The secret behind the dissonances in Prokofiev: Importance of Interpretation

Abstract

When we think of the dissonances inside a piece of music, we think of darkness, sarcasm, and even the word "grotesque." However, who gives the idea of such terms, and why would we believe dissonances represent uncomfortable and uncertain feelings. One might argue that it is the tension created from the so-called "unresolved" or "un-finished" tone. But why must a tone be resolved, and what determined the term "resolved"? When did the word "dissonance" emerge into the music world, and why was this word invented? Throughout the history of music, we can see that dissonances have existed already from medieval times. The chromatic stepwise scales going down and up were amongst the troubadours when they hum the one-lined melismatic tone. Over time, dissonances became a crucial part of composers' compositional languages. In this paper, I will link dissonances to the life events of the composer during specific time, as well as the demands from the audiences at a particular time. To argue that as a performer, it is crucial to understand the reasons for the arrangements of dissonances inside a piece using historical background information. Try our best expressing the story behind the use of dissonances, expressing the demands from both composers and audiences through our instruments.