Sergei Rachmaninov (whose work and biography are studied in all musical educational institutions not only our country, but also the world) is a great Russian composer, as well as a pianist and conductor. He is the author of a huge number of works of various genres - from sketches to operas. S. Rachmaninov's music is imbued with romance, energy, lyricism and freedom.

Briefly about the composer

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov, biography, whose photos are presented in this article, was an outstanding composer. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky himself, when he first heard the conservatory student S. Rachmaninov, predicted a great future for him. The composer had an unusually excellent ear and excellent musical memory. The first opera written by S. Rachmaninov, “Aleko,” was staged at the Bolshoi Theater when the author was only 20 years old. Since 1894 S.V. Rachmaninov began his teaching career. During the years of the Revolution, he emigrated from the country and lived the rest of his life abroad, where he was very homesick, but he was not destined to return.

Childhood and youth

The biography of Rachmaninov is interesting starting from his childhood. The composer was born on April 1, 1873. The place of birth has not been precisely established. But Sergei Vasilyevich spent his entire childhood on an estate called Oneg near Novgorod, which belonged to his mother. Although in some sources you can find the statement that he was born in Starorussky district, in the Semyonovo estate. Sergei Vasilievich was not only child in family. In total, his parents had six children. He had two brothers - Arkady and Vladimir, and three sisters - Varvara, Sofia and Elena. S. Rachmaninov studied music from the age of 5.

Biography of Rachmaninov S.V. associated with such names as V.V. Demyansky, Nikolai Zverev and S.I. Taneev. These are three great teachers from whom Sergei Vasilievich studied. The composer began receiving higher musical education in St. Petersburg. But after 3 years of study he moved to Moscow. Then he studied at the capital's conservatory in two departments: composition and piano. Sergei Vasilievich graduated from the Conservatory with a gold medal. S. Rachmaninov began giving concerts during his student years. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky attended Sergei Vasilyevich’s exam and gave him an A with three pluses.

Composer's parents

Composer Sergei Rachmaninov was born into a family of a military man and a pianist. The biography of his mother Lyubov Butakova is not very well known. She was the daughter of a general. Born in 1853, died in 1929. She graduated from the conservatory in piano. Her teacher was Anton Rubinstein. She had a rich dowry - five estates with large plots of land. One estate was a family estate, the rest were received by her father as a reward for his service.

The biography of Vasily Arkadyevich Rachmaninov, the father of the great composer, is connected with the army and music. He was born in 1841 and died at the age of 75. He was an officer, a hussar, and was musically gifted. He entered service at the age of 16 with the rank of non-commissioned officer. A year later he became a cadet, and a year later - an ensign. Then he held the ranks: second lieutenant, cornet, senior adjutant, staff captain, lieutenant. He resigned several times for family reasons and returned to the military.

He was finally dismissed from service for health reasons in 1872. After which he was appointed as a mediator of land delimitation in several districts of the Novgorod province. Over the years military service was awarded: a cross for the conquest of the Caucasus, a Silver medal for the conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan, a medal for the pacification of the Polish rebellion and a silver medal for the conquest of the Western Caucasus.

Sergei Vasilyevich's wife

Biography of Rachmaninov S.V. would not be entirely complete without a story about his beloved wife. Changes occurred in the composer's personal life in 1902. He spent almost all of his teenage years with his future wife Natalya Satina; they were very friendly. The composer dedicated his famous romance “Don’t sing, beauty, in front of me” to her.

On April 29, 1902, the wedding of a couple in love took place in a small church on the outskirts of Moscow, after which the newlyweds immediately left for the station and went on a trip. They returned to Russia only a few months later.

Soon they were born eldest daughter Irina. Sergei and Natalya were relatives - cousins. At that time, it was forbidden for close relatives to marry; for this it was necessary to obtain permission from the emperor himself, and he gave such permission only in particularly exceptional cases. Sergei Rachmaninov submitted a petition to the Tsar, but the lovers got married without waiting for an answer from him. Everything worked out fine. A few years later their second daughter was born.

Descendants of the great composer

Sergei Rachmaninov was a loving father. The biography of his descendants is also connected with music. The composer had two wonderful daughters who loved their father very much and cherished his memory. Irina studied in the USA and was fluent in two languages ​​- English and French. She lived in Paris for a long time. She was the wife of Prince P. Volkonsky. The marriage lasted only 1 year, the husband died, although he was only 28 years old. Second daughter of S.V. Rachmaninova, Tatyana, also studied in America. In the 30s of the 20th century she moved to Paris. Her husband was Boris Konyus, the son of a violinist, composer and teacher, who studied at the conservatory on the same course as her father, S. Rachmaninov.

Alexander Rachmaninov-Konyus is the son of the composer’s daughter Tatyana. He is the only grandson of Sergei Vasilyevich. He inherited his grandfather's letters, his archive and autographs. Alexander was involved in organizing competitions named after his great grandfather, and also held celebrations dedicated to S.V. Rachmaninov in Switzerland.

The most famous opuses

Sergei Rachmaninov wrote a huge number of works. The biography and work of this great Russian composer are significant for our country. He left a huge legacy for posterity.

Works by Sergei Rachmaninov:

• Operas: " Stingy Knight", "Francesca da Rimini", "Aleko".
• Sonata for cello and piano.
• Concertos for piano and orchestra.
• Vocalise for voice accompanied by piano (dedication to the opera soloist A. Nezhdanova).
• Symphonies.
• Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
• Poems: “Island of the Dead”, “Bells” and “Prince Rostislav”.
• Suite "Symphonic Dances".
• Cantata "Spring".
• Fantasy "Cliff".
• Fantasy pieces for piano.
• Sonatas for piano.
• Capriccio on gypsy themes.
• Pieces for cello and piano.
• Works for a-capella choir: “All-Night Vigil” and “Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.”
• Russian songs for choir and orchestra.
• Pieces for piano 4 hands.

As well as a large number of romances, preludes, Russian songs, etudes and much more.

Conducting activities

The composer Rachmaninov, whose biography is not limited only to performing and composing activities, began conducting in 1897. He served as conductor at the opera house of the famous philanthropist Savva Mamontov. Here Sergei Vasilyevich met Fyodor Chaliapin, with whom he was on friendly terms all his life. In 1898, Sergei Rachmaninov was on tour in Crimea with the opera house, where he met Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. A year later, conductor S. Rachmaninov went on tour abroad for the first time - to England.

Emigration

During the revolution of 1917, Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov went on tour abroad. The composer never returned to Russia. The family first settled in Denmark, and a year later moved to America. Sergei Vasilyevich lived there until his death. He was very homesick and dreamed of returning. For a long time, living in exile, he did not write new works. Only 10 years later the muse visited him again, he continued his work as a composer, but performed extremely rarely as a conductor. Most of the works written by Sergei Vasilyevich abroad are imbued with longing for his native country. In America, S. Rachmaninov was a huge success. The composer died on March 28, 1943. Buried near New York.

This article gives full biography Rachmaninov - from childhood to last days life.

