Sergei Rachmaninov
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov (Russian: Серге́й Васи́льевич Рахма́нинов; Semyonov, near Russian Staraya, Russian Empire; 20 MarchJul./ April 1, 1873greg.-Beverly Hills, March 28, 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, one of one of the last great European post-romantic composers and considered one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century.
Born into a family of musicians, Rachmaninov began playing the piano at the age of four. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 and had already composed several piano and orchestral pieces. In 1897, after negative critical reaction to his Symphony No. 1, he entered a four-year depression and composed little until successful therapy enabled him to complete his Piano Concerto No. 2, enthusiastically received in 1901. Over the next sixteen years, he conducted at the Bolshoi Theatre, moved to Dresden, and toured the United States for the first time.
After the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninov and his family left Russia; in 1918, they settled in the United States, first in New York City. With his main source of income coming from piano and performing, demanding tour schedules led to a reduction in his time for songwriting. Between 1918 and 1943, he completed just six works, including Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini , Third Symphony and Symphonic Dances . In 1942, his failing health led him to move to Beverly Hills. A month before his death from advanced melanoma, he obtained US citizenship.
In Rachmaninov's work, early influences from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Mill Balakirev, Modest Musorgsky, and other Russian composers gave way to a personal style noted for its melodism, expressiveness, and rich orchestral colors. often included the piano in his compositions and explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument through his own skills as a pianist.
Biography
Childhood and early years (1873-1885)
The Rachmaninov family belonged to the Russian aristocracy. In its first known genealogy, compiled in 1680 by Perfili Rachmaninov, the family derives its own origin from the Dragoshi Moldovan rulers, who ruled Moldavia and Wallachia from 1350 to 1552. The surname dates back to the 1400s when Yelena, the daughter of Stephen IV of Moldavia, she married the eldest son of Ivan III of Russia, Grand Prince of Moscow. A son named Vasily was nicknamed "Rachmanin", which means "lazy" in Old Russian. Rachmaninov's family had strong musical and military inclinations. His paternal grandfather, Arkady Alexandrovich, was a musician who had taken lessons from the Irish composer John Field. His father, Vasily Arkadyevich Rachmaninov (1841-1916), was an army officer and amateur pianist who married Lyubov Petrovna Butakova (1853). -1929), the daughter of a wealthy army general who gave her five estates as part of her dowry. The couple had three sons and three daughters, and Sergei was the fourth of them.
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov was born on March 20Jul./ April 1, 1873greg.. It is not clear on which of the two family estates he was born: Oneg, near Velikiy Novgorod, or Semyonov, near Staraya Rusa (Novgorod Oblast, Russian Empire). His birth was registered in a church in the latter, but he was raised in Oneg until he was nine years old, citing it as his birthplace in his adult life. He began taking piano and music lessons organized by his mother at the age of four years old. She noted his ability to reproduce passages from memory without missing a note. Upon hearing the news of the boy's gift, Arkady suggested that he hire Anna Ornatskaya, a teacher and recent graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, to live with the family and begin formal teaching. Rachmaninov dedicated his piano composition «Spring Waters» from 12 Romances, op. 14 to Ornatskaya.
Her father had to auction off the Oneg estate in 1882 due to poor financial management; Of the five family properties, in the end, only one remained. Rachmaninov remained critical of his father afterwards, describing him as "a spendthrift, a compulsive gambler, a pathological liar, and a skirt hunter". The family moved into a small apartment in Saint Petersburg. In 1883, Ornatskaya arranged that Rachmaninov, at the age of 10, studied music at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. That same year, his sister Sofia died of diphtheria and their father abandoned the family and went to Moscow. His maternal grandmother stepped in to help raise the children with a particular focus on their spiritual life and regularly took Rachmaninoff to the services of the Russian Orthodox Church, where he discovered liturgical chants and church bells, two characteristics that he incorporated into his future compositions.
In 1885, Rachmaninov suffered a further loss when his sister Yelena died at the age of eighteen of pernicious anemia. She was a major musical influence on Rachmaninov, who had introduced him to the works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. As a break, his grandmother took him to a farmhouse retreat along the Volkhov River, where Rachmaninoff developed his love of rowing. At the Conservatory, however, he adopted a laid-back attitude and suspended his general education classes, deliberately altering their report cards in what the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov called a period of "purely Russian self-delusion and laziness". Rachmaninov performed at events held at the Moscow Conservatory during this time, including those he attended. Grand Duke Constantine and other notable figures attended, but failing her spring exams, Ornatskaya notified her mother that her admission to higher education might be revoked. Her mother then consulted with Aleksandr Ziloti, her nephew and an accomplished pianist and student of Franz Liszt, who recommended that he be transferred to the Moscow Conservatory and receive lessons from his former teacher, the strictest Nikolai Zverev, which lasted until 1888.
Early Works and the Moscow Conservatory (1885-1894)
In the fall of 1885, Rachmaninov moved in with Zverev and stayed for nearly four years, during which time he befriended his classmate Aleksandr Skryabin. After two years of classes, the fifteen-year-old Rachmaninov was awarded a Rubinstein scholarship and graduated from the lower division of the Conservatory to become a student of Ziloti in advanced piano, of Sergei Taneyev in counterpoint, and of Anton Arensky in free composition. that Zverev refused Sergei's request for help to rent a piano and to have more privacy to compose. Zverev believed that the composition was a waste for talented pianists, refused to speak to him for a time, and arranged for him to live with his uncle and aunt Satin and their family in Moscow. Rachmaninoff later found his first romance in Vera, the youngest daughter of the neighboring Skalon family, but her mother objected and forbade Rachmaninov to write to her, although she allowed him to correspond with her older sister, Natalia. Many of his early compositions can be traced from these letters.
Rachmaninov spent his summer vacation in 1890 with the Satins at their private estate called Ivanovka, near Tambov, to which he would return many times until 1917. The estate's quiet, bucolic setting became a source of inspiration for him and there he completed many compositions, including his op. 1, the Piano Concerto No. 1 of July 1891, which he dedicated to Ziloti. Also that year, he completed the one-movement Youth Symphony and the poem symphony Prince Rostislav. In 1891, Ziloti left the Moscow Conservatory after the academic year ended, and Rachmaninov asked to take his final piano exams a year early to avoid being held. assign a different teacher. Despite the little faith of Ziloti and the director of the Conservatory, Vasily Safonov, since he had only three weeks of preparation, Rachmaninov received help from a recent graduate who was familiar with the tests and passed them with flying colors on May 24 of that year. anus. Three days later, he passed his annual exams in theory and composition, progress halted unexpectedly in the second half of the year when he contracted a severe case of malaria during his summer vacation at Ivankova.
