THE GAVOTTE FROM PROKOFIEV’S “CLASSICAL” SYMPHONY, INSCRIBED BY PROKOFIEV

PROKOFIEV, Serge. Gavotte de la Symphonie classique. Op. 25. Transcription pour Piano par l’auteur. Moscow, Paris, Bruxelles, etc.: A. Gutheil, [1923]. Quarto, original self wrappers; pp. 4. Housed in custom cloth clamshell box. $3800.

First separate edition of the piano reduction of the Gavotte from Prokofiev’s First (“Classical”) Symphony, inscribed on the front wrapper “To Mr. Irving Schwerke, Serge Prokofieff, 1932.”

“The February Revolution [1917] caused no major disruption in the musical life of Petrograd… the theatres remained open and concerts continued. Prokofiev spent that summer in a villa on the outskirts of the city at work on the First Violin Concerto and the Classical Symphony. The latter began as an experiment in composing without the piano; it was deliberately close to Haydn in style, with the addition of ‘something new.’ The title is the composer’s own, chosen partly to ‘tease the geese,’ but also in the hope that the work would become a classic. His hopes were fulfilled: it was among the first of his works to gain international recognition” (New Grove 15:290).

Inner margin reinforced, very faint dampstaining. A lovely inscribed copy.