119 Facts About Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff studied piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1892, having already written several compositions.

In 1897, following the disastrous premiere of his Symphony No 1, Sergei Rachmaninoff entered a four-year depression and composed little, until supportive therapy allowed him to complete his well-received Piano Concerto No 2 in 1901.

Sergei Rachmaninoff later embarked upon his first tour of the United States as a pianist in 1909.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's paternal grandfather, Arkady Alexandrovich, was a musician who had taken lessons from Irish composer John Field.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's father, Vasily Arkadievich Rachmaninoff, was an army officer and amateur pianist who married Lyubov Petrovna Butakova, the daughter of a wealthy army general who gave him five estates as part of her dowry.

The couple had three sons and three daughters, Sergei Rachmaninoff being their third child.

Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in the family estate in the village of Semyonovo, near Staraya Russa, Novgorod Governorate.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's birth was registered in the Semyonovo church book.

Young Sergei Rachmaninoff was raised in Oneg estate from age four until aged nine, and he mistakenly cited it as his birthplace in his adult life.

Sergei Rachmaninoff began piano and music lessons organized by his mother at age four.

Sergei Rachmaninoff noticed his ability to reproduce passages from memory without a wrong note.

Sergei Rachmaninoff dedicated his famous romance for voice and piano "Spring Waters" from 12 Romances, Op.

Sergei Rachmaninoff was an important musical influence on Rachmaninoff and had introduced him to the works of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Sergei Rachmaninoff performed at events held at the Moscow Conservatory during this time, including those attended by the Grand Duke Konstantin and other notable figures.

Sergei Rachmaninoff recommended transferring Rachmaninoff to the Moscow Conservatory to receive lessons from his former teacher, the more strict Nikolai Zverev, which lasted until 1888.

Sergei Rachmaninoff then found his first romance in Vera, the youngest daughter of the neighbouring Skalon family, but her mother objected and forbade Sergei Rachmaninoff to write to her, leaving him to correspond with her older sister Natalia.

Sergei Rachmaninoff spent his summer break in 1890 with the Satins at Ivanovka, their private country estate near Tambov, to which the composer would return many times until 1917.

Also that year, Sergei Rachmaninoff completed the one-movement Youth Symphony and the symphonic poem Prince Rostislav.

Siloti left the Moscow Conservatory after the academic year ended in 1891 and Sergei Rachmaninoff asked to take his final piano exams a year early to avoid being assigned a different teacher.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's progress was unexpectedly halted in the latter half of 1891 when he contracted a severe case of malaria during his summer break at Ivanovka.

Sergei Rachmaninoff believed it was "sure to fail", but the production was so successful the theatre agreed to produce it starring singer Feodor Chaliapin, who would go on to become a lifelong friend.

Sergei Rachmaninoff spent the summer of 1892 on the estate of Ivan Konavalov, a rich landowner in the Kostroma Oblast, and moved back with the Satins in the Arbat District.

Sergei Rachmaninoff returned to Moscow, where Tchaikovsky agreed to conduct The Rock for an upcoming European tour.

The news left Sergei Rachmaninoff stunned; later that day, he started work on his Trio elegiaque for piano, violin and cello as a tribute, which he completed within a month.

Sergei Rachmaninoff lacked the inspiration to compose, and the management of the Grand Theatre had lost interest in showcasing Aleko and dropped it from the program.

Sergei Rachmaninoff had worked so hard on it that he could not return to composition until he heard the piece performed.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's fortunes took a turn following the premiere of his Symphony No 1 on 28 March 1897 in one of a long-running series of Russian Symphony Concerts devoted to Russian music.

Sergei Rachmaninoff thought its performance was poor, particularly Glazunov's contribution.

Sergei Rachmaninoff fell into a depression that lasted for three years, during which he had writer's block and composed almost nothing.

Sergei Rachmaninoff described this time as "Like the man who had suffered a stroke and for a long time had lost the use of his head and hands".

