Autumnal Sketch, Op. 8

• The orchestral tone poem Osenneye (“Autumnal Sketch,” Op.8) was composed in 1910, with subsequent versions appearing in 1915 and 1934.¹
• This piece premiered on July 19, 1910, at Sokolniki Park in Moscow, conducted by Prokofiev.²

“I am deeply guilty that I did not keep my promise on time, but after I foolishly dug up my Autumnal I sat with such pleasure fixing it up all evening that I did not even notice it was after midnight.”

Prokofiev, on how engrossed he felt when revisiting his Autumnal Sketch. From a letter to Eleonora Damskaya, Aug. 6, 1915.³

1. Dorothea Redepenning, “Prokofiev, Sergey,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed December 26, 2019,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000022402.
2. Richard Whitehouse, liner notes to Prokofiev: Symphony no. 3, Scythian Suite, Autumnal Sketch, São Pauo Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, Naxos 8.573452, CD, 2015.
3. Sergei Prokofiev, ed. and trans. Harlow Robinson, Selected Letters of Sergei Prokofiev (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998), 24-25.