During his last year at the Conservatoire, he gave his first independent concert, where he premiered his Trio élégiaque no. 1 in February 1892, followed by a presentation of the first movement of his Piano Concerto No. 1 a month later. They also accepted his request to take his final exams in theory and composition a year earlier, so he wrote Aleko, an opera by a act based on the narrative poem The Gypsies by Aleksandr Pushkin, in Seventeen Days. It premiered in May 1892 at the Bolshoi Theater attended by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and praised Rachmaninov for his work. Rachmaninov believed it was "certain to fail", but the production was so successful that the theater agreed to produce it with singer Fyodor Chaliapin, who would become a lifelong friend of his. Aleko awarded Rachmaninov the highest grade at the Conservatory and a Grand Gold Medal, a distinction that had previously only been awarded to Tanéyev and Arseni Koreshchenko. Zverev, a member of the examination committee, gave the composer his gold watch, ending years of estrangement. On May 29 of that year, the Conservatory awarded him a diploma that allowed him to officially define himself as a "free artist".
Upon graduating, he continued composing and signed a 500-ruble publishing contract with Gutheil, under which Aleko, Two Pieces (op. 2), and Six Songs (op. 4) were among his first published works. The composer had previously earned 15 rubles a month giving piano lessons. He spent the summer of 1892 on the estate of Ivan Konavalov, a wealthy landowner in Kostroma Oblast, and returned with the Satins to the Arbat district. Unpaid Gutheil caused him to look for other sources of income, which led to an engagement at the Moscow Electrical Exhibition in September 1892, his public debut as a pianist, where he premiered his emblematic “Prelude in C sharp minor” from his piano composition Morceaux de fantaisie (op. 3). He was paid 50 rubles for his performance. It was well received and became one of his most enduring pieces. In 1893, he completed his symphonic poem The Rock , dedicated to Nikolai Rimsky- Korsakov.
In 1893, he spent a productive summer with friends at an estate in Kharkiv Oblast, where he composed several pieces, including Fantaisie-Tableaux (also known as Suite No. 1 , op. 5) and Morceaux de Salon (op. 10). In September, he published Six Songs (op. 8), a group of songs set to Alexei Pleshcheev's translations of Ukrainian and German poems. He returned to Moscow, where Tchaikovsky agreed to conduct The Rock for an upcoming European tour. During his subsequent trip to Kiev to conduct performances of Aleko, Rachmaninov learned of Tchaikovsky's death from cholera. He was stunned by the news, and that same day he began work on his Trio élégiaque no. 2 for piano, violin and cello as a tribute, which he completed in a month. The aura of melancholy in the music reveals the depth and sincerity of Rachmaninov's grief for his idol. The piece debuted at the first concert dedicated to his compositions on January 31, 1894.
Years of depression and directorial debut (1894-1900)
Rachmaninov went into a decline after Tchaikovsky's death. He lacked the inspiration to compose, and the Bolshoi Theater management had lost interest in showing Aleko and had removed it from the program. To earn money, he resumed giving piano lessons, and in late 1895, agreed to a three-month tour of Russia with a program shared by the Italian violinist Teresina Tua. The tour did not please him and he withdrew before it was finished, thus sacrificing his performance fee. In desperate financial need, he pawned the gold watch Zverev had given him. Before the tour began, in September 1895, he completed his First Symphony (op. 13), a work conceived in January and based on chants he had heard at Russian Orthodox Church services. He had worked so hard on it that he was unable to return to composition until he heard the piece performed. He was not able to compose again until October 1896., when "a rather large sum of money" that was not his was stolen during a train journey and he had to work to recoup the losses. Among the pieces he wrote are Six Choruses (op. 15) and Six Moments Musicaux (op. 16), the last composition of his completed during those months of depression..
His luck took a turn after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 on March 28, 1897, in one of the series of Russian Symphony Concerts devoted to Russian music. He had been considerably nervous before the performance and spent it hidden in a staircase behind the stage. Nationalist critic and composer César Cui viciously decried the piece and compared it to a performance of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, suggesting that it would be admired. by the "inmates" of a music conservatory in hell. The shortcomings of the performance, directed by Aleksandr Glazunov, were not commented on by other critics, but according to a memoir by Aleksandr Ossovsky, a close friend of Rachmaninov's, Glazunov misused rehearsal time and the concert program itself, which contained two other premieres. Other witnesses suggested that Glazunov, an alcoholic, may have been drunk, although Rachmaninov never hinted as much. After the reaction to his first symphony, Rachmaninov wrote in May 1897 that its lack of success or critical reaction "does not affect me in any way." absolute", but that he was "deeply distressed and very depressed by the fact that my Symphony...does not please me at all after its first rehearsal". He thought his performance was poor, particularly Glazunov's contribution.The piece was not performed for the rest of his life, but he modified it into an arrangement for piano four hands in 1896.
He fell into a deep depression that lasted three years, during which he had writer's block and composed almost nothing. He described this stage "like the man who had suffered a stroke and for a long time had lost the use of his head and hands". He earned his living by giving piano lessons. Savva Mamontov, a Russian industrialist and founder of the Moscow Private Opera Company offered Rachmaninov the position of assistant conductor for the 1897-1898 season. On October 12, 1897, the composer, short of funds, accepted the direction of Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah as his first opera. In late February 1899, Rachmaninov attempted to compose and completed two short pieces for piano, Morceau de Fantaisie and Fughetta in F major. Two months later, he traveled to London for the first time to act and direct, to positive reviews.
During his time as a director in Moscow, he was engaged to Natalia Satina. However, the Russian Orthodox Church and Satina's parents opposed her announcement, which thwarted her marriage plans. His depression worsened in late 1899 after an unproductive summer; he composed one song, "Fate", which later became one of his Twelve Songs (op. 21), and did not perform the compositions for a proposed return visit to London. To rekindle his desire to compose, his aunt arranged for the writer Leo Tolstoy, whom Rachmaninov greatly admired, to have the composer visit his home and receive words of encouragement. The visit was unsuccessful and did nothing to help him compose as fluently as he had before.
