Sergey Rachmaninov
Rachmaninoff was born in 1873 in Semyonovo, near Novgorod, in north-western Russia. His parents were both amateur pianists. He began studying piano at an early age and in 1885 entered the Moscow Conservatory. There his piano teachers included the stringent disciplinarian Nikolay Zverov and Rachmaninoff's cousin Aleksandr Siloti, who gave him the heritage of his own teacher, Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt. There also, Rachmaninoff studied with three eminent Russian composers: Anton Arensky, Sergey Taneyev, and his most important musical mentor, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky.
Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp Minor (1892), for piano and orchestra, and his opera Aleko (1893) established his reputation as a composer. Also written in 1893 was his second Trio élégiaque, in memory of Tchaikovsky, who died in November of that year. In 1897 Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1 in D Minor was performed. Its disastrous reception caused him to stop composing, and for three years he worked solely as a pianist and conductor. His Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor (1900) marked Rachmaninoff's return to composition.
From the next 17 years come his Symphony No. 2 in E Minor (1906); the symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead (1909); the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (1910), for choir; the choral symphony The Bells (1913), based on a poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe; the All-Night Vigil (1915), also known as the Vesper Mass, for unaccompanied choir; and many highly admired songs.
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 in March 1906, after which he stayed in Italy until July. He spent the following three winters in Dresden, Germany, intensively composing, and returning to the family estate of Ivanovka every summer.
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. Nevertheless, he declined offers of future American concerts.
After the Russian (often called, "Bolshevik," or "Communist") Revolution, Rachmaninoff left Russia in 1917 and settled in the United States the following year. He concentrated on his piano and conducting careers, making recordings in both fields. Due to his busy concert career, Rachmaninoff's output as composer slowed tremendously. Between 1918 and his death in 1943, while living in the U.S. and Europe, he completed only six compositions. This was partly due to time spent performing in order to support himself and his family, but the main cause was homesickness.
In 1921, the Rachmaninoffs bought a house in the United States, where they consciously recreated the atmosphere of Ivanovka, entertaining Russian guests, employing Russian servants, and observing Russian customs. His revival as composer became possible only after he had built himself a new home, Villa Senar on Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, where he spent summers from 1932 to 1939. There, in the comfort of his own villa which reminded him of his old family estate, Rachmaninoff composed the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, one of his best known works, in 1934. He went on to compose his Symphony No. 3 (Op. 44, 1935–36), the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Minor (1937), and the Symphonic Dances (Op. 45, 1940), his last completed work. Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra premiered the Symphonic Dances in 1941 in the Academy of Music.
Rachmaninoff died of melanoma on 28 March 1943, in Beverly Hills, California, just four days before his 70th birthday.
Symphony No. 1 Symphony No. 2 Symphony No. 3 Symphonic Dances
A Decca production of Vladimir Ashkenazy directing the Concertgebouw Orchestra. |