Henle Verlag Prokofiev S. - Visions Fugitives Op. 22 - Piano

Summary of This Score

Composed between 1915 and 1917, just before the Russian Revolution that led Prokofiev to leave his country in 1918, the 20 pieces of Visions fugitives form a cycle as brief as it is striking, where each page functions like a snapshot: an idea, a color, a character, then already another vision. Far from a work written in a single stroke, these pieces came into being in episodes, which enhances their diversity of moods and freedom of tone.

The composer's diary indicates that part of this material is linked to extra-musical inspirations. Some miniatures seem to echo people from his circle, while others reflect the tension of an era marked by political uncertainty and an underlying threat of barbarism. Prokofiev himself specifies, for example, that number 19 is "inspired by the events of February 1917 in Petrograd," the first phase of the revolution. This narrative dimension, discreet but very real, invites the performer to work on characterization, inner listening, and the construction of a small-scale expressive discourse.

Relatively undemanding technically, these pieces naturally fit into a pedagogical path: they allow one to approach articulation, dynamic palette, attacks, pedal, phrasing, and sense of relief, while fully entering the modern world of Prokofiev. Now published for the first time in an Urtext edition based on all the musical sources established during the composer's lifetime, they are accompanied by a preface from Prokofiev specialist Simon Morrison, which illuminates the biographical and artistic context of the creation of this piano cycle.

Technical specifications

Musical Genre

Classical

Publication

Sheet music

Composer	Serge Prokofiev	Genre	Classical score
Edition	Urtext	Difficulty	Relatively undemanding technically
Instrumentation	Piano