A TALE OF TIME NOT LOST: SERGEY PROKOFIEV’ S DIARIES

Abstract

The article examines the diaries of Sergey Prokofiev dating from 1907 to 1933 by using textual analysis to elucidate the composer’s personal conception of time. The recurrent themes and motifs, in the diaries are analyzed by their frequency and traced out in relation to Prokofiev’s understanding of time. This explication of his concept of time proceeds in two stages. First, the way he kept a diary is used to study how he structured the flow of time (with respect to precision, regularity, facticity, continuity); and then the fundamental characteristics of time are derived from his temporal habits. Considering the conception of time here is justified both because the composer’s writing makes it clear that he accepted time as the basic context for his life and also because he tended to think about it. The thoughts about time in the diaries range from constant references to it while thinking about other topics to his explicit deliberations about time as he tried to comprehend the Christian Science he practiced for many years. That Prokofiev’s conception of time was his own is shown by its basic elements: the density and coordination of the temporal order; coordination and projection accompanied by a playful attitude toward time; speed and action; strength and energy; competitiveness, perfectionism and self-esteem; control over steady progress; reluctance to dwell on the past; vigor as a principle of life; and the influence of imagining eternity on understanding how to live. The conclusion is that Prokofiev relates to time as its “master,” as someone imposing his own temporal order, which is based on making the most efficient use of time, maintaining conscious control over it and understanding time’s speed and intensity as part of a full life and creativity. Prokofiev’s diaries exhibit an interaction between pragmatics and ethics which constitutes his individual temporal culture. © 2021, Gaidar Institute Press. All rights reserved.