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The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev: The Story of Lina and Serge Prokofiev
Lina Prokofiev was alone in her Moscow apartment one night when the telephone rang. The caller insisted that she come downstairs to collect a parcel, but when she reached the courtyard she was arrested.
Born in Madrid to a Russian soprano and a Spanish tenor, Lina had spent much of her youth in Brooklyn. It was while working as a secretary, hoping to build her own singing career, that she met the young pianist and composer Serge Prokofiev. Although her mother warned her against him, their relationship evolved in the full glare of the media.
In 1936 the couple was enticed back to the Soviet Union with the promise of artistic and personal freedom. The assurances proved false, and when Serge later abandoned Lina she found herself trapped in the country, struggling to support their two sons through one of the darkest periods in Soviet history.
What emerges is not simply the portrait of a famous composer's wife but of a remarkable woman who gave up her career for the brilliant man she married. Unfolding with the intrigue of a spy novel, The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev traces this largely untold story, from the moment Lina fell in love with a rising star to her experiences in the Gulag after she received that fateful telephone call.
Born in Madrid to a Russian soprano and a Spanish tenor, Lina had spent much of her youth in Brooklyn. It was while working as a secretary, hoping to build her own singing career, that she met the young pianist and composer Serge Prokofiev. Although her mother warned her against him, their relationship evolved in the full glare of the media.
In 1936 the couple was enticed back to the Soviet Union with the promise of artistic and personal freedom. The assurances proved false, and when Serge later abandoned Lina she found herself trapped in the country, struggling to support their two sons through one of the darkest periods in Soviet history.
What emerges is not simply the portrait of a famous composer's wife but of a remarkable woman who gave up her career for the brilliant man she married. Unfolding with the intrigue of a spy novel, The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev traces this largely untold story, from the moment Lina fell in love with a rising star to her experiences in the Gulag after she received that fateful telephone call.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
51 people are currently reading
619 people want to read
About the author
Simon Morrison
21 books42 followersSimon Morrison is Professor of Music History at Princeton, where he earned his PhD in musicology. A leading authority on composer Serge Prokofiev, he is the author of The People's Artist, along with numerous scholarly articles, and features for the New York Times. In 2011, Morrison was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 6, 2014
BBC Blurb: Simon Morrison's new biography of Lina Prokofiev tells the story of the remarkable woman who married the brilliant composer Serge Prokofiev. Today, music and romance.
Lina Prokofiev's compelling story unfolds with the intrigue of a spy novel. Serge Prokofiev's glamorous wife fell madly in love with the brilliant composer while she was working as a secretary in Brooklyn where she lived with her Russian emigre parents. She soon followed him to Paris where his star continued to rise, and where they married and started a family. Their sophisticated lifestyle was irrevocably altered when Serge was lured back to Moscow in 1936 by false promises of artistic and personal freedom. After Serge and Lina's marriage crumbled, she fell foul of the worst excesses of Stalin's regime and ended up spending eight years in the Gulag.
Simon Morrison is Professor of Music History at Princeton. He is the author of The People's Artist, a definitive account of Prokofiev's career.
The reader is Sian Thomas. Abridged by Richard Hamilton. Produced by Elizabeth Allard
The Love for Three Oranges - "Russian jazz with Bolshevik trimmings"
Lina was the first wife - stage name Caroline Codina.
ARCHIVIO IEM: Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo e Giulietta (Cor. Rudolf Nureyev) : full film WOW!
It's a question of loving the art, sniffing at the artist:
http://youtu.be/y29V7c1k5xE
And this SUPERB Dance of the Knights: http://youtu.be/DUmq1cpcglQ
Waltz from War and Peace - Hvorostovsky and Mataeva
A chance to listen to Lina is where she narrates Peter and the Wolf: http://youtu.be/J108VJE7PEQ
Superb!
April 23, 2023
Glad I stuck with it because it came to life once the Prokofievs had moved to Moscow. But up until then I found the excess of detail dragged the story. E.g. not only were we told which car Prokofiev bought, but which cars he CONSIDERED buying. It felt like "we've DONE this research and, by God, you're going to read it." Did we really need to know full lists of people met on tour to Chicago in the 1920s? The train times? Everything played at various concerts, whether or not by Prokofiev?
