Description
Sergei Prokofiev’s music for Lieutenant Kijé was originally written in 1933-34 to accompany one of the earliest sound films made in the Soviet Union. At the time Prokofiev had been based in Paris for almost a decade, but he was keen to return to his homeland and saw the film commission as an opportunity to write music in an accessible style to appeal to a mass Soviet audience.
The film was based on a Russian army story involving mistaken paperwork. This led to a soldier who never existed being promoted to Lieutenant and then General, commanding an army, marrying a princess, being summoned to meet the Tsar, and finally ‘killed’, so the Tsar wouldn’t find out the truth.
The film was a success and Prokofiev was soon asked to create an orchestral suite of the film music – probably the first instance of a film score being adapted into a significant musical work. The suite quickly became part of the international concert repertoire and has remained one of the composer’s best-known works.
Troika – the fourth of the five movements in the suite – is a delightful evocation of a brisk winter sleigh ride in a troika (a traditional Russian three-horse sled). In this version for wind quintet the sleigh bells are optional. If included they can either be played by the horn player (worn on the ankles, playing from the cues provided in the part) or by someone else (playing from a separate part – perhaps an audience member?).
Also available for wind quartet.
