The Tale of the Stone Flower is Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...

's eighth and last ballet, written between 1948 and 1953. It is based on the Russian Ural folk tale of the same name by Pavel Bazhov

Pavel Bazhov

Pavel Petrovich Bazhov was a Russian writer.Bazhov is best known for his collection of fairy-tale stories The Malachite Casket , based on the Urals folklore and published in the Soviet Union in 1939. In 1944, the translation of the collection into English was published in New York and London...

 and is also the last of the trilogy of ballets Prokofiev wrote in the Russian ballet

Russian ballet

Russian ballet is a form of ballet characteristic of or originating from Russia. In the early 19th century, the theaters were opened up to anyone who could afford a ticket. There was a seating section called a rayok, or 'paradise gallery', that consisted of simple wooden benches...

 tradition.

Numbers

Prologue:

1 The Mistress of the Copper Mountain

2 Danilo and his work

Act I:

Scene 1

3 Danilo in search of the flower

4 Danilo meets his fellow villagers

5 Scene and Duet of Katerina and Danilo

6 Interlude

Scene 2

7 Round Dance

8 Katerina bids farewell to her friends

9 The Girls' Dance

10 Danilo's Dance

11 The unmarried men's dance

12 Severyan's Dance

13 Altercation over the malachite vase

14 Scene of Katerina and Danilo

15 Danilo's Meditation

Scene 3

16 Danilo enticed away by the Mistress of the Mountain

Act II:

Scene 4

17 The Mistress shows Danilo the treasures of the earth

18 Duet of the Mistress and Danilo

19 Scene and Waltz of the Diamonds

20 Dance of the Russian precious stones

21 Waltz

22 Danilo's Monologue and the Mistress' Reply

23 The Mistress shows Danilo the stone flower

24 Severyan and the Workers; The Mistress' Warning

Scene 5

25 Scene and Katerina's Dance

26 Severyan's Arrival

27 "Where are you, sweet Danilo?"

28 The Appearance of the Mistress; Katerina's Joy

Scene 6

29 Ural Rhapsody

30 Interlude

31 Russian Dance

Scene 7

32 Gypsy Dance

33 Severyan's Dance

34 Solo of the Gypsy Girl and Coda

35 Katerina's Appearance and Severyan's Rage

36 The Appearance of the Mistress and Scene of Severyan transfixed to the earth

37 Severyan follows the Mistress

38 Severyan dies

Scene 8

39 Katerina sits by the fire and yearns for Danilo

40 Scene and Dance of Katerina and the skipping of the Fire Spirits

41 Katerina follows the Fire Spirits

42 Dialogue of Katerina and the Mistress

43 Danilo turned to stone

44 The Joy of the Meeting of Katerina and Danilo

45 The Mistress presents gifts to Katerina and Danilo

46 Epilogue

Instrumentation

The work is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

s (2nd doubling piccolo

Piccolo

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...

), 2 oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

s (2nd doubling cor anglais

Cor anglais

The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....

), 2 clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

s (1st doubling E-flat clarinet

E-flat clarinet

The E-flat clarinet is a member of the clarinet family. It is usually classed as a soprano clarinet, although some authors describe it as a "sopranino" or even "piccolo" clarinet. Smaller in size and higher in pitch than the more common B clarinet, it is a transposing instrument in E, sounding a...

, 2nd doubling bass clarinet

Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...

), 2 bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

s (2nd doubling contrabassoon

Contrabassoon

The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...

), 4 french horns, 3 trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s, 3 trombone

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

s, tuba

Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...

, timpani

Timpani

Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

, percussion

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

 (triangle

Triangle (instrument)

The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...

, castanet

Castanet

Castanets are a percussion instrument , used in Moorish, Ottoman, ancient Roman, Italian, Spanish, Sephardic Music, and Portuguese music. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or...

s, wood block

Wood block

A woodblock is essentially a small piece of slit drum made from a single piece of wood and used as a percussion instrument. It is struck with a stick, making a characteristically percussive sound....

s, tambourine

Tambourine

The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

, snare drum

Snare drum

The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...

, cymbal

Cymbal

Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...

s, bass drum

Bass drum

Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...

, tam-tam, tubular bell

Tubular bell

Tubular bells are musical instruments in the percussion family. Each bell is a metal tube, 30–38 mm in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Its standard range is from C4-F5, though many professional instruments reach G5 . Tubular bells are often replaced by studio chimes, which are a smaller...

s, xylophone

Xylophone

The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...

), harp

Harp

The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

, piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, and strings

String section

The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...

.

Premiere

12 February 1954, Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, conducted by Yuri Fayer. Choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky. Dancers included Galina Ulanova

Galina Ulanova

Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova is frequently cited as being one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. Her flat in Moscow is designated a national museum, and there are monuments to her in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm....

 (Katerina), Aleksey Yermolayev

Aleksey Yermolayev

Aleksey Nikolayevich Yermolayev was a Soviet baller dancer, choreographer, and teacher. He played an important role in the development of Russian ballet between 1920 and 1950, and he was considered an outstanding actor....

 (Severyan), Maya Plisetskaya

Maya Plisetskaya

Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya , born is a Russian ballet dancer, frequently cited as one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Maya danced during the Soviet era at the same time as the great Galina Ulanova, and took over from her as prima ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi in 1960...

 (Mistress of the Copper Mountain), and V. Preobrazhensky (Danila).

Recordings

Orchestra	Conductor	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
Radio Philharmonie Hannover des NDR	Michail Jurowski	CPO CPO -Officers:* Chief Performance Officer of the United States* Chief Petty Officer, a military rank* Chief privacy officer, an executive responsible for managing issues of privacy laws and policies...	1995/7	CD
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra	Gianandrea Noseda Gianandrea Noseda Gianandrea Noseda is an Italian conductor. He studied piano, composition and conducting in Milan. He furthered his conducting studies with Donato Renzetti, Myung-Whun Chung and Valery Gergiev....	Chandos Records Chandos Records Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...	2003	CD
Bolshoi Theater Orchestra	Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky is a Russian conductor.-Biography:Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagogue Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya...	Melodiya Melodiya Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...	1968	CD/LP

Orchestral suites from The Tale of the Stone Flower

As usual, Prokofiev extracted music from the ballet for concert performance.

Wedding Suite, Op. 126 (1951)

Available recordings:

Orchestra	Conductor	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
Royal Scottish National Orchestra Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...	Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...	Chandos Records Chandos Records Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...	1989	CD
Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra	Arnold Katz	Russian Season	1997	CD
USSR Radio/TV Large Symphony Orchestra	Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky is a Russian conductor.-Biography:Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagogue Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya...	Melodiya Melodiya Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...		LP

Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127 (1951)

Available recordings:

Orchestra	Conductor	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
Moscow Radio/TV Symphony Orchestra	Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Rozhdestvensky Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky is a Russian conductor.-Biography:Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagogue Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya...	Melodiya Melodiya Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...		LP

External links

• The Tale of the Stone Flower at prokofiev.org