S. Rachmaninov was a passionate, honest person, demanding of others and himself. Biography, Interesting Facts from which this evidences, was considered by us in this article. But few people know that:

• as a child, Sergei Vasilyevich loved to visit monasteries with his grandmother and listen to the ringing of bells;
• the composer's grandfather was an amateur pianist, took lessons from John Field, wrote music, and several of his works were published;
• at the age of 4, Sergei Vasilyevich already knew how to play four hands in a duet with his grandfather;
• the composer's first love was Vera Skalon, she also fell in love with the young S. Rachmaninoff, he dedicated the romance “In the Silence of the Secret Night” and several other works to her, wrote touching letters to her;
• Sergei Vasilievich was very punctual;
• when the composer was angry, his face became scary;
• S. Rachmaninov had a very quiet voice;
• the composer did not like to be photographed;
• preferred Russian cuisine;
• S. Rachmaninov's favorite pastimes are horse riding, skating, swimming, cars and motor boats, agriculture.

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov - composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor. He synthesized in his work the principles of the St. Petersburg and Moscow schools of composition (as well as the traditions of Western European music) and created his own original style, which subsequently influenced both Russian and world music of the 20th century.

The creative image of Rachmaninoff the composer is often defined by the words “the most Russian composer.” This brief and incomplete description expresses both the objective qualities of Rachmaninov’s style and the place of his heritage in the historical perspective of world music. It was Rachmaninov’s work that acted as the synthesizing denominator that united and fused the creative principles of the Moscow (P. Tchaikovsky) and St. Petersburg schools into a single and integral Russian style. The theme “Russia and its destiny”, general for Russian art of all types and genres, found an exceptionally characteristic and complete embodiment in Rachmaninov’s work. In this regard, Rachmaninov was both a successor to the tradition of the operas of Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, and a connecting link in the continuous chain of national tradition (this theme was continued in the works of S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich, G. Sviridov, A. Schnittke and etc.). The special role of Rachmaninov in the development of the national tradition is explained by the historical position of Rachmaninov’s work - a contemporary of the Russian revolution: it was the revolution, reflected in Russian art as a “catastrophe”, “end of the world”, that has always been the semantic dominant of the theme “Russia and its fate” (see N. Berdyaev, “The origins and meaning of Russian communism”).

Rachmaninov's work chronologically belongs to that period of Russian art, which is commonly called the “Silver Age”. The main creative method of art of this period was symbolism, the features of which were clearly manifested in the work of Rachmaninov. Rachmaninov's works are full of complex symbolism, expressed through symbolic motifs, the main one of which is the motif of the medieval chorale Dies Irae. This motif symbolizes Rachmaninov’s premonition of a catastrophe, “the end of the world,” “retribution.”

Christian motives are very important in Rachmaninov’s work: being a deeply religious person, Rachmaninov not only made outstanding contribution in the development of Russian sacred music (Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, 1910, Vespers, 1916), but also embodied Christian ideas and symbolism in his other works.

22. P. Tchaikovsky: overview of the main genres, style features. Ballet reform of P.Tchaikovsky-M.Petipa).

Tchaikovsky wrote many works for children and about children. This is a “Children's Album” (24 pieces for piano). There are also scenes from children’s lives (“Game of Horses”, trilogy: “The Doll’s Illness”, “The Doll’s Funeral”, “ New doll"), and pictures of nature ("Winter Morning", "Song of the Lark"), and melodies different nations(“Italian song”, “Old French song”, “German song”, “Neapolitan song”, “Russian song”). Deep penetration into child psychology, into the realm of children's fantasy contributed to the creation of simple, bright plays. Tchaikovsky's "Children's Album" had a great influence on the composition of works for children by Russian and Soviet composers.

The composer wrote “Sixteen Songs for Degei” based on poems by A. Pleshcheev, K. Aksakov and other poets. The most famous songs from this cycle are “My Kindergarten”, “Cuckoo”, “My Lizochek”. The young musicians’ repertoire has also firmly included 12 plays, united in the “Seasons” cycle.

All these plays are marked by the characteristic features of Tchaikovsky's work - beautiful, vivid imagery, sincerity of expression. Many, even inexperienced listeners, well understand the thoughtful and melodious melodies heard in the plays from this cycle - “On Troika”, “Barcarolle”, the sad “Autumn Song”, the cheerful animation of “Maslenitsa” - pictures of Russian life. The visual is inextricably fused with the lyrical here, and the entire cycle is the pages of the life of nature and people drawn by the composer.

Opera occupies a large place in Tchaikovsky's work. The composer believed that opera “should be the most accessible music of all types of music...” Tchaikovsky’s operas harmoniously combine the disclosure of the complex inner world of the characters, their emotional experiences with the drama of the action. This is inherent in all the composer’s operas: “Eugene Onegin”, “The Queen of Spades”, “The Enchantress”, “Mazepa”, “Iolanta”, etc. The wonderful world of fairy tales is embodied in ballets ""(1876), "The Sleeping Beauty" (1889; based on the fairy tale by C. Perrault) and "The Nutcracker" (1892; based on the fairy tale by Hoffmann). And although the ballets were written at different stages of the composer’s creative path and do not resemble each other (in “Swan Lake” the dramatic sphere predominates, in “Sleeping Beauty” - epic, in “The Nutcracker” - characteristic), but they are all deeply lyrical and in all A common theme for Tchaikovsky is a person’s desire for happiness, overcoming obstacles in a tense struggle. Tchaikovsky's ballets, created in collaboration with choreographers L. Ivanov and M. Petipa, resolved the main problem ballet theater

- the relationship between music and dance. They opened the era of symphonic ballet. Therefore, Tchaikovsky, a great symphonist and opera composer, entered the history of music as a reformer of the ballet genre. His ballet music, which combines features of other genres, consistently uses symphonic methods of development.

The most important feature of Tchaikovsky's work is the strongly national character of his music.

Naturally and organically “live” in the finales of the Second (1872) and Fourth (1877) symphonies, the Ukrainian song “Crane” and the Russian “Birch Tree Stood in the Field”.

“Vanya was sitting on the sofa” is sung simply and touchingly in the slow movement of the First String Quartet.

Tchaikovsky knew and loved his homeland. While still living in Votkinsk, where he was born, the future composer listened to folk singing. Later he often visited Ukraine; his sister Alexandra Ilyinichna was married to L.V. Davydov, the son of the famous Decembrist. Tchaikovsky lived for a long time with his relatives in Kamenka. during the author's lifetime. In many countries, the composer acted as a promoter of Russian music and conducted his compositions. He visited the Czech Republic, Germany, France, and Italy more than once. In 1891, Tchaikovsky traveled to America, and in 1893, to England, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge. But abroad he missed Russia. From the mid-1880s, Tchaikovsky lived near Moscow, and later on the outskirts of the then small town of Klin. His last home has been preserved intact; here is the House-Museum of P. I. Tchaikovsky.