The other thing was the frustrating reference to photographs still in existence but not included in the book. More photos please!
I felt more could be done by the writer to pull out the parallels between Lina's and Serge's lives, and what was happening in Europe. Things like Romeo & Juliet being composed in 1936, the year of the Great Terror. Even a composer as self obsessed as Prokofiev can't have been unaware - how did it manifest itself in the music?
But in the end, this was a fascinating and tragic book of a woman sucked in to a dangerous and unhappy life through her love for her husband (though not a match made in heaven, it didn't seem to wane), who ended up, as so many, crushed by a police state. And ultimately kept alive by her own determined character and the dedication and love of her two sons.
The other thing was the frustrating reference to photographs still in existence but not included in the book. More photos please!
I felt more could be done by the writer to pull out the parallels between Lina's and Serge's lives, and what was happening in Europe. Things like Romeo & Juliet being composed in 1936, the year of the Great Terror. Even a composer as self obsessed as Prokofiev can't have been unaware - how did it manifest itself in the music?
But in the end, this was a fascinating and tragic book of a woman sucked in to a dangerous and unhappy life through her love for her husband (though not a match made in heaven, it didn't seem to wane), who ended up, as so many, crushed by a police state. And ultimately kept alive by her own determined character and the dedication and love of her two sons.
June 18, 2013
Where in the world did the author get the vast day-by-day (almost hour by hour) detail to write this book? The first 100 pages are excruciatingly boring. He failed to bring Lina or Serge to life any more than any other average person at that time. Probably because they are simply average people one of whom happens to have an incredible talent. The remainder of the book is better but not great.
April 6, 2013
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
Simon Morrison's moving biography about the wife of composer Serge Prokofiev
Simon Morrison's moving biography about the wife of composer Serge Prokofiev
Read
April 18, 2013Lina and Serge is a sympathetic, moving and sensitive portrait of the great composer's long-suffering wife.
It is an incredibly sad story, A beautiful and ambitious opera singer who spoke five languages, Lina Prokofiev had a Spanish and Russian heritage, and she was brought up in Brooklyn. While working for cultured Russians, she met the brilliant composer. They had a troubled and distant relationship, and Serge, who was also a bit of a womaniser, didn't want to get married. However, they married when Lina became pregant. It was her biggest mistake.
While living in Paris, they were courted by important Russians from the new Soviet government, who promised them both spectacular careers. Serge enjoyed great success, and they were even able to travel overseas. Lina, a socialite used to wearing beautiful clothes, even hiring the best dressmaker. However, as the purges began and Serge's music started to be banned, the couple found that they lived in a 'fog of fear'.
Their marriage began to unravel....I want you to read this book, so I won't tell the whole story. However, Lina was arrested and spent eight years in the gulag, where she suffered torture and beatings. Morrison doesn't shy away from describing the horrors of the gulags, and gives a graphic account of the criminal regime. It most certainly was an 'evil regime' as Ronald Reagan said.
This is worth reading, and it's a good book about a brave, likeable and resilient woman.
It is an incredibly sad story, A beautiful and ambitious opera singer who spoke five languages, Lina Prokofiev had a Spanish and Russian heritage, and she was brought up in Brooklyn. While working for cultured Russians, she met the brilliant composer. They had a troubled and distant relationship, and Serge, who was also a bit of a womaniser, didn't want to get married. However, they married when Lina became pregant. It was her biggest mistake.
While living in Paris, they were courted by important Russians from the new Soviet government, who promised them both spectacular careers. Serge enjoyed great success, and they were even able to travel overseas. Lina, a socialite used to wearing beautiful clothes, even hiring the best dressmaker. However, as the purges began and Serge's music started to be banned, the couple found that they lived in a 'fog of fear'.
Their marriage began to unravel....I want you to read this book, so I won't tell the whole story. However, Lina was arrested and spent eight years in the gulag, where she suffered torture and beatings. Morrison doesn't shy away from describing the horrors of the gulags, and gives a graphic account of the criminal regime. It most certainly was an 'evil regime' as Ronald Reagan said.
This is worth reading, and it's a good book about a brave, likeable and resilient woman.