Recovery and return to leadership (1900-1906)
By 1900, Rachmaninov had become so self-critical that, despite numerous attempts, composing had become nearly impossible. His aunt then suggested professional help, after he had received successful treatment from family friend, physician and amateur musician Nikolai Dahl, to which Rachmaninov agreed without resistance. Between January and April 1900, he underwent sessions of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy with Dahl on a daily basis, specifically structured to improve your sleep patterns, mood and appetite, and rekindle your desire to compose. That summer, he felt "new musical ideas began to emerge" and successfully resumed composing. His first complete work after that episode, the Piano Concerto No. 2, was completed in April. of 1901 and dedicated it to Dahl. After the second and third movements premiered in December 1900 with Rachmaninov as soloist, the complete piece was first performed in 1901 and was enthusiastically received. It earned the composer a Glinka Prize, the first of five awarded to him. throughout his life, and a prize of 500 rubles in 1904.
In the midst of the success of his professional career, Rachmaninov married Natalia Satina on May 12, 1902 after a three-year engagement. Because they were first cousins, the marriage was prohibited under canon law imposed by the Russian Orthodox Church. In addition, the composer was not a regular church attendee and avoided confession, two things a priest would have had to confirm he was doing when signing a marriage certificate. To circumvent Church opposition, the couple used his military background. and arranged a small ceremony in an army barracks chapel in a Moscow suburb with Ziloti and cellist Anatoli Brandukov as witnesses. They received the smaller of the two houses on the Ivanovka estate as a gift and honeymooned for three years. months throughout Europe. Upon their return, they settled in Moscow, where they had two daughters, Irina Sergeievna Rachmaninova (1903-1969) and Tatiana Sergeievna Rachmaninova (1907-1961). Rachmaninov returned to work, as a professor of music at the Santa Ekaterina Women's College and the Elizaveta Institute. In February 1903 he had completed the largest piano composition of his career at that time, the Variations on a Theme by Chopin (op. 22). Development of other pieces was interrupted after Natalia, Irina and he were struck down by illness during their summer vacation in Ivanovka.
In 1904, in a career change, Rachmaninov agreed to become the conductor at the Bolshoi Theater for two seasons. He earned a mixed reputation during his time in office, enforcing strict discipline and demanding high standards of performance. Influenced by Richard Wagner, he pioneered the modern arrangement of orchestral players in the pit and the modern custom of standing side by side. foot while directing. He also worked with each soloist for his part, even accompanying them on the piano.The theater hosted the premiere of his operas The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini.
During his second season as conductor, he lost interest in his position. The social and political unrest surrounding the 1905 Revolution began to affect artists and theater staff, who organized protests and demands for better conditions and wages. Rachmaninov continued to be disinterested in the politics around him, and the revolutionary spirit made working conditions increasingly difficult. In February 1906, after giving 50 performances in the first season and 39 in the second, Rachmaninov presented his resignation. He then took his family on a long trip through Italy in hopes of completing new works, but illness struck his wife and daughter and they returned to Ivanovka. Financial problems soon returned after Rachmaninov's resignation from their positions in the schools of Santa Ekaterina and Elizaveta, which left him only the option of composing.
Move to Dresden and first American tour (1906-1917)
In November 1906, Rachmaninov and his family, growing discontented with the political turmoil in Russia and needing isolation from their bustling social life in order to compose, left Moscow for Dresden, Germany. it had become a favorite of Rachmaninov and Natalia, as it presented them with a more vibrant musical environment and favorable opportunities. The family stayed in Dresden until 1909, only returning to Russia for their summer vacation in Ivanovka. During a visit to Leipzig, he entered an art gallery housing Arnold's Isle of the Dead Böcklin. The painting served as the inspiration for the orchestral work of the same name, Op. 29. Despite occasional periods of depression, apathy, and little faith in any of his works, Rachmaninov began his Symphony No. 2 (op. 27) in 1906, twelve years after the disastrous premiere of his first symphony. While he was writing it, Rachmaninoff and his family returned to Russia, but the composer detoured to Paris to participate in Sergei Diaghilev's season of Russian concerts in May 1907. His solo performance in his Piano Concerto No. 2 with a repetition of his "Prelude in C sharp minor" was a triumphant success. He regained his self-esteem after the enthusiastic reaction to the premiere of his Second Symphony in early 1908, which earned him his second Glinka Prize and a thousand rubles in cash.
During his stay in Dresden, he agreed to perform and conduct in the United States as part of the 1909–1910 concert season with conductor Max Fiedler and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He spent time during breaks at Ivanovka finishing a new piece especially for the visit, his Piano Concerto No. 3 (op. 30), which he dedicated to Józef Hofmann. On the tour, the composer gave 26 performances, 19 as pianist and 7 as director, which marked his first recitals without another performer on the program. Its first appearance was at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, on November 4, 1909. The second performance of the Piano Concerto No. 3 by the New York Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Gustav Mahler. in New York City, with the composer as a soloist, an experience he personally treasured. Although the tour increased the composer's popularity in the United States, he turned down subsequent offers, including conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra, due to the amount of time away from Russia and his family.
On his return home in February 1910, Rachmaninov became vice-president of the Imperial Russian Musical Society, whose president was a member of the royal family. Later, in 1910, he completed his choral work Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (op. 31), but was prohibited from performing as it did not follow the format of a typical Church service. He was appointed permanent conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Society for two seasons between 1911 and 1913, which helped raise its profile and increase viewership and revenue. In 1912, he left SMIR when he learned that a musician in an administrative position had been fired for being Jewish.
Shortly after his resignation, an exhausted Rachmaninov found time for composition and took his family on vacation to Switzerland. They left after a month for Rome for a visit that became a particularly quiet and influential period for the composer, who lived alone in a small apartment on the Spanish Steps while his family stayed in a pension. there, he received an anonymous letter containing a Russian translation by Konstantin Balmont of Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Bells, which moved him greatly, and he began work on his choral symphony of the same title, op. 35, based on him This period of composition ended abruptly when his daughters contracted severe cases of typhoid fever and were treated in Berlin due to his father's increased confidence in German doctors. After six weeks, the family returned to their Moscow flat. The composer conducted The Bells at its premiere in Saint Petersburg at the end of 1913.
