Sergei Rachmaninoff
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| Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff |
|---|
| Born |
| April 1, 1873 (N.S.); March 20 1873 (O.S.) Semyonovo, Russia |
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Template:Lang-ru, Sergej Vasil'evič Rahmaninov, April 1, 1873 (N.S.) or March 20 1873 (O.S.) – March 28, 1943) was a Russian-American 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, including when he became a United States citizen. However, alternative transliterations of his name include Sergey or Serge, and Rachmaninov, Rachmaninow, Rakhmaninov or Rakhmaninoff.)
While his reputation as composer only came later in life, Rachmaninoff's skill as pianist was well-known and highly respected; he often performed his own works as soloist. He was one of the greatest pianists of his generation, having legendary technical facilities and rhythmic drive, and his large hands were able to cover a fifthteenth interval on the piano (a distance requiring a hand span of approximately twelve inches). Many recordings were made by the Victor Talking Machine Company recording label of him performing his own music as well as works from the standard repertoire.
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), a setting of the Vespers, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 24 Preludes (including the famous Prelude in C-sharp minor), 17 Études, Symphonic Dances and many songs. Most of his pieces are in a 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 Henselt. That being the case, many of Rachmaninoff's symphonic works are in the modern idiom that correspond with his 20th century contemporaries.
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Life
Youth
Rachmaninoff was born in Semyonovo, near Novgorod in north-western Russia, into a noble family of Tatar descent which 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 as well as 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 Fantaisies (Op. 3, 1892), including the popular and famous Prelude in C-sharp minor — after 40 years of performing it as an encore at his piano recitals due to popular demand, he came to detest the piece and referred to it in conversation as "It". 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
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Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1 (Op. 13, 1896) premiered on 27 March 1897, but was torn apart by critics (including a particularly vitriolic review by Cesar Cui, who likened it to a depiction of the seven plagues of Egypt, written for a conservatory in hell). Some have suggested that this was largely due to the conducting of Alexander Glazunov, who disliked the piece and under-rehearsed it; Rachmaninoff's wife later suggested that Glazunov may have been drunk. This disastrous reception, coupled with his distress over the Eastern Orthodox Church's objection to his marrying his cousin, Natalia Satina, led to a nervous breakdown.
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 Rachmanonoff's departure his music was banned in the Soviet Union for several years. His compositional output slowed to some degree, 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. 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. His last recital, given in February 1943, prophetically featured Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor which contains the famous funeral march.
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".
Works
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 is arguably more difficult according to which school of technique a pianist has studied. Interpretations of the Third Concerto considered to be "definitive" are those by Vladimir Horowitz, a friend of Rachmaninoff; Byron Janis, one of the few students acknowledged by Horowitz; and Rachmaninoff's own recording. Other noted interpreters of his music include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Benno Moiseiwitsch and Van Cliburn.
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 Fantasie, traverse all 24 major and minor keys. Especially difficult are the Etudes 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 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 and third were much more popular. 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 the Trio Elegiaque, a piano trio written in memory of Tchaikovsky. 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.
Style
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 the First and Second 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, as what most of the people think. 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 almost metaphysical references to the Alliluya of the Vespers and the first theme of his First Symphony. Rachmaninoff signed most of his major works musically at the end with his rhythmic signature - three shorts and a long, in various rhythmic adaptations of the four tones (rach-man-in-OFF).
Recordings on shellac and paper rolls
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, RCA Victor. 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.
Music samples
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Biographical Film
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". [1]
See also
- List of compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Category:Compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Category:Operas by Sergei Rachmaninoff
External links
- 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.
- Template:Musicbrainz artist.
- 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).bs:Sergej Rahmanjinov
ca:Sergei Rachmaninov da:Sergei Rachmaninov de:Sergei Wassiljewitsch Rachmaninow el:Σεργκέι Ραχμάνινοφ es:Serguéi Rachmáninov fr:Sergueï Vassilievitch Rachmaninov gl:Sergei Rachmaninov ko:세르게이 라흐마니노프 hr:Sergej Rahmanjinov it:Sergej Rachmaninov he:סרגיי רחמנינוב hu:Szergej Rahmanyinov nl:Sergej Rachmaninov ja:セルゲイ・ラフマニノフ pl:Siergiej Rachmaninow pt:Sergei Rachmaninoff ru:Рахманинов, Сергей Васильевич sk:Sergej Vasilievič Rachmaninov sl:Sergej Vasiljevič Rahmaninov fi:Sergei Rahmaninov sv:Sergej Rachmaninov tr:Sergey Rahmaninov uk:Рахманінов Сергій Васильович zh:拉赫曼尼諾夫59.167.37.194 00:24, 22 April 2006 (UTC)