September 11, 2014
The soprano Lina Prokofiev died on January 3,1989,aged 91. No recordings of her singing are know to have survived
- From Lina &Serge - the love and wars of Lina Prokofiev. By Simon Morrison
Well I just finished this book and wow, I knew a Lil about her husband, but I never thought the book would be like this. She was a talented well loved girl, I feel sorry her life turned out like this. She had to fight for everything it seems. She kept a great attitude over her years of early marriage, to her 8 painfully terrible years in the camp!(GULAG). I keep thinking wow she was an amazing woman to have been through all what she was though and still come out happy and grateful. Yes she was plagued with fears and nightmares of her time in the camps, poor thing had a fear she would go back at any moment. But she still continued to push forward and attend events for her husbands music and after all the years of "being in the shadow of a genius" she never faltered.
She might not be talented or famous as her husband was, She might not have pave the way for women in general today.... But she is the definition of a strong willed woman and for that I am very happy and proud to have read her story
- From Lina &Serge - the love and wars of Lina Prokofiev. By Simon Morrison
Well I just finished this book and wow, I knew a Lil about her husband, but I never thought the book would be like this. She was a talented well loved girl, I feel sorry her life turned out like this. She had to fight for everything it seems. She kept a great attitude over her years of early marriage, to her 8 painfully terrible years in the camp!(GULAG). I keep thinking wow she was an amazing woman to have been through all what she was though and still come out happy and grateful. Yes she was plagued with fears and nightmares of her time in the camps, poor thing had a fear she would go back at any moment. But she still continued to push forward and attend events for her husbands music and after all the years of "being in the shadow of a genius" she never faltered.
She might not be talented or famous as her husband was, She might not have pave the way for women in general today.... But she is the definition of a strong willed woman and for that I am very happy and proud to have read her story
June 3, 2013
Weak writing but an interesting story. Prokofiev left his wife for someone roughly half his age, a 23-year-old. His wife ended up in the Gulag for eight years...hadn't known this before.
October 13, 2021
When I was a serious student of the piano one of my goals was to play Prokofiev and play it well. Those days are long behind me, but I still appreciate his work a great deal.
A story written more about his wife's life and how it entwined with his was a 'must-read' for me.
I enjoyed this book and believe that any music lover will too.
A story written more about his wife's life and how it entwined with his was a 'must-read' for me.
I enjoyed this book and believe that any music lover will too.
March 12, 2020
A profound look at life in & out of the Soviet Union, formerly Russia & how it affected a strong woman in love with the wrong man who happens to be a genius & internationally famous. The book is very well written & paints a picture of a woman & a man struggling with themselves, each other, their sons & the country who made those lives hell. Lina’s story made me laugh, cry, cheer & wonder at the strength which got her through life.
April 22, 2018
I have listened to the music of Prokofiev since childhood and my main memory is of Peter and the Wolf with my parents, but until now I didn't realise that the narrator was his wife Lina. Learning about their often sad and troubled life was very interesting and well written without descending in to much nostalgia. Enjoyable.
December 2, 2015
What a waste of a good subject! Quite an achievement to make such extraordinary people and lives feel so tedious and boring.
November 3, 2023
Unless you already know something about Prokofiev, the title of this book might be puzzling -- why should we care about the wife of Prokofiev? Once you know her tragic story and what happened to both her and her husband, focusing on Lina makes sense.
When the Russian Revolution took place, Prokofiev, who already had the beginning of an international career, was allowed to leave the newly formed Soviet Union. Remaining abroad, he plunged himself into a cosmopolitan career, concertizing and composing throughout the world, with a home base mostly in Paris, to the extent that he settled anywhere. Yet as an exile, he never truly felt that he had a true home.
So, in the 1930's when he was courted by cultural officials of the Soviet Union, he was intrigued enough to visit. Those visits, as stage-managed as they were, convinced him to move his home base there. Finally in 1936, he and his wife Lina set down roots in Moscow and acquired Russian passports. Though Prokofiev had been promised that he could maintain his international career, after a couple tours in 1936 & '37, he (and therefore Lina) was prohibited from travelling outside Stalin's Soviet Union for good.
