Sergie Rachmaninoff

20th Century Composer Report

Emily Newren

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Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vassilievich Rachmaninoff was born to an aristocratic, Russian family in the year of 1873. At the age of four, young Sergei was introduced to the piano through lessons from his mother, Lyubov Petrovna Butakova. It was clear from the very beginning that Sergei excelled at the piano and possessed a special skill. In 1882, 9 year old Sergei was provided a more accomplished teacher, Anna Ornatskaya, from St. Petersburg. For three years Sergei trained and flourished under Ornatskaya’s tutorage until his parents lost financial footage and had to auction off their estate due to his father’s financial recklessness and massive debts. The humiliated family moved to St. Petersburg while Sergei Rachmaninoff received a scholarship to the St. Petersburg conservatory. However destined for greatness young Rachmaninoff was, his success did not start at the St. Petersburg conservatory. During his time there, Sergei’s sister Sofiya died of diphtheria; Sergei was traumatized by the loss and failed all of his exams miserably. Following this event, the Rachmaninoff family fell apart as his parents separated and his other sister Yelena died of pernicious anemia. Sergei’s Mother sent him to the Moscow conservatory to train with Nikolai Zverev. Zverev’s tutoring influenced and shaped the young Rachmaninoff in so many ways. Sergei’s reserved manner had been derived from Zverev’s character, and it is here that Sergei grew passionate about composing. Unfortunately, Zverev wasn’t fully supportive of Rachmaninoff’s enthusiasm for composing and want for creative freedom, causing the two to part ways. During his time with Zverev, Sergei was able to meet and perform for some of Russia’s greatest composers including Tchaikovsky and Stafonov. Sergei also composed his first and successful one-act Opera, Alek,o while with the conservatory.

 After graduating with high honors from the Moscow conservatory, Sergei Rachmaninoff began to create some of his most amazing and successful pieces such as his Piano Concerto No. 1 and Prelude in C-Sharp minor. In 1902 Sergei Rachmaninoff married his love, Natalia Satina and together they had two girls. Although Rachmaninoff faced setbacks and failures, he still enjoyed musical and financial success for the next decade of his life and made his first performance tour of the United States in 1909; his popularity and demand was high especially in Europe as his name and works became famous. However, in 1917 the Russian revolt to dismantle the Tsarist autocracy erupted as well as Russia’s involvement in the First World War. Rachmaninoff’s life was turned upside down as his house was seized and he and his family were forced to flee to Denmark and later permanently settle in New York. During these years as an exile in America Rachmaninoff was deeply shaken by what was happening to his country, though he still composed and performed  pieces, his fear of death and longing for his homeland was a polarizing force that drove his music. After WWI and the Russian Revolution ended, Rachmaninoff and his family spent the next 20 years touring Europe and America as a piano virtuoso and conductor. Rachmaninoff was enjoying being closer to home, but eventually in 1938 the Second World War broke out causing him and his family to return to the safety of America. His compositions slowed with age, but he never stopped amazing the world with his talent.  In 1942, he and his family moved to California and a year later Rachmaninoff officially became a U.S citizen. Several months following, at the age of 70, Sergei Rachmaninoff died of Cancer.  He said, “Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is never enough for music.”

Rachmaninoff is considered the last of the Romantic era composers, but he always stuck to his richly melodious composing style. He influenced millions of lives throughout his life, and he is still inspiring people today. His music is so deep and beautiful that it creates such great emotions and stirrings even in the hearts of today’s generation.

Prelude in C-sharp minor Op. 3, No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Written in 1892 upon graduating from the Moscow conservatory, Rachmaninoff composed what is quite possibly his most famous piano solo. The Prelude in C-sharp minor is 62 bars long and one of five pieces he wrote entitled Morceaux de fantaisie. Rachmaninoff first performed this piece in the Moscow Electrical Exhibition in the year of 1892.