I'm working on a hypothesis here that a zeitgeist of
dissonance was afoot in Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century, as manifested in (at least) Profokiev and, say, Gurdjieff.
From Wiki:
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Russian: Сергей Сергеевич Прокофьев[1]; Ukrainian: Сергій Сергійович Прокоф'єв)[2] (27 April [O.S. 15 April] 1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.
Formal music education and controversial early works
In 1902, Prokofiev's mother obtained an audience with Sergei Taneyev, director of the Moscow Conservatory. Taneyev initially suggested that Prokofiev should start lessons in composition with Alexander Goldenweiser;[9] but when Taneyev was unable to arrange this he instead arranged for Reinhold Glière to spend the summer of 1902 in Sontsovka teaching Prokofiev. This first series of lessons culminated, at Prokofiev's insistence, with Glière supervising the 11-year-old's first attempt to write a symphony. Glière subsequently revisited Sontsovka the following summer to give further tuition. Prokofiev, while giving due credit to Glière's sympathetic qualities as a teacher, later complained that Glière had introduced him to "square" phrase structure and conventional modulations which he subsequently had to unlearn. Nonetheless, now equipped with the necessary theoretical tools, Prokofiev started experimenting with dissonant harmonies and unusual time signatures in a series of short piano pieces which he called "ditties" (after the song form they were based on), laying the basis for his own musical style.
After a while, Prokofiev's mother felt that the isolation in Sontsovka was restricting his further musical development. Although his parents were not too keen on forcing their son into a musical career at such an early age, in 1904 he was taken by his mother to Saint Petersburg where he applied to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, after encouragement by the director Alexander Glazunov (though Glazunov was later unhappy with Prokofiev's music). By this point Prokofiev had composed two more operas, Desert Islands and The Feast during the Plague and was working on his fourth, Undine. He passed the introductory tests and started his composition studies the same year. Being several years younger than most of his classmates, he was viewed as eccentric and arrogant, and he often expressed dissatisfaction with much of the education, which he found boring. During this period he studied under, among others, Anatoly Lyadov, Nikolai Tcherepnin and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (though when the latter died in 1908, Prokofiev noted that he had only studied orchestration with him 'after a fashion' – that is, in a heavily attended class with other students – and regretted he otherwise 'never had the opportunity to study with him'). He also became friends with Boris Asafyev and Nikolai Myaskovsky.
As a member of the Saint Petersburg music scene, Prokofiev expanded his reputation as a musical rebel, while also getting praise for his original compositions, which he would perform himself on the piano. In 1909, he graduated from his class in composition, getting less than impressive marks. He continued at the Conservatory, but now concentrated on playing the piano and conducting. His piano lessons went far from smoothly, but the composition classes made an impression on him. His teacher encouraged his musical experimentation, and his works from this period display more intensity than earlier ones.
Dissonance Enabling Intensity:
<![CDATA[<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4yJYlGFPsHE/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4yJYlGFPsHE"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/4yJYlGFPsHE&hl=en&fs=1&" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/4yJYlGFPsHE&hl=en&fs=1&</a>]]>
