokofiev made a five-movement symphonic suite based on the film music, revising the original orchestration considerably by adding instruments including a cornet and a saxophone to produce a more colorful, “visual” score.

The Birth of Kijé
A distant cornet call announces the arrival of Kijé, followed by other flourishes, such as those for drum and piccolo, that confirm the satiric mood and military setting.

Romance
Love enters Kijé's life.

Kijé's Wedding
The festivities are both sentimental and boisterous, the main themes being wonderfully tipsy and endearing. Did the ceremony take place in a tavern?

Troika
The Russian horse-drawn transportation is suggested in the accompaniment to a typical tavern song.

The Burial of Kijé
The soldier's demise brings reminiscences of his (imaginary) life and a wistful, touching, final farewell.

—Orrin Howard