In January 1914, he began a concert tour of England that was enthusiastically received. He was too afraid to travel alone after Raoul Pugno's death of an unexpected heart attack in his hotel room, as he feared a a similar fate. After the outbreak of World War I that same year, his position as Inspector of Music at the Girls' Nobility High School put him in the group of government officials barring him from joining the army, but the composer did regular charitable donations to the war effort. In 1915, he completed his second major choral work, Vespers (op. 37), after attending a performance of the Liturgy of St. Juan Chrysostom and was disappointed in her. After spending two weeks writing the All-Night Vigil, he sent the score to Sergei Taneyev to correct and correct errors in his polyphony, but it was returned to him unchanged. It was so warmly received at its Moscow premiere to help alleviate the war that four subsequent performances were quickly scheduled.
Skryabin's death in April 1915 was a tragedy for Rachmaninov, who undertook a tour of piano recitals devoted to his friend's compositions to raise funds for the financially-strapped widow. They were his first public performances. of works other than his own. During a vacation in Finland that summer, he learned of Taneyev's death, a loss that affected him greatly. By the end of the year, he had finished his 14 Romances (op. 34), whose final section, "Vocalise", became one of his most popular songs.
March from Russia, immigration to the United States, and concert pianist (1917-1925)
On the day the February Revolution of 1917 began in Saint Petersburg, Rachmaninov performed a piano recital in Moscow in aid of wounded Russian soldiers who had fought in the war. Two months later, he visited Ivanovka, where found the house in shambles after a group of Social Revolutionary Party members seized it as their own communal property. Despite investing most of his earnings in the estate, Rachmaninoff left after three weeks. and vowed never to return. Soon the communist authorities confiscated it and it was left abandoned.
After an August hiatus with his family in the more peaceful Crimea, he performed in nearby Yalta on September 5, what was to be his last concert in Russia. On his return to Moscow, the political tension surrounding the October Revolution meant that the composer kept his family safely indoors as often as possible and participated in a cooperative in his apartment building, attended the committee meetings and perform civil guard duties at night. He completed revisions of his Piano Concerto No. 1 amidst gunfire and open-air demonstrations. In the midst of such turmoil, he received an unexpected offer to perform ten piano recitals in Scandinavia, which he immediately agreed, using it as an excuse to quickly obtain permits for his family to leave the country. On December 22, 1917, the family left Saint Petersburg by train for the Finnish border, from where they traveled across the country. on an open sleigh and by train to Helsinki. Transporting what they could pack into their small suitcases, the composer took notebooks with sketches of compositions and scores for the first act of his unfinished opera Monna Vanna and Rimsky-Korsákov's opera The golden rooster. They arrived in Stockholm (Sweden) on December 24. In January 1918, they moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, and, with the help of friend and composer Nikolai von Struve, settled on the ground floor of a house. In debt and in need of money, the 44-year-old Rachmaninoff chose to act. as his main source of income, since a career in composition alone was too restrictive. His piano repertoire was small, which prompted him to start practicing his technique regularly and learning new pieces to play. He toured between February and October of that year.
During his Scandinavian tour, he received three offers from the United States: to become conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for two years, to conduct 110 concerts in 30 weeks for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and to give 25 piano recitals. He turned them down. all worried about such a commitment in a country he barely knew and of which he had few fond memories of his debut tour in 1909. However, he viewed the United States as a financial advantage, since he would not earn enough to support his family alone. through composition. He could not afford the travel expenses, but his luck changed when Russian banker and fellow émigré Aleksandr Kamenka agreed to give him a loan in advance for the trip. He also received help from friends and admirers, including pianist Ignaz Friedman, who gave him $2,000. On November 1, 1918, the family boarded the SS Bergensfjord in Oslo, Norway, bound for New York City, arriving eleven days later. Word of the composer's arrival spread, prompting a crowd of musicians, artists and fans to gather outside The Sherry-Netherland hotel where he was staying.
Rachmaninov quickly took care of business, hiring Dagmar Rybner, daughter of the Columbia University music professor, as his secretary, interpreter, and helper in dealing with American life. He met with Józef Hofmann, who reported to various concert directors that the composer was available and suggested that Rachmaninov use the services of Charles Ellis as his agent. The composer agreed, and Ellis arranged 36 performances for the 1918-1919 concert season. The first took place on December 8, 1918 in Providence (Rhode Island), with a piano recital. Rachmaninov, still recovering from a 1918 case of influenza, included his own arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the programme. Prior to the tour he had received offers from numerous piano manufacturers to tour with their instruments, however, he chose Steinway, the only one that did not offer him money. Steinway's association with the composer continued for the rest of his life.
With the concert season over in April 1919, the family took a break to San Francisco, California, where the composer recovered and prepared for the upcoming season. He embraced that program for the next several years: he would perform all over the country and then have a period of rest and practice. Acting made him financially solvent, and he and his family lived an upper-middle-class life with servants, a cook, and a chauffeur. They recreated the atmosphere of their Ivanovka estate in their New York home, entertained Russian guests, employed to Russians and kept Russian customs. Although he could speak some English, he had all his correspondence translated into Russian. He indulged in some luxuries, such as quality tailored suits and the latest model of automobiles.
In 1920 he signed a recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company, earning him a much-needed income and beginning a long association with RCA. During a family vacation in Goshen that summer he learned of von's accidental death Struve, prompting Rachmaninov to strengthen his ties with those still in Russia by reaching an agreement with his bank to regularly send money and food parcels to his family, friends, students, and those in need. In early 1921, he requested documentation to visit Russia, the only time he would do so after leaving the country, but the trip was cut short by his decision to undergo surgery for pain in his right temple. The operation failed to alleviate his symptoms, and he only found relief after undergoing dental intervention later in the decade. After he was released from the hospital, he bought an apartment at 33 Riverside Drive on Manhattan's Upper West Side, overlooking the Hudson River. There he also maintained a Russian atmosphere by observing the customs of his native country, served Russian food and employed Russian servants.
His first visit to Europe since emigrating to the United States occurred in May 1922, with concerts in London. The family later held a meeting with the Satins in Dresden, after which the composer prepared for an eventful concert season of 1922 to 1923 of 71 performances in five months. For a time, he rented a train car that was equipped with a piano and belongings to save time packing and unpacking. In 1924, he turned down an invitation to become conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. after the death of her daughter Tatiana's husband, she founded TAIR, a Parisian publishing house named after her daughters and specializing in works by her and other Russian composers.
