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Major creative activity.
At the time of the Russian Revolution of 1905, Rachmaninoff
was a conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre. Although more of an observer than
a person politically involved in the revolution, he went with his family,
in November 1906, to live in Dresden. There he wrote three of his major
scores: the Symphony No. 2 in E Minor (1907), the symphonic poem
The Isle of the Dead (1909), and the Piano Concerto No. 3 in
D Minor (1909). The last was composed especially for his first concert
tour of the United States, highlighting his much-acclaimed pianistic debut
on Nov. 28, 1909, with the New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch. Probably
the composer's best unified longer work, the Third Piano Concerto
requires great virtuosity from the pianist; its last movement is a bravura
section as dazzling as any in the literature. In Philadelphia and Chicago
he appeared with equal success in the role of conductor, interpreting his
own newest symphonic compositions. Of these, the Second Symphony
is the most significant: although it displays Rachmaninoff's usual propensity
for lapsing into familiar Romantic conventions, it is a work of deep emotion
and haunting thematic material. While touring, he was invited to become
permanent conductor of the Boston Symphony, but he declined the offer and
returned to Russia in February 1910.
It was at that time and during musical feuds in Moscow between
several divisions in the large family of Russian composers that Rachmaninoff's
compositions were clearly classified and his place in Russian music defined.
On the one hand there were the adherents to the St. Petersburg group of
the "Mighty Five" (Mily Balakirev, Aleksandr Borodin, César Cui,
Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov), and on the other there
were the more conservative followers of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Anton
Rubinstein, and Sergey Taneyev. Another, smaller, group was composed of
enthusiasts of Aleksandr Scriabin's music. Of these three factions, Rachmaninoff
belonged unmistakably to the Tchaikovsky group. His lyricism, devoid of
any particular innovation, is especially evident in the large number of
songs he composed, even more than in his piano compositions.
Rachmaninoff's music, although written mostly in the 20th century,
remains firmly entrenched in the 19th-century musical idiom. He was, in
effect, the final expression of the tradition embodied by Tchaikovsky--a
melodist of Romantic dimensions still writing in an era of explosive change
and experimentation.
The one notable composition of Rachmaninoff's second period of
residence in Moscow was his choral symphony The Bells (1913), based
on Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont's Russian translation of the poem by
Edgar Allan Poe. Although it became a staple of the symphonic repertory,
partly because of its scoring for chorus and soloists, the work displays
considerable ingenuity in the coupling of choral and orchestral resources
to produce striking imitative and textural effects.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Rachmaninoff went into
his second self-imposed exile--this time taking his family to the United
States, where he made his home for the rest of his life. For the next 25
years he lived in an English-speaking country, yet he never mastered its
language or thoroughly acclimatized himself. With his family and a small
circle of friends, he lived a rather isolated life. He missed Russia and
the Russian people--the sounding board for his music, as he said. And this
alienation had a devastating effect on his formerly prolific creative ability.
He produced little of real originality but rewrote some of his earlier
work. Indeed, he devoted himself almost entirely to concertizing in the
United States and Europe, a field in which he had few peers. His only substantial
works from this period are the Symphony No. 3 in A Minor (1936),
another expression of sombre, Slavic melancholy, and the Rhapsody on
a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra (1934), a set of variations
on a Paganini violin caprice. The Rhapsody has vied with the Second
Concerto as the composer's most often-played work.
Of his compositions, the Second and Third Piano Concerti,
as well as the Rhapsody, still remain in the concert repertory and
may continue to do so. His symphonies, his vocal works, and his solo piano
pieces have declined somewhat in their appeal, yet the general charm of
his work and his unique performances retain for him an honourable position
in the history of music.
Major Works
MAJOR WORKS. Orchestral works. Symphonies: No. 1 in
D Minor, op. 13, 1895; No. 2 in E Minor, op. 27, 1907; No.
3 in A Minor, op. 44, 1936. Piano concerti: No. 1 in F Sharp Minor,
op. 1, 1890-91, rev. 1917; No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18, 1901; No.
3 in D Minor, op. 30, 1909; No. 4 in G Minor, op. 40, 1927.
Miscellaneous: The Rock, op. 7, 1893 (for orchestra); Capriccio
on Gypsy Themes, op. 12, 1894 (for orchestra); The Isle of the Dead,
op. 29, 1909 (symphonic poem based on picture of Böcklin); Rhapsody
on a Theme of Paganini, op. 43, 1934 (for piano and orchestra); Symphonic
Dances, op. 45, 1941 (for full orchestra).
Chamber music.
Trio Elegiaque in D Minor, op. 9, 1893 (for piano, violin,
and cello); Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Minor, op. 19, 1901.
Piano music.
Solo piano: Five Pieces for Piano, op. 3, 1892 (including
the Prelude in C-Sharp Minor), Six Moments Musicaux, op.
16, 1896; Variations on a Theme of Chopin, op. 22, 1903; Nine
Études-Tableaux, op. 39, 1916-17; Variations on a Theme of
Corelli, op. 42, 19, 32; preludes, études, and sonatas. Two
pianos: Suite No.1, op. 5, 1893; Suite No. 2, op. 17, 1901;
Symphonic Dances op. 45, 1943
Vocal music.
Operas: The Miser Knight, op. 24, 1904; Francesca da
Rimini, op. 25, 1904. Songs: Approximately 72 songs composed between
1893 and 1916. Miscellaneous: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostomus, op.
31, 1910 (for mixed choir); The Bells, op. 35, 1913 (choral symphony);
Vesper Mass, op. 37, 1915; Three Russian Folksongs, op. 41,
1928.
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Rachmaninoff's letters have been collected and published in Russian in
Z. Apetianz (ed.), Pisma (1955), which includes all previously published
letters and some newly published ones. Rachmaninoff's Recollections,
Told to Oskar von Riesemann, trans. from German (1934, reissued
1979), are reminiscences by the composer about his life and work; the
last chapter is Riesemann's analysis of Rachmaninoff's qualities as a
composer. Sergei Bertensson and Jay Leyda, Sergei Rachmaninoff:
A Lifetime in Music (1956, reissued 1965), is a comprehensive
biography whose preparation was assisted by Sophia Satin, the
composer's cousin and sister-in-law; it is especially useful for its
description of the composer's years in America. Other important
biographical studies are Watson Lyle, Rachmaninoff: A Biography
(1939, reprinted 1976); John Culshaw, Sergei Rachmaninov (1949,
reissued 1959); Victor I. Seroff, Rachmaninoff (1950, reprinted
1970); Patrick Piggott, Rachmaninov (1978), including detailed musical
commentary and critique; Barrie Martyn, Rachmaninoff: Composer,
Pianist, Conductor (1990), drawing extensively on archival and
Russian-language sources, with a discography; and Geoffrey Norris,
Rakhmaninov, rev. and updated ed. (1994). (V.I.S./Ed.)
