Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: Сергей Васильевич Рахманинов), 1 … Read Full Bio ↴Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: Сергей Васильевич Рахманинов), 1 April 1873 - 28 March 1943, was a composer, pianist, and conductor. Alternative transliterations of his name include Sergey, Sergej or Serge, and Rachmaninov, Rakhmaninoff.) Rachmaninoff was born in 1873 in Semyonovo, near Novgorod, in north-western Russia. He was born into a noble russian family, who had been in the service of the Russian tsars since the 16th century. His parents were both amateur pianists.
Rachmaninov is regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. He had legendary technical facilities and rhythmic drive, and his large hands were able to cover the interval of a thirteenth on the keyboard (a hand span of approximately twelve inches). His large handspan roughly corresponded with his height; Rachmaninov was 6 feet 6 inches (1.98m) tall according to sources[citation needed]. He also had the ability to play complex compositions upon first hearing. Many recordings were made by the Victor Talking Machine Company recording label of Rachmaninov's performing his own music, as well as works from the standard repertory.
His reputation as a composer, on the other hand, has generated controversy since his death. The 1954 edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians notoriously dismissed his music as "monotonous in texture ... consist[ing] mainly of artificial and gushing tunes ..." and predicted that his popular success was "not likely to last". [1] To this, Harold C. Schoenberg, in his Lives of the Great Composers, responded, "It is one of the most outrageously snobbish and even stupid statements ever to be found in a work that is supposed to be an objective reference." Indeed, not only have Rachmaninov's works become part of the standard repertory, but their popularity among both musicians and audiences had, if anything, increased during the second half of the twentieth century, with some of his symphonies and other orchestral works, songs and choral music recognized as masterpieces alongside the more familiar piano works.
His compositions include, among others, four piano concerti, three symphonies, two piano sonatas, three operas, a choral symphony (The Bells, based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe), the All-Night Vigil for unaccompanied choir (often known as Rachmaninov's Vespers), the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 24 Preludes (including the famous Prelude in C-sharp minor), 17 Études-tableaux, Symphonic Dances and many songs, of which the most famous is the wordless Vocalise. Most of his pieces are in a melancholy, late Romantic style akin to Tchaikovsky, although strong influences of Chopin and Liszt are apparent. Further inspiration included the music of Balakirev (Милий Алексеевич Балакирев), Mussorgsky (Модест Петрович Мусоргский), Medtner (Николай Карлович Метнер)(whom he considered the greatest contemporary composer and who, according to Schoenberg's Lives, returned the compliment by imitating him) and Henselt.
Rachmaninov was born in Semyonovo, near Novgorod in north-western Russia, into a noble family of Tatar descent, who had been in the service of the Russian tsars since the 16th century. His parents were both amateur pianists, and he had his first piano lessons with his mother on their family estate at Oneg; however, his parents noticed no outstanding talent in the youngster. Because of financial difficulties, the family moved to Saint Petersburg, where Rachmaninov studied at the Conservatory before moving to Moscow. There, he studied piano under Nikolay Zverev and Alexander Siloti (who was his cousin and a former student of Franz Liszt). He also studied harmony under Anton Arensky, and counterpoint under Sergei Taneyev. It should be noted that, in his younger days, Rachmaninov was found to be quite lazy, failing most of his classes and spending much time skating. It was the strict regime of the Zverev home (a place for many young musicians, including Scriabin) that instilled discipline in the boy.
Already, in his early years, he showed great skill in composition. While still a student, he wrote the one-act opera, Aleko (for which he was awarded a gold medal in composition), his first piano concerto and a set of piano pieces, Morceaux de Fantaisie (Op. 3, 1892), including the popular and famous Prelude in C-sharp minor. (According to Francis Crociata’s liner notes to RCA's 10-CD set of Rachmaninov’s recordings, the composer later became annoyed by the public’s fascination with this piece, composed when he was just 19. He would often tease an expectant audience by asking, “Oh, must I?” or claiming inability to remember anything else.) Rachmaninov confided in Zverev his desire to compose more, requesting a private room where he could compose in silence, but Zverev saw him only as a pianist and severed his links with the boy. After the success of Aleko, however, Zverev welcomed him back as a composer and pianist. His first serious pieces for the piano were composed and performed as a student, at the age of thirteen, during his residence with Zverev. In 1892, at nineteen, he completed his Piano Concerto No. 1 (Op. 1, 1891), which he revised in 1917.
Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 1 (Op. 13, 1896) premiered on 27 March 1897 in one of a long-running series of "Russian Symphony Concerts", but was torn apart by critics. In a particularly vitriolic review by César Cui, it was likened to a depiction of the seven plagues of Egypt and suggested that it would be admired by the "inmates" of a music conservatory in hell. It is often mooted that the criticisms stem from inadequacy of the performance. The conducting of Alexander Glazunov is often remembered as a problem: he liked the piece, but was a weak conductor and starved of rehearsal time. Rachmaninov's wife later suggested that Glazunov may have been drunk and, although this was never intimated by Rachmaninov, it would not seem out of character. The disastrous reception, coupled with his distress over the Eastern Orthodox Church's objection to his marrying his cousin, Natalia Satina, contributed to a period of severe depression.
He wrote little music over the following years, until he began a course of autosuggestive therapy with psychologist Nikolai Dahl, an amateur musician himself. Rachmaninov quickly recovered his confidence. An important result of these sessions was the composition of the Piano Concerto No. 2 (Op. 18, 1900–01), which was dedicated to Dr. Dahl. The piece was very well received at its premiere at which Rachmaninov was soloist, and remains one of his most popular compositions.
Rachmaninov's spirits were further bolstered when, after years of engagement, he was finally allowed to marry Natalia. They were married by an army priest in 1902, and their union lasted until the composer's death. After several successful appearances as a conductor, Rachmaninov was offered a job as conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1904, although political reasons led to his resignation two years later. In 1908, he moved to Italy, and later to Dresden, Germany, while waiting for the political situation in Russia to normalize.
Rachmaninov made his first tour of the United States as a pianist in 1909, an event for which he composed the Piano Concerto No. 3 (Op. 30, 1909). This successful tour made him a popular figure in America.
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, which meant the end of the old Russia, Rachmaninov and his family left for Stockholm in December of 1917, and never returned to the home country afterwards. They settled then in Denmark for a year, and finally started a 10 days voyage from Oslo to New York on November 1, 1918, which marked the beginning of the American period of the composer's life. After Rachmaninov's departure, his music was banned in the Soviet Union for several years. His compositional output slowed, partly because he was required to spend much of his time performing to support his family, but mainly because of homesickness; he felt that, when he left Russia, it was as if he had left behind his inspiration.
The falloff in Rachmaninov's output was dramatic. Between 1892 and 1917 (mainly living in Russia), Rachmaninov wrote 39 compositions with opus numbers. Between 1918 and his death in 1943, mainly living in the U.S., he completed only six.
As the years went on, and he became more and more aware of the fact that he would never again return to his beloved homeland, he was overwhelmed with melancholia. Most people who knew him later in life described him as the saddest man they had ever known. Nevertheless, his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, today one of his best-known works, was written in Switzerland in 1934.
He went on to compose his Symphony No. 3 (Op. 44, 1935–36) and the Symphonic Dances (Op. 45, 1940), his last completed work. He fell ill during a concert tour in late 1942, and was subsequently diagnosed with advanced melanoma.
Rachmaninov and his wife became American citizens on 1 February 1943. His last recital, given on 17 February, 1943 at the University of Tennessee Alumni Gymnasium, prophetically featured Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor which contains the famous funeral march. A statue commemorating Rachmaninov's last concert stands in the World's Fair Park in Knoxville, TN.
Rachmaninov died on March 28, 1943, in Beverly Hills, California, just a few days before his 70th birthday, and was interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. In the final hours of his life, he insisted he could hear music playing somewhere nearby. After being repeatedly assured that was not the case, he said: "Then it is in my head".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff
Rachmaninov is regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. He had legendary technical facilities and rhythmic drive, and his large hands were able to cover the interval of a thirteenth on the keyboard (a hand span of approximately twelve inches). His large handspan roughly corresponded with his height; Rachmaninov was 6 feet 6 inches (1.98m) tall according to sources[citation needed]. He also had the ability to play complex compositions upon first hearing. Many recordings were made by the Victor Talking Machine Company recording label of Rachmaninov's performing his own music, as well as works from the standard repertory.
His reputation as a composer, on the other hand, has generated controversy since his death. The 1954 edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians notoriously dismissed his music as "monotonous in texture ... consist[ing] mainly of artificial and gushing tunes ..." and predicted that his popular success was "not likely to last". [1] To this, Harold C. Schoenberg, in his Lives of the Great Composers, responded, "It is one of the most outrageously snobbish and even stupid statements ever to be found in a work that is supposed to be an objective reference." Indeed, not only have Rachmaninov's works become part of the standard repertory, but their popularity among both musicians and audiences had, if anything, increased during the second half of the twentieth century, with some of his symphonies and other orchestral works, songs and choral music recognized as masterpieces alongside the more familiar piano works.
