Editing Sergei Prokofiev (section)

=== Childhood and first compositions ===
[[File:Reinhold Glière.jpg|thumb|upright|Composer [[Reinhold Glière]], Prokofiev's first composition teacher]]
Prokofiev was born in 1891 in a rural estate in Sontsovka, [[Bakhmut uezd]], [[Yekaterinoslav Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]] (now known as [[Sontsivka]], [[Pokrovsk Raion]], [[Donetsk Oblast]], Ukraine).<ref>{{harvnb|Prokofiev|1979|pp=8, 10}}; {{harvnb|Nestyev|1961|p=1}}; and {{harvnb|Nice|2003|p=6}}</ref> His father, Sergei Alekseyevich Prokofiev, was an [[agronomist]] from a mercantile family in Moscow. Prokofiev's mother, Maria (née Zhitkova), came from a [[Saint Petersburg]]{{sfn|Nestyev|1961|p=2}} family of former [[serfs]] who had been owned by the [[Sheremetev]] family, under whose patronage serf-children were taught theatre and arts from an early age.<ref>Vishnevetskiy (2009): pp.&nbsp;15–16</ref><ref>{{cite web | last =Sidorov | first =Yuriy | title =ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННЫЕ ЗАПИСКИ | date =2 August 2012 | url =http://www.sovross.ru/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=591534 | access-date = 7 August 2014 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140201220032/http://www.sovross.ru/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=591534| url-status =dead | archive-date =1 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Sergei Prokofiev|website = Music Academy Online|url = http://www.musicacademyonline.com/composer/biographies.php?bid=82|access-date = 23 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Sergei Prokofiev by Paul Shoemaker|website = MusicWeb International|url = http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Apr03/Prokofiev_Biography.htm|access-date = 23 March 2014}}</ref> She was described by [[Reinhold Glière]], Prokofiev's first composition teacher, as "a tall woman with beautiful, clever eyes … who knew how to create an atmosphere of warmth and simplicity about her."<ref>Reinhold Glière. "First Steps" from {{harvnb|Shlifstein|1956|p=144}}</ref> After their wedding in the summer of 1877, the Prokofievs moved to a small estate in the Smolensk governorate. Eventually, Sergei Alekseyevich found employment as a soil engineer, employed by one of his former fellow-students, Dmitri Sontsov, to whose estate in the Ukrainian steppes the Prokofievs moved.<ref>{{harvnb|Nice|2003|p=6}}</ref>

By the time of Prokofiev's birth, Maria—having previously lost two daughters—had devoted her life to music; during her son's early childhood, she spent two months a year in Moscow or St Petersburg taking piano lessons.<ref>{{cite web|title = Prokofiev|website = Ballet Met|url = https://www.balletmet.org/backstage/ballet-notes/158|access-date = 23 March 2014|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131112181410/https://www.balletmet.org/backstage/ballet-notes/158|archive-date = 12 November 2013}}</ref> Sergei Prokofiev was inspired by hearing his mother practicing the piano in the evenings, mostly works by [[Chopin]] and [[Beethoven]], and wrote his first piano composition at the age of five, an "Indian Gallop", which was written down by his mother: it was in the F [[Lydian mode]] (a major scale with a raised 4th scale degree), as the young Prokofiev felt "reluctance to tackle the black notes".<ref>Autobiography by Sergey Prokofiev: reprinted in ''Sergei Prokofiev: Soviet Diary 1927 and Other Writings''. London: Faber and Faber, 1991.</ref> By seven, he had also learned to play [[chess]].<ref>{{harvnb|Prokofiev|1979|p=xi}}</ref> Chess remained a passion of his, and he became acquainted with world chess champions [[José Raúl Capablanca]], whom he beat in a simultaneous exhibition match in 1914, and [[Mikhail Botvinnik]], with whom he played several matches in the 1930s.<ref>See: Winter, Edward. [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/prokofiev.html "Sergei Prokofiev and Chess"], chesshistory.com.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Prokofiev has the rare distinction for a composer of having won a game against a future world chess champion, albeit in the context of a simultaneous match: his win over Capablanca of 16 May 1914 can be played through at [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1261719 chessgames.com] ([[Java (software platform)|Java]] required). For extracts from Prokofiev's notebooks recounting his games against Capablanca, see: [http://www.sprkfv.net/journal/three02/thegame2.html The Game (part 2)], sprkfv.net.<ref>All references retrieved 19 December 2011.</ref>|group= n}} At age nine, he was composing his first opera, ''[[The Giant (opera)|The Giant]]'', as well as an overture and various other pieces.<ref>{{harvnb|Guillaumier|2020|p=9}}</ref> Opera remained thereafter as the genre Prokofiev was most fond of working in.<ref>{{harvnb|Guillaumier|2020|p=248}}</ref>