Between January and April 1900, Sergei Rachmaninoff underwent hypnotherapy and supportive therapy sessions with Dahl on a daily basis, specifically structured to improve his sleep patterns, mood, and appetite and reignite his desire to compose.

That summer, Sergei Rachmaninoff felt that "new musical ideas began to stir" and successfully resumed composition.

Amid his professional career success, Sergei Rachmaninoff married Natalia Satina on 12 May 1902 after a three-year engagement.

In 1904, in a career change, Sergei Rachmaninoff agreed to become the conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre for two seasons.

Sergei Rachmaninoff earned a mixed reputation during his time at the post, enforcing strict discipline and demanding high standards of performance.

Sergei Rachmaninoff worked with each soloist on their part, even accompanying them on the piano.

Sergei Rachmaninoff remained largely uninterested in the politics surrounding him and the revolutionary spirit had made working conditions increasingly difficult.

In February 1906, after conducting 50 performances in the first season and 39 in the second, Sergei Rachmaninoff handed in his resignation.

Sergei Rachmaninoff then took his family on an extended tour around Italy with the hope of completing new works, but illness struck his wife and daughter, and they returned to Ivanovka.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's performance as the soloist in his Piano Concerto No 2 with an encore of his Prelude in C-sharp minor was a triumphant success.

Sergei Rachmaninoff regained his sense of self-worth following the enthusiastic reaction to the premiere of his Symphony No 2 in early 1908, which earned him his second Glinka Award and 1,000 roubles.

Sergei Rachmaninoff spent time during breaks at Ivanovka finishing a new piece specially for the visit, his Piano Concerto No 3, Op.

Later in 1910, Sergei Rachmaninoff completed his choral work Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op.

For two seasons between 1911 and 1913, Sergei Rachmaninoff was appointed permanent conductor of the Philharmonic Society of Moscow; he helped raise its profile and increase audience numbers and receipts.

In 1912, Sergei Rachmaninoff left the IRMS when he learned that a musician in an administrative post was dismissed for being Jewish.

In January 1914, Sergei Rachmaninoff began a concert tour of England which was enthusiastically received.

Alexander Scriabin's death in April 1915 was a tragedy for Sergei Rachmaninoff, who went on a piano recital tour devoted to his friend's compositions to raise funds for Scriabin's financially stricken widow.

Sergei Rachmaninoff returned to Ivanovka two months later, finding it in chaos after a group of Social Revolutionary Party members seized it as their own communal property.

In June 1917, Sergei Rachmaninoff asked Siloti to produce visas for him and his family so they could leave Russia, but Siloti was unable to help.

Sergei Rachmaninoff completed revisions to his Piano Concerto No 1 among gunshots and rallies outside.

Amidst such turmoil, Sergei Rachmaninoff received an unexpected offer to perform ten piano recitals across Scandinavia, which he immediately accepted, using it as an excuse to obtain permits so he and his family could leave the country.

In debt and in need of money, the 44-year-old Sergei Rachmaninoff chose performing as his main source of income, as a career solely in composition was too restrictive.

Sergei Rachmaninoff was worried about such a commitment in an unfamiliar country and had few good memories from his debut tour in 1909, so he declined all three.

Not long after his decision, Sergei Rachmaninoff considered the United States financially advantageous as he could not support his family through composition alone.

Sergei Rachmaninoff reunited with Josef Hofmann, who informed several concert managers that the composer was available and suggested he choose Charles Ellis as his booking agent.

Steinway's association with Sergei Rachmaninoff continued for the rest of his life.

Sergei Rachmaninoff recuperated and prepared for the upcoming season, a cycle that he would adopt for most of his remaining life.

Sergei Rachmaninoff enjoyed some personal luxuries, including quality tailored suits and the latest model of cars.

In 1920, Sergei Rachmaninoff signed a recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company which earned him some much needed income and began his longtime association with RCA.

Early 1921 saw Sergei Rachmaninoff apply for documentation to visit Russia, the only time he would do so after leaving the country, but progress ceased when he underwent surgery for pain in his right temple.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's first visit to Europe since emigrating occurred in May 1922, with concerts in London.

