So young Prokofieff was the darling of success: in his motherland; in the spacious hunting grounds of ``Uncle Sam''; in the exciting salons of his lovely, brilliant Paris -- mistress of gaiety -- excess and abandon -- world theatre of new found freedoms in tone, color, dance, design, and thought.

Meanwhile, three great terrible forces were coagulating and crystallizing. In this world-wide conscription of men, minds, and machines, Prokofieff was recalled to his native land. The world exploded when Fascism challenged all concepts of peace and liberty, and the outraged, freedom loving peoples of the Capitalist and Socialist worlds combined forces to stamp Fascist tyranny into cringing submission. After this holocaust, a changing world occupied the minds of men; a world beset with new boundaries, new treaties and governments, new goals and methods, and the age-old fears of aggression and subjugation -- hunger and exposure.

In this changed world, Prokofieff settled to find himself, and to create for large national purpose. Here, this happy, roving son of good fortune proved that he could accept the disciplines of a new social economic order fighting for its very existence and ideals in a truculent world. Here, Prokofieff became a workman in the vineyards of Socialism -- producing music for the masses.

It is at this point in his life that the mature Prokofieff emerges. One might have expected that such a violent epoch of transition would have destroyed the creative flair of a composer, especially one whose works were so fluent and spontaneous.