Prokofiev’s 2nd Violin Concerto

Music AppreciationFeatures
Written By Edward Wolfe

Russian composer, Sergei Prokofiev (1891 –1953) wrote some of the most memorable music in the twentieth century, including the delightful Peter and the Wolf.

Today’s selection is a concerto for violin and orchestra, the second of two by this composer. The writing of the two concertos, almost nineteen years apart, coincides almost exactly with Prokofiev’s “exile” from the Soviet Union in the United States and France.

A concerto in the modern sense is a work for solo instrument (or a small group of solo instruments) and orchestra. Some of the beauty of concertos results from the juxtaposition of the soloist’s music with that of the orchestra. It is an expression of the “one and the many” concept in western music.

The beautiful second movement begins at about 12:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMKP3gwRJHI

Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com
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