But Tchaikovsky knew not only the nature of Russia. He also knew the unjust structure of Russian society.

A student of the St. Petersburg School of Law, at the age of 19 he became an assistant to the head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Justice. During three years of service, about 20 cases of peasants passed through the hands of the young lawyer, which mainly contained requests for intercession against the cruelty of landowners.

And it is no coincidence that when, having left the service, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, one of his first independent works was the overture “The Thunderstorm” based on the drama by A. N. Ostrovsky. He understood “service to society” seriously and in many ways. After graduating from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1866, he began working in Moscow: a conservatory was also opened here, and Tchaikovsky became one of its first teachers. Responding to the needs of domestic music education, he created the first Russian textbook on harmony. In the late 60s and early 70s, Tchaikovsky actively collaborated as a music critic in the Russian Vedomosti newspaper. In his articles, he fought against blind admiration for Italian opera, defending Russian musical creativity. Tchaikovsky ardently defended education, the interests of the broad masses in the field of national art, and deep confidence in the creative forces of Russia.

And later, already being a famous composer, becoming one of the directors of the Russian musical society symphony in the second part, through the bizarre images of the third scherzo, through overcoming evil, “fate”, the composer leads us to the grand finale - “a picture of festive fun”, to the affirmation of the objective value of the world. This concept is close to the main idea of ​​Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. In many ways, Tchaikovsky acted as the heir to Beethoven's symphony.

V. I. Lenin loved Tchaikovsky’s music. Thus, in a letter to his mother dated February 4, 1903, he wrote about the Sixth (“Pathetique”) Symphony: “We recently attended a good concert for the first time this winter and were very pleased - especially with Tchaikovsky’s last symphony (Symphony pathetique).”

And I had a native land;
He's wonderful!
A. Pleshcheev (from G. Heine)

Rachmaninov was created from steel and gold;
Steel is in his hands, gold is in his heart.
I. Hoffman

“I am a Russian composer, and my homeland has left its mark on my character and my views.” These words belong to S. Rachmaninov - the great composer, a brilliant pianist and the conductor. All the most important events of Russian social and artistic life reflected in his creative destiny, leaving an indelible mark. The formation and flowering of Rachmaninov’s creativity occurred in the 1890-1900s, when the most complex processes were taking place in Russian culture, the spiritual pulse beat feverishly and nervously. Rachmaninov's acutely lyrical sense of the era was invariably associated with the image of his beloved Motherland, with the infinity of its wide distances, the power and wild prowess of its elemental forces, and the tender fragility of the blossoming spring nature.

Rachmaninov's talent manifested itself early and brightly, although until the age of twelve he did not show any particular zeal for systematic music studies. He began learning to play the piano at the age of 4, in 1882 he was admitted to the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where, left to his own devices, he was fairly idle, and in 1885 he was transferred to the Moscow Conservatory. Here Rachmaninov studied piano with N. Zverev, then A. Ziloti; in theoretical subjects and composition - from S. Taneyev and A. Arensky. Living in a boarding house with Zverev (1885-89), he went through a harsh but very reasonable school of labor discipline, which turned him from a desperate lazy person and naughty person into an exceptionally collected and strong-willed person. “I owe the best that is in me to him,” Rachmaninov later said about Zverev. At the conservatory, Rachmaninov was strongly influenced by the personality of P. Tchaikovsky, who, in turn, followed the development of his favorite Seryozha and after graduating from the conservatory, he helped stage the opera “Aleko” at the Bolshoi Theater, knowing from his own sad experience how difficult it is for a beginning musician to make your way.

Rachmaninov graduated from the Conservatory in piano (1891) and composition (1892) with a Grand Gold Medal. By this time, he was already the author of several works, including the famous Prelude in C sharp minor, the romance “In the Silence of the Secret Night”, the First Piano Concerto, the opera “Aleko”, written as a thesis work in just 17 days! The subsequent Fantasy Pieces, op. 3 (1892), Elegiac trio “In Memory of the Great Artist” (1893), Suite for two pianos (1893), Musical Moments op. 16 (1896), romances, symphonic works- “The Cliff” (1893), Capriccio on Gypsy Themes (1894) - confirmed the opinion of Rachmaninov as a strong, deep, original talent. The images and moods characteristic of Rachmaninov appear in these works in a wide range - from the tragic sorrow of the “Musical Moment” in B minor to the hymn apotheosis of the romance “Spring Waters”, from the harsh elemental-volitional pressure of the “Musical Moment” in E minor to the subtle watercolor of the romance “Island” "

Life during these years was difficult. Decisive and powerful in his performance and creativity, Rachmaninov was a vulnerable person by nature and often experienced self-doubt. Material difficulties, everyday unsettlement, and wanderings in strange corners interfered. And although he was supported by people close to him, primarily the Satin family, he felt lonely. The great shock caused by the failure of his First Symphony, performed in St. Petersburg in March 1897, led to a creative crisis. For several years Rachmaninov did not compose anything, but his performing activity as a pianist intensified, and he made his conducting debut at the Moscow Private Opera (1897). During these years, he met L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, artists of the Art Theater, and began a friendship with Fyodor Chaliapin, which Rachmaninov considered one of “the most powerful, deep and subtle artistic experiences.” In 1899, Rachmaninov performed abroad for the first time (in London), and in 1900 he visited Italy, where sketches of the future opera Francesca da Rimini appeared. A joyful event There was a production of the opera “Aleko” in St. Petersburg on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of A. Pushkin with Chaliapin in the role of Aleko. Thus, an internal change was gradually being prepared, and in the early 1900s. there was a return to creativity. The new century began with the Second Piano Concerto, which sounded like a mighty alarm bell. Contemporaries heard in him the voice of Time with its tension, explosiveness, and sense of impending change. Now the concert genre is becoming the leading one; it is in it that the main ideas are embodied with the greatest completeness and comprehensiveness. A new stage begins in Rachmaninov’s life.

His pianistic and conducting activities receive universal recognition in Russia and abroad. For 2 years (1904-06) Rachmaninov worked as a conductor at the Bolshoi Theater, leaving in its history the memory of wonderful productions of Russian operas. In 1907, he took part in Russian historical concerts organized by S. Diaghilev in Paris, and in 1909 he performed for the first time in America, where he played his Third Piano Concerto under the baton of G. Mahler. Intense concert activity in the cities of Russia and abroad was combined with no less intense creativity, and in the music of this decade (in the cantata “Spring” - 1902, in the preludes of Op. 23, in the finales of the Second Symphony and Third Concerto) there is a lot of passionate enthusiasm and inspiration. And in such works as the romances “Lilac”, “”, in the preludes in D major and G major, “the music of the singing forces of nature” sounded with amazing insight.

