Classical Music | Soprano

Recorded on 05/26/2010, uploaded on 05/26/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Prokofiev composed The Ugly Duckling for voice and piano in 1914, his final year as a student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Based on Nina Meshchersky’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, it has become over time one of the composer’s most frequently performed and recorded songs, and was later arranged for orchestra by Prokofiev himself. Its lengthy text and episodic nature make it akin and, in a manner, a predecessor, of his equally popular Peter and the Wolf. As a product of his earlier years, the musical language of The Ugly Duckling is excessively chromatic and often strident, and may catch off guard those expecting the approachable music of Peter and the Wolf. Yet, the same witty and ingenious depictions of the narrative that can be found in that later work will be quite easily discerned here throughout. The music is generally melancholy and forlorn, though not devoid of Prokofiev’s usual playful demeanor, as the ugly duckling bemoans his lot in life and is ultimately forced into a solitary existence. However, as spring returns, the duckling beholds his transformed countenance in the water’s reflection and the music turns brighter and more joyful. He finds his true place among the “beautiful and proud” swans, and as his fellow birds embrace him the music becomes both majestic and serene.     Joseph DuBose