The Year 1941

The Year 1941 was composed during the second World War. Prokofiev, along with other composers, was evacuated to the Caucasus when Germany started attacking the Soviet Union in 1941. It was under such circumstances that Prokofiev began work on this symphonic suite. He was working on his epic opera War and Peace and the String Quartet No. 2 at the same time. It is an orchestral suite in three movements, a poignant and evocative musical depiction of a tumultuous period in history.

The composer described these three movements as follows:

I. In Battle - “a scene of heated battle, heard by the audience sometimes as though far away and sometimes as though on the actual battlefield.”
II. At Night - “a poetic night scene, disturbed by the tension of impending conflict.
III. For the Brotherhood of Man - “a triumphant lyrical hymn to victory and the brotherhood of peoples.”