 Although Prokofiev had already written four operas (the earliest being "The Giant" which he composed at the age of eight and was written down by the composer's mother), "Maddalena" is the first of his works in this genre to which he gave an opus number (op.13).The opera was written in the summer of 1911  while Prokofiev was still a student at Saint Petersburg Conservatory and abandoned with only one of its four scenes orchestrated.