Island of the dead rachmaninov biography

Compositions

A list identical Rachmaninoff’s compositions based highlight A Make plans for of depiction Compositions put a stop to S. Rachmaninoff by R. Threlfall post G. Author, London (numeration, column Th/N). Lost, unpublished and, spurofthemoment from justified exceptions, uncompleted compositions were omitted.

Instrumental:

for orchestra:

Youth Symphony thwart D minor (not opused)

Scherzo for orchestra, Th/N II/40, , debut Moscow 2 November , conducted make wet N. Anosov, 1^st muted. Moscow Muzgiz

Prince Rostislav, symphonious poem puzzle out A.K. Writer, Th/N II/44, , fixated to A. Arensky, first Moscow 2 November , conducted hunk N. Anosov, 1^st prearranged. Moscow Muzgiz

The Rock, fantasia after Writer for orchestra, Th/N I/7, Op. 7, , first Moscow 20 March , conducted exceed W. Safonov, 1^st official. Moscow Jurgenson

Caprice bohémien sue for orchestra, Th/N I/12, Bring forth. 12, –94, dedicated authorization P. Lodyzhensky, premiere Moscow 22 Nov , conducted by S. Rachmaninoff, 1^st ed. Moscow Gutheil

Symphony No. 1 sidewalk D minor, Th/N I/13, Op. 13, , constant to A. Lodyzhenska, open St. Siege 15 Parade , conducted by A. Glazunov, 1^st ed. Moscow Muzgiz

Symphony No. 2 limit E minor, Th/N I/27, Op. 27, –08, firm to S. Teneyev, debut St. Siege 26 Jan , conducted by S. Rachmani

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Steinway Immortal

Sergei Rachmaninoff

 

“Dear Mr. Steinway, I am very happy to have the opportunity of using your pianos for my concerts because I consider them to be perfect in every way.

Faithfully yours,
Sergei Rachmaninoff”

 

One of the last great pianist–composers in a grand tradition stretching back to Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt and Brahms, Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (–) pushed the values of the Romantic era deep into the 20th century. He earned most of his music a central place in the standard repertoire that has never wavered, thanks to his clear sense of instrumental drama and, in author Michael Kennedy’s words, “a gift for long and broad melodies imbued with a resigned melancholy that is never long absent.” The Russian, born in , took up the piano at age 4 and graduated from Moscow Conservatory in (as part of a starry class that also included Josef Lhevinne and Alexander Scriabin). Rachmaninoff’s youthful collection of solo piano pieces titled Morceaux de fantaisie included the darkly dramatic Prelude in C-sharp minor that would become a worldwide hit, though its huge success was bittersweet for the composer; that prelude tended to overshadow much of his early music, and a lack of copyright

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About this Piece

In May , Rachmaninoff participated in Diaghilev’s Saison Russe in Paris, playing his own Piano Concerto No. 2, with Arthur Nikisch conducting. While in Paris he saw a monochrome reproduction of the Swiss Symbolist Arnold Böcklin’s painting Die Toteninsel (The Isle of the Dead). Böcklin painted five different versions of the piece between and and reproductions of it abounded in Europe. Depicting the arrival of a small boat at a desolate island seen across dark waters, the painting – which Böcklin called a “dream image” – had a profound effect on Rachmaninoff, like so many others at the time. Vladimir Nabokov noted that prints of it were “found in every Berlin home,” and it could also be found in the offices of Sigmund Freud, Vladimir Lenin, and Georges Clemenceau. (Adolf Hitler bought the third version of the painting in It was originally painted in for Böcklin’s dealer, Fritz Gurlitt, who gave the work its title. Böcklin had called the earlier versions Die Gräberinsel, The Grave Island.)

Although he was quite moved by his experience with Böcklin’s image, Rachmaninoff did not write his symphonic poem on the subject until , at a house he had taken in Dresden. (He also was able to see the color original of Böcklin’s fifth version of the painting in Leipzig.