Date/Place of Birth:

2 April, 1873 in Novgorod, Russia.

Personality:

A tall, grim, serious man with rather Mongalian features and the haircut of a convict. He was uncommunicative and open only to a very few close friends. As a student, he was stubborn and dared to contradict his teachers. Rachmaninoff always avoided publicity and interviewers. In other words, he never felt comfortable expressing himself in English, and with strangers, or when he saw public, he usually felt physically ill. And yet he spoke slowly and notably stingy with words. When he was feeling well and speaking Russian, his close friends found him warm, witty, active with high spirit and even had a good sense of humour. However, he was generally looked stern and very seldom smiled in public. Stravinsky once characterized him as a "six-and-a-half-foot-scowl".

Piano-Playing Style:

Unquestionably, Rachmaninoff was one of the greatest piano virtuoso in 20th Century. There was a rumour that his hands could stretch out in an interval of 13th (eg. notes C-A)! With his king-sized hands, technical difficulty was certainly not troubled him at all. That was why his piano works were so difficult and impractical for those with small hands. Although his playing was critized as monotonous and very straightforward, his playing was very precise, strong and logical. He always emphasized on the clarity of the music no matter how fast it was to be played. Prokofiev once remarked on Rachmaninoff's playing,"With Rachmaninoff, all its notes stood firmly and clearly on the ground," His performance of his own piano works was uncomparable. Rachmaninoff had even made recordings of some of his piano works. If you find one in music store, buy it!!

Music:

It is a fact that Rachmaninoff's music is very popular nowadays and stubbornly refuses to go away especially his piano works and orchestral works are so frequently performed by world-renowned musicians. Rachmaninoff's music was romantic and contained wide expression of feelings:- exciting (eg. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini); beautiful (eg. his song "Vocalise"); dramatic (eg. Piano Sonata no 2); serious-minded (eg. Prelude in C# minor); delightful (eg. Humoresque and Polichinelle for piano) etc. In addition, a melancholy touch of his music was never absent in his music - particularly his ever-popular Piano Concerto no 2. In conclusion, Rachmaninoff's music was so lyrical, melodious and expressive that showed - how individual he was, how well he expressed himself in music, and how strong his ideas were.

Composing Habit:

Rachmaninoff never contributed to 20th Century form or harmony like twelve-tone or serial music. But he applied the old forms with something highly personal; and his compositions occasionally showed influence from Tchaikovsky, especially his opera Aleko. This evidently showed that his works like symphonies, piano concertos, preludes etc. were all within the traditional framework but with a strong Russia quality and individual style. Rachmaninoff was a very emotional composer. When his first symphony received a lukewarm response, he lost confidence and could not complete his second piano concerto anymore. Fortunately, his mental illness was successfully cured by a psychiatric expert, Dr. Nikolai Dahl by saying hypnoticly,"You will write your Concerto...You will work with great facility...The Concerto will be of excellent quality." As a result, his Piano Concerto no 2 was completed in 1901. Since then, more masterpieces produced.

Rachmaninoff's   Quote:

"I felt like a man who had suffered a stroke and had lost the use of his head and hands," Rachmaninoff who wrote nothing for almost three years since the failure of his first symphony

Rachmaninoff's   Death:

In final years, Rachmaninoff ceased to perform in public due to his recurring health problems. In February of 1943, his recital in Knoxville, Tennessee was the last time he played. The great musician died of cancer on 21 March, 1943 in California after he became a citizen of the United States recently.