A still from ‘Peter and the Wolf’ Photo: MaxRussian composer Sergei Prokofiev passed away on March 5, 1953, an event that received very little news coverage— Joseph Stalin decided to die on the very same date. Stalin not only hijacked Prokofiev’s death day, he made the last years of the composer’s life (and the entire Soviet Union, one might argue) impossible, thus casting Prokofiev’s decision to return home, after years abroad, as one of the classical music world’s great unforced errors.

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Persons: ‘ Peter, Max, Sergei Prokofiev, — Joseph Stalin, Stalin Locations: Max Russian, Soviet Union