But during these same years, other moods were also felt. Sorrowful thoughts about the homeland and its future fate, philosophical reflections about life and death give rise to tragic images of the First Piano Sonata, inspired by “Faust” by J. V. Goethe, the symphonic poem “Island of the Dead” based on the painting of the Swiss artist A. Böcklin (1909), many pages of the Third Concerto, romances op. 26. Internal changes became especially noticeable after 1910. If in the Third Concerto the tragedy is eventually overcome and the concert ends with a jubilant apotheosis, then in the works that followed it, it continuously deepens, bringing to life aggressive, hostile images, gloomy, depressed moods. The musical language becomes more complex, and the broad melodic breathing so characteristic of Rachmaninov disappears. Such are the vocal-symphonic poem “Bells” (on Art. E. Poe, translated by K. Balmont - 1913); romances op. 34 (1912) and op. 38 (1916); Sketches-paintings op. 39 (1917). However, it was at this time that Rachmaninov created works filled with high ethical meaning, which became the personification of enduring spiritual beauty, the culmination of Rachmaninov’s melody - “Vocalise” and “All-Night Vigil” for a cappella choir (1915). “Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the magnificent melodies of the Octoechos. I have always felt that their choral treatment requires a special, special style, and, it seems to me, I found it in the Vespers. I can't help but admit it. that the first performance of it by the Moscow Synodal Choir gave me an hour of the happiest pleasure,” Rachmaninov recalled.

On December 24, 1917, Rachmaninov and his family left Russia, as it turned out, forever. He lived for more than a quarter of a century in a foreign land, in the USA, and this period was mainly filled with grueling concert activities subject to cruel laws music business. Rachmaninov used a significant part of his fees for material support of compatriots abroad and in Russia. Thus, the entire fee for the performance in April 1922 was donated to the benefit of the starving people in Russia, and in the fall of 1941, Rachmaninov donated more than four thousand dollars to the Red Army relief fund.

Abroad, Rachmaninov lived a secluded life, limiting his circle of friends to people from Russia. An exception was made only for the family of F. Steinway, the head of the piano company, with whom Rachmaninoff had friendly relations.

During the first years of his stay abroad, Rachmaninov was haunted by thoughts of the loss of creative inspiration. “After leaving Russia, I lost the desire to compose. Having lost my homeland, I lost myself.” Only 8 years after leaving abroad, Rachmaninov returned to creativity, creating the Fourth Piano Concerto (1926), Three Russian Songs for Choir and Orchestra (1926), “” for piano (1931), “” (1934), Third Symphony (1936 ), “Symphonic Dances” (1940). These works are Rachmaninov's last, highest rise. A mournful feeling of irreparable loss, a burning longing for Russia gives rise to art of enormous tragic power, reaching its apogee in the “Symphonic Dances”. And in the brilliant Third Symphony, Rachmaninov embodies for the last time the central theme of his work - the image of the Motherland. The artist’s sternly focused intense thought evokes it from the depths of centuries, it appears as an infinitely dear memory. In the complex interweaving of diverse themes and episodes, a broad perspective emerges, the dramatic epic of the destinies of the Fatherland is recreated, ending with a victorious affirmation of life. Thus, through all his work, Rachmaninov carries the inviolability of his ethical principles, high spirituality, loyalty and inescapable love for the Motherland, the personification of which was his art.

O. Averyanova

Characteristics of creativity

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov, along with Scriabin, is one of the central figures in Russian music of the 1900s. The work of these two composers attracted especially close attention from their contemporaries, they were hotly debated about it, and heated printed discussions ensued around some of their works. Despite all the dissimilarities in the individual appearance and figurative structure of the music of Rachmaninov and Scriabin, their names often appeared side by side in these disputes and were compared with each other. There were purely external reasons for such a comparison: both were students of the Moscow Conservatory, graduated almost simultaneously and studied with the same teachers; both immediately stood out among their peers for the strength and brightness of their talent, receiving recognition not only as highly talented composers, but also as outstanding pianists.

But there was also a lot that separated them and sometimes put them on different flanks musical life. The brave innovator Scriabin, who opened up new musical worlds, was contrasted with Rachmaninov as a more traditionally thinking artist, who relied in his work on the solid foundations of the Russian classical heritage. "G. “Rachmaninov,” wrote one of the critics, “is the pillar around which all the champions of the real direction are grouped, all those who cherish the foundations laid by Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky.”

However, despite all the differences in the positions of Rachmaninov and Scriabin in their contemporary musical reality, they were brought together not only by the general conditions of upbringing and growth of a creative personality in their youth, but also by some deeper features of their community. “A rebellious, restless talent” - this is how Rachmaninov was once described in print. It was this restless impetuosity, the excitement of the emotional tone, characteristic of the work of both composers, that made it especially dear and close to wide circles of Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century with their anxious expectations, aspirations and hopes.

“Scriabin and Rachmaninov are two “masters of musical thoughts” of the modern Russian musical world<...>Now they share hegemony among themselves in the musical world,” admitted L.L. Sabaneev, one of the most zealous apologists of the first and an equally persistent opponent and detractor of the second. Another critic, more moderate in his judgments, wrote in an article devoted to the comparative characteristics of the three most prominent representatives of the Moscow music school Taneyev, Rachmaninov and Scriabin: “If Taneyev’s music seems to shy away from modernity, wants to be just music, then in the work of Rachmaninov and Scriabin one can feel the reverent tone of modern, feverishly intense life. Both are the best hopes of modern Russia.”

For a long time, the dominant view was that of Rachmaninoff as one of the closest heirs and successors of Tchaikovsky. The influence of the author of “The Queen of Spades” undoubtedly played a significant role in the formation and development of his work, which is quite natural for a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, a student of A. S. Arensky and S. I. Taneyev. At the same time, he also adopted some of the features of the “St. Petersburg” school of composers: Tchaikovsky’s excited lyricism is combined in Rachmaninov with the stern epic grandeur of Borodin, Mussorgsky’s deep penetration into the structure of ancient Russian musical thinking and Rimsky-Korsakov’s poetic perception of the native nature. However, everything learned from teachers and predecessors was deeply rethought by the composer, subject to his strong creative will, and acquired a new, completely independent individual character. Rachmaninov's deeply original style has great internal integrity and organicity.

If we look for parallels to it in Russian artistic culture at the turn of the century, then this is, first of all, the Chekhov-Bunin line in literature, the lyrical landscape style of Levitan, Nesterov, Ostroukhov in painting. These parallels have been noted more than once by different authors and have become almost stereotyped. It is known with what ardent love and respect Rachmaninov treated the work and personality of Chekhov. Already in later years life, reading the writer’s letters, he regretted that he had not gotten to know him more closely at one time. The composer was connected with Bunin for many years by mutual sympathy and common artistic views. They were brought together and related by a passionate love for their native Russian nature, for the signs of the already fading simple life in a person’s close proximity to the world around him, a poetic attitude, colored by deep soulful lyricism, a thirst for spiritual emancipation and deliverance from the fetters that constrain the freedom of the human person.

