Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and Sonata Form in Sergey Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto: An Analysis from the Perspective of Hepokoski and Darcy's Sonata Theory

Abstract

This dissertation comprises two parts: an original composition, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; and an essay that analyzes the form of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat Major, op. 10. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is cast in three movements and scored in two versions: In “Version A,” members of the orchestra are at times called on to use their voices to sustain the phonemes [m], [ŋ], and [v] on pitch and to create an intense whisper on the vowel [æ]. “Version B” is an alternative realization that uses instruments only. The first movement, unable to produce a recapitulation and continually interrupted at decreasing intervals of time by increasingly intense outbursts from percussion, brass, and wind instruments, is an extreme deformation of a sonata-concerto form. It proceeds attacca to the second movement, which is built in a large ternary form. The third movement is a concerto adaptation of James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s “expanded Type 1” sonata form. The concerto’s total duration is approximately 30 minutes. The essay considers the form of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 from the perspective of Hepokoski and Darcy’s Sonata Theory, as laid out in their seminal 2006 treatise. It finds that Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is a highly individualized instance of Hepokoski and Darcy’s “Type 3” sonata form with introduction-coda frame. The essay’s analysis is preceded by a glimpse at Prokofiev’s experiences with sonata form during his youth, as well as brief reviews of the conceptual backdrop of concerto form as Prokofiev would have received it and of the basics of Sonata Theory.