Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Александр Невский) is the score for the 1938 Sergei Eisenstein film Alexander Nevsky, composed by Sergei Prokofiev. He later rearranged the music in the form of a cantata for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra. It has remained one of the most renowned cantatas of the 20th century.
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The score was Prokofiev's third for a film, following Lieutenant Kijé (1934) and Pique Dame (1936). It was composed of 21 sections, and Prokofiev was heavily involved not just with the composition, but with the recording as well. He experimented with different microphone distances in order to achieve the desired sound. Horns meant to represent the Teutonic Knights, for instance, were played close enough to the microphones to produce a crackling, distorted sound. The brass and choral groups were recorded in different studios and the separate pieces were later mixed.[1]
Prokofiev employed different sections of the orchestra, as well as different compositional styles, to evoke the necessary imagery. For instance, the Teutonic Knights (seen as the adversary) are represented by heavy brass instruments, playing discordant notes in a martial style. The sympathetic Russian forces are represented predominantly by folk-like instruments such as woodwind and strings,[2] often playing quasi-folksong style music.
In 1993, the first complete recording of the original film score was made for a new edition of the film, in which Prokofiev's score was entirely re-recorded in hi-fi digital stereo by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Yuri Temirkanov. While the new version of the film was released in 1995, the score was recorded on March 16 and 17, 1993 in Philharmonic Hall, St. Petersburg and released on the RCA Victor and RCA Victor Red Seal labels (ISBN 09026-61926-2).
The cantata for Alexander Nevsky (Op. 78) debuted in Moscow on May 17, 1939. It was performed under the direction of Prokofiev, and like the film score was well-received by the public. The U.S. premiere was conducted by Leopold Stokowski in 1943. It is performed in seven movements, lasting approximately 40 minutes. It is sung in Russian, but Prokofiev utilized Latin for the third and fifth movements.
The work is scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, maracas, wood blocks, triangle, tubular bells, tamtam, glockenspiel, xylophone, harp, strings, and chorus.
The Latin words chanted by the Teutonic knights—"Peregrinus expectavi, pedes meos in cymbalis (A pilgrim – I waited – my feet – upon the cymbals)"—seem at first sight to be meaningless. Prokofiev himself referred to the knights as "sing[ing] Catholic psalms, as they march into battle".[3] The words are indeed from the Psalms, specifically from the Vulgate texts chosen by Igor Stravinsky for his 1930 Symphony of Psalms. An explanation for this choice may be found in the life-long rivalry between the two Russian composers, specifically in the younger man (Prokofiev's) dismissal of Stravinsky's idiom as backward-looking "pseudo-Bachism",[4] and his disdain for Stravinsky's choice to remain in western Europe, in contrast to Prokofiev's own return to Stalinist Russia in 1935. As has been observed by Dr Morag G. Kerr, then a soprano with the BBC Symphony Chorus, he may have felt a temptation to put the words of his long-time rival into the mouths of the one-dimensional Teutonic villains of Eisenstein's film.[5]
The suggestion is implicitly accepted by the BBC: "Even their words are gibberish, with Prokofiev rather mischievously creating them by chopping up Latin texts from Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and then randomly stringing them together".[6]
The Latin Peregrinus phrase Prokofiev concocted ends with 'est' which is not found in Symphony of Psalms, but possibly is a pun on the first letters of Stravinsky's surname in Latin (Prokofiev enjoyed such games). Dr Kerr's observation is acknowledged as the first in print, and is accepted and developed.[7]
17 May 1939, Moscow. Valentina Gagrina (mezzo-soprano), Sergei Prokofiev (cond), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.
| Alexander Nevsky | |
|---|---|
| Live album by Fritz Reiner - Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Rosalind Elias | |
| Released | 1972 |
| Recorded | 1972 |
| Genre | Classical |
| Length | 46:28 |
| Language | English |
| Label | RCA Victrola |
| Producer | Richard Mohr |
There are many other recordings of the cantata, including a version in English conducted by Fritz Reiner, and a live stereo version once released on the Music & Arts label, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.