Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Sergej Rahmaninov)

Russian Pianist, Composer, and Conductor.

"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music." 


	Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in Semyonovo just outside of Novgorod in the north-west region of Russia, he was the forth out of six children.  
Coming from a family that valued music he took lessons with his mother, Lyubov and father, Vasily, which both his parents were not impressed with Sergei’s talents.
His family was Tatar descendents and had been in the service of the Russian tsars since the 16th century.  Tatar is a collective name applied to the Turkic people 
of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The name is derived from Ta-ta or Dada, a Mongolian tribethat inhabited present Northeast Mongolia in the 5th century.  His 
father was not good with money and ended up loosing many of their estates.  Relations between his mother and father were also not excellent and were speculated 
to be violent.  The family moved to St Petersburg because of financial difficultie.  A diphtheria epidemic happened to be sweeping through the city and Sergei along 
with two of his siblings caught the disease, and while he and his brother Vladimir pulled through, his sister Sophia died. After the death of Sergei’s sister,
his father left his wife and 5 children. This deeply hurt Sergei and soon found himself spending most of his summers with his grandmother, Butakova in the country.  
	Rachmaninoff studied at Saint Petersburg Conservatory before moving to Moscow where he studied with Nikolay Zverev and Alexander Siloti.  
Some of his other teachers were Anton Arensky and Sergei Taneyev who tough Rachmaninoff his music theory.  Rachmaninoff soon found himself lacking 
interest and focus in his musical studies and failed many of his exams and was even threatened to be expelled from the conservatory.  In 1885 he was sent to study 
with Nikolai Zverev in Moscow.  Zverev took many young musicians into his home and thought them great discipline as well great appreciation for music.  Zverev 
would make his students practice for several hours a day as well as cultural outings such as the “Historical Recitals” by Anton Rubinstein, which was an overview 
of piano literature ranging from Bach to Liszt, which deeply moved and motivated Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff attended Moscow conservatory where he studied with many 
great musicians and composers of the time. This is where he soon met the composer that made the most impression on Rachmaninoff, Piotr Tchaikovsky.  
	Rachmaninoff soon found himself wanting to compose more and practice less, which irritated Zverev greatly and soon ended their relationship and lessons.  
Due to another dispute with Safonov-Siloti, Rachmaninoff was not offered a teaching job at the conservatory to which Rachmaninoff finished his final exams one 
year early and left the Moscow conservatory and went to go live with his Aunt Vavara Satina in Ivanovka.  Ivanovka became Rachmaninoff's sanctuary. He drew much of 
his inspiration from the endless rolling fields and the solitude he received.  Rachmaninoff completed many pieces such as the Prelude in C# Minor which was one of the 
five Morceaux de Fantaisies Opus 3 in 1982, his First Piano Concerto Opus 1 in 1891, several choral pieces, The Rock Opus 7 (1893), a tone poem based on Chekov's Along 
the Way, and the Trio Elegiaque Opus 9 in 1893, which was dedicated to the passing of both his teacher Zverev and Tchaikovsky.   
	One of the major misfortunes in Rachmaninoff’s life was the premier of his first symphony on March 27th in 1897.  The symphony was conducted under Alexander 
Glazunov who hated the piece and so under-rehearsed it and there are even rumors that he was drunk while conducting the piece.  The symphony was not well 
received and in fact was quoted “one of the seven deadly plagues of Egypt written for a conservatory in hell.” Like so many of these violent reviews, it sent Rachmaninoff
into a deep depression.  Fallowing the years after Rachmaninoff would continue to receive mixed feelings and reviews about his work which caused him to sink further into 
a state of depression.  Rachmaninoff soon sought help from Dr Nikolai Dahl and after three months of work gave Rachmaninoff the confidence to write again.  Rachmaninoff 
soon completed the Second Piano Concerto Opus 18 in 1901, which he dedicated to Dr Dahl.  This concerto became one of the most popular and loved pieces Rachmaninoff ever
wrote and continues to be to this day.  
	In 1902 Rachmaninoff married his second cousin Natalia Satina, which came to some difficultly under the Eastern Orthodox Church and its rules on marrying cousins.  
The great political unrest of Russia, which would soon turn into the Russian Revolution, caused Rachmaninoff and his family to move to Dresden Germany and here Rachmaninoff 
wrote his Second Symphony Opus 27 (1906-08).  He soon was offered to tour the United States of which he composed the Third Piano Concerto (Op. 30, 1909).  Rachmaninoff 
performed the piece himself after only being able to practice it on the plan ride over, which is just unthinkable considering it is one of the hardest concertos ever written 
for piano.  After the performance of his new concerto he became well loved and respected in America.  
	Rachmaninoff and his family left their home in Stockholm in December of 1917 because of the Russian Revolution.  Rachmaninoff never returned to Russia and soon
moved to New York in November of 1918.  Rachmaninoff did not compose much because of his demand to perform and the need to support his family, but also because he felt 
that his inspiration was left at his home in Russia.  The difference being 39 compositions from 1892-1917 in Russia, to only 6 compositions until he died in America. 
Rachmaninoff led a very mysterious life which he spent mostly alone and quiet.  He had two affairs, of which we know of, the famous story of the women which he called “Re”
and Nina Koshetz a famous Russian singer.  Rachmaninoff had somewhat of a difficult life, which expresses in his passionate, dark, mournful, music.  
	One of the last works of Rachmaninoff was the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini      in the summer of 1934, which had said to complete his great 
dynamic compositional styles.  Rachmaninoff died on March 28th, 1943, in Beverly Hills, California, just a few days before his 70th birthday.  He was later buried in 
Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.  In his final hours of his life, he was said to have heard music off in the distance and after being told that there was no such 
thing, he said: “Then it is in my head.”

Rachmaninoff studied at Saint Petersburg State Conservatory as well as Moscow Conservatory in Russia.

Concerto No.2 in C minor Hear it See the Score
Concerto No.3 in D minor Hear it