From the Collections: Sergei Prokofiev and Christian Science
Sergei Prokofiev, c. 1918–1920. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC B2-4829-17.
The Mary Baker Eddy Library is often asked questions about notable individuals and their connections with Christian Science. One of them is Russian composer Sergei [Sergey/Serge] Prokofiev. Famed for works such as the ballet Romeo and Juliet and the symphonic work Peter and the Wolf, he is considered one of the great musicians of the twentieth century. Prokofiev composed in many musical genres, including opera, ballet, symphonies, concertos for cello, piano, and violin, film music, and various solo works. His music, acclaimed during his lifetime, is still studied and regularly performed today.
Prokofiev has had his fair share of biographical studies. This article provides specific insight into his religious beliefs, including how they informed both his music and personal life.
Born in April 1891, in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Sontsivka, Ukraine), Prokofiev studied music at Russia’s Saint Petersburg Conservatory, beginning in 1904.1 His childhood included musical tutoring and bore the influence of his mother, herself a pianist.2 He studied on and off at the conservatory until 1918, while also building his musical career and traveling to perform his works.3
In part because of the Russian Revolution, which began in 1917, Prokofiev left Russia in May 1918. Detailing this event in his autobiography, he wrote, “Russia had no use for music at the moment.” Between 1918 and 1923, he lived in various countries, including Japan, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany.4 During this time, he married singer Carolina (Lina) Codina (1897–1989). They had two sons.5 The family moved to Paris in October 1923, and it was there that Prokofiev was apparently later introduced to Christian Science.6
On May 25, June 6, and June 7, 1924, he wrote these entries in his diary:
25 May
Price [a friend of Prokofiev] and his daughter took us [Prokofiev and his wife Lina] in their car to Sèvres to have tea…. Price was at one time on the point of dying from heart disease, and when his doctor told him there was nothing more he could do for him, a Christian Scientist practitioner began to work with him, and completely cured him. This story made a profound impression on me….
6 June
Mrs. Wake came to see us. When we were at Sèvres she was living in the same pension as we were, and told us amazing things about Christian Science. Price, the very nice elderly man who was also living there, and who was barely clinging to life from heart disease when we knew him at the time, was cured absolutely after a few treatments.
7 June…
…Thought about Christian Science. One simply cannot pass over such astonishing results without wishing to know more about it.7
Shortly after this, Prokofiev met with Christian Science practitioner Caroline B. Getty (1864–1955), in part for assistance in treating “heart” and “neuralgia” issues through prayer:
She [Getty] asked me what I knew of Christian Science, and I answered that while I had had occasion to witness some remarkable manifestations [meaning Price], the knowledge of its essential elements I had gleaned from others [Mrs. Wake] was unfortunately not solid enough to allow me to form a proper understanding of its true nature. She then said, ‘Maintenant je vais vous faire un traitement,’ [“Now I’m going to give you a treatment”] and put into my hands a copy of Science and Health, telling me, ‘Read this.’8
A few weeks later, on July 28, Prokofiev began to write of the benefits of his study of Christian Science:
Had a headache in the afternoon: a neuralgic pain, which after Mrs Getty’s treatment ought not to be happening. I read the Christian Science book and did some more proof-reading, although not much. By evening the headache had disappeared, a rare event.9
While Prokofiev did not take Christian Science Primary class instruction, he frequently wrote in his diaries about attending church services.10 He also wrote about his appreciation for The Christian Science Journal:
In the evening I… read articles from Christian Science journals, which I like very much and which I find give me a great deal more than formal ‘instruction.’11
During a trip to Boston in the winter of 1930, Prokofiev showed his eagerness to take advantage of his locale. After attending rehearsals in the city for an upcoming musical performance, he went to the Christian Science Publishing House, to make a job connection for a friend and to provide some insight to a publication translated to Russian, including this in his diary:
… between the rehearsals and the performances we were given the use of a car to go to Symphony Hall, which I also made use of to visit the Christian Science Publishing Society….
I needed to bring the brochure consisting of thirteen [Christian Science] articles translated into Russian which I had entirely checked and corrected (it was full of unidiomatic phrases, non-existent Russian words, wrong punctuation, etc.) to the attention of the appropriate person.
… although I came with every appearance of humility, I was not without a certain pride in the importance of the work I had done.12
Sergei Prokofiev to Eve Crain, January 31, 1933. Subject File, Prokofiev, Sergey.
