1948

Most of this chapter concerns the anti-formalist campaign of 1948, the corruption within Soviet musical circles that precipitated the campaign, and the official denunciation of Prokofiev, which gravely affected his health. The discussion ranges from Prokofiev's desperate efforts to improve his political standing with the operas A Story of a Real Man and Distant Seas — the former completed but barred from performance, the latter left incomplete — to his expressions of atonement for his supposed musical misdeeds. The chapter highlights the downfall of Levon Atovmyan, Prokofiev's de facto Soviet...

Most of this chapter concerns the anti-formalist campaign of 1948, the corruption within Soviet musical circles that precipitated the campaign, and the official denunciation of Prokofiev, which gravely affected his health. The discussion ranges from Prokofiev's desperate efforts to improve his political standing with the operas A Story of a Real Man and Distant Seas — the former completed but barred from performance, the latter left incomplete — to his expressions of atonement for his supposed musical misdeeds. The chapter highlights the downfall of Levon Atovmyan, Prokofiev's de facto Soviet business partner, as well as his fraught relationship with Tikhon Khrennikov, the General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers. Prokofiev's divorce from Lina and her subsequent arrest and incarceration are documented in detail.