The Tale of the Stone Flower, Op. 118 (), is Sergei Prokofiev's eighth and last ballet, written between 1948 and 1953. It is based on the Russian Ural folk tale The Stone Flower by Pavel Bazhov and is also the last of the trilogy of ballets Prokofiev wrote in the Russian ballet tradition. It was premiered posthumously in 1954, conducted by Yuri Fayer.
Numbers Prologue 1 The Mistress of the Copper Mountain 2 Danila and his work Act I Scene 1 3 Danila in search of the flower 4 Danila meets some fellow villagers 5 Scene and Duet of Katerina and Danila 6 Interlude Scene 2 7 Round Dance 8 Katerina dances with her friends 9 The Peasant Girls' Dance 10 Danila's and Katerina's Dance 11 The unmarried men's dance 12 Severyan's Dance 13 Altercation over the malachite vase 14 Scene of Katerina and Danila 15 Danila's Meditation Scene 3 16 Danila enticed away by the Mistress of the Copper Mountain Act II Scene 4 17 The Mistress shows Danila the treasures of the earth 18 Duet of the Mistress and Danila 19 Scene and Waltz of the Diamonds 20 Dance of the Russian precious stones 21 Waltz 22 Danila's Monologue and the Mistress' Reply 23 The Mistress shows Danila the stone flower 24 Severyan and the Workers; The Mistress' Warning Scene 5 25 Scene and Katerina's Dance 26 Severyan's Arrival 27 "Where are you, sweet Danila?" 28 The Appearance of the Mistress; Katerina's Joy Scene 6 29 Ural Rhapsody 30 Interlude 31 Russian Dance Scene 7 32 Gypsy Dance 33 Severyan's Dance 34 Solo of the Gypsy Girl and Coda 35 Katerina's Appearance and Severyan's Rage 36 The Appearance of the Mistress and Scene of Severyan transfixed to the earth 37 Severyan follows the Mistress 38 Severyan dies Scene 8 39 Katerina sits by the fire and yearns for Danila 40 Scene and Dance of Katerina and the skipping of the Fire Spirits 41 Katerina follows the Fire Spirits 42 Dialogue of Katerina and the Mistress 43 Danila turned to stone 44 The Joy of the reuniting of Katerina and Danila 45 The Mistress presents gifts to Katerina and Danila 46 Epilogue
Instrumentation The work is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets (1st doubling E clarinet, 2nd doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (2nd doubling contrabassoon), 4 french horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (triangle, castanets, wood blocks, tambourine, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, tubular bells, xylophone), harp, piano, and strings.
Premiere 12 February 1954, Bolshoi Theater, Moscow, conducted by Yuri Fayer. Choreography by Yuri Grigorovich. Dancers included Marina Kondratyeva, Марина Викторовна}} (one of the title roles), Raisa Struchkova (Yekaterina), Galina Ulanova (Yekaterina's sister), Aleksey Yermolayev (Severyan), Maya Plisetskaya (Icy Rusalka of the Copper Mountain), (Danila's brother), (one of the good bailiffs), and (Danila) and more.Israel V. Nestyov, trans. Florence Jones, Prokofiev, 1960
Recordings OrchestraConductorRecord CompanyYear of RecordingFormatRadio Philharmonie Hannover des NDRMichail JurowskiCPO1995/7CDBBC Philharmonic OrchestraGianandrea NosedaChandos Records2003CDBolshoi Theater OrchestraGennady RozhdestvenskyMelodiya1968CD/LP
Orchestral suites from The Tale of the Stone Flower As usual, Prokofiev extracted music from the ballet for concert performance.
Wedding Suite, Op. 126 (1951) Available recordings:
OrchestraConductorRecord CompanyYear of RecordingFormatRoyal Scottish National OrchestraNeeme JärviChandos Records1989CDNovosibirsk Philharmonic OrchestraArnold KatzRussian Season1997CDLahti Symphony OrchestraDima SlobodenioukBIS2020CDUSSR Radio/TV Large Symphony OrchestraGennady RozhdestvenskyMelodiyaLP
Gypsy Fantasy, Op. 127 (1951) Available recordings:
OrchestraConductorRecord CompanyYear of RecordingFormatLahti Symphony OrchestraDima SlobodenioukBIS2020CDMoscow Radio/TV Symphony OrchestraGennady RozhdestvenskyMelodiyaLP
Urals Rhapsody, Op. 128 (1951) There are no available recordings.
The Mistress of the Copper Mountain, Op. 129 Available recordings:
OrchestraConductorRecord CompanyYear of RecordingFormatLahti Symphony OrchestraDima SlobodenioukBIS2020CD
See also List of ballets by title
References
External links The Tale of the Stone Flower at prokofiev.org