The libretto for Prodigal Son was written by Boris Kochno, the secretary and collaborator of Serge Diaghilev. This is his recounting of how the ballet came to be: Text from Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe by Boris Kochno: "In 1927 [...] Diaghilev asked Prokofiev to write a new ballet for the company. He had no specific theme to suggest, and his great preoccupation at the time was to find one. He wanted the new work to be simple and easy to follow, unlike Prokofiev's earlier b