Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (,
Sergej Vasil'evič Rahmaninov,
April 1,
1873 (
N.S.) or
March 20 1873 (
O.S.) –
March 28,
1943) was a
Russian composer,
pianist, and
conductor. ("Sergei Rachmaninoff" was the spelling the composer himself used while living in the
West throughout the latter half of his life. However, alternative transliterations of his name include
Sergey or
Serge, and
Rachmaninov,
Rachmaninow,
Rakhmaninov or
Rakhmaninoff.)
He is regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. [
1] [
2]. He had legendary technical facilities and rhythmic drive, and his large hands were able to cover the interval of a
thirteenth on the keyboard (a hand span of approximately twelve inches). He also had the ability to play complex compositions upon first hearing. Many recordings were made by the
Victor Talking Machine Company recording label of Rachmaninoff's performing his own music, as well as works from the standard repertory.
His reputation as a composer, on the other hand, has generated controversy since his death. The 1954 edition of
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians notoriously dismissed his music as
"monotonous in texture ... consist[ing] mainly of artificial and gushing tunes ..." and predicted that his popular success was
"not likely to last". [
3] To this, Harold C. Schoenberg, in his
Lives of the Great Composers, responded,
"It is one of the most outrageously snobbish and even stupid statements ever to be found in a work that is supposed to be an objective reference." Indeed, not only have Rachmaninoff's works become part of the standard repertory, but their popularity among both musicians and audiences had, if anything, increased during the second half of the twentieth century, with some of his
symphonies and other
orchestral works,
songs and
choral music recognized as masterpieces alongside the more familiar piano works.
His compositions include, among others, four
piano concerti, three
symphonies, two
piano sonatas, three
operas, a
choral symphony (
The Bells, based on the
poem by
Edgar Allan Poe), the
All-Night Vigil for unaccompanied choir (often known as Rachmaninoff's
Vespers), the
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 24 Preludes (including the famous
Prelude in C-sharp minor), 17
Études-tableaux,
Symphonic Dances and many
songs, of which the most famous is the wordless
Vocalise. Most of his pieces are in a melancholy, late
Romantic style akin to
Tchaikovsky, although strong influences of
Chopin and
Liszt are apparent. Further inspiration included the music of
Balakirev,
Mussorgsky,
Medtner (whom he considered the greatest contemporary composer and who, according to Schoenberg's
Lives, returned the compliment by imitating him) and
Henselt.
Youth
Rachmaninoff was born in
Semyonovo, near
Novgorod in north-western
Russia, into a noble family of
Tatar descent, who had been in the service of the Russian tsars since the 16th century. His parents were both amateur pianists, and he had his first
piano lessons with his mother on their family estate at
Oneg; however, his parents noticed no outstanding talent in the youngster. Because of financial difficulties, the family moved to
Saint Petersburg, where Rachmaninoff studied at the
Conservatory before moving to
Moscow. There, he studied piano under
Nikolay Zverev and
Alexander Siloti (who was his cousin and a former student of
Franz Liszt). He also studied
harmony under
Anton Arensky, and
counterpoint under
Sergei Taneyev. It should be noted that, in his younger days, Rachmaninoff was found to be quite lazy, failing most of his classes and spending much time skating. It was the strict regime of the Zverev home (a place for many young musicians, including
Scriabin) that instilled discipline in the boy.
Already, in his early years, he showed great skill in composition. While still a student, he wrote the one-act
opera,
Aleko (for which he was awarded a gold medal in composition), his first piano concerto and a set of piano pieces,
Morceaux de Fantaisie (Op. 3, 1892), including the popular and famous
Prelude in C-sharp minor. (According to Francis Crociata's liner notes to 10-CD set of Rachmaninoff's recordings, the composer later became annoyed by the public's fascination with this piece, composed when he was just 19. He would often tease an expectant audience by asking, "Oh, must I?" or claiming inability to remember anything else.) Rachmaninoff confided in Zverev his desire to compose more, requesting a private room where he could compose in silence, but Zverev saw him only as a pianist and severed his links with the boy. After the success of
Aleko, however, Zverev welcomed him back as a composer and pianist. His first serious pieces for the piano were composed and performed as a student, at the age of thirteen, during his residence with Zverev. In 1892, at nineteen, he completed his
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Op. 1, 1891), which he revised in 1917.
