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MOS Composer of the Month: Previous Page, Next Page, Index |
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Composer of the Month - February, 2004 Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1873-1943
The discipline of Zverev's training and excellent stylistic examples were the turning point in Rachmaninoff's education. At the age of 19, he published his C# Minor Prelude, which earned him great fame but little financial gain, due to poor management of copyrights. Spurred by the recognition this piece brought him, he began to compose at a furious rate, including Trio Elegiac #2, written in response to Tchaikovsky's death in 1893. In 1897, he produced Symphony No. 1, which was a dismal failure due to the poor performance of the conductor at its premiere. This failure drove him into such a deep depression that he produced nothing for three years. He emerged from this depression in 1901 only after a series of hypnotic treatments. The first product after these treatments was the Second Piano Concerto, considered by many critics today to be the best composition of his career. Rachmaninoff dedicated it to Dr. Nikolai Dahl, who had given him the hypnotic treatments. The period from 1901 to 1917 was Rachmaninoff's most productive, resulting in 22 of his 45 opuses. Concerned about his future in the face of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Rachmaninoff left Russia. He visited America frequently, gradually making it his home base, and moved there permanently in 1936. He died in Beverly Hills, CA, just five months after becoming an American citizen. The Russian Orthodox worship tradition, with its sense of mystery and awe, provided the spiritual context for Rachmaninoff's sacred choral compositions; his admiration of Tchaikovsky supplied the musicological background. After composing The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Rachmaninoff was ready to produce the Great Liturgy of the Morning and Evening, which he composed in a two-week period in 1915. Even though it renders only part of the meaning of the Russian title, Vespers is the commonly used translation. In this work, Rachmaninoff captures the soul of the Orthodox faith and liturgy. He considered this his magnum opus of sacred music, wanting the fifth hymn sung at his own funeral (to no avail: it was not part of the official liturgy for the dead). He also reused portions of the ninth chant in his final opus, Symphonic Dances. The Michael O'Neal Singers hope that our audience learns to love this composition as we do and as the composer himself did. For further reading on Sergei Rachmaninoff: Click here for more information about the MOS Composer of the Month feature . |
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