How are you?
This week's lecture is “Sergei
Rachmaninoff”, the 18th topic of “Classical
Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “103. Classical Music: 18. Sergei Rachmaninoff” introduced on September 16th, 2017.
Sergei
Rachmaninoff, born on April 1, 1873 and died on March 28, 1943, was a Russian
composer, pianist and conductor of the Late Romantic period. In his early
works, the influence of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Mussorgsky,
and other Russian composers is seen, but later he built his own style known for
song-like melodicism, expressiveness and rich orchestral colours.
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| Rachmaninoff at age 10 |
He
was born into a noble family in the Russian Empire. His paternal grandfather, Arkady
Alexandrovich, was a musician who learned music from the Irish composer John
Field. His father, an army officer and amateur pianist, Vasily Arkadyevich
Rachmaninoff, married the daughter of a wealthy army general, Lyubov Petrovna
Butakova, and the couple had three sons and three daughters, Sergei being their
fourth child.
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| Vasily Arkadyevich Rachmaninoff |
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| Lyubov Petrovna Butakova |
Starting
piano at the age of 4, Rachmaninoff graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in
1892, and at the time he already had several piano and orchestral pieces he had
composed.
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| The Moscow Conservatory |
However, in 1897, when his “Symphony No. 1” received the negative response, Rachmaninoff suffered from depression for four years and composed little until successful treatment made him complete his “Piano Concerto No. 2”, which received enthusiastic responses.
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| Rachmaninoff in 1897, the year his Symphony No. 1 premiered |
For the next 16 years, Rachmaninoff conducted at the Bolshoi
Theatre, moved to Dresden, Germany, and toured the United States for the first
time. He often used the piano in his compositions and explored the expressive
possibilities of the instrument through his unique techniques as a pianist.
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| The Bolshoi Theatre in 1905, during Rachmaninoff's time as conductor |
Following
the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia and settled in
New York City in 1918. His main source of income was piano and conducting
performances, but the reduced composition time due to the tight performance
schedule made him complete only six works between 1918 and 1943, including the "Rhapsody
on a Theme of Paganini", "Symphony No. 3" and "Symphonic
Dances.” By 1942, his health deteriorated and he moved to Beverly Hills,
California.
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| Statue commemorating Rachmaninoff's last concert, Knoxville, TN |
Rachmaninoff's
health deteriorated rapidly in the last week of March 1943. He lost
consciousness on March 26 and died two days later, four days before his 70th
birthday.
His
funeral was held at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church in Silver Lake.
Rachmaninoff wished to be buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, but was
eventually interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
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| Rachmaninoff's grave at Kensico Cemetery |
Thank you.