The source of inspiration for Rachmaninov was the various impulses emanating from real life, the beauty of nature, images of literature and painting. “...I find,” he said, “that musical ideas are born in me with greater ease under the influence of certain extra-musical impressions.” But at the same time, Rachmaninov sought not so much to directly reflect certain phenomena of reality through the means of music, to “painting in sounds,” but rather to express his emotional reaction, feelings and experiences arising under the influence of various externally received impressions. In this sense, we can talk about him as one of the most striking and typical representatives of poetic realism of the 900s, the main tendency of which was successfully formulated by V. G. Korolenko: “We do not simply reflect phenomena as they are and do not create an illusion on a whim non-existent world. We create or manifest a new relationship of the human spirit to the world around us that is born in us.”

One of the most characteristic features of Rachmaninov’s music, which attracts attention primarily when getting to know it, is its most expressive melodicism. Among his contemporaries, he stands out for his ability to create widely and long-lasting melodies of great breath, combining the beauty and plasticity of the drawing with bright and intense expression. Melodism and melodiousness are the main quality of Rachmaninov’s style, which largely determines the nature of the composer’s harmonic thinking and the texture of his works, which, as a rule, are saturated with independent voices, either moving to the foreground or disappearing in the thick dense sound fabric.

Rachmaninov created his own very special type of melody, based on a combination of techniques characteristic of Tchaikovsky - intensive dynamic melodic development with the method of variant transformations, carried out more smoothly and calmly. After a rapid takeoff or a long, intense ascent to the top, the melody seems to freeze at the achieved level, invariably returning to one long-sung sound, or slowly, in soaring ledges, returns to its original height. The opposite relationship is also possible, when a more or less long stay in one limited altitude zone is unexpectedly disrupted by the progression of the melody for a wide interval, introducing a touch of acute lyrical expression.

In such an interpenetration of dynamics and statics, L. A. Mazel sees one of the most characteristic features of Rachmaninov’s melodic music. Another researcher gives the correlation of these principles in Rachmaninov’s work more general meaning, pointing to the alternation of moments of “braking” and “breakthrough” underlying many of his works (A similar idea is expressed by V.P. Bobrovsky, noting that “the miracle of Rachmaninov’s individuality lies in the unique, inherent only to him, organic unity of two oppositely directed tendencies and their synthesis” - active aspiration and a tendency to “stay on what has been achieved for a long time.”). His penchant for contemplative lyricism, long-term immersion in any one state of mind, as if the composer wanted to stop fast-flowing time, was combined with enormous energy rushing outward, a thirst for active self-affirmation. Hence the strength and sharpness of contrasts in his music. He strove to bring every feeling, every state of mind to the extreme degree of expression.

In Rachmaninov’s freely unfolding lyrical melodies with their long, continuous breathing, one can often hear something akin to the “inescapable” breadth of Russian drawn-out folk song. At the same time, however, the connection between Rachmaninov’s creativity and folk song was of a very indirect nature. Only in rare, isolated cases did the composer resort to using genuine folk melodies; he did not strive for a direct similarity of his own melodies with folk ones. “In Rachmaninov,” the author of a special work on his melodicism rightly notes, “there is rarely a direct connection with certain genres folk art. The specific genre often seems to dissolve in the general “feeling” of the folk and is not, as was the case with its predecessors, the cementing beginning of the entire process of formation and formation of the musical image.” Attention has already been drawn to such characteristics Rachmaninov's melodics, bringing it closer to Russian folk song, such as smooth movement with a predominance of progressive moves, diatonism, an abundance of Phrygian turns, etc. Deeply and organically assimilated by the composer, these features become an integral property of his individual author's style, acquiring a special, peculiar only to him expressive coloring.

The other side of this style, just as irresistibly impressive as the melodic richness of Rachmaninov’s music, is the unusually energetic, powerfully captivating and at the same time flexible, sometimes whimsical rhythm. Both the composer's contemporaries and later researchers wrote a lot about this specifically Rachmaninoff rhythm, which involuntarily attracts the listener's attention. Often it is the rhythm that determines the main tone of the music. A. V. Ossovsky noted in 1904 regarding the last part of the Second Suite for two pianos that Rachmaninov in it “was not afraid to deepen the rhythmic interest of the Tarantella form to a restless and darkened soul, not alien at times to attacks of some kind of demonism.”

Rhythm appears in Rachmaninov as a carrier of an effective volitional principle, dynamizing the musical fabric and introducing the lyrical “flood of feelings” into the mainstream of a harmonious, architectonically complete whole. B.V. Asafiev, comparing the role of the rhythmic principle in the works of Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, wrote: “However, in the latter, the fundamental nature of his “restless” symphonism was manifested with particular force in the dramatic collision of the themes itself. In Rachmaninov’s music, a very passionate unification in its creative integrity a lyrical-contemplative mindset with a strong-willed organizational mindset of the composer-performing “I” turns out to be that “independent sphere” of personal contemplation, which was controlled by rhythm in the sense of a volitional factor...” Rachmaninov’s rhythmic pattern is always very clearly outlined, regardless of its origin. whether the rhythm is simple, even, like the heavy, measured beats of a large bell, or complex, intricately flowery, the rhythmic ostinato, beloved by the composer, especially in the works of the 1910s, gives the rhythm not only formative, but in some cases also thematic significance.

In the field of harmony, Rachmaninov did not go beyond the classical major-minor system in the form in which it acquired in the works of European romantic composers, Tchaikovsky and representatives of the “Mighty Handful”. His music is always tonally definite and stable, but in using the means of classical-romantic tonal harmony he was characterized by some characteristic features, by which it is not difficult to establish the authorship of one or another composition. Such special individual features of Rachmaninov’s harmonic language include, for example, a certain slowness of functional movement, a tendency to remain in one key for a long time, and sometimes a weakening of gravity. Noteworthy are the abundance of complex multi-tertiary formations, rows of non- and undecimal chords, often having to a greater extent colorful, phonic rather than functional meaning. The connection of this kind of complex consonances is carried out mostly with the help of melodic connection. The dominance of the melodic-song principle in Rachmaninov’s music determines high degree the polyphonic richness of its sound fabric: individual harmonic complexes constantly arise as a result of the free movement of more or less independent “singing” voices.

There is one harmonic turn favored by Rachmaninov, which he uses so often, especially in his compositions early period, which even received the name “Rachmaninoff harmony”. This revolution is based on a reduced introductory seventh chord of a harmonic minor, usually used in the form of a tertiary chord with the replacement of the II degree of the III and resolution into a tonic triad in the melodic position of the third.

As one of the remarkable features of Rachmaninov's music, a number of researchers and observers noted its predominant minor coloring. All four of his piano concertos, three symphonies, both piano sonatas, most of his etudes-paintings and many other works were written in minor key. Even the major often acquires a minor coloring due to lowering alterations, tonal deviations and the widespread use of minor minor steps. But few composers have achieved such a variety of nuances and degrees of expressive concentration in the use of the minor scale. L. E. Gakkel’s remark that in the sketches-paintings op. 39 “given the widest range of minor colors of existence, minor shades of vitality,” can be extended to a significant part of Rachmaninov’s entire work. Critics like Sabaneev, who had a prejudiced and hostile attitude towards Rachmaninov, called him an “intelligent whiner” whose music reflects the “tragic helplessness of a person deprived of willpower.” Meanwhile, Rachmaninov’s thick “dark” minor often sounds courageous, protesting and full of enormous volitional tension. And if the ear catches mournful notes in it, then this is that “noble sorrow” of the patriotic artist, that “muffled groan about his native land” that M. Gorky heard in some of Bunin’s works. Like this writer close to him in spirit, Rachmaninov, in the words of Gorky, “thought about Russia as a whole,” regretting its losses and feeling anxious about the fate of the future.

