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Sergei Rachmaninov
1873 – 1943
Rachmaninov, it seemed, could do nothing right by most of his contemporary critics and composers. As a person, he appeared somewhat cold and aloof - Stravinsky once called him "a six-and-a half- foot-tall-scowl"
Life and Music
- Rachmaninov's student years were nothing short of phenomenal. He consistently amazed his teachers with his jaw-dropping ability, first as a pianist and then as a composer.
- Alexander Goldenweiser, a fellow pupil, later recalled Rachmaninov's prodigious pianism: "Rachmaninov's talent...surpassed any other in my experience - almost unbelievable, like the young Mozart. He memorised new pieces at an almost unprecedented rate."
- Rachmaninov created a storm with his First Piano Concerto, an incredibly accomplished student work.
- Music continued to flow from the young genius, including an apprentice opera Aleko which once again won Tchaikovsky's unreserved admiration. With the older man's death that same year, 1893, all eyes fell on Rachmaninov to produce his first great masterpiece. He more than succeeded with his groundbreaking First Symphony.
- If it not been for the intervention of the pioneering Moscow hypnotherapist, Nikolai Dahl, Rachmaninov's creative talent might have faltered altogether. Unbelievably, Dahl soon had Rachmaninov up and running again with his richly melodious Second Piano Concerto.
- For the next decade and a half, Rachmaninov appeared invincible. On the creative front, he poured forth an almost seamless flow of masterpieces, starting with the Cello Sonata and Second Suite for Two Pianos.
- With his phenomenal conducting skills, Rachmaninov was appointed Principal Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre and offered several major posts in America, most notably with the Boston Symphony Orchestra Together with Koussevitzky.
- In an age that saw some of the greatest pianist at the very peak of their powers, Rachmaninov stood out as perhaps the most outstanding of this so-called 'Golden Age'.
- Interest in Rachmaninov has reached unprecedented levels. The appalling abuse that his music regularly endured just a few decades ago now appear scarcely believable.
- Rachmaninov died of melanoma on 28 March 1943, in Beverly Hills, four days before his 70th birthday.
Did you know?
In 1931 Rachmaninov's music was officially banned in the USSR as 'decadent' with the chilling warning: "This music [The Bells] is by a violent enemy of Soviet Russia: Rachmaninov."
