The
Toccata in D Minor, Op. 11 is a piece for solo
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, written by
Sergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev 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.-Biography:...
in 1912. It is a further development of the
toccataToccata is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers...
form, which has been used by composers such as
Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and
Robert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic...
. Other composers of well-known toccatas include
Maurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer of Impressionist music known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
,
Dmitri KabalevskyDmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky was a Russian Soviet composer.Kabalevsky is regarded as one of the great modern composers of children's music. He helped to set up the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow and remained one of its leading figures...
and
Aram KhachaturianAram Khachaturian was a Soviet-Armenian composer whose works were often influenced by Armenian folk music.-Life:...
.
Prokofiev's Toccata starts off with a persistent repetition of the note D, interchanged between the right hand (which plays the single note) and the left hand (which plays the same note but with the lower
octaveIn music, an octave , is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon which has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music," the use of which is "common in most musical systems." It may be derived from the...
as well).
The
Toccata in D Minor, Op. 11 is a piece for solo
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, written by
Sergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev 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.-Biography:...
in 1912. It is a further development of the
toccataToccata is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers...
form, which has been used by composers such as
Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
and
Robert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic...
. Other composers of well-known toccatas include
Maurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer of Impressionist music known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
,
Dmitri KabalevskyDmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky was a Russian Soviet composer.Kabalevsky is regarded as one of the great modern composers of children's music. He helped to set up the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow and remained one of its leading figures...
and
Aram KhachaturianAram Khachaturian was a Soviet-Armenian composer whose works were often influenced by Armenian folk music.-Life:...
.
Prokofiev's Toccata starts off with a persistent repetition of the note D, interchanged between the right hand (which plays the single note) and the left hand (which plays the same note but with the lower
octaveIn music, an octave , is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon which has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music," the use of which is "common in most musical systems." It may be derived from the...
as well). After a brief development, there are
chromaticDiatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony...
leaps in the left hand while the right hand plays a repeated figuration. The two hands soon switch positions, although the leaps still continue for a while.
A series of split chromatic thirds leads upwards until a descending melody (in A) with chromatic third accompaniments begins, with the left hand traveling in
contrary motionIn music theory, contrary motion is the general movement of two melodic lines in opposite directions. That is, when one of the lines moves up, the other line moves down...
upwards. This leads back to the main repetition 'theme' before a very short pause. Both hands soon play a weaving series of the right hand's repeated figuration from the start, before the split chromatic thirds pattern reappears. This leads more violently to the descending melody pattern, but this time in D, before the D repetition 'theme' reappears, this time in alternating octaves in both hands. The Toccata slows down and halts temporarily before a chromatic rising scale leads to octave exhortations, followed by a
glissandoA glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide.-Glissando vs...
sweep up the keyboard to end on the top D.
This piece is a showpiece that is very popular with
virtuosoA virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
pianistA pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
s, and has been recorded by many. According to the biography of the composer by David Gutman (
Prokofiev: The Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers, Omnibus Press (London), 1990), Prokofiev himself had trouble playing it because his technique, while good, was not quite enough to master the piece.