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{{Short description|Russian composer, pianist and conductor (1873–1943)}}
{{Redirect|Rachmaninoff}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox classical composer
| name          = Sergei Rachmaninoff
| image         = Sergei Rachmaninoff cph.3a40575.jpg
| caption       = Rachmaninoff in 1921
| alt           = A black-and-white photograph of Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1921
| birth_date    = {{OldStyleDate|1 April|1873|20 March}}
| birth_place   =  Semyonovo, [[Staraya Russa]], Russian Empire
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1943|3|28|1873|4|1|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Beverly Hills, California]], U.S.
| signature     = Rachmaninoff signature 1899 (transparent).png
| works         = [[List of compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff|List of compositions]]
}}

'''Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff'''{{efn|{{family name explanation|Vasilievich|Rachmaninoff|lang=Eastern Slavic}} ''Sergei Rachmaninoff'' was the spelling he used while living in the United States from 1918 until his death. The [[Library of Congress]] standardised this usage.<ref name=LOC>{{cite web |url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50054908.html|title=Name Authority File for Rachmaninoff, Sergei, 1873–1943|publisher=U.S. Library of Congress|date=21 November 1980|access-date=2 April 2016}}</ref> His name is also commonly spelled ''Rachmaninov'' or ''Rakhmaninov''.}}{{efn|{{IPAc-en|UK|r|æ|x|ˈ|m|æ|n|ɪ|n|ɒ|f}} {{respell|rakh|MAN|in|off}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/rachmaninoff|title=Rachmaninoff|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=14 June 2021}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|US|r|ɑː|x|ˈ|m|ɑː|n|ɪ|n|ɔː|f|,_|-|n|ɒ|f}} {{respell|rahkh|MAH|nin|awf|,_-|off}};<ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/rachmaninoff "Rachmaninoff"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{lang-rus|Сергей Васильевич Рахманинов|Sergey Vasilyevich Rakhmaninov|sʲɪrˈɡʲej vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ rɐxˈmanʲɪnəf|links=y}}; {{lang|ru|Сергѣй Васильевичъ Рахманиновъ}} in Russian pre-revolutionary script.}} ({{OldStyleDate|1 April|1873|20 March}}{{spaced ndash}}28 March 1943) was a Russian [[composer]], [[virtuoso]] [[pianist]], and [[Conducting|conductor]]. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of [[Romantic music|Romanticism]] in [[Russian classical music]]. Early influences of [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]], [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov|Rimsky-Korsakov]], and other Russian composers gave way to a thoroughly personal idiom notable for its song-like [[melody|melodicism]], [[Music#Expression|expressiveness]], dense [[Counterpoint|contrapuntal]] textures, and rich [[Orchestration|orchestral]] colours.{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/707/mode/2up 707]}} The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output and he used his skills as a performer to fully explore the expressive and technical possibilities of the instrument.

Born into a musical family, Rachmaninoff began learning the [[piano]] at the age of four. He studied piano and composition at the [[Moscow Conservatory]], from which he graduated in 1892, having already written several compositions. In 1897, following the disastrous premiere of his [[Symphony No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|Symphony No. 1]], Rachmaninoff entered a four-year depression and composed little, until supportive therapy allowed him to complete his well-received [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto No. 2]] in 1901. Rachmaninoff went on to become conductor of the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] from 1904 to 1906, and relocated to [[Dresden]], Germany, in 1906. He later embarked upon his first tour of the United States as a concert pianist in 1909.

After the [[Russian Revolution]], Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia permanently, settling in New York in 1918. Following this, he spent most of his time touring as a pianist in the US and Europe, from 1932 onwards spending his summers at [[Villa Senar|his villa]] in Switzerland. During this time, Rachmaninoff's primary occupation was performing, and his compositional output decreased significantly, completing just six works after leaving Russia. By 1942, his declining health led him to move to [[Beverly Hills]], California, where he died from [[melanoma]] in 1943.
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== Life and career ==

=== 1873–1885: Ancestry and early years ===
[[File:Rach10.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Rachmaninoff at age 10 in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia]]

Rachmaninoff was born on {{OldStyleDate|1 April|1873|20 March}} into a family of [[Russian aristocracy]] in the [[Russian Empire]].{{efn|While the Library of Congress lists Rachmaninoff's birthdate as 1 April,<ref name=LOC /> his birthdate is listed as {{OldStyleDate|2 April|1873|21 March}} on his [[:File:Grave_of_Sergei_Rachmaninoff.jpg|grave]], and he himself celebrated his birthdate on 2 April.}} The family tradition claims descent from a legendary Vasily, nicknamed "Rachman", a supposed grandson of [[Stephen III of Moldavia]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/5/mode/2up 5]}}{{sfn|Unbegaun|Uspenskiĭ|1989|p=[https://archive.org/details/russiansurnames/page/n107/mode/2up 108]}} Rachmaninoff's family had strong musical and military leanings. His paternal grandfather, {{ill|Arkady Alexandrovich|ru|Рахманинов, Аркадий Александрович}}, was a musician who had taken lessons from [[Irish people|Irish]] composer [[John Field (composer)|John Field]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/5/mode/2up 5]}}{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_zkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 35]}} His father, Vasily Arkadievich Rachmaninoff (1841–1916), was a retired army officer and amateur pianist who married Lyubov Petrovna Butakova (1853–1929), the daughter of a wealthy army general who gave him five estates as part of her [[dowry]]. The couple had three sons: Vladimir, Sergei and Arkady and three daughters; Yelena, Sofia and Barbara; Sergei being their third child.{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 3]}}{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/6/mode/2up 6]}}{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/5/mode/2up 5]}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Risemann |first=Oskar von |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919/page/n51/mode/2up |title=Rachmaninoff´s Recollections Told To Oskar Von Risemann |publisher=Macmillan Company, New York | orig-date=1934 | date=1970 |isbn=978-0-83695-232-2 |pages=32, 33, 38, 43 |translator-last=Rutherford |translator-first=Dolly}}</ref>

Rachmaninoff was born in the family estate in the village of Semyonovo, near [[Staraya Russa]], Novgorod Governorate. His birth was registered in the Semyonovo church book.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/6/mode/2up 6]}} After Sergei turned four, the family moved to another house in Oneg estate, about {{convert|110|mi|km}} north of Semyonovo, and the Semyonovo estate was sold in 1879 by Rachmaninoff's father. Young Sergei Rachmaninoff was raised in Oneg estate from age four until aged nine, and he mistakenly cited it as his birthplace in his adult life.{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 2]}} Rachmaninoff began piano and music lessons organized by his mother at age four.{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 2]}} She noticed his ability to reproduce passages from memory without a wrong note. Upon hearing news of the boy's gift, Arkady suggested she hire Anna Ornatskaya, a piano teacher and recent graduate of the [[Saint Petersburg Conservatory]], to live with the family and give the young Sergei formal piano lessons. Rachmaninoff dedicated his famous romance for voice and piano "Spring Waters" from 12 Romances, Op. 14, to Ornatskaya.{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 3]}}

Rachmaninoff's father, who wanted him to be trained by the [[Page Corps]] and then join the military, had to sell the five estates one by one to pay his debts due to his financial incompetence and therefore could not afford an expensive military career for him.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/7/mode/2up 7–8]}}{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 3–4]}} His older brother Vladimir was sent to an ordinary military college.<ref name=":0" /> The last estate in Oneg was auctioned off in 1882,{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/5/mode/2up 5]}} and the family moved to a small flat in Saint Petersburg.{{sfn|Riesemann|1934|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919/page/n43/mode/2up 29]}} In 1883, Ornatskaya arranged for Rachmaninoff, then 10, to study music at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory under her former teacher, [[Gustav Kross]]. Later that year, his sister Sofia died at the age of 13 of [[diphtheria]], and his father left the family for Moscow.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/9/mode/2up 9]}} His maternal grandmother Sofia Litvikova Butakova, a widow of General Butakov, stepped in to help raise the children, took care of household expenses<ref name=":0" /> and with particular focus on their religious life, regularly taking Rachmaninoff to [[Russian Orthodox Church]] services where he first encountered [[Liturgy|liturgical]] chants and church bells, two features he would incorporate in his compositions.{{sfn|Riesemann|1934|pp=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919/page/n49/mode/2up 33–34]}}

[[File:ASilotiRachmaninoff.jpg|thumb|Alexander Siloti and Rachmaninoff]]

In 1885, Rachmaninoff suffered a further loss when his sister Yelena died at age 18 of [[pernicious anaemia]].{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/7/mode/2up 7]}} She was an important musical influence on Rachmaninoff and had introduced him to the works of [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]].{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_zkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 11]}} As a respite, his grandmother took him to a farm retreat by the [[Volkhov River]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/11/mode/2up 11]}} At the Conservatory, however, he had adopted a relaxed attitude, played truant, failed his general education classes and purposely altered his report cards.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/5/mode/2up 5]}} Rachmaninoff performed at events held at the Moscow Conservatory during this time, including those attended by the [[Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia|Grand Duke Konstantin]] and other notable figures. However, upon his failing his spring exams, Ornatskaya notified his mother that his admission to further education might be revoked.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/11/mode/2up 11]}} His mother then sought advice from [[Alexander Siloti]], her nephew, who was an accomplished pianist and a former student of [[Franz Liszt]]. He recommended that Rachmaninoff transfer to the [[Moscow Conservatory]] to study under his former piano teacher, the stricter [[Nikolai Zverev]],{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/46/mode/2up 46]}} which lasted until 1888.{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 6–7]}}

=== 1885–1894: Moscow Conservatory and first compositions ===
In the autumn of 1885, Rachmaninoff moved in with Zverev, as was customary at the time, and stayed there for almost four years. During this time, he befriended fellow pupil [[Alexander Scriabin]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/15/mode/2up 15]}} While living in Zverev's home, Rachmaninoff shared a bedroom with three other students, and took turns practicing the piano for three hours each day.<ref>Davide Polovineo, "Review article 'Rachmaninoff. The Beginning. How are Genius Taught?{{'"}} (April 21, 2008 Moscow Time), in ''Journal of the Istituto Europeo di Musica'' 1 (2011), p. 12</ref> After two years of study, the fifteen-year-old Rachmaninoff was awarded a [[Anton Rubinstein|Rubinstein]] scholarship,{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/14/mode/2up 14]}} and graduated from the lower division of the Conservatory. He then became a pupil of Siloti for advanced piano, studied [[counterpoint]] under [[Sergei Taneyev]], and learned free composition from [[Anton Arensky]].{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/27/mode/2up 27]}}{{sfn|Norris|2002|p=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198662129/page/1025/mode/2up 1025]}} In 1889, a rift formed between Rachmaninoff and Zverev, now his adviser, after Zverev turned down the composer's request for assistance in renting a piano and greater privacy to compose.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/33/mode/2up 33]}}{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/25/mode/2up 25]}} Zverev, who believed composition was a waste for talented pianists, refused to speak to Rachmaninoff for some time and arranged for him to live with the Satin family (Rachmaninoff's aunt, uncle, and their children) in Moscow.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/35/mode/2up 35]}} Rachmaninoff then found his first romance in Vera, the youngest daughter of the neighbouring Skalon family, but her mother objected and forbade Rachmaninoff to write to her, leaving him to correspond with her older sister Natalia.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/27/mode/2up 27]}} It is from these letters that many of Rachmaninoff's [[Miscellaneous solo piano compositions (Rachmaninoff)|earliest compositions]] can be traced.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/46/mode/2up 46]}}

[[File:Ivanovka yard.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Ivanovka was the ideal location for Rachmaninoff to compose.]]

