ACT 1: PEACE
Lina celebrates her last birthday at age 91, with her two sons at a hospital in Bonn, Germany. This scene is interspersed with flash-forwards from a later scene (in act 4) in which Serge and Mira burn letters and photographs, having just learned of Lina's arrest. As Lina starts to reminisce about Serge, we see fragments of their life in Paris, young parents in the heady cultural milieu of Russian artists including Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Diaghilev, and Vernon Duke. Serge and Lina return to Russia for the first time since his departure for the West, for a concert tour. Lina confesses to Serge that she suspects they have been followed the whole trip; Serge jokingly dismisses her fears, saying it is an inevitable consequence of being a "celebrity from the rotten West."

Scene selections:

scene 1.2 (beginning): domestic (re)arrangements (Paris, 1924) (audio)
scene 1.2 (ending): Serge and Lina rehearse "The Butterfly" (Paris, 1924) (audio)
Living in Paris, Lina and Serge bicker, exhausted and stressed out as young parents of a new baby. Trying to lift her spirits, he shows her a new song he wrote for her, "The Butterfly."

Recordings by soprano Jennifer Jaroslavsky, tenor Gregory Zavracky, and pianist Ketty Nez.

Photo credit Sergei Prokofiev Estate.