Initial setbacks
 |
Rachmaninoff, from a 1921 Victor advertisement |
Rachmaninoff's
Symphony No. 1 (Op. 13, 1896) premiered on
27 March 1897 in one of a long-running series of "Russian Symphony Concerts", but was torn apart by critics. In a particularly vitriolic review by
César Cui, it was likened to a depiction of the seven plagues of Egypt and suggested that it would be admired by the "inmates" of a music conservatory in hell. It is often mooted that the criticisms stem from inadequacy of the performance. The
conducting of
Alexander Glazunov is often remembered as a problem: he liked the piece, but was a weak conductor and starved of rehearsal time. Rachmaninoff's wife later suggested that
Glazunov may have been drunk and, although this was never intimated by Rachmaninoff, it would not seem out of character. The disastrous reception, coupled with his distress over the
Eastern Orthodox Church's objection to his marrying his cousin, Natalia Satina, contributed to a period of severe depression.
He wrote little music over the following years, until he began a course of
autosuggestive therapy with
psychologist Nikolai Dahl, an amateur musician himself. Rachmaninoff quickly recovered his confidence. An important result of these sessions was the composition of the
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Op. 18, 1900–01), which was dedicated to Dr. Dahl. The piece was very well received at its premiere at which Rachmaninoff was soloist, and remains one of his most popular compositions.
Rachmaninoff's spirits were further bolstered when, after years of engagement, he was finally allowed to marry Natalia. They were married by an army
priest in 1902, and their union lasted until the composer's death. After several successful appearances as a conductor, Rachmaninoff was offered a job as conductor at the
Bolshoi Theatre in 1904, although political reasons led to his resignation two years later. In 1908, he moved to
Italy, and later to
Dresden,
Germany, while waiting for the
political situation in Russia to normalize.
Immigration to the US
Rachmaninoff made his first tour of the
United States as a pianist in 1909, an event for which he composed the
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Op. 30, 1909). This successful tour made him a popular figure in America.
Following the
Russian Revolution of 1917, which meant the end of the old Russia, Rachmaninoff and his family left for
Stockholm in December of 1917, and never returned to the home country afterwards. They settled then in
Denmark for a year, and finally started a 10 days voyage from
Oslo to
New York on
November 1,
1918, which marked the beginning of the American period of the composer's life. After Rachmaninoff's departure, his music was banned in the
Soviet Union for several years. His compositional output slowed, partly because he was required to spend much of his time performing to support his family, but mainly because of
homesickness; he felt that, when he left Russia, it was as if he had left behind his inspiration.
The falloff in Rachmaninoff's output was dramatic. Between 1892 and 1917 (mainly living in Russia), Rachmaninoff wrote 39 compositions with
opus numbers. Between 1918 and his death in 1943, mainly living in the U.S., he completed only six.
As the years went on, and he became more and more aware of the fact that he would never again return to his beloved homeland, he was overwhelmed with melancholia. Most people who knew him later in life described him as the
saddest man they had ever known. Nevertheless, his
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, today one of his best-known works, was written in Switzerland in 1934.
He went on to compose his
Symphony No. 3 (Op. 44, 1935–36) and the
Symphonic Dances (Op. 45, 1940), his last completed work. He fell ill during a concert tour in late 1942, and was subsequently diagnosed with advanced
melanoma.
Rachmaninoff and his wife became American citizens on
1 February,
1943. His last recital, given on
17 February, 1943 at the
University of Tennessee Alumni Gymnasium, prophetically featured
Chopin's
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor which contains the famous
funeral march. A statue commemorating Rachmaninoff's last concert stands in the World's Fair Park in
Knoxville, TN.
