Just as Sergei Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony emulated the era of Haydn, his Fifth Symphony explores the Romantic period. Prokofiev wrote the work during World War II in tumultuous times, but there was light at the end of the tunnel: the tide had begun to turn in the war, and victory over fascism seemed possible. Triumphal themes were foremost in his mind, and he composed his opera War and Peace around the same time. In the Fifth Symphony, Prokofiev merges the spirit of heroism with a Romantic symphony on a grand scale. As he described, “I regard the Fifth Symphony as the culmination of a long period of my creative life. I conceived it as a symphony of the grandeur of the human spirit.” Fortuitously, its first performance took place just after the announcement of a great Soviet victory on January 13, 1945. Prokofiev’s biographer Nestyev wrote of the occasion,

The opening bars of the symphony were heard against the thunderous backdrop of an artillery salute. Prokofiev’s compelling music perfectly suited the mood of the audience. The critics commented on this in their glowing reviews of the new composition. Kabalevsky, extolling the symphony as the embodiment of man’s courage, energy, and spiritual grandeur, also made a special note of its profoundly national character. 

The work opens with an Andante featuring a coda that impressed its first audience. As Nestyev writes, “This is perhaps the most impressive episode of the entire symphony for it embodies with the greatest clarity the work’s higher purpose—glorification of the strength and beauty of the human spirit.” After an Allegro marcato that recalls his Romeo and Juliet ballet, written about a decade prior, comes a dreamy, nostalgic slow movement. The symphony’s finale, marked Allegro giocoso, begins with gentle recollections of the first movement’s opening theme. However, these reminiscences quickly give way to brilliant, slightly sardonic music that concludes the work on a boisterous note. 

—©Jennifer More, 2022