His compositions include, among others, four piano concerti, three symphonies, two piano sonatas, three operas, a choral symphony (The Bells, based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe), the All-Night Vigil for unaccompanied choir (often known as Rachmaninov's Vespers), the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 24 Preludes (including the famous Prelude in C-sharp minor), 17 Études-tableaux, Symphonic Dances and many songs, of which the most famous is the wordless Vocalise. Most of his pieces are in a melancholy, late Romantic style akin to Tchaikovsky, although strong influences of Chopin and Liszt are apparent. Further inspiration included the music of Balakirev (Милий Алексеевич Балакирев), Mussorgsky (Модест Петрович Мусоргский), Medtner (Николай Карлович Метнер)(whom he considered the greatest contemporary composer and who, according to Schoenberg's Lives, returned the compliment by imitating him) and Henselt.
Rachmaninov was born in Semyonovo, near Novgorod in north-western Russia, into a noble family of Tatar descent, who had been in the service of the Russian tsars since the 16th century. His parents were both amateur pianists, and he had his first piano lessons with his mother on their family estate at Oneg; however, his parents noticed no outstanding talent in the youngster. Because of financial difficulties, the family moved to Saint Petersburg, where Rachmaninov studied at the Conservatory before moving to Moscow. There, he studied piano under Nikolay Zverev and Alexander Siloti (who was his cousin and a former student of Franz Liszt). He also studied harmony under Anton Arensky, and counterpoint under Sergei Taneyev. It should be noted that, in his younger days, Rachmaninov was found to be quite lazy, failing most of his classes and spending much time skating. It was the strict regime of the Zverev home (a place for many young musicians, including Scriabin) that instilled discipline in the boy.
Already, in his early years, he showed great skill in composition. While still a student, he wrote the one-act opera, Aleko (for which he was awarded a gold medal in composition), his first piano concerto and a set of piano pieces, Morceaux de Fantaisie (Op. 3, 1892), including the popular and famous Prelude in C-sharp minor. (According to Francis Crociata’s liner notes to RCA's 10-CD set of Rachmaninov’s recordings, the composer later became annoyed by the public’s fascination with this piece, composed when he was just 19. He would often tease an expectant audience by asking, “Oh, must I?” or claiming inability to remember anything else.) Rachmaninov confided in Zverev his desire to compose more, requesting a private room where he could compose in silence, but Zverev saw him only as a pianist and severed his links with the boy. After the success of Aleko, however, Zverev welcomed him back as a composer and pianist. His first serious pieces for the piano were composed and performed as a student, at the age of thirteen, during his residence with Zverev. In 1892, at nineteen, he completed his Piano Concerto No. 1 (Op. 1, 1891), which he revised in 1917.
Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 1 (Op. 13, 1896) premiered on 27 March 1897 in one of a long-running series of "Russian Symphony Concerts", but was torn apart by critics. In a particularly vitriolic review by César Cui, it was likened to a depiction of the seven plagues of Egypt and suggested that it would be admired by the "inmates" of a music conservatory in hell. It is often mooted that the criticisms stem from inadequacy of the performance. The conducting of Alexander Glazunov is often remembered as a problem: he liked the piece, but was a weak conductor and starved of rehearsal time. Rachmaninov's wife later suggested that Glazunov may have been drunk and, although this was never intimated by Rachmaninov, it would not seem out of character. The disastrous reception, coupled with his distress over the Eastern Orthodox Church's objection to his marrying his cousin, Natalia Satina, contributed to a period of severe depression.
He wrote little music over the following years, until he began a course of autosuggestive therapy with psychologist Nikolai Dahl, an amateur musician himself. Rachmaninov quickly recovered his confidence. An important result of these sessions was the composition of the Piano Concerto No. 2 (Op. 18, 1900–01), which was dedicated to Dr. Dahl. The piece was very well received at its premiere at which Rachmaninov was soloist, and remains one of his most popular compositions.
Rachmaninov's spirits were further bolstered when, after years of engagement, he was finally allowed to marry Natalia. They were married by an army priest in 1902, and their union lasted until the composer's death. After several successful appearances as a conductor, Rachmaninov was offered a job as conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1904, although political reasons led to his resignation two years later. In 1908, he moved to Italy, and later to Dresden, Germany, while waiting for the political situation in Russia to normalize.
Rachmaninov made his first tour of the United States as a pianist in 1909, an event for which he composed the Piano Concerto No. 3 (Op. 30, 1909). This successful tour made him a popular figure in America.
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, which meant the end of the old Russia, Rachmaninov and his family left for Stockholm in December of 1917, and never returned to the home country afterwards. They settled then in Denmark for a year, and finally started a 10 days voyage from Oslo to New York on November 1, 1918, which marked the beginning of the American period of the composer's life. After Rachmaninov's departure, his music was banned in the Soviet Union for several years. His compositional output slowed, partly because he was required to spend much of his time performing to support his family, but mainly because of homesickness; he felt that, when he left Russia, it was as if he had left behind his inspiration.