Death
Rachmaninoff died on
March 28,
1943, in
Beverly Hills, California, just a few days before his 70th birthday, and was interred in
Kensico Cemetery in
Valhalla, New York. In the final hours of his life, he insisted he could hear music playing somewhere nearby. After being repeatedly assured that was not the case, he said: "Then it is in my head".
Rachmaninoff wrote five works for piano and orchestra: four concerti, and the
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Of the concerti, the
Second and
Third are the most popular, and are considered to be in the upper echelon of the virtuoso Romantic piano concerto literature. The Third, in particular, has the reputation of being the most difficult concerto in the entire repertoire, and is a favorite among virtuoso pianists, although the Second also requires a complete command of the instrument.
|
Rachmaninov playing the piano (from a Hyperion cover) |
Works for piano solo include the
Preludes, Opp. 23 and 32 which, together with the
Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2, from
Morceaux de Fantaisie, traverse all 24 major and minor keys. Especially difficult are the
Études-Tableaux, which are literally very demanding
study pictures. There are also the
Moments Musicaux, Op. 16, and the
Variations on a Theme of Chopin, Op. 22. He wrote two
piano sonatas, both of which are monumental works and fine post-romantic examples of the genre. Rachmaninoff also composed works for two pianos, four hands, including two Suites (the first subtitled
Fantasie-Tableaux), a version of
Symphonic Dances Op. 45, and a
Russian Rhapsody Op. posth.
Rachmaninoff wrote three symphonies, the
first of which, in D minor, was a monumental failure. He tore up the score and for many years it was believed lost; however after his death, the orchestral parts were found in the Leningrad Conservatory and the score was reconstructed, leading to its second performance (and American premiere) on
19 March 1948 at an all-Rachmaninoff concert marking the fifth anniversary of the composer's death. The
second (perhaps his greatest symphony) and
third were both extraordinary works. Other orchestral works include
The Rock,
Capriccio on Gypsy Themes,
The Isle of the Dead, and the
Symphonic Dances.
Rachmaninoff wrote two major choral works: the
Liturgy of St John Chrysostom and the
All-Night Vigil (also known as the
Vespers).
The Bells, a work for choir and orchestra, is based on the translated poetry of
Edgar Allan Poe; its four-movement program signifies the circle of life: youth, marriage, maturity, and death. The
All-Night Vigil and
The Bells are widely considered to be some of his finest works.
His chamber music includes two piano trios, which are named
Trio Elégiaque. Also well known is the
Cello Sonata, which is really more aimed to show off the capacities of the piano than those of the cello. Nevertheless, it is a very finely crafted work.
He completed three operas, being
Aleko,
The Miserly Knight and
Francesca da Rimini. He left unfinished
Monna Vanna, which was started in 1907, but did not see its first performance until 1984.
Rachmaninoff's style is fundamentally Russian: his music shows the influence of the idol of his youth,
Tchaikovsky. His harmonic language expanded above and beyond that of Tchaikovsky, however. Rachmaninoff's frequently used motifs include the
Dies Irae, often just the fragments of the first phrase: this is especially prevalent in
The Bells,
The Isle of the Dead, the
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and in all three Symphonies. The Second Symphony, in particular, has a marvelous and little known occurrence of the
Dies Irae: in the second movement he uses it as the basis for the harmony in counterpoint to one of his archetypal soaring melodies.
Also especially important is the use of bell-like sounds: this occurs in many pieces, most notably in the cantata
The Bells, the
Second Piano Concerto and the B minor prelude. He was also fond of Russian Orthodox chants. He uses them most obviously in his Vespers, but many of his melodies found their origins in these chants. The opening melodies of the First Symphony is derived from chants. (Note that the opening melody of the Third Piano Concerto is not derived from chants, which is a misconception many musicians have in mind. Rachmaninoff, when asked, said that it had written itself.)
In scherzo-like movements, he often used a modified
rondo form, usually opening with a light, swift rhythmical idea, then supplying a breath of fresh air in the form of a beautifully romantic melody, to then end the piece in a similar scherzo-fashion. Examples of this may be found in the last movement of the Second Concerto, the scherzo of the Cello Sonata, and the scherzo of the Second Symphony. He also frequently employed the fugue as a developmental device.