Rachmaninov's creative image in its main features remained integral and stable throughout the composer's entire half-century career, without experiencing sharp fractures or changes. He remained faithful to the aesthetic and stylistic principles learned in his youth until recent years life. And yet, we can observe a certain evolution in his work, which manifests itself not only in the growth of skill and enrichment of the sound palette, but also partially affects the figurative and expressive structure of the music. Along this path, three large periods, although unequal both in duration and in the degree of their productivity, are clearly outlined. They are separated from each other by more or less long temporary caesuras, periods of doubt, reflection and hesitation, when not a single completed composition came from the composer’s pen. The first period, falling in the 90s years XIX century, can be called a time of creative formation and maturation of talent, moving towards establishing its path through overcoming natural influences at an early age. Works of this period are often not yet sufficiently independent, imperfect in form and texture (Some of them (First Piano Concerto, Elegiac Trio, piano pieces: Melody, Serenade, Humoresque) were later reworked by the composer and their texture was enriched and developed.), although in a number of their pages (the best moments of the youth opera “Aleko”, the Elegiac Trio in memory of P.I. Tchaikovsky, the famous prelude in C sharp minor, some of the musical moments and romances) the composer’s individuality is already revealed with sufficient certainty.

An unexpected pause came in 1897, after an unsuccessful performance of Rachmaninov's First Symphony - a work into which the composer invested a lot of work and spiritual energy, misunderstood by most musicians and almost unanimously condemned in the pages of the press, even ridiculed by some critics. The failure of the symphony caused deep mental trauma for Rachmaninoff; by his own later admission, he “was like a man who had been struck and lost both his head and his arms for a long time.” The three subsequent years were years of almost complete creative silence, but at the same time of concentrated reflection, critical re-evaluation of everything previously done. The result of this intense internal work of the composer on himself was an unusually intense and vibrant creative upsurge at the beginning of the new century.

During the first three or four years of the coming 20th century, Rachmaninov created a number of works of various genres, remarkable in their deep poetry, freshness and spontaneity of inspiration, in which the richness of creative imagination and the originality of the author’s “handwriting” are combined with high, complete craftsmanship. Among them are the Second Piano Concerto, Second Suite for two pianos, sonata for cello and piano, cantata “Spring”, Ten Preludes op. 23, opera "Francesca da Rimini", some of the best examples of Rachmaninov's vocal lyrics ("Lilac", "Excerpt from A. Musset"), This series of works established Rachmaninov's position as one of the most important and interesting Russian composers of our time, bringing him wide recognition recognition in the circles of the artistic intelligentsia and among the masses of listeners.

A relatively short period of time from 1901 to 1917 was the most fruitful in his work: during these decade and a half, most of Rachmaninov’s mature, independent in style works were written, which became an integral property of Russian musical classics. Almost every year brought new opuses, the appearance of which became a notable event in musical life. Despite Rachmaninov's incessant creative activity, his work did not remain unchanged during this period: at the turn of the first two decades, symptoms of an impending shift were noticeable in him. Without losing its general “generic” qualities, it becomes more severe in tone, anxious moods intensify, while the direct outpouring of lyrical feeling seems to be inhibited, light transparent colors appear on the composer’s sound palette less often, the overall coloring of the music becomes darker and thicker. These changes are noticeable in the second series of piano preludes op. 32, two cycles of sketches-paintings and especially such monumental large compositions as “Bells” and “All-Night Vigil”, which raise deep, fundamental questions human existence and human life purpose.

The evolution experienced by Rachmaninov did not escape the attention of his contemporaries. One of the critics wrote about “The Bells”: “It’s as if Rachmaninov began to look for new moods, a new manner of expressing his thoughts... You feel a rebirth here a new style Rachmaninov, which has nothing in common with Tchaikovsky’s style.”

After 1917, a new break in Rachmaninov’s work began, this time much longer than the previous one. Only a whole decade later, the composer returned to composing music, having arranged three Russian folk songs for choir and orchestra and completed the Fourth Piano Concerto, begun on the eve of the First World War. Throughout the 30s, he wrote (not counting several concert transcriptions for piano) only four, although significant in concept, large works.

In an atmosphere of complex, often contradictory quests, an acute, intense struggle of directions, a breakdown of the usual forms of artistic consciousness that characterized the development musical art in the first half of the 20th century, Rachmaninov remained faithful to the great classical traditions of Russian music from Glinka to Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and their closest, direct students and followers Taneyev, Glazunov. But he did not limit himself to the role of the custodian of these traditions, but actively and creatively perceived them, affirming their living, inexhaustible power, ability for further development and enrichment. A sensitive, impressionable artist, Rachmaninov, despite his adherence to the legacy of the classics, did not remain deaf to the calls of modernity. In his attitude to the new stylistic trends of the 20th century, there was a moment of not only confrontation, but also a certain interaction.

Over the course of half a century, Rachmaninov’s work experienced a significant evolution, and works not only of the 1930s, but also of the 1910s differ significantly both in their figurative structure, and in language, means of musical expression from the early, not yet completely independent opuses of the end of the previous one. centuries. In some of them, the composer comes into contact with impressionism, symbolism, and neoclassicism, although he perceives elements of these movements in a deeply unique and individual way. With all the changes and turns, Rachmaninov’s creative image remained internally very integral, preserving those basic, defining features to which his music owes its popularity among a wide range of listeners: passionate, captivating lyricism, truthfulness and sincerity of expression, poetic vision of the world.

Yu. Keldysh

Rachmaninov the conductor

Rachmaninov went down in history not only as a composer and pianist, but also as outstanding conductor of our time, although this side of his activity was not so long and intense.

Rachmaninov's conducting debut took place in the fall of 1897 at the Mamontov Private Opera in Moscow. Before this, he had not had to lead an orchestra or study conducting, but the musician’s genius talent helped Rachmaninov quickly learn the secrets of mastery. Suffice it to remember that he barely managed to complete the first rehearsal: he did not know that the singers needed to indicate the introductions; and a few days later, Rachmaninov already coped with his duties perfectly, conducting the opera “Samson and Delilah” by Saint-Saëns.

