Lamb of the Romantic Era By: Hannah Minkus

Life Details of life are jumbled and conflicting Born in Russia, 1873 Wrote over 145 works Obtained American citizenship Died in U.S. in 1909 Composition not appreciated until after his death Photo (1892) courtesy of Wikipedia

Even though his father followed tradition by joining the Russian Army

Sergei’s father Vasily Arkadyevich drank and gambled with his cohorts Somehow managed to marry a woman of a wealthy background, Lyubof Petrovna Butakova. They made their home at Oneg, received by dowry.

1882 Vasily loses control of finances Family moves to small apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia Sergei moves in with aunt, attends Conservatory on scholarship 1883 Sergei’s sister Sofia dies Vasily leaves St. Petersburg and the family

His home life begins to affect him-he becomes lazy in his schoolwork and music studies.

Photo courtesy of

Grandmother brought him to church Photos courtesy of russianorthodox-stl.org and flamecnoaustralia.org 19 th century gypsy music Elder sister Yelena a talented singer Grandmother buys Novgorod estate- Sergei enjoys rivers and landscape Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky

Photo Courtesy of uh.edu

1909- Joins New York Philharmonic as solo pianist Shortly after composes Edgar Allen Poe poem into “The Bells” Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 Inspires “All Night Vigil” or, “Vespres”  Destroys Sergei’s estate  Causes him to emigrate to the U.S.

PIANIST PHILANTHROPIST  Highly regarded  Performed Beethoven and Tchaikovsy  Free concerts  Donations to Allies to fight Nazi regime  Helped friends in financial trouble

Rachmaninoff overcame Soviet censorship which he earned by signing a letter which condemned the Soviet Regime, becoming “possibly the greatest pianist of the 20 th century.” Source: Internet Move Database

Piano Concerto No. 1

 Written at age 17  Not a very popular piece  May reflect his laziness at the time  30 minutes long  Comprised of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, trombones, horns, timpanis, strings, and piano

Influenced by his Russian heritage, Romantic era music, personal nature (rebelliousness and drama of a 17 year old mind?)

Failure of the piece  Part of a dark time in Rachmaninoff’s life  He seeks help from a hyponotist  Pulls out of depression and writes more successful Second and Third Concertos Photo courtesy of 123rf.com

Rachmaninoff: “It is really good now… it plays itself so much more easily.” Has since been performed many times- first LA Philharmonic performance in 1960 CD covers courtesy of amazon.com

View here (1 st part): AND Here (2 nd part):

Harrison, Max. Rachmaninoff, Life, Works, Recordings. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, Howard, Orrin. LA Phil. n.d. June Lucid Cafe: Library. 1 January June Internet Movie Database. n.d. June Wikipedia. n.d. June Photos which are not referenced are clip art.

0:00 Movement begins with strong brass fanfare 0:17 Piano enters with full and quick descension 0:28 Brass re-enters, and piano continues very deliberately 0:37 Brass abruptly ends to give way to piano solo 0:45 Piano slows tempo until a stop at… 0:48 Strings enter with horns, the tempo stays slow with a lilting melody, very romantic 1:17 Piano enters again and plays melody with subtle arpeggios

1:50 Piano picks up tempo again and begins to very slowly crescendo 2:11 Reaches small climax, then slow to moderate tempo begins again with arpeggios continuing 2:36 Strings die down, piano continues in soft tone, very mild timbre 2:56 Strings enter again with melody and a swaying rhythm 3:32 Climax begins on piano with ascending notes, in a crescendo 3:36 Orchestra enters again and leads up to climax 4:03 A dramatic pause

4:09 Slow tempo with lilting feeling returns (trills can be heard) 4:39 Return to climax with allegro tempo 4:49 Brass/woodwinds and strings (with abrupt tone) echo dramatically 5:02 Piano enters again in higher pitch with repeating arpeggios 5:39 Oboe (?) plays, and strings and rest of orchestra gradually enter with melody again 5:59 Piano enters with strong tone giving way to moderato, then pianissimo 6:18 Piano begins ascension again with soft texture

6:30 Orchestra enters again, rhythm is more staccato 6:55 Slow melody/soft texture begins again, piano playing portion of melody 7:36 Rest, then fast tempo beings again with high pitch arpeggios from piano in a gradual crescendo 7:53 Orchestra emphasis, and then piano beings to slow and descend again 8:40 Orchestra begins with melody and piano continues arpeggios 9:14 Orchestra climbs to climax with brass and woodwinds playing forte 9:21 Rhythm changes

9:28 Cadenza begins… 10:29 Very soft, dramatic tone from piano 10:47 Piano begins to play melody beneath arpeggios 11:11 Piano picks up tempo, lower tones, minor key is strongly evident in lower notes 11:47 Strings enter abruptly, then join the brass/woodwinds echoing softly 13:03 Orchestra (strings especially) accent the descension 13:09 End of movement