Sergei Prokofiev
Visions fugitives op. 22
Prokofiev did not compose his Visions fugitives – 20 “fleeting visions” – in one go, but in clusters between 1915 and 1917, immediately before the Russian Revolution that compelled him to leave his native country in 1918. We know from his diaries that at least some of them owe their existence to extra-musical impulses. Thus several pieces were inspired by people close to him. Others impart his emotional reaction to the political situation with its menacing brutality. According to his own statement, for example, no. 19 “was inspired by the events of February 1917 in Petrograd”, during the Revolution’s first phase. Technically the pieces are not too demanding, and are also often used in teaching. They now appear for the first time in an Urtext edition that considers all the musical sources created during the composer’s lifetime. In his preface, Prokofiev specialist Simon Morrison provides biographical context for the genesis of this fantastic piano cycle.
About the Authors
Norbert Gertsch (Editor)
Dr. Norbert Gertsch, born in 1967 in Rheinkamp/Moers, studied piano solo at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and read musicology and philosophy at the Paris Lodron University in Salzburg and the Ruperto Carola University Heidelberg on a scholarship from the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes”. In 1996 he wrote his doctoral thesis on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (as part of the New Complete Edition) under Ludwig Finscher.
In the following year, he began to work at G. Henle Publishers, initially as an editor for electronic publishing. After working on a two-year project (1999–2000) sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG) preparing a new Beethoven Catalogue of Works, he became a scholarly editor at G. Henle Publishers. In 2003 he became Editor-in-Chief, in 2009 Deputy Managing Director and Head of Publishing. As of 1 January 2024, the Executive Board of the Günter Henle Foundation has appointed Dr. Norbert Gertsch, as the new managing director, succeeding Dr. Wolf-Dieter Seiffert.
Gertsch has published many Urtext editions for G. Henle Publishers, including volumes for a new edition of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas together with Murray Perahia.
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Further editions of this title