Rachmaninoff had great command of
counterpoint and
fugal writing. The above-mentioned occurrence of the
Dies Irae in the Second Symphony is but a small example of this. Very characteristic of his writing is
chromatic counterpoint.
His later works, such as the
Piano Concerto No. 4 (Op. 40, 1926) and the
Variations on a Theme of Corelli (Op. 42, 1931), are composed in a more emotionally detached style, making them less popular with audiences despite the striking originality of the music. In these later compositions, Rachmaninoff sought a greater sense of compression and motivic development in his works at the expense of
melody. Nevertheless, some of his most beautiful (nostalgic and melancholy) melodies occur in the
Third Symphony,
Paganini Rhapsody, and
Symphonic Dances, the last-named of which is considered his
swansong, and which has references to the
Alliluya of the Vespers and the first theme of his
First Symphony (neither of which would have been recognized by most hearers at the premiere). Rachmaninoff ended some of his major works musically with a rhythmic pattern - a long, two shorts and a long (as in the endings of the
Second and
Third Piano Concertos) or three shorts and a long (as in the ending of the
Second Symphony), which is sometimes thought to relate to the prononunciation of his surname (RACH-man-in-OFF).
Rachmaninoff made his first recordings for
Edison Records on their "Diamond Disc" records, since they claimed the best
audio fidelity in recording the
piano at the time. Rachmaninoff did not consider himself a great pianist and believed his own performances to be variable in quality; he therefore requested to personally approve any recorded performances to be commercially issued. Despite this, the Edison Company issued multiple alternative takes of Rachmaninoff's recordings, a common occurrence in the
gramophone record industry at the time, possibly for reasons of simple carelessness or because of the ease of mass production of records from multiple masters.
Rachmaninoff was so angered by this that he left Edison and subsequently started recording for the
Victor Talking Machine Company and its successor, . The company was pleased to abide by Rachmaninoff's restrictions, and proudly advertised him as one of the great artists who recorded for the Victor Company. Rachmaninoff also made a number of
piano rolls; initially disbelieving that a roll of punched paper could provide an accurate record, he was invited to listen to a master roll of his first recording in 1919 for the
Ampico company. After the performance, he was quoted as saying
"Gentlemen — I, Sergei Rachmaninoff, have just heard myself play!" He continued to record for
Ampico until around 1929.
Many of Rachmaninoff's recordings are acknowledged as classics. Particularly renowned are his renditions of
Schumann's
Carnaval and
Chopin's
Funeral March Sonata, along with many shorter pieces. Rachmaninoff also made three greatly admired recordings as a conductor with the
Philadelphia Orchestra, including his own
Third Symphony. Rachmaninoff wanted to record several other major piano works, including
Beethoven's
Waldstein Sonata,
Liszt's
Sonata in B minor and his own
Symphonic Dances in a two-piano collaboration with
Vladimir Horowitz, but RCA turned him down.
Bruce Beresford was signed in March 2006 to direct a feature film based on Rachmaninoff's life, as seen through the eyes of his widow. It is to be called
"Rhapsody". [
4]
*
List of compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff*
:Category:Compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff*
:Category:Operas by Sergei Rachmaninoff*
Rachmaninoff Society, with
Vladimir Ashkenazy as president.
*
Rachmaninoff.co.uk: Research into the life and works of the Russian composer, pianist and conductor Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff.
*
Rachmaninoff's Works for Piano and Orchestra: Analysis of Rachmaninoff's Works for Piano and Orchestra.
*
IMSLP - International Music Score Library Project's Rachmaninoff page.
* .
*
Piano Society - Rachmaninov - Biography and various free recordings in MP3 format.
*
Sheet Music Archive：Free music scores of various Rachmaninoff's works in PDF format.
*
Rachmaninoff and Dies Irae by Vincent Pallaver, Paper studying Rachmaninoff's use of Dies Irae.
*
Arkady Chubrik Classic Music Collection: Rachmaninov, many free recordings in MP3 format (a page in Russian).
*
Biography at allmusic.com