Tours, last compositions and Villa Senar (1926-1942)
Demanding tour schedules slowed Rachmaninov's compositional output significantly. Between his arrival in the United States in 1918 and his death, he completed only six works, save for some revisions of earlier works and piano transcriptions for his concerto repertoire. The composer later admitted that by leaving Russia, "I left behind my desire to composing: losing my country, I lost myself too." In 1926, after concentrating on touring for the last eight years, he took a sabbatical and completed the first two of his last six pieces, the Piano Concerto No. 4, which he had begun in 1917, and Three Russian Songs, which he dedicated to Leopold Stokowski. He sought out the company of other Russian musicians and became friends by pianist Vladimir Horowitz in 1928. Horowitz remained an advocate of Rachmaninov's solo works and his Piano Concerto No. 3, on which the composer himself commented publicly after a performance at 1942: "This is the way I always dreamed my concerto should be played, but never I hardly expected to hear it like this on Earth»" 33 (1911) and op. 39 (1917), and left Respighi the inspiration for the compositions.
From 1929 to 1931, Rachmaninov spent his summers in France at Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines, near Rambouillet, where he reunited with his fellow Russian émigrés and their daughters. By 1930, he had regained his desire to compose and looked for a new place to write new pieces. He bought a piece of land in Switzerland near Hertenstein, Lucerne, and oversaw the construction of his new house, which he named Villa Senar, taking the first two letters of his and his wife's names, and adding the "r" of his name. last name. He spent summers in Villa Senar until 1939, often with his daughters and grandchildren, with whom he participated in one of his favorite activities, driving his motor launch on Lake Lucerne. In the comfort of his own villa, he completed his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini in 1934 and the Third Symphony in 1936.
In 1931, Rachmaninov and several others signed an article in The New York Times that criticized the cultural policies of the Soviet Union. The composer's music suffered a boycott in Russia as a result of the violent reaction of the Soviet press, which lasted until 1933.
In October 1932, he began a demanding concert season that consisted of 50 performances. The tour marked the fortieth anniversary of his debut as a pianist, so several of his Russian friends who were living in the United States at the time sent him a scroll and a wreath to celebrate. The fragile economic situation in the United States affected the tour and the composer, who performed to few sellouts and lost money on his investments and stocks. The European leg in 1933 saw Rachmaninov celebrate his sixtieth birthday among fellow musicians and friends, after which he retired to Villa Senar for the summer. In May 1934, he underwent a minor operation and two years later retired. to Aix-les-Bains in France for a brief period to get better from his arthritis. While visiting Senar in 1937, he began discussions with the choreographer Michel Fokine about staging a ballet based on music by Niccolò Paganini that he was going to present. his Rhapsody and which finally premiered in London in 1939 with the composer's daughters in attendance. In 1938, he performed his Piano Concerto No. 2 in a concert Jubilee charity event in London for Henry Wood, founder of London's Royal Albert Hall, the Proms concert series and an admirer of the composer, who wanted him to be the only soloist in the show. Rachmaninov agreed, as long as the performance was not broadcast on the radio, due to his dislike for that medium. The same concert featured the premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music, in which upon hearing it, Rachmaninov was observed crying with emotion.
In the concert season of 1939-1940, Rachmaninov made fewer performances than usual, with a total of 43 appearances that were mainly in the United States. The tour continued with events in England, after which he visited his daughter Tatiana in Paris and then returned to Villa Senar. He was unable to perform for a while after slipping on the villa floor and injuring himself. He recovered sufficiently to perform at the Lucerne International Music Festival on August 11, 1939. This was his last concert in Europe. He returned to Paris two days later, where he and his wife, their two daughters were together for the last time before the composer left a Europe divided by World War II on August 23. Rachmaninoff supported Rachmaninov's war effort. the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany during the course of the war and donated the proceeds from many of his concerts that season to benefit the Red Army.
Upon his return to the United States, Rachmaninov performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra in New York City, with conductor Eugene Ormandy, on November 26 and December 3, 1939, as part of the special concert series of the orchestra dedicated to the composer in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of his debut in the country. The composer himself conducted the final concert on December 10 with his Third Symphony and The Bells, his first conducting post since 1917. The concert season weary him, despite calling it "quite successful", and he spent the summer resting from minor surgery at Orchard's Point, an estate near Huntington, on Long Island. During this period of rest, he completed his final composition, Symphonic Dances (op. 45). It is the only piece that he composed entirely while living in the United States. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra premiered the piece in January 1941, which the composer attended.
In December 1939, Rachmaninov began an extensive recording period that lasted until February 1942 and included his Piano Concertos No. 1 and No. 3 and the Third Symphony at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. In the early 1940s, the composer was approached by the makers of the British film Dangerous Moonlight to write a short concerto-like piece for use in the film, but he refused. The work went to Richard Addinsell and orchestrator Roy Douglas, who came up with the Warsaw Concerto , and in 1941 he revised his Piano Concerto No. 4 .
Last years (1942-1943)
In early 1942, his doctor recommended that he move to a warmer climate to improve his health after suffering from sclerosis, low back pain, neuralgia, high blood pressure, and headaches. After completing his last recording sessions in study in February, the composer and his wife aborted a move to Long Island, as they expressed greater interest in relocating to California. Initially, in May, they settled in a rented house on Tower Road in Beverly Hills. The following month, they bought a house at 610 North Elm Drive in the city, which was near the home of Horowitz, who he often visited and interpreted. piano duets with Rachmaninov, for pleasure and without an audience. Later, the composer invited Igor Stravinsky to dinner and they shared their concerns for war-torn Russia and their children in France.
Shortly after a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in July 1942, Rachmaninov suffered from low back pain and fatigue. He informed his doctor, Alexander Golitsyn, that the upcoming concert season of 1942-1943 would be his last, in order to devote his time to composition. The tour began on October 12, and the composer received many positive reviews from critics to despite his deteriorating health. Rachmaninov and his wife Natalia were among 220 people who were naturalized as United States citizens at a ceremony held in New York on February 1, 1943. That same month, he complained of a persistent cough and back pain and a doctor diagnosed him with pleurisy and warned that a warmer climate would help him recover. He opted to continue with the tour, but became so ill during his trips to Florida that the remaining dates were canceled and he returned to California by train, where an ambulance took him to the hospital. It was then that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of melanoma. His wife took him home, where they were reunited with their daughter Irina. His last appearances as a concert soloist, in which he performed Beethoven's First Piano Concerto and his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, were on February 11 and 12 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Hans Lange. His last recital, held on February 17 at the Alumni Memorial Gymnasium/Auditorium at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, included the Piano Sonata No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin, containing a funeral march.
His health deteriorated rapidly in the last week of March. She loathed food, had constant pain in her arms and sides, and found it increasingly difficult to breathe. On March 26, he lost consciousness and died two days later, four days short of his seventieth birthday. A message from several Moscow composers with greetings had arrived too late for Rachmaninov to read. His funeral took place at the Russian Orthodox Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Micheltorena Street in Silver Lake. In his will, he indicated that he wished to be buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery, like Skryabin, Taneyev and Anton Chekhov, but due to his US citizenship he did not his last will could be carried out. Instead, he was buried in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York on June 1.
Work
Composer
Style
Rachmaninov's style was initially influenced mainly by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, but also by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Mill Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky and other Russian composers, but from the mid-1890s his compositions they began to show a more personal style. His First Symphony has many original features. His brutal gestures and his uncompromising power of expression were unprecedented in Russian music of the time. His flexible rhythms, sweeping lyricism, and strict economy of thematic material were characteristics that he maintained and perfected in later works. After the three unproductive years that followed the symphony's poor reception, his style began to develop significantly. He began to lean towards sumptuous harmonies and broadly lyrical, often passionate melodies. His orchestration became more subtle and varied, with carefully contrasted textures, and his writing in general became more concise.
Especially important is the use of unusually spaced chords for bell sounds: this occurs in many pieces, notably the choral symphony The Bells, the Piano Concerto No. 2 , the Étude-Tableaux in my ♭ major (op. 33, no. 7) and the Prelude in B minor (op. 32, no. 10). For Glen Carruthers, “it is not enough to say that the church bells of Novgorod, Saint Petersburg and Moscow influenced Rachmaninov and figure prominently in his music. This is self evident. What is extraordinary is the variety of bell sounds and the breadth of structural and other functions they fulfill.” He was also fond of Russian Orthodox chants. He used them most noticeably in Vespers , but many of his melodies originate from these chants. The opening melody of the First Symphony is derived from these chants. On the other hand, the opening melody of the Piano Concerto No. 3 is not derived from them. When questioned, Rachmaninov said that he "had written himself."
Frequently used motifs by Rachmaninov include the Dies irae, often only the fragments of the first sentence, as a "theme of Death". An example of this is his use of it in the Second Symphony (1907). He had a great mastery of counterpoint and fugal writing, thanks to his studies with Taneyev. Very characteristic of writing his is the chromatic counterpoint. This talent was combined with confidence in writing, in both big and small ways. The Third Piano Concerto especially displays structural ingenuity, while each of the preludes grows from a small melodic or rhythmic fragment to a tense, powerfully evocative miniature, crystallizing a particular mood or feeling. while employing a complexity of texture, rhythmic flexibility, and harsh chromatic harmony. Like many of the Romantic composers, the composer himself claimed that he drew inspiration from extra-musical themes, such as "love", "poetry", "beauty and greatness of nature" or "a beautiful woman", although he recognized that "real inspiration comes from within, nothing external can help. The best of poetry, the most sublime of painting, the grandest of nature, cannot produce any worthwhile result if the divine flame of the creative faculty is lacking within the artist."
His compositional style had already begun to change before the October Revolution deprived him of his homeland. The harmonic script in The Bells was composed in 1913, but not published until 1920. This may be because Rachmaninov's main publisher Gutheil died in 1914 and Gutheil's catalog was acquired by Sergei Kusevitsky. It became as advanced as any of the works he wrote in Russia, partly because the melodic material has a harmonic aspect arising from its chromatic ornamentation. Other changes are evident in the First Piano Concerto revised, which ended just before leaving Russia, as well as in the songs op. 38 and Études-Tableaux op. 39. In both sets, the composer was less concerned with pure melody than with colour. His almost impressionistic style fit perfectly with the texts of symbolist poets. Études-Tableaux op. 39 are among the most demanding pieces he wrote for any medium, both technically and in the sense that the performer must see beyond the technical challenges to a considerable range of emotions and then unify all these aspects..
The composer's friend, Vladimir Wilshaw, noted this compositional shift continuing into the early 1930s, with a difference between the sometimes very extroverted Études-Tableaux op. 39 (the composer had broken a piano string in one performance) and the Variations on a Theme by Corelli (op. 42, 1931). The variations display even greater textural clarity than in the op songs. 38, combined with a more abrasive use of chromatic harmony and a new rhythmic bite. This would be characteristic of all of his later works: the Piano Concerto No. 4 (op. 40, 1926) is composed in a more emotionally introverted style, with greater clarity of texture. However, some of his most beautiful melodies (nostalgic and melancholic) occur in the Third Symphony , Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini and Symphonic Dances .
Musicologist Joseph Yasser, as early as 1951, discovered progressive tendencies in Rachmaninov's compositions. It revealed his use of an intratonal chromaticism that differs markedly from the intertonal chromaticism of Richard Wagner and contrasts strikingly with the extratonal chromaticism of the most radical composers of the century XX, like Arnold Schoenberg. Yasser postulated that a variable, subtle, but unmistakable characteristic use of this intratonal chromaticism permeated Rachmaninov's music.
Compositions
Rachmaninov wrote five works for piano and orchestra: Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini and four concertos, of which the Second (op. 18, 1900-1901) and the Third (op. 30, 1909) are the most popular. He also composed a series of works for orchestra only, such as the three symphonies: the First in d minor, op. 13 (1895), the Second in E minor, op. 27 (1907) and the Third in A minor, op. 44 (1935-1936). Widely spaced chronologically, the symphonies represent three distinct phases in his compositional development. The Second has been the most popular of the three since its premiere. Other orchestral works include The Rock (op. 7), Caprice Bohémien (op. 12), The Island of the Dead (op. 29) and Symphonic Dances (op. 45).
The solo piano works include 24 preludes traversing the 24 major and minor keys; “Prelude in C sharp minor” (op. 3, no. 2) from Morceaux de fantaisie (op. 3); 10 Preludes, op. 23; and 13 Preludes, op. 32. Especially demanding are the two sets of Études-Tableaux, op. 33 and 39. Stylistically, op. 33 goes back to the preludes, while op. 39 shows the influences of Skriabin and Sergei Prokofiev. He also composed the Six Moments Musicaux (op. 16), the Variations on a Theme by Chopin (op. 22) and the Variations on a Theme by Corelli (op. 42). He wrote two piano sonatas, both large-scale and virtuoso in their technical demands. In addition, he composed works for two pianos, four hands, including two suites (the first subtitled Fantasie-Tableaux), a version of the Symphonic Dances (op. 45) and an arrangement of the “Prelude in C sharp minor”, as well as a Russian Rhapsody, and arranged his First Symphony for piano four hands. Both were published posthumously.