In his writings, Prokoviev stressed the importance of Christian Science to his everyday life. “Felt out of sorts,” he once observed. “But how greatly my mood depends on Christian Science.”13 On January 31, 1933, he sent a letter to Eve Crain (1882–1963), a Christian Science practitioner he had met during his time in France:
Christian Science is helping me enormously in my music. To say more exactly — I do not see any more [of] my work outside of [Christian] Science.14
Studying the last 20 years of Prokofiev’s life, and their relation to Christian Science, is a labor that bears little fruit; his diaries ended in 1933, making it difficult to ascertain his thoughts on the subject after his move to Russia in 1936.15 The Soviet Union’s opposition to various religions may have influenced his decision not to document his thoughts.16
While Prokofiev did not continue to specifically write about Christian Science, it appears that he still expressed an interest in the religion. In 1946 Soviet era film composer Sergei Eisenstein (1898–1948) sent him a letter, which is discussed in biographer Harlow Robinson’s book Selected Letters of Sergei Prokofiev: “ … I was very concerned to hear that you aren’t feeling better yet,” Eisenstein wrote. “I know and fully share your ‘Molièrean’ view of doctors, but you still have to see them….”17 Robinson included this related footnote: “Eisenstein knew that Prokofiev did not have much faith in the medical profession; in fact, the composer was powerfully drawn to the ideas of Christian Science.”1819
After spending 20 years in Russia, Prokofiev died in Moscow on March 5, 1953—the same day as Joseph Stalin.20 Research indicates that Christian Science had played a significant role in the course of his life, and that the help he claimed from it extended not just to his music but also his health, temperament, and personal relationships.
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- Prokofiev shared in his writings that he was born on April 23, 1891 (April 11, 1891 in the Old Style [O.S.] calendar, which was in use at the time). His birth certificate was found postmortem and lists his date of birth as April 27, 1891 (April 15, 1891 O.S.). Nicolas Slonimsky, The Concise Edition of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (New York: Schirmer Books, 1994), 793.
- See Prokofiev, Prokofiev by Prokofiev: A Composer’s Memoir (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979), vii, 8–10, 47.
- See Prokofiev, Prokofiev by Prokofiev, 97–318.
- Oleg Prokofiev and Christopher Palmer, translators, Sergei Prokofiev: Soviet diary 1927, and Other Writings (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1991), 260–275.
- Harlow Robinson, Sergei Prokofiev: A Biography (New York: Viking, 1987), 178–179.
- Prokofiev, Soviet diary 1927, 275.
- Anthony Phillips, translator, Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1924–1933: Prodigal Son (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013), 57, 65–66. Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate any further information on either Price or Wake.
- Phillips, Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1924–1933, 68-69. Please note “Price” and “Mrs. Wake” appear to have been added in the diary’s translation.
- Phillips, Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1924–1933, 78.
- Phillips, Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1924–1933, 394, 396, 577, 587, 590, 600, 655, 659, 661, 672, 679, 688, 706, 710, 715, 736, 739, 745, 748, 757.
- Phillips, Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1924–1933, 606
- Phillips, Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1924–1933, 913–914.
- Phillips, Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1924–1933, 1002.
- Phillips, Sergey Prokofiev diaries, 1924-1933, 393. Sergei Prokofiev to Eve Crain, 31 January 1933, Subject File, Prokofiev, Sergei.
- Robinson, Sergei Prokofiev: A Biography, 313–346.
- Sabrina Ramet, Religious Policy in the Soviet Union (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 4–5.
- Harlow Robinson, Selected Letters of Sergei Prokofiev (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998), 219–220.
- Robinson, Selected Letters of Sergei Prokofiev, n. 21.
- In his later life, Prokofiev suffered from numerous health issues, experiencing frequent bouts of illness, especially after receiving a concussion from a fall in January 1945. Biographer Simon Morrison writes of the aftermath to this incident: “Such would become the pattern for much of the rest of his life: his health would gradually improve, allowing him to work full- or part-time, but then suddenly deteriorate, leaving him bedridden with blinding headaches and nosebleeds.” Simon Alexander Morrison, The People’s Artist: Prokofiev’s Soviet Years (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2009), 252–254.
- Robinson, Sergei Prokofiev: A Biography, 1.