But Lina and Serge's marriage was collapsing--partially due to general incompatibility, partially due to her discomfort in the Soviet Union, partially due to her own demons, but above all by Serge's ambition. He lived only for music or at least only for his music, and anything that distracted from that, even a neurotic woman who nevertheless never gave up most of her life in dedication to him, was something to be discarded. Thus he eliminated the distraction, leaving Lina to fend for herself as he separated from her and went to live with a young acolyte who would do anything for Serge (not too different than Lina had been in the beginning). He did have some limited contact with his and Lina's children, but he was so desperate to break from his marriage that he once imagined that his children would forget him in a year or two (both children were in their teens at the time).
Because of her efforts to maintain a thread of connection if not an escape to the outside world by visiting embassy staff and other foreigners, Lina was arrested and shipped off to the Gulag in 1948. Prokofiev never saw her again, nor did he try. Upon hearing the news of her arrest, the main thing that bothered him and his then new wife, Mira, was that they needed to destroy any materials that tied them to foreigners, lest they be arrested also.
Biographies of Prokofiev tend to show the deterioration of their relationship and then once he walks out on her, she largely disappears from his story. This biography is the corrective to that -- leaving Prokofiev mostly in the background as he leaves her. The damning details of Serge's abandonment pile up -- during the desperate war years, he still expected her to maintain his fancy suits in the apartment, rather than sell them for much needed food -- and yet there are occasional moments in which he did come together with Lina for the sake of their children.
Lina never saw Prokofiev again -- she was in the gulag when the news came on the radio that Prokofiev had died. Though she was eventually rehabilitated and released (partially due to entreaties by Shostakovich and, improbably for those who know him by his apparatchik ways, Tikhon Khrennikov, who had befriended her), she never fully recovered from the agonies of the gulag. Her children stood by her, and it is due to their legacy that we owe this biography and this perspective that confirms the worst speculations about Prokofiev's self-serving ambition.
Though it goes into perhaps more detail than needed about the pre-Soviet period of their lives, these pictures of inconsequential concerns (the make of the car he wanted to buy, the innumerable details about her efforts to become a better singer, etc.) furthers the contrast with her later far more harrowing concerns. At times, while the book makes you hate Prokofiev as a person, it also leads one to begrudgingly give his music respect, since Lina herself, despite being abandoned, still defended Prokofiev's musical legacy and importance after his death, even while suffering the effects of the gulag she probably never would have been consigned to had Serge never walked out of her life.
Lina lived to leave the Soviet Union, dying in London in 1988, 35 years after her illustrious husband.
When the Russian Revolution took place, Prokofiev, who already had the beginning of an international career, was allowed to leave the newly formed Soviet Union. Remaining abroad, he plunged himself into a cosmopolitan career, concertizing and composing throughout the world, with a home base mostly in Paris, to the extent that he settled anywhere. Yet as an exile, he never truly felt that he had a true home.
So, in the 1930's when he was courted by cultural officials of the Soviet Union, he was intrigued enough to visit. Those visits, as stage-managed as they were, convinced him to move his home base there. Finally in 1936, he and his wife Lina set down roots in Moscow and acquired Russian passports. Though Prokofiev had been promised that he could maintain his international career, after a couple tours in 1936 & '37, he (and therefore Lina) was prohibited from travelling outside Stalin's Soviet Union for good.
But Lina and Serge's marriage was collapsing--partially due to general incompatibility, partially due to her discomfort in the Soviet Union, partially due to her own demons, but above all by Serge's ambition. He lived only for music or at least only for his music, and anything that distracted from that, even a neurotic woman who nevertheless never gave up most of her life in dedication to him, was something to be discarded. Thus he eliminated the distraction, leaving Lina to fend for herself as he separated from her and went to live with a young acolyte who would do anything for Serge (not too different than Lina had been in the beginning). He did have some limited contact with his and Lina's children, but he was so desperate to break from his marriage that he once imagined that his children would forget him in a year or two (both children were in their teens at the time).
Because of her efforts to maintain a thread of connection if not an escape to the outside world by visiting embassy staff and other foreigners, Lina was arrested and shipped off to the Gulag in 1948. Prokofiev never saw her again, nor did he try. Upon hearing the news of her arrest, the main thing that bothered him and his then new wife, Mira, was that they needed to destroy any materials that tied them to foreigners, lest they be arrested also.