Rachmaninoff spent his summer break in 1890 with the Satins at [[Ivanovka estate|Ivanovka]], their private country estate near [[Tambov]], to which the composer would return many times until 1917.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/26/mode/2up 26]}} The peaceful and bucolic surroundings became a source of inspiration for the composer, who completed many compositions while at the estate, including his [[Opus number|Op.]] 1, [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto {{nowrap|No. 1}}]], which he completed in July 1891, and dedicated to Siloti.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_zkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 48]}}{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 8]}} Also that year, Rachmaninoff completed the one-movement ''[[Youth Symphony (Rachmaninoff)|Youth Symphony]]'' and the symphonic poem ''[[Prince Rostislav (Rachmaninoff)|Prince Rostislav]]''.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/33/mode/2up 33–35]}} Siloti left the Moscow Conservatory after the academic year ended in 1891 and Rachmaninoff asked to take his final piano exams a year early to avoid being assigned a different teacher. Despite little faith from Siloti and Conservatory director [[Vasily Safonov]] as he had just three weeks' preparation, Rachmaninoff received assistance from a recent graduate who was familiar with the tests, and passed each one with honours in July 1891. Three days later, he passed his annual theory and composition exams.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/30/mode/2up 30]}} His progress was unexpectedly halted in the latter half of 1891 when he contracted a severe case of [[malaria]] during his summer break at Ivanovka.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/41/mode/2up 41]}}{{sfn|Riesemann|1934|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919/page/n91/mode/2up 75]}}

During his final year at the Conservatory, Rachmaninoff performed his first independent concert, where he premiered his [[Trio élégiaque No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|''Trio élégiaque'' {{nowrap|No. 1}}]] in January 1892, followed by a performance of the first movement of his Piano Concerto {{nowrap|No. 1}} two months later.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/11/mode/2up 11&ndash;12]}}{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/34/mode/2up 34]}} His request to take his final theory and composition exams a year early was also granted, for which he wrote ''[[Aleko (Rachmaninoff)|Aleko]]'', a one-act opera based on the narrative poem ''The Gypsies'' by [[Alexander Pushkin]], in seventeen days.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/74/mode/2up 75]}}{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 8]}} It premiered in May 1892 at the [[Bolshoi Theatre]]; Tchaikovsky attended and praised Rachmaninoff for his work.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/83/mode/2up 83–85]}} Rachmaninoff believed it was "sure to fail", but the production was so successful the theatre agreed to produce it starring singer [[Feodor Chaliapin]], who would go on to become a lifelong friend.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/84/mode/2up 84–85]}}{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/46/mode/2up 46]}} ''Aleko'' earned Rachmaninoff the highest mark at the Conservatory and a Great Gold Medal, a distinction only previously awarded to Taneyev and [[Arseny Koreshchenko]].{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/46/mode/2up 46]}} Zverev, a member of the exam committee, gave the composer his gold watch, thus ending years of estrangement.{{sfn|Cunningham|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k2YrwE8GaLEC&pg=PA3 3]}} On 29 May 1892, at age nineteen, Rachmaninoff graduated from the Conservatory with highest honors in both composition and piano, and was issued a diploma which allowed him to officially style himself as a "Free Artist".{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/43/mode/2up 43]}}

[[File:Rachmaninov.jpg|thumb|left|Sergei Rachmaninoff circa 1900]]
After graduating, Rachmaninoff continued to compose and signed a publishing contract with Gutheil for 500 [[Russian ruble|rubles]]. This agreement led to the publication of several of his early works, including "Aleko," "Two Pieces" (Op.&nbsp;2), and "Six Songs" (Op.&nbsp;4).{{sfn|Cunningham|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k2YrwE8GaLEC&pg=PA3 3]}} Before this, he had earned 15 rubles per month by giving piano lessons at a girls' school.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/82/mode/2up 82]}} Rachmaninoff spent the summer of 1892 on the estate of Ivan Konavalov, a rich landowner in the [[Kostroma Oblast]], and moved back with the Satins in the [[Arbat District]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/47/mode/2up 47]}} Delays in getting paid by Gutheil saw Rachmaninoff seeking other sources of income, which led to an engagement at the Moscow Electrical Exhibition in September 1892, his public debut as a pianist, where he premiered his landmark [[Prelude in C-sharp minor (Rachmaninoff)|Prelude in C-sharp minor]] from his five-part piano composition piece ''[[Morceaux de fantaisie]]'' (Op.&nbsp;3). He was paid 50 rubles for his appearance.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/86/mode/2up 86]}}{{sfn|Cunningham|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k2YrwE8GaLEC&pg=PA3 3]}} It was well received and became one of his most popular and enduring pieces.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_zkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 69]}}{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/37/mode/2up 37]}} In 1893, he completed his tone poem ''[[The Rock (Rachmaninoff)|The Rock]]'', which he dedicated to Rimsky-Korsakov.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/406/mode/2up 406]}}

In 1893, Rachmaninoff spent a productive summer with friends at an estate in [[Kharkov Governorate]] where he composed several pieces, including [[Suite No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|''Fantaisie-Tableaux'']] (aka Suite No. 1, Op.&nbsp;5) and ''[[Morceaux de salon, Op. 10 (Rachmaninoff)|Morceaux de salon]]'' (Op.&nbsp;10).{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 30]}}{{sfn|Threlfall|Norris|1982|p=45}} In September, he published Six Songs (Op. 8), a group of songs set to translations by [[Aleksey Pleshcheyev]] of Ukrainian and German poems.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/61/mode/2up 61]}} Rachmaninoff returned to Moscow, where Tchaikovsky agreed to conduct ''The Rock'' for an upcoming European tour. During his subsequent trip to [[Kiev]]<!--See WP:KIEV--> to conduct performances of ''Aleko'', he learned of [[Death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky's death]] from [[cholera]].{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/62/mode/2up 62]}} The news left Rachmaninoff stunned; later that day, he started work on his [[Trio élégiaque No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|''Trio élégiaque'' {{nowrap|No. 2}}]] for piano, violin and cello as a tribute, which he completed within a month.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/91/mode/2up 91]}}{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/63/mode/2up 63]}} The music's aura of gloom reveals the depth and sincerity of Rachmaninoff's grief for his idol.{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/709/mode/2up 709]}} The piece debuted at the first concert devoted to Rachmaninoff's compositions on 31 January 1894.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/63/mode/2up 63]}}

=== 1894–1900: Symphony No. 1, depression, and conducting debut ===
Rachmaninoff entered a decline following Tchaikovsky's death. He lacked the inspiration to compose, and the management of the Grand Theatre had lost interest in showcasing ''Aleko'' and dropped it from the program.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/92/mode/2up 92]}} To earn more money, Rachmaninoff returned to giving piano lessons—which he hated{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/93/mode/2up 93]}}—and in late 1895, agreed to a three-month tour across Russia with a program shared by Italian violinist [[Teresina Tua]]. The tour was not enjoyable for the composer and he quit before it ended, thus sacrificing his performance fees. In a more desperate plea for money, Rachmaninoff pawned his gold watch given to him by Zverev.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/66/mode/2up 67]}} In September 1895, before the tour started, Rachmaninoff completed his [[Symphony No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|Symphony No. 1]] (Op.&nbsp;13), a work conceived in January and based on chants he had heard in Russian Orthodox church services.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/66/mode/2up 67]}} Rachmaninoff had worked so hard on it that he could not return to composition until he heard the piece performed.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/69/mode/2up 69]}} This lasted until October 1896, when "a rather large sum of money" that did not belong to Rachmaninoff and was in his possession, was stolen during a train journey and he had to work to recoup the losses. Among the pieces composed were ''Six Choruses'' (Op. 15) and ''[[Six moments musicaux (Rachmaninoff)|Six moments musicaux]]'' (Op. 16), his final completed composition for several months.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/70/mode/2up 70]}}

[[File:Rachmaninoff and Skalon sisters crop.jpg|thumb|Rachmaninoff in 1897, the year his [[Symphony No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|Symphony No. 1]] premiered]]

Rachmaninoff's fortunes took a turn following the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 on 28 March 1897 in one of a long-running series of [[Russian Symphony Concerts]] devoted to Russian music. The piece was brutally panned by critic and nationalist composer [[César Cui]], who likened it to a depiction of the [[Plagues of Egypt|seven plagues of Egypt]], suggesting it would be admired by the "inmates" of a music conservatory in Hell.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/48/mode/2up 48]}} The deficiencies of the performance, conducted by [[Alexander Glazunov]], were not commented on by other critics,{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/709/mode/2up 709]}} but according to a memoir from [[Alexander Ossovsky]], a close friend of Rachmaninoff, Glazunov made poor use of rehearsal time, and the concert's program itself, which contained two other premières, was also a factor. Other witnesses, including Rachmaninoff's wife, suggested that Glazunov, an alcoholic, may have been drunk.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/77/mode/2up 77]}}{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/23/mode/2up 23]}}{{sfn|Piggott|1974|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninovorche0000pigg/page/24/mode/2up 24]}} Following the reaction to his first symphony, Rachmaninoff wrote in May 1897 that "I'm not at all affected" by its lack of success or critical reaction, but felt "deeply distressed and heavily depressed by the fact that my Symphony ... did not please ''me'' at all after its first rehearsal".{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/73/mode/2up 73]}} He thought its performance was poor, particularly Glazunov's contribution.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/23/mode/2up 23]}} The piece was not performed for the rest of Rachmaninoff's life, but he revised it into a four-hand piano arrangement in 1898.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/74/mode/2up 74]}}

Rachmaninoff experienced a depression that lasted three years, during which he struggled with [[writer's block]] and composed very little music. He described this period as being "like a man who had suffered a stroke and for a long time had lost the use of his head and hands."{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/74/mode/2up 74]}} To support himself, he gave piano lessons.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/76/mode/2up 76]}} A stroke of good fortune came from [[Savva Mamontov]], a Russian industrialist and founder of the [[Moscow Private Russian Opera]], who offered Rachmaninoff the post of assistant conductor for the 1897–98 season. The cash-strapped composer accepted, conducting ''[[Samson and Delilah (opera)|Samson and Delilah]]'' by [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] as his first opera on 12 October 1897.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/77/mode/2up 77]}} By the end of February 1899, Rachmaninoff attempted composition and completed two short piano pieces, ''Morceau de Fantaisie'' and Fughetta in F major. Two months later, he travelled to London for the first time to perform and conduct, earning positive reviews.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/84/mode/2up 84], [https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/87/mode/2up 87]}} In late 1899, however, his depression worsened following an unproductive summer; he composed one song, "Fate", which later became one of his Twelve Songs (Op. 21), and left compositions for a proposed return visit to London unfulfilled.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/88/mode/2up 88]}} In an attempt to revive his desire to compose, his aunt arranged for the writer [[Leo Tolstoy]], whom Rachmaninoff greatly admired, to have the composer visit his home and receive words of encouragement. The visit was unsuccessful, doing nothing to help him compose with the fluency he had before.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/88/mode/2up 88–89]}}{{sfn|Riesemann|1934|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919/page/n129/mode/2up? 111]}}

=== 1900–1906: Recovery, emergence, and conducting ===
[[File:Rachmaninoff 1900.jpg|thumb|Rachmaninoff in the early 1900s]]

By 1900, Rachmaninoff had become so self-critical that, despite numerous attempts, composing had become near impossible. His aunt then suggested professional help, having received successful treatment from a family friend, physician and amateur musician [[Nikolai Dahl]], to which Rachmaninoff agreed without resistance.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/89/mode/2up 89], [https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/90/mode/2up 90]}} Between January and April 1900, Rachmaninoff underwent [[hypnotherapy]] and supportive therapy sessions with Dahl on a daily basis for over 3 months,{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_zkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 124]}} specifically structured to improve his sleep patterns, mood, and appetite and reignite his desire to compose. That summer, Rachmaninoff felt that "new musical ideas began to stir" and successfully resumed composition.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/90/mode/2up 90]}} His first fully completed work, the [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto {{nowrap|No. 2}}]], was finished in April 1901; it is dedicated to Dahl. After the second and third movement premiered in December 1900 with Rachmaninoff as the soloist, the entire piece was first performed in 1901 and was enthusiastically received.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/90/mode/2up 90], [https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/95/mode/2up 95]}} The piece earned the composer a [[Mikhail Glinka#Legacy|Glinka Award]], the first of five awarded to him throughout his life, and a 500-ruble prize in 1904.{{sfn|Riesemann|1934|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919/page/n271/mode/2up 242]}}

Amid his professional career success, Rachmaninoff married Natalia Satina on 12 May 1902 after a three-year engagement.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/103/mode/2up 103]}} Because they were first cousins, the marriage was forbidden under a [[Canon law]] imposed by the Russian Orthodox Church; in addition, Rachmaninoff was not a regular church attendee and avoided confession, two things a priest would have had to confirm that he did in signing a marriage certificate.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/97/mode/2up 97]}} To circumvent the church's opposition, the couple used their military background and organised a small ceremony in a chapel in a Moscow suburb army barracks with Siloti and the cellist [[Anatoliy Brandukov]] as best men.{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 94]}}{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/115/mode/2up 115]}} They received the smaller of two houses at the Ivanovka estate as a present and went on a three-month honeymoon across Europe.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/103/mode/2up 103]}} Upon their return, they settled in Moscow, where Rachmaninoff resumed work as a music teacher at St. Catherine's Women's College and the Elizabeth Institute.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/110/mode/2up 110]}} By February 1903 he had completed his largest piano composition of his career at the time, the ''[[Variations on a Theme of Chopin (Rachmaninoff)|Variations on a Theme of Chopin]]'' (Op. 22).{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/110/mode/2up 110]}} On 14 May 1903, the couple's first daughter, Irina Sergeyevna Rachmaninova, was born.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/101/mode/2up 101]}} During their summer break at Ivanovka, the family was struck with illness.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/113/mode/2up 113]}}

[[File:Bolshoi Theatre 1905.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Bolshoi Theatre]] in 1905, during Rachmaninoff's time as conductor]]

In 1904, in a career change, Rachmaninoff agreed to become the conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre for two seasons. He earned a mixed reputation during his time at the post, enforcing strict discipline and demanding high standards of performance.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/113/mode/2up 113–114]}} Influenced by [[Richard Wagner]], he pioneered the modern arrangement of the orchestra players in the pit and the modern custom of standing while conducting. He also worked with each soloist on their part, even accompanying them on the piano.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/90/mode/2up 90]}} The theatre staged the premiere of his operas ''[[The Miserly Knight]]'' and ''[[Francesca da Rimini (Rachmaninoff)|Francesca da Rimini]]''.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/102/mode/2up 102]}}

In the course of his second season as conductor, Rachmaninoff lost interest in his post. The social and political unrest surrounding the [[Revolution of 1905|1905 Revolution]] was beginning to affect the performers and theatre staff, who staged protests and demands for improved wages and conditions. Rachmaninoff remained largely uninterested in the politics surrounding him and the revolutionary spirit had made working conditions increasingly difficult.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/92/mode/2up 92–93], [https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/96/mode/2up 96]}} In February 1906, after conducting 50 performances in the first season and 39 in the second, Rachmaninoff handed in his resignation.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/114/mode/2up 114]}} He then took his family on an extended tour around Italy with the hope of completing new works, but illness struck his wife and daughter, and they returned to Ivanovka.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/127/mode/2up 127]}} Money soon became an issue following Rachmaninoff's resignation from his posts at St. Catherine's and Elizabeth schools, leaving him only the option of composing.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/92/mode/2up 92–93], [https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/96/mode/2up 96], [https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/107/mode/2up 107]}}

=== 1906–1917: Move to Dresden and first US tour ===
Increasingly unhappy with the political turmoil in Russia and in need of seclusion from his lively social life to be able to compose, Rachmaninoff with his family left Moscow for [[Dresden]], Germany, in November 1906.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/128/mode/2up 128–129]}} The city had become a favourite of both Rachmaninoff and Natalia, and they stayed there until 1909, only returning to Russia for their summer breaks at Ivanovka.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/108/mode/2up 108]}} In [[Paris]], during the summer of 1907, he saw a black and white reproduction of ''[[The Isle of the Dead (painting)|The Isle of the Dead]]'' by [[Arnold Böcklin]], which served as the inspiration for his [[Isle of the Dead (Rachmaninoff)|orchestral work of the same name]], Op. 29.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/156/mode/2up 156]}} Despite occasional periods of depression, apathy, and little faith in any of his work,{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/112/mode/2up 112], [https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/114/mode/2up 114]}} Rachmaninoff started on his [[Symphony No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|Symphony No. 2]] (Op. 27) in 1906, twelve years after the disastrous premiere of his first.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/115/mode/2up 115]}} While writing it, Rachmaninoff and the family returned to Russia, but the composer detoured to Paris to take part in [[Sergei Diaghilev]]'s season of Russian concerts in May 1907. His performance as the soloist in his Piano Concerto No. 2 with an encore of his Prelude in C-sharp minor was a triumphant success.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/118/mode/2up 118–119]}} Rachmaninoff regained his sense of self-worth following the enthusiastic reaction to the premiere of his Symphony No. 2 in early 1908, which earned him his second Glinka Award and 1,000 roubles.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/148/mode/2up 148–149]}}

[[File:Rachmaninoff proofing.jpg|thumb|Rachmaninoff proofing his [[Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto No. 3]] at the [[Ivanovka estate]], 1910]]

While in Dresden, Rachmaninoff agreed to perform and conduct in the United States as part of the 1909–10 concert season with conductor [[Max Fiedler]] and the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]].{{sfn|Lyle|1939|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/135/mode/2up 135], [https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/142/mode/2up 142]}} He spent time during breaks at Ivanovka finishing a new piece specially for the visit, his [[Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto No. 3]], Op. 30, which he dedicated to [[Josef Hofmann]].{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/138/mode/2up 138]}} The tour saw the composer make 26 performances, 19 as pianist and 7 as conductor, which marked his first recitals without another performer in the program. His first appearance was at [[Smith College]] in [[Northampton, Massachusetts]] for a recital on 4 November 1909. The second performance of Piano Concerto No. 3 by the [[New York Symphony Orchestra]] was conducted by [[Gustav Mahler]] in New York City with the composer as soloist, an experience he personally treasured.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/140/mode/2up 140–141]}}{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/160/mode/2up 160]}} Though the tour increased the composer's popularity in America, he declined subsequent offers due to the length of time away from Russia and his family.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/162/mode/2up 162]}}

Upon his return home in February 1910, Rachmaninoff became vice president of the [[Russian Musical Society|Imperial Russian Musical Society]] (IRMS), whose president was a member of the royal family.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/143/mode/2up 143]}} Later in 1910, Rachmaninoff completed his choral work ''[[Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (Rachmaninoff)|Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom]]'', Op. 31, but it was banned from performance as it did not follow the format of a typical [[liturgy|liturgical]] church service.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/146/mode/2up 146]}} For two seasons between 1911 and 1913, Rachmaninoff was appointed permanent conductor of the Philharmonic Society of Moscow; he helped raise its profile and increase audience numbers and receipts.{{sfn|Riesemann|1934|p=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919/page/n189/mode/2up 166]}} In 1912, Rachmaninoff left the IRMS when he learned that a musician in an administrative post was dismissed for being Jewish.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/179/mode/2up 179]}}

Soon after his resignation, an exhausted Rachmaninoff sought time for composition and took his family on holiday to Switzerland. They left after one month for Rome for a visit that became a particularly tranquil and influential period for the composer, who lived alone in a small apartment on [[Piazza di Spagna]] while his family stayed at a boardinghouse.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/172/mode/2up 172]}}{{sfn|Lyle|1939|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/149/mode/2up 149–150]}} While there he received an anonymous letter that contained a Russian translation of [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s poem ''[[The Bells (poem)|The Bells]]'' by [[Konstantin Balmont]], which affected him greatly, and he began work on his [[The Bells (symphony)|choral symphony]] of the same title, Op. 35, based on it.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/172/mode/2up 172–173]}} By 1912, Rachmaninoff's second daughter Tatiana was born, and his contemporaneous period of composition ended abruptly when both Rachmaninoff's daughters contracted serious cases of [[typhoid]] and were treated in Berlin due to their father's greater trust in German doctors. After six weeks, the Rachmaninoffs returned to their Moscow flat.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/174/mode/2up 174–175]}} The composer conducted ''The Bells'' at its premiere in Saint Petersburg in late 1913.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/152/mode/2up 152–153]}}

In January 1914, Rachmaninoff began a concert tour of England which was enthusiastically received.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/152/mode/2up 152–153]}} He was too afraid to travel alone following the death of [[Raoul Pugno]] of an unexpected [[heart attack]] in his hotel room which left the composer wary of a similar fate.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/174/mode/2up 174–175]}} Following the outbreak of the [[First World War]] later that year, his position of Inspector of Music at Nobility High School for Girls put him in the group of government servants which prevented him from joining the army, yet the composer made regular charitable donations for the war effort.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/154/mode/2up 154]}} In 1915, Rachmaninoff completed his second major choral work, ''[[All-Night Vigil (Rachmaninoff)|All-Night Vigil]]'' (Op. 37).{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/103/mode/2up 103]}} It was received so warmly at its Moscow premiere in aid of war relief that four subsequent performances were quickly scheduled.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/104/mode/2up 104]}}

[[Alexander Scriabin]]'s death in April 1915 was a tragedy for Rachmaninoff, who went on a piano recital tour devoted to his friend's compositions to raise funds for Scriabin's financially stricken widow.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/111/mode/2up 111]}} It marked his first public performances of works other than his own.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/178/mode/2up 178]}} During a vacation in [[Finland]] that summer, Rachmaninoff learned of Taneyev's death, a loss which affected him greatly.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/113/mode/2up 113]}} By year's end he had finished his ''14 Romances'', Op. 34, whose final section, ''[[Vocalise (Rachmaninoff)|Vocalise]]'', became one of his most popular pieces.{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/147/mode/2up 147]}}

=== 1917–1925: Leaving Russia, emigration to the US, and concert pianist ===
On the day the [[February Revolution|February 1917 Revolution]] began in Saint Petersburg, Rachmaninoff performed a piano recital in Moscow in aid of wounded Russian soldiers who had fought in the war.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/117/mode/2up 117]}} He returned to Ivanovka two months later, finding it in chaos after a group of [[Social Revolutionary Party]] members seized it as their own communal property.{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA257 257]}} Despite having invested most of his earnings on the estate, Rachmaninoff left the property after three weeks, vowing never to return.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/51/mode/2up 51]}} It was soon confiscated by the communist authorities and became derelict.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/118/mode/2up 118]}} In June 1917, Rachmaninoff asked Siloti to produce visas for him and his family so they could leave Russia, but Siloti was unable to help. After a break with his family in the more peaceful [[Crimea]], Rachmaninoff's concert performance in [[Yalta]] on 5 September 1917 was to be his last in Russia. Upon returning to Moscow, the political tension surrounding the [[October Revolution]] found the composer keeping his family safe indoors and being involved in a collective at his apartment building where he attended committee meetings and kept guard at night. He completed revisions to his Piano Concerto No. 1 among gunshots and rallies outside.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/52/mode/2up 52]}}{{sfn|Lyle|1939|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle/page/162/mode/2up 162]}}

[[File:Rachmaninoff and Struve.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|Rachmaninoff and Struve, 1918]]
Amidst such turmoil, Rachmaninoff received an unexpected offer to perform ten piano recitals across [[Scandinavia]], which he immediately accepted, using it as an excuse to obtain permits so he and his family could leave the country.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/119/mode/2up 119]}} On 22 December 1917, they left Saint Petersburg by train to the Finnish border, from where they travelled through Finland on an open sled and train to [[Helsinki]]. Carrying what they could pack into their small suitcases, Rachmaninoff brought some sketches of compositions and scores to the first act of his unfinished opera ''[[Monna Vanna]]'' and Rimsky-Korsakov's opera ''[[The Golden Cockerel]]''. They arrived in [[Stockholm]], Sweden, on 24 December.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/210/mode/2up 210]}} In January 1918, they relocated to [[Copenhagen]], Denmark, and, with the help of friend and composer {{ill|Nikolai Struve|ru|Струве, Николай Густавович}} (1875–1920), settled on the ground floor of a house.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/53/mode/2up 53]}} In debt and in need of money, the 44-year-old Rachmaninoff chose performing as his main source of income, as a career solely in composition was too restrictive.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=88}} His piano repertoire was small, which prompted the start of regular practice of his technique and learning new pieces to play. Rachmaninoff toured between February and October 1918.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/120/mode/2up 120]}}{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/54/mode/2up 54]}}

During the Scandinavian tour, Rachmaninoff received three offers from the US: to become the conductor of the [[Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra]] for two years, to conduct 110 concerts in 30 weeks for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and to give 25 piano recitals.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/54/mode/2up 54]}} He was worried about such a commitment in an unfamiliar country and had few good memories from his debut tour in 1909, so he declined all three. Not long after his decision, Rachmaninoff considered the United States financially advantageous as he could not support his family through composition alone. Unable to afford the travel fees, he was sent an advance loan for the journey by Russian banker and fellow emigre Alexander Kamenka.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/54/mode/2up 54]}} Money was also received from friends and admirers; pianist [[Ignaz Friedman]] contributed $2,000.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=88}} On 1 November 1918, the Rachmaninoffs boarded the [[SS Bergensfjord|SS ''Bergensfjord'']] in [[Oslo]], Norway, bound for New York City, arriving eleven days later. News of the composer's arrival spread, causing a crowd of musicians, artists, and fans to gather outside [[The Sherry-Netherland]] hotel, where he was staying.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/54/mode/2up 54]}}

Rachmaninoff quickly dealt with business, hiring pianist [[Dagmar de Corval Rybner]] as his secretary, interpreter, and aide in dealing with American life.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/55/mode/2up 55]}} He reunited with [[Josef Hofmann]], who informed several concert managers that the composer was available and suggested he choose Charles Ellis as his booking agent. Ellis organised 36 performances for Rachmaninoff for the upcoming 1918–1919 concert season; the first, a piano recital, took place on 8 December at [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. Rachmaninoff, still in recovery from a case of the [[1918 flu pandemic|Spanish flu]], included his arrangement of "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]" in the program.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/113/mode/2up 220]}}{{sfn|Martyn|1990|pp=292–293}} Before the tour he had received offers from numerous piano manufacturers to tour with their instruments; he chose [[Steinway and Sons|Steinway]], the only one that did not offer him money. Steinway's association with Rachmaninoff continued for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/56/mode/2up 56]}}{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/122/mode/2up 122]}}

[[File:Sergei Rachmaninoff, California.jpg|thumb|right|Rachmaninoff in front of a giant [[Sequoioideae|Redwood tree]] in California, 1919]]

After the first tour ended in April 1919, Rachmaninoff took his family on a break to [[San Francisco]]. He recuperated and prepared for the upcoming season, a cycle that he would adopt for most of his remaining life. As a touring performer Rachmaninoff became financially secure without much difficulty, and the family lived an upper middle class life with servants, a chef, and chauffeur.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|pp=89–90}} They recreated the atmosphere of Ivanovka in their New York City apartment by entertaining Russian guests, employing Russians, and continuing to observe Russian customs.{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/711/mode/2up 711]}}<!--- This sentence is barely any different to that in the source. ---> Despite the ability to speak some English, Rachmaninoff had his correspondence translated into Russian.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=89}} He enjoyed some personal luxuries, including quality tailored suits and the latest models of cars.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|pp=89–90}}

In 1920, Rachmaninoff signed a recording contract with the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] which earned him some much needed income and began his longtime association with [[RCA Corporation|RCA]].{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/56/mode/2up 56]}} During a family holiday in [[Goshen, New York]], that summer he learned of Struve's accidental death, prompting Rachmaninoff to strengthen the ties he had with those still in Russia by arranging with his bank to send regular money and food parcels to his family, friends, students, and those in need.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/233/mode/2up 233–234]}}{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/57/mode/2up 57]}} Early 1921 saw Rachmaninoff apply for documentation to visit Russia, the only time he would do so after leaving the country, but progress ceased when he underwent surgery for pain in his right temple. The operation failed to relieve his symptoms and relief only came after having dental work years later.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/233/mode/2up 233–234]}} After leaving the
hospital, he purchased an apartment on 33 Riverside Drive on the [[Upper West Side]] of Manhattan, overlooking the [[Hudson River]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/233/mode/2up 233–234]}}

Rachmaninoff's first visit to Europe since emigrating occurred in May 1922, with concerts in London.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=126}} This was followed by the Rachmaninoffs and the Satins reuniting in Dresden, after which the composer prepared for a hectic 1922–1923 concert season of 71 performances in five months.{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/130/mode/2up 130]}} For a while, he rented a railway carriage that was fitted with a piano and belongings to save time with suitcases.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/58/mode/2up 58]}} In 1924, Rachmaninoff declined an invitation to become conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=88}} In 1925, Rachmaninoff's first daughter, Irina, became widowed while pregnant with his granddaughter, Sophie Volkonsky. Subsequently, Rachmaninoff founded TAIR &mdash; a publishing company named after his daughters, Tatiana and Irina. Based in Paris, TAIR specialised in works by Rachmaninoff and by other Russian composers.{{sfn|Cunningham|2001|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k2YrwE8GaLEC&pg=PA5 5–6]}}

=== 1926–1942: Touring, final compositions, and Villa Senar ===
Rachmaninoff's life as a touring performer, and the demanding schedules that came with it, caused his compositional output to slow significantly. In the 24 years between his arrival in the US and his death, he completed just six new pieces, revised some of his earlier works, and wrote piano transcriptions for his live repertoire.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=102}} He admitted that by leaving Russia, "I left behind my desire to compose: losing my country, I lost myself also".{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_zkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 26]}} In 1926, having concentrated on touring for the past eight years, he took a year off and completed the [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto No. 4]], which he had started in 1917, and ''[[Three Russian Songs, Op. 41 (Rachmaninoff)|Three Russian Songs]]'', which he dedicated to [[Leopold Stokowski]].{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=103, 126}}{{sfn|Cunningham|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k2YrwE8GaLEC&pg=PA6 6]}}

Rachmaninoff sought the company of fellow Russian musicians and befriended pianist [[Vladimir Horowitz]] in 1928.{{sfn|Plaskin|1983|p=[https://archive.org/details/horowitz00glen/page/106/mode 107]}} The men remained supportive of each other's work, each making a point of attending concerts given by the other,<ref>[https://archive.today/20130124152901/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=E-8ZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_SIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4797,1289387 "About Wizard Horowitz, Who Will Return Soon"], ''[[The Milwaukee Journal]]'', 18 April 1943, p. 66.</ref> and Horowitz remained a champion of Rachmaninoff's works and in particular his Piano Concerto No. 3.{{sfn|Plaskin|1983|p=[https://archive.org/details/horowitz00glen/page/185/mode/2up 185]}} In 1930, in a rare occurrence, Rachmaninoff allowed Italian composer [[Ottorino Respighi]] to orchestrate pieces from his [[Études-Tableaux, Op. 33|''Études-Tableaux'', Op. 33]] (1911) and the [[Études-Tableaux, Op. 39|''Études-Tableaux'', Op. 39]] (1917), giving Respighi the inspirations behind the compositions.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/262/mode/2up 262]}} By December 1931, his daughter was engaged to marry Boris Conus, with a second grandchild Alexander Conus born later to the couple.<ref>''Rachmaninoff''. Paganinian Publications. Page 115.</ref> In 1931, Rachmaninoff and several others signed an article in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that criticised the cultural policies of the [[Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/271/mode/2up 271]}} The composer's music suffered a boycott in the Soviet Union as a result from the backlash in the Soviet press, lasting until 1933.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=126}}

[[File:Weggis-Hertenstein-Villa Senar-04ASD.jpg|thumb|right|Villa Senar, now open to the public, where the ''Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'' and Symphony No. 3 were composed]]
From 1929 to 1931, Rachmaninoff spent his summers in France at [[Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines]] near [[Rambouillet]], meeting with fellow Russian émigrés and his daughters. By 1930, his desire to compose had returned and he sought a new location to write new pieces. He bought a plot of land near [[Hertenstein, Lucerne|Hertenstein]] on the banks of [[Lake Lucerne]], Switzerland, and oversaw the construction of his home which he named [[Villa Senar]] after the first two letters of his and his wife's name, adding the "r" from the family name.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=126}}{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/208/mode/2up 208]}} Rachmaninoff spent his summers at Villa Senar until 1939, often with his daughters and grandchildren, with whom he would drive his motorboat on Lake Lucerne, one of his favourite activities.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/208/mode/2up 208]}} In the comfort of his own home, Rachmaninoff completed ''[[Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini]]'' in 1934 and the [[Symphony No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Symphony {{nowrap|No. 3}}]] in 1936.

In October 1932, Rachmaninoff began a demanding concert season that consisted of 50 performances. The tour marked the fortieth anniversary of his debut as a pianist, for which several of his Russian friends now living in America sent him a scroll and wreath in celebration.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/67/mode/2up 67]}} The frail economic situation in the US resulted in the composer performing to smaller audiences, and he lost money in his investments and shares. The European leg of this tour in 1933 saw Rachmaninoff celebrate his sixtieth birthday among fellow musicians and friends, after which he retreated to Villa Senar for the summer.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/67/mode/2up 67]}} In May 1934, Rachmaninoff underwent a minor operation and two years later, he retreated to [[Aix-les-Bains]] in France to improve his arthritis.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/69/mode/2up 69]}} During a visit to Villa Senar in 1937, Rachmaninoff entered talks with choreographer [[Michel Fokine]] about a ballet based on [[Niccolò Paganini]] that was to feature his rhapsody. It premiered in London in 1939 with the composer's daughters in attendance.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/70/mode/2up 70]}} In 1938, Rachmaninoff performed his Piano Concerto No. 2 at a charity jubilee concert at London's [[Royal Albert Hall]] to celebrate [[Henry Wood]], founder of the [[BBC Proms|Promenade concerts]] and an admirer of Rachmaninoff's who wanted him to be the show's only soloist. Rachmaninoff agreed, so long as the performance was not broadcast on the radio due to his aversion to the medium.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/71/mode/2up 71]}}

The 1939–40 concert season saw Rachmaninoff perform fewer concerts than usual, totalling 43 appearances that were mostly in the US. The tour continued with dates across England, after which Rachmaninoff visited his daughter Tatyana in Paris followed by a return to Villa Senar. He was unable to perform for a while after slipping on the floor at the villa and injuring himself.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|pp=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/348/mode/2up 348–349]}} He recovered enough to perform at the Lucerne International Music Festival on 11 August 1939. It was to be his final concert in Europe. With [[World War II]] imminent, he returned to Paris two days later, where he, his wife, and two daughters were together for the last time before the composer left Europe on 23 August.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/72/mode/2up 72]}}{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/322/mode/2up 322]}} With financial help from Rachmaninoff, philosopher [[Ivan Ilyin]] was able to pay the [[bail]] and settle in Switzerland. Rachmaninoff would support the [[Soviet Union]]'s war effort against [[Nazi Germany]] from mid-1941 onwards, donating receipts from many of his concerts for the benefit of the [[Red Army]].{{sfn|Seroff|1950|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/225/mode/2up 225]}}

Upon his return to the US, Rachmaninoff performed with the [[Philadelphia Orchestra]] in New York City with conductor [[Eugene Ormandy]] on 26 November and 3 December 1939, as part of the orchestra's special series of concerts dedicated to the composer in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of his US debut.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/73/mode/2up 73]}} The final concert on 10 December saw Rachmaninoff conduct his Symphony No. 3 and ''The Bells'', marking his first conducting performance since 1917.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/323/mode/2up 323]}} The concert season left Rachmaninoff tired, and he spent the summer resting from minor surgery at Orchard's Point, an estate near [[Huntington, New York]] on [[Long Island]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/323/mode/2up 323], [https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/330/mode/2up 330]}} During this period Rachmaninoff completed his final composition, the [[Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninoff)|''Symphonic Dances'']], Op. 45, which was premiered by Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in January 1941, with Rachmaninoff in attendance.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/73/mode/2up 73]}} In December 1939, Rachmaninoff began an extensive recording period which lasted until February 1942 and included his Piano Concerto Nos. 1 and 3 and Symphony No. 3 at the [[Academy of Music (Philadelphia)|Philadelphia Academy of Music]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/323/mode/2up 323]}}

=== 1942–1943: Illness, move to California, and death ===
[[File:Sergei Rachmaninoff house. 610 Elm Drive Beverly Hills, California 20220617 154140 3 (1).jpg|thumb|Sergei Rachmaninoff house at 610 North Elm Drive in Beverly Hills, California]]
In early 1942, Rachmaninoff was advised by his doctor to relocate to a warmer climate to improve his health after suffering from [[Sclerosis (medicine)|sclerosis]], [[lumbago]], [[neuralgia]], high blood pressure, and headaches.{{sfn|Robinson|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=i2hxJrlSE0AC&pg=PA129 129]}} After he completed his final studio recording sessions during this time in February,{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/340/mode/2up 340]}} a move to Long Island fell through after the composer and his wife expressed a greater interest in California, and initially settled in a leased home on Tower Road in [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]] in May.{{sfn|Robinson|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=i2hxJrlSE0AC&pg=PA129 129]}}{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/73/mode/2up 73]}} In June they purchased a home at 610 North Elm Drive in Beverly Hills, living close to Horowitz who would often visit and perform piano duets with Rachmaninoff.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/343/mode/2up 343]}}{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/72/mode/2up 72]}} Later in 1942, Rachmaninoff invited [[Igor Stravinsky]] to dinner, the two sharing their worries of a war-torn Russia and their children in France.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|pp=111–112}}{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/197/mode/2up 197]}}

[[File:SR_statue_Knoxville_front.jpg|thumb|left|Statue commemorating Rachmaninoff's last concert, in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]]]]

Shortly after a performance at the [[Hollywood Bowl]] in July 1942, Rachmaninoff was suffering from lumbago and fatigue. He informed his doctor, Alexander Golitsyn, that the upcoming 1942–43 concert season would be his last, in order to dedicate his time to composition.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/344/mode/2up 344]}}{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/73/mode/2up 73]}} The tour began on 12 October 1942 and the composer received many positive reviews from critics despite his deteriorating health.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/73/mode/2up 73]}} Rachmaninoff and his wife Natalia were among the 220 people who became [[Naturalization|naturalised]] American citizens at a ceremony held in New York City on 1 February 1943.{{sfn|Cunningham|2001|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k2YrwE8GaLEC&pg=PA6 6]}}{{sfn|Cannata|1999|p=24}} Later that month he complained of persistent cough and back pain; a doctor diagnosed him with pleurisy and advised that a warmer climate would aid in his recovery. Rachmaninoff opted to continue with touring, but felt so ill during his travels to [[Florida]] that the remaining dates were cancelled and he returned to California by train, where an ambulance took him to hospital. It was then that Rachmaninoff was diagnosed with an aggressive form of [[melanoma]]. His wife took Rachmaninoff home where he reunited with his daughter Irina.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/230/mode/2up 230–231]}} His last appearances as a concerto soloist, playing Beethoven's First Piano Concerto and his ''Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'', were on 11 and 12 February with the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] under the baton of [[Hans Lange (conductor)|Hans Lange]],{{sfn|Scott|2011|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot/page/199/mode/2up 199]}} and on 17 February, at the [[University of Tennessee]] in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], he gave his last recital as a pianist.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/75/mode/2up 75]}}{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/713/mode/2up 713]}}{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=354}}

[[File:Grave of Sergei Rachmaninoff.jpg|thumb|Rachmaninoff's grave at [[Kensico Cemetery]] in May 2006]]

Rachmaninoff's health rapidly declined in the last week of March 1943. He lost his appetite, had constant pain in his arms and sides, and found it increasingly difficult to breathe. On 26 March, the composer lost consciousness and he died two days later at his home in Beverly Hills, at age 69.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/230/mode/2up 230–232]}} A message with greetings from several Moscow composers arrived too late for Rachmaninoff to read.{{sfn|Seroff|1950|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero/page/230/mode/2up 230–232]}} His funeral took place at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church on Micheltorena Street in [[Silver Lake, Los Angeles|Silver Lake]].{{sfn|Robinson|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=i2hxJrlSE0AC&pg=PA130 130]}} In his will, Rachmaninoff wished to be buried at [[Novodevichy Cemetery]] in Moscow, where Scriabin, Taneyev, and [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]] were buried, but his American citizenship made that impossible.{{sfn|Wehrmeyer|2004|p=113}} Instead, he was interred at [[Kensico Cemetery]] in [[Valhalla, New York]].{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/76/mode/2up 76]}}

After Rachmaninoff's death, poet [[Marietta Shaginyan]] published fifteen letters they exchanged from their first contact in February 1912 and their final meeting in July 1917.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/176/mode/2up 176]}} The nature of their relationship bordered on romantic, but was primarily intellectual and emotional. Shaginyan and the poetry she shared with Rachmaninoff have been cited as the inspiration for his Six Songs, Op. 38.{{sfn|Simpson|1984|p=}}

== Music ==

=== Influences ===

A major influence on Rachmaninoff as a composer was [[Tchaikovsky]]. This influence can be seen throughout Rachmaninoff's early compositions, such as in his [[Youth Symphony (Rachmaninoff)|Youth Symphony]], which is reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's late symphonies, sections of his symphonic poem ''[[Prince Rostislav (Rachmaninoff)|Prince Rostislav]]'', which emulates ''[[The Tempest (Tchaikovsky)|The Tempest]]'' and ''[[Romeo and Juliet (Tchaikovsky)|Romeo and Juliet]]'', and his youthful [[Miscellaneous solo piano compositions (Rachmaninoff)|Three Nocturnes]], the third of which contains a chordal section very similar to the opening of Tchaikovsky's [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)|First Piano Concerto]].{{sfn|Norris|1983|p=603}} His first opera, ''Aleko'' shows the influence of Tchaikovsky in both its harmonies, and in its allusions and references to ''[[Eugene Onegin]]''.{{sfn|Frey|2022|pp=104, 113–116}} Tchaikovsky was also particularly influential on Rachmaninoff's melodic writing, though musicologist [[Stephen Walsh (writer)|Stephen Walsh]] describes Rachmaninoff's melodies as lacking the range or length of Tchaikovsky's.{{sfn|Walsh|1973|p=15}}

The influence of [[Anton Arensky]], who taught Rachmaninoff for five years while he was at the Moscow Conservatory, can be seen in the composer's early compositions.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=9}}{{sfn|Norris|1983|p=603}} This influence can be seen, for example, in his symphonic poem ''Prince Rostislav'', dedicated to Arensky, and a number of compositions from his student years may have been written as exercises for his teacher.{{sfn|Norris|1983|p=603}} According to biographer Barrie Martyn, the "obviously Russian character" and "Tchaikovskian lyricism" of Arensky's music were elements which were also part of Rachmaninoff's compositional style.{{snf|Martyn|1990|p=10}} [[Sergei Taneyev]], Rachmaninoff's teacher in counterpoint at the Moscow Conservatory, was also an influence on his early compositions,{{sfn|Norris|1983|p=603}} and Rachmaninoff would bring his compositions to Taneyev to gain his approval all the way up to 1915, the year in which Taneyev died.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=11}} In his later style, the influence of [[Rimsky-Korsakov]] can be seen in the increasingly chromatic harmonies and thinner orchestration in Rachmaninoff's compositions from his Third Piano Concerto onwards.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=31}}

=== Works ===
{{Main|List of compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff}}

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|caption=The cadenza of the [[Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto {{nowrap|No. 3}}]] is famous for its grand chords.}}

Rachmaninoff wrote five works for piano and orchestra: four concertos—[[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|{{nowrap|No. 1}} in F-sharp minor]], Op.&nbsp;1 (1891, revised 1917), [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|{{nowrap|No. 2}} in C minor]], Op.&nbsp;18 (1900–01), [[Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|{{nowrap|No. 3}} in D minor]], Op.&nbsp;30 (1909), and [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Rachmaninoff)|{{nowrap|No. 4}} in G minor]], Op.&nbsp;40 (1926, revised 1928 and 1941)—and the ''[[Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini]]'' (1934). Of the concertos, the Second and Third are the most popular.{{sfn|O'Connell|1941|p=380}}

Rachmaninoff also composed a number of works for orchestra alone. The three symphonies: [[Symphony No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|{{nowrap|No. 1}} in D minor]], Op.&nbsp;13 (1895), [[Symphony No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|{{nowrap|No. 2}} in E minor]], Op.&nbsp;27 (1907), and [[Symphony No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|{{nowrap|No. 3}} in A minor]], Op.&nbsp;44 (1935–36). Widely spaced chronologically, the symphonies represent three distinct phases in his compositional development. The Second has been the most popular of the three since its first performance. Among Rachmaninoff's other orchestral works are his ''[[Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninoff)|Symphonic Dances]]'' (Op.&nbsp;45), his last major composition, and his four [[symphonic poem]]s: ''[[Prince Rostislav (Rachmaninoff)|Prince Rostislav]]'', ''[[The Rock (Rachmaninoff)|The Rock]]'' (Op.&nbsp;7), ''[[Caprice bohémien]]'' (Op.&nbsp;12), and ''[[Isle of the Dead (Rachmaninoff)|The Isle of the Dead]]'' (Op.&nbsp;29).

As Rachmaninoff was a skilled pianist, a large portion of his compositional output consists of works for solo piano. They include [[Preludes (Rachmaninoff)|24 Preludes traversing all 24 major and minor keys]]; [[Prelude in C-sharp minor (Rachmaninoff)|Prelude in C-sharp minor]] (Op.&nbsp;3, {{nowrap|No. 2}}) from ''[[Morceaux de fantaisie]]'' (Op.&nbsp;3); [[Preludes, Op. 23 (Rachmaninoff)|ten preludes in Op.&nbsp;23]]; and [[Preludes, Op. 32 (Rachmaninoff)|thirteen in Op.&nbsp;32]]. Especially difficult are the two sets of ''Études-Tableaux'', [[Études-Tableaux, Op. 33|Op.&nbsp;33]] and [[Études-Tableaux, Op. 39|39]], which are very demanding ''study pictures''. Stylistically, Op.&nbsp;33 hearkens back to the preludes, while Op.&nbsp;39 shows the influences of [[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin]] and [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]]. There are also the ''[[Six moments musicaux (Rachmaninoff)|Six moments musicaux]]'' (Op.&nbsp;16), the ''[[Variations on a Theme of Chopin (Rachmaninoff)|Variations on a Theme of Chopin]]'' (Op.&nbsp;22), and the ''[[Variations on a Theme of Corelli]]'' (Op.&nbsp;42). He wrote two [[piano sonata]]s, both of which are large scale and virtuosic in their technical demands. Rachmaninoff also composed works for two pianos, four hands, including two Suites (the first subtitled ''Fantasie-Tableaux''), a version of the ''Symphonic Dances'' (Op.&nbsp;45), and an arrangement of the C-sharp minor Prelude, as well as a ''Russian Rhapsody'', and he arranged his First Symphony (below) for piano four hands. Both these works were published posthumously.

Rachmaninoff wrote two major [[a cappella]] choral works—the ''[[Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (Rachmaninoff)|Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom]]''<ref name="moody">
{{cite web
|url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/55318-B.pdf
|title=Sergei Rachmaninov: The Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 31
|access-date=2025-08-25
|last=Moody
|first=Ivan
|date=1994
|type=Liner notes
|id=[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55318 CDH55318]
|publisher=[[Hyperion Records]]}}</ref> and the ''[[All-Night Vigil (Rachmaninoff)|All-Night Vigil]]'' (also known as the ''Vespers''). It was the fifth movement of ''All-Night Vigil'' that Rachmaninoff requested to have sung at his funeral. Other choral works include a [[choral symphony]], ''[[The Bells (symphony)|The Bells]]''; the cantata [[Spring (Rachmaninoff)|''Spring'']]; the ''[[Three Russian Songs, Op.&nbsp;41 (Rachmaninoff)|Three Russian Songs]]''; and an early ''Concerto for Choir'' (a cappella).

He completed three one-act operas: ''[[Aleko (Rachmaninoff)|Aleko]]'' (1892), ''[[The Miserly Knight]]'' (1903), and ''[[Francesca da Rimini (Rachmaninoff)|Francesca da Rimini]]'' (1904). He started three others, notably ''[[Monna Vanna]]'', based on the work by [[Maurice Maeterlinck]]; copyright in this had been extended to the composer [[Henry Février|Février]],{{sfn|Maes|2002|p=[https://archive.org/details/historyofrussian0000maes/page/195/mode/2up 195]}} and, though the restriction did not pertain to Russia, Rachmaninoff dropped the project after completing act 1 in piano vocal score in 1908.{{efn|This act was later orchestrated by Igor Buketoff in 1984, and performed in the U.S.}} ''Aleko'' is regularly performed and has been recorded complete at least eight times, and filmed. ''The Miserly Knight'' adheres to Pushkin's "little tragedy". ''Francesca da Rimini'' was described by the composer as a "symphonic opera" because of its long interludes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prelude to a kiss: Rachmaninov's Francesca da Rimini |url=https://bachtrack.com/feature-rachmaninov-francesca-da-rimini-dante-alighieri-september-2021 |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=bachtrack.com |language=en}}</ref>

Rachmaninoff, similarly to many Russian composers of his time, wrote relatively little chamber music.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/122/mode/2up 122]}} His output in the genre includes two piano trios, both of which are named ''Trio Elégiaque'' (the [[Trio élégiaque No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|second]] of which is a memorial tribute to Tchaikovsky), a [[Cello Sonata (Rachmaninoff)|Cello Sonata]], and the [[Morceaux de salon, Op. 6 (Rachmaninoff)|''Morceaux de salon'']] for violin and piano.

Rachmaninoff composed a total of 83 songs (''románsy'' in Russian) for voice and piano, all of which were written before he left Russia permanently in 1917.{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/138/mode/2up 138]}}{{sfn|Sylvester|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR12 xii], [https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR14 xiv]}} Most of his songs were set to texts by Russian romantic writers and poets,{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/138/mode/2up 138]}} such as [[Alexander Pushkin]], [[Mikhail Lermontov]], [[Afanasy Fet]], [[Anton Chekhov]] and [[Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy|Aleksey Tolstoy]], among others. His most popular song is the wordless ''[[Vocalise (Rachmaninoff)|Vocalise]]'', which he later arranged for orchestra.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/184/mode/2up 184]}}

=== Compositional style ===
{{Listen|type=music|help=no|image=none
|filename=Sergei Rachmaninoff - Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39, No. 5.ogg
|title=Étude-Tableau in E-flat minor
|description=Karine Gilanyan performing [[Études-Tableaux, Op. 39|''Étude-Tableau'' in E-flat minor]], Op. 39, No. 5
|filename2=Rachmaninoff - Vocalise transcribed for Violin and Piano.ogg
|title2="Vocalise" transcribed for violin and piano
|description2="[[Vocalise (Rachmaninoff)|Vocalise]]" performed by Roxana Pavel (violin) and Monica Pavel (piano)
|filename3=Рахманінов-елегія.ogg
|title3=Élégie in E-flat minor
|description3=Élégie in E-flat minor (from the set ''[[Morceaux de fantaisie]]'') performed by Oksana Yevsyukova (piano)}}

Rachmaninoff's style was initially influenced by [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]. By the mid-1890s, however, his compositions began showing a more individual tone. His First Symphony has many original features. Its brutal gestures and uncompromising power of expression were unprecedented in Russian music at the time. Its flexible [[rhythm]]s, sweeping lyricism, and stringent economy of thematic material were all features he kept and refined in subsequent works. Following the poor reception of the symphony and three years of inactivity, Rachmaninoff's individual style developed significantly. He started leaning towards broadly lyrical, often passionate melodies. His orchestration became subtler and more varied, with textures carefully contrasted. Overall, his writing became more concise.{{sfn|Norris|2001b|pp=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/714/mode/2up 714–715]}}

Especially important is Rachmaninoff's use of unusually widely spaced chords for bell-like sounds: this occurs in many pieces, most notably in the [[choral symphony]] ''The Bells'', the Second Piano Concerto, the E-flat major ''Étude-Tableaux'' (Op.&nbsp;33, {{nowrap|No. 7}}), and the B minor Prelude (Op.&nbsp;32, {{nowrap|No. 10}}). "It is not enough to say that the church bells of Novgorod, St Petersburg and Moscow influenced Rachmaninov and feature prominently in his music. This much is self-evident. What is extraordinary is the variety of bell sounds and breadth of structural and other functions they fulfill."{{sfn|Carruthers|2006|p=49}} He was also fond of Russian Orthodox chants. He used them most perceptibly in his ''Vespers'', but many of his melodies found their origins in these chants. The opening melody of the First Symphony is derived from chants. (The opening melody of the Third Piano Concerto, on the other hand, is not derived from chants; when asked, Rachmaninoff said that "it had [written] itself".){{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|p=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/158/mode/2up 158]}}{{sfn|Yasser|1969|p=325}}

[[File:Sergei Rachmaninoff LOC 31755.jpg|thumb|Rachmaninoff with a piano score]]

Rachmaninoff's frequently used motifs include the ''[[Dies irae]]'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Druesedow Jr. |first=J. E. |date=2004-03-01 |title=Dies irae: a guide to requiem music |url=http://choicereviews.org/review/10.5860/CHOICE.41-3773 |journal=Choice Reviews Online |language=en |volume=41 |issue=07 |pages=41–3773–41-3773 |doi=10.5860/CHOICE.41-3773 |issn=0009-4978 |via=EBSCOhost|url-access=subscription }}</ref> often just the fragments of the first phrase. Rachmaninoff had great command of [[counterpoint]] and [[fugue|fugal]] writing, thanks to his studies with Taneyev. The above-mentioned occurrence of the ''Dies irae'' in the [[Symphony No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|Second Symphony]] (1907) is but a small example of this. Very characteristic of his writing is [[chromatic scale|chromatic]] counterpoint. This talent was paired with a confidence in writing in both large- and small-scale forms. The [[Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Third Piano Concerto]] especially shows a structural ingenuity, while each of the preludes grows from a tiny melodic or rhythmic fragment into a taut, powerfully evocative miniature, crystallizing a particular mood or sentiment while employing a complexity of texture, rhythmic flexibility and a pungent chromatic harmony.{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/715/mode/2up 715]}}

His compositional style had already begun changing before the [[October Revolution]] deprived him of his homeland. The [[harmony|harmonic]] writing in ''The Bells'' was composed in 1913 but not published until 1920. This may have been due to Rachmaninoff's main publisher, Gutheil, having died in 1914 and Gutheil's catalog being acquired by [[Serge Koussevitsky]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/191/mode/2up 191]}} ''The Bells'' became as advanced as in any of the works Rachmaninoff would write in Russia, partly because the melodic material has a harmonic aspect which arises from its [[chromaticism|chromatic]] [[ornamentation (music)|ornamentation]].{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/190/mode/2up 190–191]}} Further changes are apparent in the revised [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)|First Piano Concerto]], which he finished just before leaving Russia, as well as in the Op.&nbsp;38 songs and Op.&nbsp;39 [[Études-Tableaux, Op. 39|Études-Tableaux]]. In both these sets Rachmaninoff was less concerned with pure melody than with coloring. His near-[[Impressionism|Impressionist]] style perfectly matched the texts by [[Symbolism (movement)|symbolist]] poets.{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/716/mode/2up 716]}} The Op.&nbsp;39 Études-Tableaux are among the most demanding pieces he wrote for any medium, both technically and in the sense that the player must see beyond any technical challenges to a considerable array of emotions, then unify all these aspects.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/207/mode/2up 207]}}

The composer's friend Vladimir Wilshaw noticed this compositional change continuing in the early 1930s, with a difference between the sometimes very extroverted Op.&nbsp;39 Études-Tableaux (the composer had broken a string on the piano at one performance) and the ''[[Variations on a Theme of Corelli]]'' (Op.&nbsp;42, 1931). The variations show an even greater textural clarity than in the Op.&nbsp;38 songs, combined with a more abrasive use of chromatic harmony and a new rhythmic incisiveness. This would be characteristic of all his later works—the [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto {{nowrap|No. 4}}]] (Op.&nbsp;40, 1926) is composed in a more emotionally introverted style, with a greater clarity of texture. Nevertheless, some of his most beautiful (nostalgic and melancholy) melodies occur in the [[Symphony No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Third Symphony]], ''[[Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini]]'', and ''[[Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninoff)|Symphonic Dances]]''.{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/716/mode/2up 716]}}

Music theorist and musicologist [[Joseph Yasser]], as early as 1951, uncovered progressive tendencies in Rachmaninoff's compositions. He uncovered Rachmaninoff's use of an intra-tonal [[chromaticism]] that stands in notable contrast to the inter-tonal chromaticism of [[Richard Wagner]] and strikingly contrasts the extra-tonal chromaticism of the more radical twentieth century composers like [[Arnold Schoenberg]]. Yasser postulated that a variable, subtle, but unmistakable characteristic use of this intra-tonal chromaticism permeated Rachmaninoff's music.{{sfn|Yasser|1951|p=}}

== Pianist ==
{{Listen|type=music|pos=right
|filename=Sergei Rachmaninoff performs Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3.ogg
|title={{nowrap|Prelude in C♯ minor, Op. 3, No. 2}}
|description=Playing his famous [[Prelude in C-sharp minor (Rachmaninoff)|Prelude in C{{Music|#}} minor]]. Composed when he was 19, the piece established his fame in America. Recorded in 1919.
|filename2=Second Hungarian Rhapsody.ogg
|title2=Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
|description2=Playing the first 4 minutes of [[Franz Liszt]]'s [[Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2]]. Recorded in 1919 by [[Edison Records]].
|filename3=Rachmaninoff - Chopin Waltz E flat major - Steinway grand piano.ogg
|title3=Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18
|description3=Performing [[Frédéric Chopin]]'s [[Waltzes (Chopin)|Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18]]. Recorded on 21 January 1921.}}

Rachmaninoff ranked among the finest pianists of his time,{{sfn|Schonberg|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/livesofgreatcomp00scho_1/page/522/mode/2up 522]}} along with [[Leopold Godowsky]], [[Ignaz Friedman]], [[Moriz Rosenthal]], [[Josef Lhévinne]], [[Ferruccio Busoni]], and [[Josef Hofmann]], and he was famed for possessing a clean and virtuosic technique. His playing was marked by precision, rhythmic drive, notable use of staccato and the ability to maintain clarity when playing works with complex textures. Rachmaninoff applied these qualities in music by [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], including the [[Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin)|B-flat minor Piano Sonata]]. Rachmaninoff's repertoire, excepting his own works, consisted mainly of standard 19th century virtuoso works plus music by [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], [[Alexander Borodin|Borodin]], [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]], [[Edvard Grieg|Grieg]], [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]], [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]], [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]] and [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]].{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/714/mode/2up 714]}}

The two pieces Rachmaninoff singled out for praise from [[Anton Rubinstein]]'s concerts became cornerstones for his own recital programs. The compositions were Beethoven's [[Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)|''Appassionata'']] and Chopin's ''Funeral March'' Sonata. He may have based his interpretation of the Chopin sonata on that of Rubinstein. Rachmaninoff biographer Barrie Martyn points out similarities between written accounts of Rubinstein's interpretation and Rachmaninoff's audio recording of the work.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|pp=368, 403–406}}

=== Technique ===
<!-- This ought to be rewritten, parts of this are virtually identical to Schonberg 1988 (p. 317). -->
Rachmaninoff possessed large hands,{{sfn|Dąbrowski|Stankiewicz-Jóźwicka|Kowalczyk|Wróblewski|2021|p=3}} with which he could easily maneuver through the most complex chordal configurations. His left hand technique was unusually powerful. His playing was marked by ''definition''—where other pianists' playing became blurry-sounding from overuse of the pedal or deficiencies in finger technique, Rachmaninoff's textures were always crystal clear. Only Josef Hofmann and Josef Lhévinne shared this kind of clarity with him.{{sfn|Schonberg|1988|p=[https://archive.org/details/virtuosiclassica0000scho/page/317/mode/2up 317]}} All three men had Anton Rubinstein as a model for this kind of playing—Hofmann as a student of Rubinstein's,{{sfn|Schonberg|1987|p=[https://archive.org/details/greatpianists000scho/page/384/mode/2up 384]}} Rachmaninoff from hearing his famous series of historical recitals in Moscow while studying with Zverev,{{sfn|Riesemann|1934|pp=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919/page/n65/mode/2up 49–52]}} and Lhévinne from hearing and playing with him.

=== Tone ===
[[File:Rachmaninoff at Steinway grand piano.jpg|thumb|right|Rachmaninoff seated at a Steinway grand piano]]
Of Rachmaninoff's tone, [[Arthur Rubinstein]] wrote:

<blockquote>I was always under the spell of his glorious and inimitable tone which could make me forget my uneasiness about his too rapidly fleeting fingers and his exaggerated ''[[Tempo rubato|rubatos]]''. There was always the irresistible sensuous charm, not unlike [[Fritz Kreisler|Kreisler]]'s.{{sfn|Rubinstein|1980|p=[https://archive.org/details/mymanyyears0000rubi/page/468/mode/2up 468]}}</blockquote>

Coupled to this tone was a vocal quality not unlike that attributed to Chopin's playing. With Rachmaninoff's extensive operatic experience, he was a great admirer of fine singing. As his records demonstrate, he possessed a tremendous ability to make a musical line sing, no matter how long the notes or how complex the supporting texture, with most of his interpretations taking on a narrative quality. With the stories he told at the keyboard came multiple voices—a [[polyphony|polyphonic]] dialogue, not the least in terms of dynamics. His 1940 recording of his transcription of the song "Daisies" captures this quality extremely well. On the recording, separate musical strands enter as if from various human voices in eloquent conversation. This ability came from an exceptional independence of fingers and hands.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/270/mode/2up 270]}}

=== Interpretations ===
[[File:Rachmaninoff playing Steinway grand piano.jpg|thumb|left|Rachmaninoff playing his [[Steinway]] grand piano at his home (1936 or before)]]
Regardless of the music, Rachmaninoff always planned his performances carefully. He based his interpretations on the theory that each piece of music has a "culminating point". Regardless of where that point was or at which dynamic within that piece, the performer had to know how to approach it with absolute calculation and precision; otherwise, the whole construction of the piece could crumble and the piece could become disjointed. This was a practice he learned from Russian bass [[Feodor Chaliapin]], a staunch friend.{{sfn|Norris|2001b|p=[https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/714/mode/2up 714]}} Paradoxically, Rachmaninoff often sounded like he was improvising, though he actually was not. While his interpretations were mosaics of tiny details, when those mosaics came together in performance, they might, according to the tempo of the piece being played, fly past at great speed, giving the impression of instant thought.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/268/mode/2up 268]}}

One advantage Rachmaninoff had in this building process over most of his contemporaries was in approaching the pieces he played from the perspective of a composer rather than that of an interpreter. He believed "interpretation demands something of the creative instinct. If you are a composer, you have an affinity with other composers. You can make contact with their imaginations, knowing something of their problems and their ideals. You can give their works ''color''. That is the most important thing for me in my interpretations, ''color''. So you make music live. Without color it is dead."{{sfn|Mayne|1936|p=}} Nevertheless, Rachmaninoff also possessed a far better sense of structure than many of his contemporaries, such as Hofmann, or the majority of pianists from the previous generation, judging from their respective recordings.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/270/mode/2up 270]}}

A recording that showcases Rachmaninoff's approach is the [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] Second Polonaise, recorded in 1925. [[Percy Grainger]], who had been influenced by the composer and Liszt specialist [[Ferruccio Busoni]], had himself recorded the same piece a few years earlier. Rachmaninoff's performance is far more taut and concentrated than Grainger's. The Russian's drive and monumental conception bear a considerable difference to the Australian's more delicate perceptions. Grainger's textures are elaborate. Rachmaninoff shows the filigree as essential to the work's structure, not simply decorative.{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/251/mode/2up 251]}}

=== Hand size and medical speculations ===
Along with his musical gifts, Rachmaninoff possessed physical gifts that placed him in good stead as a pianist, including large hands with a gigantic finger stretch. [[Cyril Smith (pianist)|Cyril Smith]] noted that Rachmaninoff could play a [[Interval_(music)#Compound_intervals|twelfth]] with the left hand playing C, Eb, G, C and G, and his right hand could play the notes C (index), E (3rd finger), G, C, and E (thumb).{{sfn|Norris|2001a|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr/page/77/mode/2up 77]}}{{sfn|Young|1986|p=[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1351877/pdf/bmjcred00266-0038.pdf#page=1 1624]}}

His hand size, in addition to his considerable height, slender frame, long limbs, narrow head, prominent ears, and thin nose has led to the suggestion that he may have had [[Marfan syndrome]], a hereditary disorder of the [[connective tissue]]. This syndrome would have accounted for several minor ailments he suffered all his life, including back pain, arthritis, eye strain, and bruising of the fingertips.{{sfn|Young|1986|p=[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1351877/pdf/bmjcred00266-0038.pdf#page=2 1625–1626]}} An article in the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'', however, pointed out that Rachmaninoff did not show many of the typical signs of Marfan syndrome, and instead suggested that he may have had [[acromegaly]], which, the article speculated, would possibly have accounted for stiffness Rachmaninoff experienced in his hands, and for the repeated periods of depression he experienced throughout his life, and could have possibly even been connected to his melanoma.{{sfn|Ramachandran|Aronson|2006|p=}}

=== Recordings ===
{{See also|Sergei Rachmaninoff recordings}}

Upon arriving in America, Rachmaninoff's poor financial situation prompted him in 1919 to record a selection of piano pieces for [[Edison Records]] on their "[[Diamond Disc]]" records, in a limited contract for ten released sides.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=439}} Rachmaninoff felt his performances varied in quality and requested final approval prior to a commercial release. [[Thomas Edison|Edison]] agreed, but still issued multiple takes, an unusual practice which was standard at Edison Records. Rachmaninoff and Edison Records were pleased with the released discs and wished to record more, but Edison refused, saying the ten sides were sufficient. This, in addition to technical issues in the recordings and Edison's lack of musical taste, led to Rachmaninoff's annoyance with the company, and as soon as his contract ended he left Edison Records.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=439–440}}

[[File:Rachmaninoff.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|A [[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor]] advertisement from March 1921 featuring Rachmaninoff]]

In 1920, Rachmaninoff signed a contract with the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] (later [[RCA Red Seal|RCA Victor]]).{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=440}} Unlike Edison, the company was pleased to comply with his requests, and proudly advertised Rachmaninoff as one of their prominent recording artists. He continued to record for Victor until 1942, when the [[American Federation of Musicians]] imposed a [[1942–44 musicians' strike|recording ban]] on their members in a strike over [[royalty payment]]s. Rachmaninoff died in March 1943, over a year and a half before RCA Victor settled with the union and resumed commercial recording activity.

{{external media|audio1=[https://archive.org/details/CHOPINSonataInB-flatMinor-NEWTRANSFER/01.I.Grave.mp3 Rachmaninoff performing] Chopin's [[Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin)|Piano Sonata No. 2]]}}
When Rachmaninoff recorded his works, he would seek perfection, often re-recording them until he was satisfied.{{sfn|Burkholder|2007|p=844}}{{sfn|Harrison|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/231/mode/2up 231–232]}} Particularly renowned are his renditions of Schumann's ''[[Carnaval (Schumann)|Carnaval]]'' and Chopin's [[Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin)|Piano Sonata No. 2]], along with many shorter pieces. He recorded all four of his piano concertos with the [[Philadelphia Orchestra]]; the first, third, and fourth concertos were recorded with [[Eugene Ormandy]] in 1939–41, and two versions of the second concerto with [[Leopold Stokowski]] in 1924 and 1929.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|pp=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/421/mode/2up 421–422]}} He also made a recording of the ''Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'', soon after its first performance (1934) with the Philadelphians under Stokowski, in addition to three recordings he made as conductor with the [[Philadelphia Orchestra]], playing his own [[Symphony No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Third Symphony]], his symphonic poem ''[[Isle of the Dead (Rachmaninoff)|Isle of the Dead]]'', and his orchestration of ''[[Vocalise (Rachmaninoff)|Vocalise]]''.{{sfn|Bertensson|Leyda|1956|pp=[https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert/page/421/mode/2up 421–422]}}{{efn|The entire collection of Rachmaninoff's recordings were reissued in 1992 by RCA Victor in a 10-CD set entitled "Sergei Rachmaninoff – The Complete Recordings" (RCA Victor Gold Seal 09026-61265-2).}}

Rachmaninoff also recorded a number of piano rolls on the [[reproducing piano]] of the [[American Piano Company|American Piano Company (Ampico)]], producing a total of 35 piano rolls from 1919 to 1929, 12 of which were of his own compositions.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=499}}{{sfn|Harrison|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr/page/223/mode/2up 223]}} He began recording rolls for Ampico in March 1919, upon the suggestion of his friend [[Fritz Kreisler]], and continued doing so, on and off, until around February 1929, though his last roll, of Chopin's [[Scherzo No. 2 (Chopin)|Scherzo No. 2]], was not published until October 1933.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|pp=498&ndash;499, 505}}{{sfn|Obenchain|1987|p=29}} Of the works he produced piano rolls for, 29 he also made gramophone recordings of, and these provide evidence for Rachmaninoff's consistency of interpretation.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=499}} In addition, there also survives an unpublished piano roll of the second movement of his Second Piano Concerto, and may be indicative of Rachmaninoff having made other rolls.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=499}}

== Conductor ==

Apart from several performances, including two of his opera ''Aleko'' in 1893, Rachmaninoff first began conducting in 1897, and performed as a conductor every year until 1914.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|pp=509&ndash;10, 519}} After leaving Russia permanently in 1917, Rachmaninoff prioritised performing as a pianist to conducting, giving only seven more recitals as a conductor until the end of his life.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=522}}

Rachmaninoff was noted for his restraint in conducting, and for the "simple and unpolished" manner in which he gestured to the orchestra.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=516&ndash;517}} According to [[Alexander Goldenweiser (composer)|Alexander Goldenweiser]], his performances as a conductor were much stricter and less rhythmically free than his performances on the piano.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|pp=518&ndash;519}} In [[Nikolai Medtner]]'s estimation, he was "the greatest Russian conductor".{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=523}}

In addition to his own works, Rachmaninoff conducted repertoire primarily from fellow Russian composers, such as [[Borodin]], [[Alexander Glazunov|Glazunov]], [[Mikhail Glinka|Glinka]], [[Anatoly Lyadov|Lyadov]], [[Mussorgsky]], [[Rimsky-Korsakov]] and [[Tchaikovsky]], as well as other composers such as [[Grieg]] and [[Liszt]].{{sfn|Martyn|1990|pp=526&ndash;531}} Outside of Russia, Rachmaninoff conducted almost exclusively his own works.{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=519}}

== Reputation and legacy ==
[[File:Nowgorod, pomnik Rachmaninow z golębiami.jpg|thumb|Upper part of Rachmaninoff's statue by {{ill|Alexandr Rukavishnikov|ru|Рукавишников, Александр Иулианович}} in [[Veliky Novgorod]]]]
[[File:RR5216-0007R С.В.Рахманинов.png|thumb|upright|left|A Russian Federation commemorative Rachmaninoff coin]]

Rachmaninoff's reputation as a composer generated a variety of opinions before his music gained steady recognition around the world. The 1954 edition of the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'' notoriously dismissed Rachmaninoff's music as "monotonous in texture ... consist[ing] mainly of artificial and gushing tunes" and predicted that his popular success was "not likely to last".{{sfn|Schonberg|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/livesofgreatcomp00scho_1/page/520/mode/2up 520]}}{{sfn|Martyn|1990|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_zkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 16]}} To this, [[Harold C. Schonberg]], 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."{{sfn|Schonberg|1997|p=[https://archive.org/details/livesofgreatcomp00scho_1/page/520/mode/2up 520]}}

The [[Conservatoire Rachmaninoff]] in Paris, as well as streets in [[Veliky Novgorod]] (which is close to his birthplace) and [[Tambov]], are named after the composer. In 1986, the Moscow Conservatory dedicated a concert hall on its premises to Rachmaninoff, designating the 252-seat auditorium Rachmaninoff Hall, and in 1999 the [[Monument to Sergei Rachmaninov|"Monument to Sergei Rachmaninoff"]] was installed in Moscow. A separate monument to Rachmaninoff was unveiled in Veliky Novgorod, near his birthplace, on 14 June 2009. The 2015 musical ''[[Preludes (musical)|Preludes]]'' by [[Dave Malloy]] depicts Rachmaninoff's struggle with depression and writer's block.