In 1924, Sergei Rachmaninoff declined an invitation to become conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Sergei Rachmaninoff admitted that by leaving Russia, "I left behind my desire to compose: losing my country, I lost myself ".

Sergei Rachmaninoff sought the company of fellow Russian musicians and befriended pianist Vladimir Horowitz in 1928.

In 1930, in a rare occurrence, Sergei Rachmaninoff allowed Italian composer Ottorino Respighi to orchestrate pieces from his Etudes-Tableaux, Op.

From 1929 to 1931, Sergei Rachmaninoff spent his summers in France at Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines near Rambouillet, meeting with fellow Russian emigres and his daughters.

Sergei Rachmaninoff bought a plot of land near Hertenstein on the banks of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, and oversaw the construction of his home which he named Villa Senar after the first two letters of his and his wife's name, adding the "r" from the family name.

Sergei Rachmaninoff spent his summers at Villa Senar until 1939, often with his daughters and grandchildren, with whom he would drive his motorboat on Lake Lucerne, one of his favourite activities.

In October 1932, Sergei Rachmaninoff began a demanding concert season that consisted of 50 performances.

The European leg in 1933 saw Sergei Rachmaninoff celebrate his sixtieth birthday among fellow musicians and friends, after which he retreated to Villa Senar for the summer.

In May 1934, Sergei Rachmaninoff underwent a minor operation and two years later, he retreated to Aix-les-Bains in France to improve his arthritis.

In 1938, Sergei Rachmaninoff performed his Piano Concerto No 2 at a charity jubilee concert at London's Royal Albert Hall to celebrate Henry Wood, founder of the Promenade concerts and an admirer of Sergei Rachmaninoff's who wanted him to be the show's only soloist.

Sergei Rachmaninoff agreed, so long the performance was not broadcast on the radio due to his aversion to the medium.

The tour continued with dates across England, after which Sergei Rachmaninoff visited his daughter Tatyana in Paris followed by a return to Villa Senar.

Sergei Rachmaninoff was unable to perform for a while after slipping on the floor at the villa and injuring himself.

Sergei Rachmaninoff recovered enough to perform at the Lucerne International Music Festival on 11 August 1939.

In December 1939, Sergei Rachmaninoff began an extensive recording period which lasted until February 1942 and included his Piano Concerto Nos.

In early 1942, Sergei Rachmaninoff was advised by his doctor to relocate to a warmer climate to improve his health after suffering from sclerosis, lumbago, neuralgia, high blood pressure, and headaches.

Later in 1942, Sergei Rachmaninoff invited Igor Stravinsky to dinner, the two sharing their worries of a war-torn Russia and their children in France.

Shortly after a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in July 1942, Sergei Rachmaninoff was suffering from lumbago and fatigue.

Sergei Rachmaninoff opted to continue with touring, but felt so ill during his travels to Florida that the remaining dates were cancelled and he returned to California by train, where an ambulance took him to hospital.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's wife took Rachmaninoff home where he reunited with his daughter Irina.

Sergei Rachmaninoff lost his appetite, had constant pain in his arms and sides, and found it increasingly difficult to breathe.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's funeral took place at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church on Micheltorena Street in Silver Lake.

Shaginyan and the poetry she shared with Sergei Rachmaninoff have been cited as the inspiration for his Six Songs, Op.

Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote two piano sonatas, both of which are large scale and virtuosic in their technical demands.

Sergei Rachmaninoff completed three one-act operas: Aleko, The Miserly Knight, and Francesca da Rimini.

Sergei Rachmaninoff started three others, notably Monna Vanna, based on the work by Maurice Maeterlinck; copyright in this had been extended to the composer Fevrier, and, though the restriction did not pertain to Russia, Rachmaninoff dropped the project after completing Act I in piano vocal score in 1908.

Sergei Rachmaninoff composed a total of 83 songs for voice and piano, all of which were written before he left Russia permanently in 1917.