Biographies of Prokofiev tend to show the deterioration of their relationship and then once he walks out on her, she largely disappears from his story. This biography is the corrective to that -- leaving Prokofiev mostly in the background as he leaves her. The damning details of Serge's abandonment pile up -- during the desperate war years, he still expected her to maintain his fancy suits in the apartment, rather than sell them for much needed food -- and yet there are occasional moments in which he did come together with Lina for the sake of their children.
Lina never saw Prokofiev again -- she was in the gulag when the news came on the radio that Prokofiev had died. Though she was eventually rehabilitated and released (partially due to entreaties by Shostakovich and, improbably for those who know him by his apparatchik ways, Tikhon Khrennikov, who had befriended her), she never fully recovered from the agonies of the gulag. Her children stood by her, and it is due to their legacy that we owe this biography and this perspective that confirms the worst speculations about Prokofiev's self-serving ambition.
Though it goes into perhaps more detail than needed about the pre-Soviet period of their lives, these pictures of inconsequential concerns (the make of the car he wanted to buy, the innumerable details about her efforts to become a better singer, etc.) furthers the contrast with her later far more harrowing concerns. At times, while the book makes you hate Prokofiev as a person, it also leads one to begrudgingly give his music respect, since Lina herself, despite being abandoned, still defended Prokofiev's musical legacy and importance after his death, even while suffering the effects of the gulag she probably never would have been consigned to had Serge never walked out of her life.
Lina lived to leave the Soviet Union, dying in London in 1988, 35 years after her illustrious husband.
February 20, 2018
This was a great read. As the author notes in his introduction "This book chronicles a totalitarian nightmare but begins with a young woman's dreams." Thus begins such a tale of human defiance in the face of adversity that one wonders why she ever persevered. And again it is the story of so many shattered dreams in a country that could have achieved so much more for it's citizens. And it is also a story of love and betrayal, of glory and reflection, and struggle, hope, and despair. It is one of those books that show the face of fame and also the fate of those close to it. A profound testament to those who have triumphed over injustice, this treatise does not contain miraculous escapes and "unforgettable" characters, merely the hard slog that characterizes life. The little asides and descriptions of people, places, and events, no matter how small, do not detract but only add to the understanding of the story as a whole.
What did make it difficult to read was the poor quality paper used for printing.
Five stars.
What did make it difficult to read was the poor quality paper used for printing.
Five stars.
October 23, 2018
This book gives a very good vieuw on Nina and Serges lives, but is most interresting in the way
of live in the USSR in the twentieth century!
It is also an iilustration to what a human being is
able to endure in the most terrible circumstances,
physical and mental.
of live in the USSR in the twentieth century!
It is also an iilustration to what a human being is
able to endure in the most terrible circumstances,
physical and mental.
April 23, 2023
Confusing chronologically
I would have given one more star because I learned so much about the Prokofiev's life and music. But the author didn't write chronologically and it added to my confusion in certain areas.
I would have given one more star because I learned so much about the Prokofiev's life and music. But the author didn't write chronologically and it added to my confusion in certain areas.
January 29, 2022
Remarkable story - especially enjoyed pictures of her & of her family
May 7, 2018
Lina's life is a story demanding to be told. Mr. Morrison does so in a beautiful balance of empathy and sympathy. A rising star herself, her roller coaster ride of passion and love with one of the most talented composers of the century takes her the opposite way of most people, to the Soviet Union. Her life with a self-centered genius in a dangerous setting lands her betrayed, imprisoned, tortured but yet her spirit triumphs. However, in the final moments, you discover that freedom is just another concept of mind, sometimes never truly attainable.
April 7, 2013
I was delighted to receive this book thru GoodReads Giveaways!
This book is Well-Written and you can tell the result of extensive reseach with lots of details of a tragic story of a talented woman raised in Brooklyn who became the lover and then the wife of one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, Sergei Prokofiev, and paid a huge price.
I would highly recommend this book.
This book is Well-Written and you can tell the result of extensive reseach with lots of details of a tragic story of a talented woman raised in Brooklyn who became the lover and then the wife of one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, Sergei Prokofiev, and paid a huge price.
I would highly recommend this book.
November 4, 2014
a sentimental novel...
September 28, 2015
The music of the 20th century - the lights of Paris in the 20s, Milan and the carnivale in the 30s, the despair of the gulag in the 40s. A beautiful biography.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews