Sergey Prokofiev diaries: 23 November [6 December] 1918

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text excerpt

The first concert took place at two o'clock this afternoon - what would in the past have been the public dress rehearsal. For some reason I was greeted by an ovation from the absolutely full hall when I stepped on the platform. I suppose Stokowski had been right when he said that my appearance in concert had been easgerly awaited. If I had a few tremors I calmed myself by repeating under my breath: tomorrow you have another concert, in three days' time you play again in New York - it's not worth worrying about. This time the Steinway was a good one, light and responsive, but with dirty keys. Lamarter dragged, but avoided gross disasters. The success was great, also for the Scythian Suite, but still not as great as it had been at its last performance in the Mariinsky Theatre. This can be explained by the fact that it was a weekday afternoon and so 90 per cent of the audience consisted of women whse gloved hands inhibited the making of a great noise. I took seven curtain calls (I am compiling statistics of these during my American sojourn, it is very much in the American spirit).

excerpt from 'Sergey Prokofiev diaries: 23 November [6 December] 1918' pp. 363 (198 words)

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