“The year of my stay at Mamontov’s opera was of great importance for me,” he wrote. “There I acquired genuine conducting technique, which served me in great service in the future.” During the season of work as the second conductor of the theater, Rachmaninov conducted twenty-five performances of nine operas: “Samson and Delilah”, “Rusalka”, “Carmen”, “Orpheus” by Gluck, “Rogneda” by Serov, “Minion” by Tom, “Askold’s Grave”, “The Enemy” strength", "May Night". The press immediately noted the clarity of his conducting style, naturalness, lack of posing, an iron sense of rhythm transmitted to the performers, subtle taste and a wonderful sense of orchestral colors. With the acquisition of experience, these traits of Rachmaninoff the musician began to manifest themselves in full, complemented by confidence and authority in working with soloists, choir and orchestra.

In the next few years, Rachmaninov, busy with composition and pianistic activity, conducted only occasionally. The heyday of his conducting talent occurred in the period 1904–1915. For two seasons he has been working at the Bolshoi Theater, where his interpretation of Russian operas is particularly successful. Historical events in the life of the theater, critics call the anniversary performance “Ivan Susanin”, which he conducted in honor of the centenary of Glinka’s birth, and the “Tchaikovsky Week”, during which “ Queen of Spades", "Eugene Onegin", "Oprichnik" and ballets.

­ Brief biography of Sergei Rachmaninov

Rachmaninov Sergei Vasilievich - an outstanding Russian composer, conductor and pianist; representative of the St. Petersburg and Moscow composer schools; founder of his original musical style. Born on April 1, 1873 in the Starorussky district of the Novgorod province on a family estate. Sergei's parents came from the nobility, his grandfather was a talented musician. Previously, the future composer spent his childhood on the Oneg estate, which instilled in him a lifelong love for the poetics of Russian nature.

He often heard Russians, visited Novgorod monasteries with his grandmother, so the theme of the homeland was embodied with particular force in his work. In general, his style was characterized by romantic pathos combined with lyrical and contemplative moods. Sergei's passion for music manifested itself very early. At the age of nine he studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. When he moved to Moscow and entered the N. S. Zverev Conservatory, he was lucky enough to meet P. I. Tchaikovsky. The experienced composer quickly noticed in young talent hidden talent and predicted a great future for him.

Rachmaninov, in fact, had perfect hearing and perfect memory. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory with flying colors. At the final exam, he presented the opera “Aleko”, which he wrote in a matter of days. Among him outstanding works symphonic fantasy “The Cliff”, concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra, elegiac trio on the death of Tchaikovsky and many other works. In 1897, he conducted the private opera of Savva Mamontov, and two years later his first foreign tour took place. He was lucky enough to perform with F. Chaliapin.

In 1900, having overcome his creative crisis, he entered a long period of fruitful period. Since 1904, Sergei Vasilyevich worked as a conductor at the Bolshoi Theater. During this period, one-bar operas “The Miserly Knight” and “Francesca da Rimini”, major instrumental opuses and concertos for piano, and a cello sonata were written. From 1906 he performed in Dresden for three winters in a row. His biography also included working periods in Germany, Italy and England, and in 1909 he performed for the first time in the USA. The composer greeted the February Revolution joyfully, but the October events rather put him on guard.

At the end of 1917, he went on tour to Scandinavia, and from there to the United States, and never returned to Russia. Numerous concerts and performances did not leave him time to compose new works, but he successfully interpreted the works of other romantic composers in his own way. In the first 10 years of emigration, he wrote nothing new. Then came the 4th piano concerto, “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”, “Three Russian Songs” for choir and symphony orchestra. The great composer died in March 1943 in the USA.

Classical music

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov was born on April 1, 1873 in the Novgorod province. The first piano lessons and first music lessons began at the age of four and were conducted under the guidance of his mother.

In 1882, the Rachmaninov family moved to St. Petersburg, and the boy was sent to the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of Professor Demyansky. In 1885 the family moved to Moscow. Rachmaninov’s transfer to the Moscow Conservatory was connected with this circumstance. Here he studied under the guidance of N.S. Zverev, and then A.I. Ziloti in the field of piano. A.S. Arensky and S.I. Taneev taught him music theory and compositional technique. Rachmaninov graduated from the Conservatory in 1892 with a gold medal, presenting as an examination paper the one-act opera "Aleko" based on the plot of Pushkin's poem "Gypsies". In the same year, this opera was staged in Moscow on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. The author soon performed with it as a conductor at the Kiev Opera House.

Looking ahead, it is worth saying that Rachmaninov showed himself as an excellent conductor already at the beginning of his creative career. At the beginning of his composing and performing career, the art of conducting attracted him: in 1897-1898 he served as a conductor at a private (“Mamontov”) opera in Moscow, and from 1904 to 1906 he held the same post at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater. Later he almost never performed in this capacity.

In the winter of 1892, Rachmaninov's public performances as a pianist began. And he quickly showed his extraordinary abilities. Already in those years, his playing was distinguished by its brightness, strength, richness and fullness of sound, brilliance and sharpness of rhythm, exciting and attention-grabbing expressiveness and powerfully captivating volitional tension.

Rachmaninoff was first recognized as a talented symphonist by his orchestral fantasy “The Cliff,” written in 1893. Press reviews of the first performance of the fantasy noted the poetry of the mood, the richness and subtlety of the harmony, and the brightness of the orchestral colors. Undoubtedly, Rachmaninov's individual and, moreover, charming composer style is felt already in his first youthful experiences.

An unexpected pause came in 1897, after an unsuccessful performance of Rachmaninov's First Symphony - a work into which the composer invested a lot of work and spiritual energy, misunderstood by most musicians and almost unanimously condemned in the pages of the press, even ridiculed by some critics. The failure of the symphony became a deep mental trauma for Rachmaninoff; by his own later admission, he “was like a man who had been struck and lost both his head and his arms for a long time.” The three subsequent years were years of almost complete creative silence, but at the same time of concentrated reflection, critical re-evaluation of everything previously done. The result of this intense internal work of the composer on himself was an unusually intense and vibrant creative upsurge at the beginning of the new century. During the first three or four years of the 20th century, Rachmaninov created a number of works of various genres, remarkable in their deep poetry, freshness and spontaneity of inspiration, in which the richness of creative imagination and the originality of the author's “handwriting” are combined with high, complete mastery.

Five years separate Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, completed in 1901, from his previous piano piece- Six musical moments. The composer appears in this new work of his as a mature, established master with a pronounced individuality and developed manner of writing. Rachmaninov showed himself in it as a major original artist, “free from all sophistication and at the same time the owner of all means the latest technology".

The concerto, which brought well-deserved success to its author, was rightfully recognized as the best Russian piano concerto after Tchaikovsky's B-flat minor concerto. But, while maintaining continuity with the legacy of Tchaikovsky and other Russian and foreign composers of the 19th century, Rachmaninov’s concerto contains a lot of new things both in its figurative structure and means of musical expression, and in the very interpretation of the genre. One could call it an inspired lyrical-pathetic poem for piano and orchestra. At the same time as the concert, the Second Suite was created; it is not surprising that in some of its moments it echoes the nature of the music, although the task facing the composer in this case was different. This work is another undoubted creative success of Rachmaninov.