He wrote two important a cappella choral works: the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom and Vespers. Rachmaninov requested that the fifth movement of the latter, "Nunc dimittis », will be sung at his funeral. Other choral works include a choral symphony, The Bells; the Spring Cantata; the Three Russian Songs and one of the first Concert for Choir (a cappella).
He completed three operas in one act: Aleko (1892), The Miserly Knight (1903) and Francesca da Rimini (1904). Aleko is performed regularly and has been recorded in its entirety at least eight times and filmed. He started three others, notably Monna Vanna, based on a play by Maurice Maeterlinck.
His chamber music includes two piano trios, both called Trio Elégiaque (no. 1 and no. 2, the latter a commemorative tribute to Tchaikovsky) and a Sonata for cello. He also composed many songs for voice and piano, with texts by Alekséi Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Aleksandr Pushkin, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Victor Hugo and Anton Chekhov, among others. Among his most popular songs is the textless piece "Vocalise", the last of his 14 Romances .
Pianist
Technique and style
Sergei Rachmaninov was among the greatest pianists of his day, along with Leopold Godowsky, Ignaz Friedman, Moriz Rosenthal, Artur Schnabel, Josef Lhévinne, Ferruccio Busoni and Józef Hofmann, and was renowned for his clean and virtuoso technique. His playing was marked by precision, rhythmic drive, remarkable use of staccato , and the ability to maintain clarity when playing works with complex textures. He applied these qualities to the music of Frédéric Chopin, including the Piano Sonata in B flat minor. His repertoire, with the exception of his own works, consisted mainly of standard virtuoso works from the 19th century as well as music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Aleksandr Borodin, Claude Debussy, Edvard Grieg, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky.
He had extremely large hands, with which he could easily maneuver through the most complex string configurations. His left-hand technique was unusually powerful. His playing was marked by definition—where other pianists' playing was blurred by overuse of the pedal or deficiencies in finger technique—"Rachmaninov's textures were always crystal clear." Only Józef Hofmann and Josef Lhévinne shared this kind of clarity with him. All three had Anton Rubinstein as a model for this kind of interpretation: Hofmann as his student, Rachmaninov for hearing his famous series of historical recitals in Moscow while studying with Zverev, and Lhévinne to listen to him and perform with him.
Stylewise, he indulged little in his playing or stage presence. Harold Charles Schonberg states:
His rhythms had no eccentricities, his ideas were unsentimental, he adhered closely to the printed note, he sat stillly before the instrument. Probably no pianist ever had his sheer finish, his authority, his unruffled, unflawed perfection. Not for him were the spontaneous approach of a Hofmann, the anarchism that Friedman sometimes displayed, the intellectualities of a Busoni, the scholarship of a Schnabel. Instead he was the pianist of control-a romantic pianist who carefully avoided exaggeration, an extraordinary technician who never went in for mere show, a tempered man and a tempered artist with a naturally big style and a sense of virile, unforced poetry. Most connoisseurs put him on a par with Hofmann as the greatest pianist of the time in that kind of repertoire (from, roughly, Beethoven through Liszt; hardly any Bach or Mozart, no moderns except salon moderns). And Rachmaninoff, of course, played his own music inimitably. Hofmann and Rachmaninoff were very close friends. Hofmann thought that Rachmaninoff was the greatest living pianist, and Rachmaninoff thought that Hofmann was the greatest living pianist. Henry Pleasants, as a young critic in Philadelphia, interviewed Rachmaninoff and asked him who he thought the greatest pianists of the day were. Rachmaninoff, always deliberate, thought a long time. "Well," he said, "there's Hofmann." I thought some more. "And there's me," and he closed his mouth and didn't say another word.His rhythms had no eccentricities, his ideas were not sentimental, he attached himself closely to the printed note, sat quietly before the instrument. Probably, no pianist has ever had his finish, his authority, his unbreakable perfection and no defects. It was not for him the spontaneous approach of a Hofmann, the anarchism that Friedman sometimes showed, the intellectualities of a Busoni, the erudition of a Schnabel. Instead, he was the control pianist: a romantic pianist who carefully avoided exaggeration, an extraordinary technician who never presented himself as a mere spectacle, a tempered man and a tempered artist with a naturally large style and a sense of virile and spontaneous poetry. Most experts put it to par with Hofmann as the best pianist of the time in that kind of repertoire (from approximately Beethoven to Liszt; almost no Bach or Mozart, no modern except those of the living room). And Rajmáninov, of course, played his own music in an inimitable way. Hofmann and Rajmaninov were close friends. Hofmann thought that Rajmáninov was the greatest living pianist, and Rajmáninov thought it was Hofmann. Henry Pleasants, when he was a young critic in Philadelphia, interviewed Rajmáninov and asked him who thought they were the best pianists of the time. Rajmaninov, always reflective, thought for a long time. “Well,” he said, “there is Hofmann.” He thought a little more. “And there I am,” and he closed his mouth and said no more word.
Rachmaninov also possessed an unusual memory, one that would help put him in good stead when he had to learn the standard piano repertoire as a 45-year-old exile. He could listen to a piece of music, even a symphony, and then play it back the next day, the next year, or a decade later. Ziloti gave him a long and demanding piece to learn, such as Johannes Brahms' Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Händel. Two days later, Rachmaninov played it "with absolute artistic perfection". some time, and especially if he liked it, he played it as if it were a work that he had studied thoroughly".
Interpretations
Regardless of the music, Rachmaninov always planned his performances carefully. He based his interpretations on the theory that every piece of music has a "high point". Regardless of where that point was or in what dynamic within that piece, the performer had to know how to approach it with absolute calculation and precision; Otherwise, the entire construction of the work could fall apart and fall apart. This was a practice he learned from his close friend, the Russian bass Fyodor Chaliapin.Paradoxically, Rachmaninoff often sounded as if he were improvising, even though in reality he wasn't. Although his performances were mosaics of small details, when those mosaics were put together in performance, they could, depending on the tempo of the piece being played, fly past at high speed, giving the impression of an instantaneous thought.
One advantage he had in this construction process over most of his contemporaries was approaching the pieces he performed from the perspective of a composer rather than that of a performer. He believed that "interpretation demands something of the creative instinct. If you are a composer, you have an affinity with other composers. You can get in touch with his imagination, knowing something about his problems and his ideals. You can give color to his works. It is the most important thing for me in my interpretations, the color. So you make live music. No color is dead.” Yet he also had a much better sense of structure than many of his contemporaries, like Hofmann, or most pianists of the older generation, judging from their respective recordings.
