Dictionary of Music - Birding America

Proper 325known example is Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture).Still another new form was the suite, no longer aseries of dance movements but a series of “scenes”;examples include Saint-Saëns’s Le Carnaval desanimaux (“The Carnival of the Animals”) and Rimsky-Korsakov’sScheherazade (see SUITE, def. 2).The nineteenth-century expansion of the orchestra,with its greatly improved instruments, made possiblemore realistic portrayal of sounds and specialeffects. These were exploited to the full by RichardStrauss, the last great composer of symphonicpoems. After about 1915 program music became lessimportant.Besides those mentioned so far, other notablecomposers of program music are Mendelssohn,Borodin, Smetana, Franck, Sibelius, Dukas,Respighi, Elgar, and Delius.program notes In printed programs for concertsand recitals, notes about the works to be presented,including information about their composers, thecircumstances under which the particular compositionswere written, and various details about themusic itself. Well-prepared, accurate program notescan be of considerable value, pointing out what inparticular the audience may listen for.program symphony An orchestral compositionin several movements, like a symphony, but followinga specific program, like a symphonic poem. (SeePROGRAM MUSIC; also SYMPHONIC POEM.) Usuallythe whole symphony and each movement are giventitles that indicate what the music is supposed toportray. Occasionally the composer provides adetailed story of the program, as Berlioz did in whatis generally considered the first program symphony,his Symphonie fantastique of 1830. (A few authoritiesregard Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6, the PastoralSymphony, as the earliest example.) Otherwell-known program symphonies are Berlioz’sHarold en Italie, op. 16, and Roméo et Juliette, op.17; Liszt’s Faust Symphony and Dante Symphony,both of 1857; and Richard Strauss’s Symphoniadomestica (“Domestic Symphony,” 1903) andAlpensinfonie (“Alpine Symphony,” 1915).progressive jazzSee under JAZZ.progressive rockSee under ROCK.Prokofiev (prô kôf′ē ef), Sergey (ser gā′),1891–1953. A Russian composer whose worksinclude some very frequently performed music,notably his Classical Symphony and Piano Concertono. 3, the orchestral fairy tale Peter and theWolf, the suite from his film score Lt. Kije, and thecantata Alexander Nevsky. Prokofiev’s works andstyle fall into three periods—an early period in Russia(to 1918), a second period spent mostly in Paris(to 1933), and a final period back in Russia. Themusic of the first period, which includes the ClassicalSymphony, the first two piano concertos (offive), the first violin concerto (of two), and theorchestral Scythian Suite, is characterized by drivingrhythms and highly dissonant harmonies,although still within a tonal framework (that is, indefinite keys), moving in directions similar toStravinsky’s (see STRAVINSKY, IGOR). During thesecond period, in the United States and in Paris,Prokofiev first produced two fine operas, The Lovefor Three Oranges and The Flaming Angel (hebased his Symphony no. 3 on the latter), as well astwo ballets for Diaghilev’s brilliant Ballets Russes.He also wrote three symphonies (nos. 2, 3, and 4)and three more piano concertos, but in general thisperiod was less productive than his first. In 1936Prokofiev returned permanently to Russia, where hewrote film scores (Alexander Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible),ballets (Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella), Peterand the Wolf, the opera War and Peace, symphonies,chamber works, and a number of propagandaworks. In accordance with Soviet rules that art mustserve and be understood by the people, Prokofievwrote in a greatly simplified style, using less dissonancethan before, remaining essentially tonal, andoften following the classical forms of sonata, symphony,and concerto. Nevertheless, he was publiclydenounced in 1948 for being “too modern,”although his high prestige in Russia survived untilhis death.Proper The portion of the Roman Catholic Massthat varies according to the holidays and other specialoccasions marked on the church calendar. (SeeMASS.)