On Guard for Peace

On Guard for Peace
Oratorio by Sergei Prokofiev
Prokofiev with his wife Mira in 1946
Opus	124
Text	Samuil Marshak
Language	Russian
Composed	1949–1950
Published	1952
Publisher	Muzgiz, Hans Sikorski Musikverlage
Duration	37 minutes
Movements	10
Scoring	narrators, mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, boys choir, mixed chorus, orchestra
Premiere
Date	December 19, 1950 (1950-12-19)
Location	House of the Unions, Moscow, Russian SFSR
Conductor	Samuil Samosud
Performers	Natalia Efron, Anton Shvarts (speakers) Zara Dolukhanova (mezzo-soprano) Yevgeny Talanov (boy soprano) Boys Choir of the Moscow Choir School (Alexander Sveshnikov [ru], choirmaster) Large Choir of the USSR All-Union Radio (Klavdiy Ptitsa [ru], choirmaster) USSR All-Union Radio Symphony Orchestra

On Guard for Peace (Russian: На страже мира, romanized: Na strazhe mira), also translated as On Guard of Peace,^[1] Op. 124 is an oratorio by Sergei Prokofiev scored for narrators, mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, boys choir, mixed choir, and symphony orchestra. Each of its ten movements sets texts by Samuil Marshak, who had collaborated previously with the composer in the work Winter Bonfire, Op. 122.

Prokofiev composed On Guard for Peace under difficult personal circumstances. He had been among six composers censured by the Union of Soviet Composers in its 1948 Anti-Formalist Resolution on Music, which had immediate professional and financial consequences for him. The resulting stress exacerbated his chronic health problems from hypertension, which led to a stroke in 1949. Against his doctors' advice, Prokofiev wanted to compose a large oratorio on the theme of world peace, which he hoped would result in a paid commission from the Union of Soviet Composers or the Committee on Arts Affairs. With help from Alexander Fadeyev and Sergey Balasanian, Prokofiev was granted a commission for his oratorio from the children's programming division of the Radio Information Committee.

During the composition process, Prokofiev revised the name of the oratorio and some of its movements several times before settling on their final names. As in many of his late works, Prokofiev willingly amended his score according to the advice offered by his collaborators and friends.

On Guard for Peace was premiered on December 19, 1950, in Moscow; the performance was conducted by Samuil Samosud. It was received warmly in the Soviet Union, where it earned a Stalin Prize, second class, Prokofiev's last; it also signaled the beginning of his political rehabilitation. Discourse about the work in the West was affected by the Cold War and tended to be hostile. Its reputation there has remained mixed.