A recording that shows Rachmaninov's approach is Liszt's Second Polonaise, made in 1925. Percy Grainger, who had been influenced by composer and Liszt specialist Ferruccio Busoni, had recorded the same piece a few years before. Rachmaninov's performance is much more tense and focused than Grainger's. The momentum and monumental conception of the Russian are at a considerable distance from the finer perceptions of the Australian. Grainger's textures are elaborate. Rachmaninov shows the filigree as essential to the structure of the work, not merely decorative.
The two pieces that Rachmaninov singled out as praiseworthy from Rubinstein's concertos became cornerstones of his own recital programmes. The compositions were Beethoven's Appassionata and Chopin's Funeral March. He may have inspired his interpretation of the latter from Rubinstein's. Rachmaninov biographer Barrie Martyn notes similarities between written accounts of Rubinstein's performance and the audio recording of Rachmaninov's work.
Legacy
His reputation as a songwriter sparked disparate opinions before his music gained wide recognition around the world. In the mid-20th century, Rachmaninov suffered from harsh critical opinion, which generally viewed his music as "mellow, flashy and cloying", although it remained very popular with the public. In the 1954 edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Eric Blom notoriously dismissed Rachmaninov's music as "drab in texture... that consists mainly of artificial and effusive melodies", stating that "he was highly gifted, but severely limited" and predicted that his popular success "is not likely to last". Harold Charles Schonberg responded to this in his Lives of the Great Composers: "It is one of the most snobbish and even stupid statements ever to be found in a work that is supposed to be an objective reference." In the 1980 dictionary edition, however, it was stated that his songs "achieve a perfect balance between voice and accompaniment" and his latest These works exhibited increasing "clarity", "mordity chromatic harmony" and "a new rhythmic sharpness". In the 21st century, continues to be important, with many of his orchestral works and sold-out concerts.
After Rachmaninov's death, the poet Marietta Shaginyan published fifteen letters they had exchanged between their first contact in February 1912 and their last meeting in July 1917. The nature of their relationship bordered on the romantic, but was primarily intellectual and emotional. Shaginyan and the poetry she shared with the composer have been cited as the inspiration for the six songs that make up hers Six Songs, Op. 38.
In August 2015, Russia announced its intention to seek a new burial site for Rachmaninov's remains in his home country, as they claimed the Americans had neglected his grave by trying to "blatantly privatize" his name. The composer's descendants have resisted this idea, pointing out that he died in the United States after spending decades outside Russia in self-imposed political exile.
In a study published in 2020 evaluating the novelty and influence of 900 classical piano compositions written by 19 composers between approximately 1700 and 1900, Sergei Rachmaninov was ranked first as the most innovative composer, followed by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn. His works were the most innovative, both when compared with those of the other 18 composers and when comparing his latest works with the earliest.
Recordings
Many of Rachmaninov's phonograph recordings are recognized classics. In 1919 he recorded a selection of piano pieces for Edison Records on his "Diamond Records", as they ensured the best high fidelity audio in piano recording. Thomas Alva Edison, who was quite deaf, did not care for Rachmaninov's playing, or for classical music in general, referring to him as a "thumper" at their initial meeting. However, the staff from the recording studio in New York asked Edison to reconsider his dismissive position, and made a limited contract to release ten sides. Rachmaninov recorded on a Lauter concert grand, one of the few the company made. He believed that his performances varied in quality and requested final approval before a commercial release. Edison agreed, but still took multiple takes, an unusual practice that was normal at Edison Records, where strict company policy called for three good takes of each piece in case of damage or wear to the main ones. Rachmaninov and Edison Records were satisfied with the released records and Rachmaninov wished to record more, but Edison refused, saying ten sides were enough.
In 1920, Rachmaninov signed a contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Records). Unlike Edison, the company accommodated his requests and proudly announced the pianist as one of its most outstanding artists. He continued to record for Victor until 1942, when the American Federation of Musicians imposed a recording ban on its members in a copyright strike. Rachmaninov died in March 1943, more than a year and a half before RCA Victor reached an agreement with the union and resumed commercial recording activity.
Particularly renowned are his interpretations of Robert Schumann's Carnival and Frédéric Chopin's Funeral March Sonata, along with many shorter pieces. He recorded his four piano concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra, including two versions of the Second Concerto under Leopold Stokowski (an abridged acoustic recording in 1924 and a full electric recording in 1929), and a recording for the world premiere of his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, shortly after the first performance (1934), again with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Stokowski. The First, Third, and Fourth Concertos were recorded with Eugene Ormandy between 1939 and 1941. Rachmaninov also made three recordings conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in his own Third Symphony, his symphonic poem The Island of the muertos and his orchestration of "Vocalise". All of these recordings were reissued by RCA Victor in a set of ten compact discs called "Sergei Rachmaninoff The Complete Recordings".
In an article for the Gramophone magazine of April 1931, Rachmaninov defended a previously expressed view of the musical value of radio, about which he was skeptical: "the modern gramophone and the Modern recording methods are musically superior to wireless transmission in every way."
In popular culture
The Rachmaninoff Conservatory in Paris (founded in 1923 and of which the composer was its first honorary president), as well as streets in Velikiy Novgorod and Tambov, are named after the composer. In 1986, the Moscow Conservatory gave him he dedicated a concert hall on its premises, the Rachmaninov Hall, consisting of 252 seats. In 1999, the Monument to Sergei Rachmaninov was erected in Moscow and on June 14, 2009, another monument in his honor was unveiled in Velikiy Novgorod, near his birthplace. In Knoxville's World's Fair Park there is a statue marked "Rachmaninoff: The Last Concert", designed and sculpted by Viktor Bokaryov, as tribute to the composer.
The asteroid (4345) Rachmaninoff, discovered by Eric Walter Elst on February 11, 1988, and the Rachmaninoff Glacier, south of Alexander I Island in Antarctica, are named after the composer.
The composer has been shown biographically several times in film. For example, the film biography Vetka sireni (2007), directed by Pável Lunguín; the musical Preludes (2015) by Dave Malloy, which depicts his struggle with depression and writer's block, or The Joy of Rachmaninoff (2016), a documentary about his life directed by Benjamin Whalley. In addition, his music has been used in more than 220 films and television shows.
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