Lieutenant Kijé

symphonic suite, Op.60

Kije’s Birth

Romance

Kije’s Wedding

Troika

Kije’s Death

Prokofiev was one of the first of the great composers to write music specifically for the cinema. His collaborations with Sergei Eisenstein in Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible are monuments in the history of the art. Alexander Feinzimmer’s satirical film Lieutenant Kijé, one of the earliest Soviet sound films, might be not in the same league as those Eisenstein epics but the scenario appealed so strongly to Prokofiev’s ironic sense of humour that it inspired one of the most engaging of all film scores. It is to the credit of Yuri Tynianov, the author of the original Lieutenant Kijé story, that Prokofiev was engaged for the job in spite of the composer’s original reluctance and in spite of the opposition of some of the writer’s colleagues at the Belgoskino studios where the film was made in the early 1930s.

Set in Russia round 1800, the film is about the absurdly elaborate efforts made to cover up a clerical error that added a non-existent “Lieutenant Kijé” to the official list of army officers. Rather than admit to making a mistake, the authorities invent a whole life and career for Kijé, including having him sent in disgrace to Siberia. The magnanimous Tsar Paul I pardons him, promotes him to the rank of general and, to the dismay of his sponsors, insists on meeting him. The only way out of the situation is to have him die a heroic death. The film and its director are now all but forgotten but Prokofiev’s music, which was converted into concert suite in 1934, is one of the most popular items in the twentieth-century orchestral repertoire (alongside Kodály’s not dissimilar Háry János).

After a distant bugle call, Kijé’s Birth begins as a miniature march, takes on the impressive panoply of a full-orchestral fanfare, features Kijé’s motto theme in quiet episode for flute and saxophone, recalls the miniature march and ends with an echo of the opening trumpet call. Romance (which exists in an alternative version for baritone soloist) is based on the Russian folk song “The Grey Dove is Singing,” the melody of which is awarded first to a muted solo double bass, later to a tenor saxophone and finally to double bass and bassoon under an elaborate embroidery of flute arabesques. Although it begins and ends with mock solemnity, Kijé’s Wedding is celebrated most prominently by a cheerfully tuneful solo cornet. Troika (which also exists in an alternative version for baritone solo) is based on an old hussar song which, though grossly distorted at the beginning and the end, supplies the tune for an exhilarating sleigh ride coloured by a variety of jingling bell sounds. Beginning and ending like Kijé’s Birth with a distant bugle call, Kijé’s Death offers a summary of the imaginary officer’s life and career and, at the same time, a brilliantly contrived recapitulation of some of the more attractive material from the preceding four movements.