Sergei Rachmaninoff

With music that decidedly and yet in an unmistakeably individual way continues the Romantic era, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) is among the most frequently performed composers of the 20th century. His fame is chiefly due to a limited selection of his works, above all concertos and solo pieces for piano, while around half of his creations have remained largely unknown.

Born on a remote Russian country estate in 1873, Rachmaninoff’s talent for the piano became evident at an early age. At the conservatories of St Petersburg and Moscow, the adolescent musician was subjected to years of relentless instrumental drill before he finally received responsible lessons in piano and composition. His illustrious graduation was soon followed by the first successes as a composer. However, when the premiere of his First Symphony failed, Rachmaninoff was plunged into a serious creative crisis whose deeper reasons were to be found in his propensity for self-doubt, melancholy and depression. Supported by a neurologist, the composer managed to overcome this crisis with his Second Piano Concert Op. 18 of 1900/01. And yet, his negative mental disposition was to break through again and again in his later life.

The 1917 October Revolution was to bring fundamental changes to Rachmaninoff’s life. In December 1917, he left Russia for good and went into exile in the US with his family. Here, Rachmaninoff began an exceptional career as a pianist, which turned him into one of the wealthiest musicians of the interwar period but left him hardly any time for his creative work. The excessive smoker died of cancer in 1943.

As of April 2023