Sinfonie Nr 1 ('Klassische') von Sergej Prokofjew

In the written part of my artistic diploma on Symphony No. 1 ('Classical') by Sergei Prokofiev, I begin by exploring the life of the composer. I explain the key character traits that influenced his work, such as his love for opera and his political ignorance. I provide a detailed account of his life leading up to the composition of the Classical Symphony and briefly touch on the following 35 years, which he spent partly abroad and partly in the USSR. Then, I present a general overview of the symphony in the form of a summary of various scholarly sources. The second half of the written diploma consists of my independent analysis of the work by movements, including musical examples that I prepared for the performance. Finally, I describe the gala concert during which I conducted the piece with the mdw Chamber Orchestra (now Webern Kammerphilharmonie) in November 2016.