The falloff in Rachmaninov's output was dramatic. Between 1892 and 1917 (mainly living in Russia), Rachmaninov wrote 39 compositions with opus numbers. Between 1918 and his death in 1943, mainly living in the U.S., he completed only six.
As the years went on, and he became more and more aware of the fact that he would never again return to his beloved homeland, he was overwhelmed with melancholia. Most people who knew him later in life described him as the saddest man they had ever known. Nevertheless, his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, today one of his best-known works, was written in Switzerland in 1934.
He went on to compose his Symphony No. 3 (Op. 44, 1935–36) and the Symphonic Dances (Op. 45, 1940), his last completed work. He fell ill during a concert tour in late 1942, and was subsequently diagnosed with advanced melanoma.
Rachmaninov and his wife became American citizens on 1 February 1943. His last recital, given on 17 February, 1943 at the University of Tennessee Alumni Gymnasium, prophetically featured Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor which contains the famous funeral march. A statue commemorating Rachmaninov's last concert stands in the World's Fair Park in Knoxville, TN.
Rachmaninov died on March 28, 1943, in Beverly Hills, California, just a few days before his 70th birthday, and was interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. In the final hours of his life, he insisted he could hear music playing somewhere nearby. After being repeatedly assured that was not the case, he said: "Then it is in my head".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff
Prelude in D Op.23 No.4
Sergei Rachmaninoff Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Sergei Rachmaninoff:
nocturne ор.15 no. 2 in f sharp major Luôn bên em là tôi Lâu nay không chút thay đổi Thế…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@pmwkiy6879
I am so full of joy to hear you say that it makes you cry. I thought I was the only one, and unique for it. It makes me feel as though I am/ was in love, have been gilted and now abandoned. It makes me very sad and my heart aches to be loved again. I could fall in love with anyone who could play Rachmaninov's piano concerti and piano solos. There are many superb pianists. He (Rachmaninov) makes me feel as though I've had the mightiest love-affair with the God himself. Rachmaninov is the only one who who could stir my every fibre, strum my heart and who could win my soul everytime.
There are several composers in joint second place: Bortkiewicz, Scriabin, Kapustin, Chopin, Liszt... including Aram Katchachurian for his (haunting) piano concerto.
To all the guys drooling over specific preludes, take some time out and listen to all his piano solos an his four piano concertos. You would experience being in a love-sick mood.
I've spent thousands of hours, if not at home, on the beaches of Honolulu, Hawaii and wherever I travelled, crying my eyes out. No, I wasn't wailing. The tears just rolled off involuntarily. That would explain why I was a mere 7.5 stone then.
Kapustin, Scriabin and another God, Sergei Bortkiewicz had a similar effect on my emotions, and control over my tear ducts.
When I see many of the pianists contorting their faces when they play the piano, purporting to be in concordance/ in tune (pardon the pun) with the composer's feelings and their emotions, there is just one word to describe it - FAKERY. You have some as young as five years old mimicking the older pianist. It's all fakery, I don't believe it whatsoever from any of them.
I've just explained how emotional I get listening to music, but when I play the same pieces on the piano, I am almost expressionless. I've learned to suppress the tears when I read the score.
I think we should make it compulsory that they wear brown-paper bags over their heads at piano recitals. I cannot stand their pretences.
I'd love to do a scientific study on these emotionally-demonstrative pianists. Record the same pianist playing the same pieces of music as many times as possible at different concerts, then compare their facial expression at the same specific points, we'll soon expose them. Are they Consistent? Compare and contrast with other pianist, are the different expressions by all the pianists dentical? I'll bet not.
I LOVE RACHMANINOV, he must have been the most romantic man on the planet. Lucky the girl he wooed.
@kylelandry
I'm still in deep love with this piece. What a piece of art.
@1anya7d
+kylelandry :D can you make a improvisation on this theme?
@pianogal802
+LanYarD I love kylelandry just as much as you but no improv necessary here. It's already perfect.
@sadudas11
Dude what? Hello Kyle Landry
@aydenbrody4258
You probably dont give a damn but does anyone know a trick to get back into an Instagram account..?
I somehow lost the account password. I appreciate any help you can give me!
@augustjerry3652
@Ayden Brody Instablaster =)
@Galaxzier
I love how even Rachmaninoff's pieces that are in major sounds sad
@L1102
Actually that is not unusual. If i think of the chopin nocturnes in major or the brahms intermezzi, i find most or all of them have a very bittersweet and melancholic character.
@banana9494
Some do, but think of the second prelude from this set, among other pieces? that doesnt feel sad to me
@TekArhythm
mozart.