A more modest scale symphonic cantata, or vocal-symphonic poem “Spring” (1902), was written to the words of a poem by N.A. Nekrasov "Green Noise". This work turned out to be in tune with those “spring” moods associated with the rise of liberation aspirations and the expectation of imminent changes that gripped wide circles of Russian society in the early 1900s.

The fate of Rachmaninov's two subsequent major works - the operas "The Miserly Knight" and "Francesca da Rimini", which were first shown on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater on the same evening on January 11, 1906, turned out to be more difficult. Met with great interest, they at the same time caused a lot of controversy and disagreement in their assessment.

Both works were in many ways new and unusual from the point of view of the established traditional norms of operatic dramaturgy of the 19th century. Like "Aleko", they are distinguished by their brevity, compressed form, and the absence of a detailed, gradually developing action: all attention is concentrated on a few of its most important moments and the experiences of one or two of the main characters. But if there this was determined by the nature of the task received, then in “The Miserly Knight” and “Francesca” it was the result free choice composer.

The opera "Francesca da Rimini" was Rachmaninov's last. Conceived at the end of 1906, the new opera "Monna Vanna" based on Maeterlinck's play of the same name remained unfinished. Having written its first act, the composer for some reason refused to continue this work and subsequently did not turn to the operatic genre. Perhaps this was facilitated by his departure to Dresden, where Rachmaninov lived for three winters, returning home in the summer, or his rather frequent performances in Europe at that time as a pianist and conductor.

Romances occupy a special place in the composer's work. In them, Rachmaninov appears as a different side of his creative image. The predominant sphere of his chamber vocal work was lyricism, the world of personal feelings and moods. The piano accompaniment in Rachmaninov's romances is also distinguished by its exceptional richness, colorfulness and variety of forms. The most popular ones include “Lilac”, “Don’t sing, beauty”, “Spring waters”, “Sad night”, “Excerpt from Musset”, “I’m lonely again”.

Only ten years after a severe nervous shock associated with the failure of the First Symphony, Rachmaninov again turned to this genre, creating his Second Symphony. This time, both the Moscow and St. Petersburg press unanimously recognized the high artistic merits of the new work. One of the capital’s critics compared the appearance of Rachmaninov’s symphony in significance with the first performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique”, calling Rachmaninov a worthy successor to this great master.

A work of a smaller scale, but interesting and in many ways new for Rachmaninov, was the symphonic painting “Island of the Dead” based on the painting of the same name by A. Böcklin, or, more precisely, created under his impression. In press reviews of the first performance of “Island of the Dead,” it was noted that in the music of this Rachmaninoff composition there is no that frozen peace of non-existence that reigns in Böcklin; rather, one can hear in it the torment, groans and despair of Dante’s hell combined with a passionate thirst for life.

The most important step in creative development Rachmaninov was the creation of the Third Piano Concerto in 1909. Not inferior to its predecessor in freshness of inspiration, melodic richness and beauty of themes, the Third Concerto bears the stamp of greater maturity and concentration of thought. Asafiev believed that it was from the Third Concerto that the final formation of the “titanic style of Rachmaninov’s piano playing” began and that the features of “naively romantic texture” characteristic of the composer’s early works were completely overcome by him.

In the same year, Rachmaninov successfully toured the USA for the first time. From 1909 to 1912 he held the position of inspector of Russian music under the Main Directorate of the Russian Musical Society.

Hands of Sergei Rachmaninoff

In 1910, Rachmaninov turned to sacred music. He writes the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Rachmaninov does not resort to Znamenny and other monophonic chants in his Liturgy Ancient Rus', creating a “free” composition in which he expresses his understanding of the meaning of the liturgical action, his personal attitude to liturgical texts. The composer strives to create highly artistic church music, which, without violating the reverent simplicity and severity of the liturgical rite, would at the same time have independent aesthetic value.

Vocal-symphonic poem "Bells" based on poems by Edgar Allan Poe in the Russian translation by K.D. Balmonta, written at the time of Rachmaninov’s high creative maturity in 1913, in terms of the significance of its concept and the skill of its implementation, belongs to the most outstanding examples of Russian music on the eve of the First World War. The intensely expressive, restless nature of the music of “The Bells” is due to the premonition of impending tragic changes. Presented in four parts life path a person from his youth full of hopes and expectations to his sad death. The ringing of bells, sometimes sounding bright and joyful, sometimes alarming and ominous, like a menacing warning, sometimes dull and gloomy, symbolizes the different stages of this path.

A similar mood permeates next piece composer - "All Night Vigil". “The most significant creation of Rachmaninov is the amazing music of his “Vespers” for choir without instrumental accompaniment,” Asafiev believed. “At the same time, “Vespers” at the same time turns out to be the highest achieved creative experience, where the composer, as if under the influence of a spiritual revelation, sweeps aside everything accidental, superficial, petty and comes into contact with the depth of folk and ancient religious consciousness. The melodiousness or song fluidity is manifested in every moment of the sounds of the “Vespers”, creates an intense, vividly tangible presence of a life stream, flowing infinitely and in a generous single bright impulse merging (reprocessing) every personal passion, grief, confusion into a holistic, unifying flow."

The October Revolution found Rachmaninov reworking his First Concerto. Many then believed that the revolution in Russia was temporary. Rachmaninov thought that this was the end old Russia and that, as an artist, he has no choice but to leave his homeland. He believed that life without art was pointless for him. I was afraid that in the current breakdown, art as such could not exist and that all artistic activity would cease in Russia for many years. Therefore, he took advantage of an offer that came unexpectedly from Sweden to perform in a concert in Stockholm. At the end of 1917, he, along with his wife Natalya Alexandrovna and children, left Russia.

First he goes to Paris, then moves to Switzerland. Since 1935, the composer has lived in the USA. A new break in Rachmaninov’s work begins, this time much longer than the previous one. Only a whole decade later, the composer returned to composing music, having arranged three Russian folk songs for choir and orchestra and completed the Fourth Piano Concerto, begun on the eve of the First World War.

Rachmaninov was painfully homesick, constantly thinking about whether he had made a mistake by leaving his homeland. He was avidly interested in everything that came from the Soviet Union, and his interest in his renewed homeland was sincere and deep. He read books, newspapers and magazines that came from the USSR, collected Soviet records. He especially loved listening to Russian songs performed by the wonderful Red Banner ensemble.

Perhaps all this served as the impetus for the gradual revival of the work of Sergei Vasilyevich, who in the 1930s created such wonderful works as “Symphonic Dances”, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and especially the Third Symphony.

The summer of 1934 brought the composer long-awaited creative success. In just seven weeks, Rachmaninov created one of his most brilliant works - Rhapsody for piano and orchestra on the theme of a violin piece by Niccolo Paganini.

The Third Symphony, completed in 1936, summarizes Rachmaninoff's best qualities. She is, without any doubt, a major phenomenon in the evolution of national Russian symphonism. The symphony, inspired by lyrics and hymns of delight and love, is addressed to the great homeland of the composer - Russia.