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Serge and Sviatoslav Prokofiev. France, 1926.
I had a rather heavy head, so I took Sviatoslav for a walk to the furthest ends of the Bois de Boulogne. He was being a "puff-puff", trailed in the mud and on one occasion loudly sang "Chizhik". When I went along one path and he was going along another, he said philosophically "You are there and I am here, each has his own path". (Diary, 1928)
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This is my day: I wake between 7.30 and 8.00, get Labunsky up and go to the bathroom to wash. Because it's the country I shave every other day and depending on that, go downstairs fifteen or thirty minutes later. I drink coffee, open the shutters and settle down to work till ten. At ten o'clock they bring the mail, which is a break in my labours. If there aren't many letters, I work again till half past eleven. Then I let Ptashka sing while I go for a walk; sometimes I take Sviatoslav with me in his three-wheeled pram, his "tasi", as he calls it (his version of the English word "taxi"). Sometimes I do yet a bit more work when I get back from my walk.
Lunch is at quarter to one. After lunch, if required, I dictate a letter or two to Labunsky. Afternoon work is less intense than in the mornings i.e. I rarely compose in the afternoons, though sometimes I finish a piece. Then I do corrections, make alterations to the Symphony or plan orchestration. Tea is at four and at half past five I go for a long walk of four to five kilometres, sometimes to Champagne, and return by train, ready for supper at half past seven.
In the evening I play the piano for a bit (Second Concerto, Fourth Sonata) and write my diary (the new one) or add to the old one, in its abridged form. We go to bed at ten. (Diary, 1929)
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Serge and Sviatoslav Prokofiev.
1925 and 1927.
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