A statue marked "Rachmaninoff: The Last Concert", designed and sculpted by Victor Bokarev, stands at the [[World's Fair Park]] in Knoxville, Tennessee, as a tribute to the composer. In Alexandria, Virginia in 2019, a Rachmaninoff concert performed by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra played to wide acclaim. Attendees were treated to a talk prior to the performance by Rachmaninoff's great-granddaughter, Natalie Wanamaker Javier, who joined Rachmaninoff scholar Francis Crociata and [[Library of Congress]] music specialist Kate Rivers on a panel of discussants about the composer and his contributions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abbott |first1=Eileen |title=All things Rachmaninoff {{!}} Alexandria Times {{!}} Alexandria, VA |url=https://alextimes.com/2019/04/all-things-rachmaninoff/ |website=Alexandria Times |date=11 April 2019 |access-date=30 January 2020}}</ref>

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist|50em}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|20em}}

=== Sources ===
==== Books ====
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}

* {{cite book | last=Bertensson | first=Sergei | last2=Leyda | first2=Jay | last3=Satina | first3=Sophia | title=Sergei Rachmaninoff – A Lifetime in Music | publisher=Indiana University Press | publication-place=Bloomington, Indiana|orig-date=1956|date=2001| isbn=978-0-253-21421-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/sergeirachmanino0000bert|url-access=registration|ref={{sfnRef|Bertensson|Leyda|1956}}}}
*{{cite book|last=Cannata|first=David Butler|title=Rachmaninoff and The Symphony|year=1999|publisher=Studien Verlag|location=Innsbruck|isbn=978-3-706-51240-4}}
*{{cite book|last=Cunningham|first=Robert E.|title=Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Bio-bibliography|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|location=Santa Barbara|isbn=978-0-313-30907-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k2YrwE8GaLEC}}
*{{cite book|last=Frey|first=Emily|chapter=Tchaikovsky's Echoes, Chaliapin's Sobs: Aleko, Rachmaninoff, and the Contemporary|editor-last=Bullock|editor-first=Philip Ross|title=Rachmaninoff and His World|year=2022|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|pages=101–138|isbn=978-0-226-82374-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2dsEAAAQBAJ}}
*{{cite book|last=Harrison|first=Max|title=Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings|year=2006|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-0-826-49312-5|url=https://archive.org/details/rachmaninofflife0000harr|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book | last=Lyle | first=Watson | title=Rachmaninoff: A Biography | publisher=AMS Press | publication-place=New York |orig-date=1939|date=1976| isbn=978-0-404-13003-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoffbiog00lyle|url-access=registration|ref={{sfnRef|Lyle|1939}}}}
*{{cite book|last=Maes|first=Francis|title=A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar|year=2002|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-21815-4|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofrussian0000maes|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Martyn|first=Barrie|title=Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor|publisher=Scolar Press|location=Aldershot|year=1990|isbn=978-0-859-67809-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_zkrDwAAQBAJ}}
*{{cite book|last=Norris|first=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Norris|title=Rachmaninoff|year=2001a|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-198-16488-3|url=https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00norr|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite encyclopedia|last=Norris|first=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Norris|editor-last=Sadie|editor-first=Stanley|editor-link=Stanley Sadie|title=Rachmaninoff, Serge|encyclopedia=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]|year=2001b|publisher=MacMillan|location=London|pages=707–718|isbn=978-0-333-23111-1|url=https://archive.org/details/newgrovedictiona0020unse/page/707/mode/2up|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite encyclopedia|last=Norris|first=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Norris|editor-last=Latham|editor-first=Alison|title=Rakhmaninov, Sergey|encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Music|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|pages=1025–1026|isbn=978-0-198-66212-9|oclc=59376677|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198662129/page/1025/mode/2up|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=O'Connell|first=Charles|title=The Victor Book of the Symphony|year=1941|orig-year=1935|edition=Revised|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DHo6AAAAIAAJ}}
*{{cite book|last=Obenchain|first=Elaine|title=The complete catalog of Ampico reproducing piano rolls|year=1987|publisher=Vestal Press|isbn=0-911572-62-7|location=New York|oclc=314284925}}
*{{cite book|last=Piggott|first=Patrick|title=Rachmaninov Orchestral Music|year=1974|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|isbn=978-0-295-95308-3|url=https://archive.org/details/rachmaninovorche0000pigg|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Plaskin|first=Glenn|title=Horowitz: A Biography|year=1983|publisher=William Morrow and Company|location=New York|isbn=978-0-688-01616-6|url=https://archive.org/details/horowitz00glen|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book | last1=Rachmaninoff | first1=Sergei | last2=von Riesemann | first2=Oskar | title=Rachmaninoff's Recollections, Told to Oskar Von Riesemann | publisher=Books for Libraries Press | publication-place=Freeport, New York|orig-date=1934|date=1970| isbn=978-0-8369-5232-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179919|ref={{sfnRef|Riesemann|1934}}}}
*{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Harlow|title=Russians in Hollywood, Hollywood's Russians: Biography of an Image|year=2007|publisher=University Press of New England|location=Lebanon|isbn=978-1-555-53686-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2hxJrlSE0AC}}
*{{cite book|last=Rubinstein|first=Arthur|author-link=Arthur Rubinstein|title=My Many Years|year=1980|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|isbn=0-394-42253-8|url=https://archive.org/details/mymanyyears0000rubi/mode/2up|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Schonberg|first=Harold C.|author-link=Harold C. Schonberg|title=The Great Pianists|year=1987|edition=2nd|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-0-393-03857-6|url=https://archive.org/details/greatpianists000scho|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Schonberg|first=Harold C.|author-link=Harold C. Schonberg|title=The Virtuosi: Classical Music's Great Performers From Paganini to Pavarotti|year=1988|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-394-75532-8|url=https://archive.org/details/virtuosiclassica0000scho|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Schonberg|first=Harold C.|author-link=Harold C. Schonberg|title=The Lives of the Great Composers|year=1997|edition=3rd|publisher=W. W. Norton|location=New York|isbn=978-0-349-10972-5|url=https://archive.org/details/livesofgreatcomp00scho_1|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Michael|title=Rachmaninoff|year=2011|publisher=The History Press|location=Cheltenham|isbn=978-0-7524-7242-3|url=https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff0000scot|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Seroff|first=Victor Ilyitch|title=Rachmaninoff: A Biography|orig-year=1950|date=1970|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-0-836-98034-9|url=https://archive.org/details/rachmaninoff00sero|url-access=registration|ref={{sfnRef|Seroff|1950}}}}
*{{cite book|last=Sylvester|first=Richard D.|year=2014|title=Rachmaninoff's Complete Songs: A Companion with Texts and Translations|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|isbn=978-0-2530-1259-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ}}
*{{cite book|last1=Threlfall|first1=Robert|first2=Geoffrey|last2=Norris|author-link2=Geoffrey Norris|title=A Catalogue of the Compositions of Rachmaninoff|year=1982|publisher=Scolar Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-859-67617-5}}
*{{cite book|last1=Unbegaun|first1=Boris Ottokar|author-link1=Boris Unbegaun|last2=Uspenskiĭ|first2=Boris Andreevich|author-link2=Boris Uspenskij|title=Русские фамилии|language=Russian|year=1989|publisher=Progress Publisher|location=Moscow|isbn=978-5-01-001045-4|oclc=21065596|url=https://archive.org/details/russiansurnames}}
*{{cite book|last=Wehrmeyer|first=Andreas|title=Rakhmaninov|year=2004|publisher=Haus Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-1-904341-50-5}}
{{div col end}}

==== Journals ====
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
*{{cite journal|last=Burkholder|first=J. Peter|author-link=J. Peter Burkholder|date=2007|title=Review of The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music|journal=[[Notes (journal)|Notes]]|volume=63|issue=4|pages=844–848|doi=10.1353/not.2007.0058|jstor=4487887|s2cid=162372816|issn=0027-4380}}
*{{cite journal|last=Carruthers|first=Glen|year=2006|title=The (re)appraisal of Rachmaninov's music: contradictions and fallacies|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|volume=147|issue=1896|pages=44–50|jstor=25434403|doi=10.2307/25434403}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Dąbrowski|first1=K P|last2=Stankiewicz-Jóźwicka|first2=H|last3=Kowalczyk|first3=A|last4=Wróblewski|first4=J|last5=Ciszek|first5=B|title=Morphology of sesamoid bones in keyboard musicians|journal=Folia Morphologica|date=2021|volume=80|issue=2|pages=410–414|doi=10.5603/FM.a2020.0066|pmid=32639576|s2cid=220412829|issn=1644-3284|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite journal|last=Mayne|first=Basil|title=Conversations with Rachmaninoff|journal=Musical Opinion|date=October 1936|volume=60|pages=14–15}}
*{{cite journal|last=Norris|first=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Norris|title=Rakhmaninov's Apprenticeship|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|year=1983|volume=124|issue=1688|pages=602–603, 605|doi=10.2307/961696 |jstor=961696}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Ramachandran|first1=Manoj|last2=Aronson|first2=Jeffrey K.|title=The diagnosis of art: Rachmaninov's hand span|journal=[[Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine]]|year=2006|volume=99|issue=10|pages=529–530|pmc=1592053|pmid=17066567|doi=10.1177/014107680609901015}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Simpson|first1=Anne|title=Dear Re: A Glimpse into the Six Songs of Rachmaninoff's Opus 38|journal=College Music Symposium|volume=24|issue=1|year=1984|pages=97–106|jstor=40374219}}
*{{cite journal|last=Walsh|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Walsh (writer)|title=Sergei Rachmaninoff 1873–1943|journal=Tempo|year=1973|volume=105|issue=105 |pages=12–21|doi=10.1017/S004029820005748X |jstor=942978|s2cid=145455154 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Yasser|first=Joseph|author-link=Joseph Yasser|title=Progressive Tendencies in Rachmaninoff's Music|journal=[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]|volume=22|pages=11–25|year=1951|issue=22|jstor=943073}}
*{{cite journal|last=Yasser|first=Joseph|author-link=Joseph Yasser|title=The Opening Theme of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto and its Liturgical Prototype|journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]]|volume=LV|pages=313–328|year=1969|jstor=741003|doi=10.1093/mq/LV.3.313|issue=3}}
*{{cite journal|last=Young|first=D. A. B.|journal=[[The BMJ|British Medical Journal]]|year=1986|volume=293|issue=6562|pages=1624–1626|pmc=1351877|title=Rachmaninov and Marfan's syndrome|pmid=3101945|doi=10.1136/bmj.293.6562.1624}}
{{div col end}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Maddocks |first=Fiona |author-link=Fiona Maddocks |year=2023 |title=Goodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-571-37113-6|ref=none}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
{{EB1922 Poster|Rachmaninoff, Sergei Vasilievich|Sergei Rachmaninoff}}
* [http://www.rachmaninoff.org/ Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation and the Rachmaninoff Network]

'''Performances and Recordings'''
* [https://www.rachmaninoffdiary.com/ Sergei Rachmaninoff's Performance Diary]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027141256/http://geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/6145/rachperf.htm |date=27 October 2009 |title=Complete list of Rachmaninoff's performances as a conductor }}
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102117 Sergei Rachmaninoff recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].

'''Music scores'''
* {{Gutenberg author | id=3352| name=Sergei Rachmaninoff}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=(Rachmaninoff OR Rakhmaninov OR Rachmaninov)}}
* [http://rachmaninov.altervista.org/spartiti.html Free scores] {{in lang|it}}
* {{IMSLP|id=Rachmaninoff%2C_Sergei|cname=Sergei Rachmaninoff}}
* {{ChoralWiki}}

'''Other'''
* [https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu015003 Sergei Rachmaninoff archive, 1872-1992] at the [[Library of Congress]]
* {{BBC composer page|rachmaninov|Rachmaninov}}
* {{musicbrainz artist|id=44b16e44-da77-4580-b851-0d765904573e|name=Sergei Rachmaninoff}}
* {{AllMusic|id=mn0000505265}}

{{Sergei Rachmaninoff}}
{{Romantic music}}
{{Romanticism}}
{{Gramophone Hall of Fame}}
{{Portal bar|Classical music|Opera|Biography|Music}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rachmaninoff, Sergei}}
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