Sergei Rachmaninoff

Classical Music / Composer's Datebook: April 1

Rachmaninoff was a superb pianist, a brilliant composer and conductor. His music is 19th century rooted yet adheres to Classical form. His concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, are among the most popular in piano and orchestra literature.  He was a protégé of Piotr Tchaikovsky.

Sergei (Sergey) Rachmaninoff (also Rachmaninov or Rakhmaninov) was a Russian composer, conductor and pianist. He was born in Semyonovo, 1 April 1873.

Pianist and Composer

Initially, he studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1882 and later at the Moscow Conservatory in 1885-1892. It was during this time that he showed himself to be an outstanding pianist. In 1891, he wrote his first piano concerto and his well-known Prelude C#. Two years later, he scored success with Aleko, his first opera composition as his graduation work.

Symphony No. 1 written in 1895 was not successful causing him emotional stress.  With the help of a hypnotist Dr. Dahl, he returned to composition. His confidence returned with the huge success of his Piano Concerto No.2 in 1901.  He dedicated this concerto to Dr. Dahl. The following year he married his cousin Natalie Satin. 

Below,  listen and enjoy Rachmaninoff's famous Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, op. 30, in the powerful interpretation and superb performance of 18-year old gold medalist Yunchan Lim: his emotion, his technique. Likewise brilliantly conducted by Marin Alsop, with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.  2022 Cliburn Competition. Accessed April 1, 2023.

 

Conductor 

In 1905 he became conductor in Moscow, first, of the Imperial Grand Opera and continued at the Bolshoi Theatre, for which he composed two operas, Francesca da Rimini and The Miserly Knight. Opera was not his forte. In 1907, he lived in Dresden where he wrote Symphony No. 2 and the symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead (1909).   

   

First USA Concert

His first concert tour of USA was in 1909, writing Piano Concerto no. 3 for the occasion and playing it himself.  By this time, Rachmaninoff had established himself to be one of the greatest pianist, and through his life.    

Emigration to the USA

He was disenchanted with the Russian revolutionary government, left Russia in 1917 and settled in New York, where he lived and continued his musical career, though he spent periods in Paris (where he founded a publishing firm), Dresden and Switzerland.

There was a period of creative silence until 1926 when he wrote the Piano Concerto No. 4, followed by a handful of works over the next 15 years. During this time, however, he was active as a pianist on both sides of the Atlantic though never again in Russia.  

Major Works

His works  include three symphonies; four piano concertos including Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op.18 (1900-01),  Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor,Op.30 (1909) and Piano Concerto No. 4 (1926); piano pieces including  Prelude in C-Sharp Minor (1882) and the enduring and ever popular Rhapsody on aTheme of Paganini (1934) for piano and orchestra; choral and chamber music; and songs. He gripped audiences worldwide when his Piano Concerto No. 2 was used as soundtrack in the British classic film Brief Encounter, transposed into a popular poignant love song “Full Moon and Empty Arms”; followed by Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra, used in the film Somewhere in Time; and a third one, Piano Concerto no. 3 used in another smash film Shine, the story of David Helfgott.  His Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (originally called Fantastic Dances) was his last completed composition, a large-scale symphonic work in three movements. The Dances allowed him to indulge in a nostalgia for the Russia he knew, and his fascination with ecclesiastical chants. In the first dance, he quotes the opening theme of his First Symphony, itself derived from motifs characteristics of Russian church music. Perhaps believing this to be his final work, in the finale he quotes both the Dies Irae and the chant "Blessed by the Lord" (Blagosloven yesi, Gospodi), and also includes a  recycled song from his poignant All-Night Vigil, a beautiful acapella choral work which depicts Christ's resurrection.   

Sergey Rachmaninoff died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California, 28 March 1943.


Link to Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, from YouTube: here. (Radio Filharmonisch Orkest o.l.v. Edward Gardner)


Photo Credit:

S. Rachmaninoff. Public Domain 

Resources:

Oxford Dictionary of Music. Edited by Michael & Joyce Kennedy & Tim Rutherford-Johnson. 2012.  Oxford: OUP: 2012.

The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, (New Updated Edition), edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan Publishers. 1994.

 

 

(c) April 2007.  Updated April 1, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.