Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata op. 119
Prokofiev’s late Cello Sonata is inextricably linked with the name Mstislav Rostropovich. The then twenty-year-old cellist delighted the composer to such an extent during a performance in Moscow in 1947 that he spontaneously promised him a work tailored to his capabilities. In June 1949, they jointly put the finishing touches on the technically very demanding duo sonata. It was played for the first time that same month before the State Committee for Art Affairs. For the printed version, a breakneck concluding passage was mitigated by an easier alternative – which probably contributed considerably to the dissemination of the sonata.
The present Henle Urtext edition offers this twentieth-century cello masterpiece for the first time on the basis of all the authentic sources. In his preface, Prokofiev specialist Simon Morrison sheds light on the creation and publication of the sonata in the context of Soviet cultural policy.
About the Authors
Annette Oppermann (Editor)
Dr. Annette Oppermann, born in 1965, trained as a music dealer in Frankfurt am Main and studied historical and systematic musicology as well as modern German literature at Hamburg University.
From 1993 to 1996 she worked as an editor for Sony Classical International in Hamburg; from 1996 to 1999 she was a doctoral candidate in the postgraduate programme Textkritik at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, in January 2000 she earned her doctorate with a dissertation on “Musikalische Klassikerausgaben” (Hans-Joachim Marx, Hamburg). From 2000 to 2008 she worked as a research associate at the Joseph Haydn-Institut in Cologne, and was editor of the Oratorio “Die Schöpfung” in the Complete Edition of Joseph Haydn’s Works. Since February 2008 she has been an editor at G. Henle Publishers in Munich, with a particular focus on vocal music, chamber music and books.
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