Overture on Hebrew Themes

Composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) came of age, both literally and musically speaking, at a time of great changes in Europe and Russia in particular. Perhaps more than any other musician of his generation, Prokofiev embodied the irreverence of youth demanding its day. Moving east to avoid the growing conflicts in Petersburg and Moscow—with the waning World War morphing into a Russian civil war—Prokofiev chanced to meet American Cyrus McCormick. McCormick was in Russia selling his new farm machinery, but he took time to advise young Sergei that his future lay in the sprawling “land of opportunity” across the Atlantic. Prokofiev built upon that initial contact with McCormick to find his way to America, where he made a sensational debut as pianist and composer in New York City in 1918. By the following spring, however, a demanding concert schedule had taken its toll on Prokofiev’s health. All activity ceased for about six months before he broke ground on several new projects.
The rather modest Overture on Hebrew Themes took shape that fall on commission from the Jewish chamber ensemble, “Zimro.” Comprised of Prokofiev’s former students from the Petersburg Conservatory, Zimro supplied him with an album of Hebrew melodies and asked for a work that would showcase the particular combination of instruments to their fullest potential (clarinet, strings, and piano). Prokofiev himself was never overly proud of the finished product, sheepishly claiming it had occupied him for barely “a day and a half and to which I didn’t even want to assign an opus number.” Nevertheless, the work was published, later arranged for symphony orchestra, and included on programs fêting Prokofiev in 1944 and 1946. The lead clarinet offers infectious, chromatic melodies against periodic thrusts in the strings. Additional “peasant” appeal comes from the tempo accelerations common in central European dance music. The middle theme highlights the strings, while the clarinet only occasionally chimes in from the margins. After fading out to a quiet conclusion, the central section gives way to a varied reprise of the opening.

(c) Jason Stell