Sergei Rachmaninoff started leaning towards broadly lyrical, often passionate melodies.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's orchestration became subtler and more varied, with textures carefully contrasted.

Sergei Rachmaninoff used them most perceptibly in his Vespers, but many of his melodies found their origins in these chants.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's frequently used motifs include the Dies Irae, often just the fragments of the first phrase.

Sergei Rachmaninoff had great command of counterpoint and fugal writing, thanks to his studies with Taneyev.

In both these sets Sergei Rachmaninoff was less concerned with pure melody than with coloring.

Sergei Rachmaninoff uncovered Rachmaninoff's use of an intra-tonal chromaticism that stands in notable contrast to the inter-tonal chromaticism of Richard Wagner and strikingly contrasts the extra-tonal chromaticism of the more radical twentieth century composers like Arnold Schoenberg.

In 1986, the Moscow Conservatory dedicated a concert hall on its premises to Rachmaninoff, designating the 252-seat auditorium Rachmaninoff Hall, and in 1999 the "Monument to Sergei Rachmaninoff" was installed in Moscow.

Sergei Rachmaninoff ranked among the finest pianists of his time, along with Leopold Godowsky, Ignaz Friedman, Moriz Rosenthal, Josef Lhevinne, Ferruccio Busoni, and Josef Hofmann, and he was famed for possessing a clean and virtuosic technique.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's playing was marked by precision, rhythmic drive, notable use of staccato and the ability to maintain clarity when playing works with complex textures.

Sergei Rachmaninoff applied these qualities in music by Chopin, including the B-flat minor Piano Sonata.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's repertoire, excepting his own works, consisted mainly of standard 19th century virtuoso works plus music by Bach, Beethoven, Borodin, Debussy, Grieg, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Tchaikovsky.

Sergei Rachmaninoff possessed large hands, with which he could easily maneuver through the most complex chordal configurations.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's 1940 recording of his transcription of the song "Daisies" captures this quality extremely well.

Regardless of the music, Sergei Rachmaninoff always planned his performances carefully.

Sergei Rachmaninoff based his interpretations on the theory that each piece of music has a "culminating point".

Paradoxically, Sergei Rachmaninoff often sounded like he was improvising, though he actually was not.

One advantage Sergei Rachmaninoff had in this building process over most of his contemporaries was in approaching the pieces he played from the perspective of a composer rather than that of an interpreter.

Sergei Rachmaninoff's performance is far more taut and concentrated than Grainger's.

Sergei Rachmaninoff felt his performances varied in quality and requested final approval prior to a commercial release.

In 1920, Sergei Rachmaninoff signed a contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company.

Sergei Rachmaninoff continued to record for Victor until 1942, when the American Federation of Musicians imposed a recording ban on their members in a strike over royalty payments.

Sergei Rachmaninoff died in March 1943, over a year and a half before RCA Victor settled with the union and resumed commercial recording activity.

When Sergei Rachmaninoff recorded his works, he would seek perfection, often re-recording them until he was satisfied.

Sergei Rachmaninoff made a recording of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, soon after its first performance with the Philadelphians under Stokowski, in addition to three recordings he made as conductor with the Philadelphia Orchestra, playing his own Third Symphony, his symphonic poem Isle of the Dead, and his orchestration of Vocalise.

Sergei Rachmaninoff recorded a number of piano rolls on the reproducing piano of the American Piano Company, producing a total of 35 piano rolls from 1919 to 1929,12 of which were of his own compositions.

Sergei Rachmaninoff began recording rolls for Ampico in March 1919, upon the suggestion of his friend Fritz Kreisler, and continued doing so, on and off, until around February 1929, though his last roll, of Chopin's Scherzo No 2, was not published until October 1933.

Apart from several performances, including two of his opera Aleko in 1893, Sergei Rachmaninoff first began conducting in 1897, and performed as a conductor every year until 1914.

Sergei Rachmaninoff was noted for his restraint in conducting, and for the "simple and unpolished" manner in which he gestured to the orchestra.

Outside of Russia, Sergei Rachmaninoff conducted almost exclusively his own works.