Download SERGEY RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)

SERGEY RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
SYMPHONY NO. 2
Douglas Quance
Large Ensemble Literature
December 19, 2011
The six-and-a-half-foot scowl of a brooding, gangly Russian man appears and shifts as he
walks up to the concert grand piano in the University of Tennessee Alumni Gymnasium. He
acknowledges the crowd and takes his spot at the piano for one more piece. The audience is
again drawn in by the way in which his famous hands, said to reach the interval of a thirteenth,
emulate agility as they fly across the keys. It is February 17, 1943, 16 days after becoming an
American citizen, and the lines on his face hide almost 70 years of experience in the music world
while his hands tell a different story via the notes of Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B-flat minor. How
fitting, it seems, that the famous funeral march of this sonata would precede the performer’s own
funeral just over a month later in Beverly Hills, California.1
Figure 1. The distinguishable portrait of Rachmaninov.2
Sergey Vasilyevich Rachmaninov was born on April 1, 1873 in Semyonovo, Russia to
aristocratic, music-loving parents of Tatar descent, “a collective name applied to the Turkic
people of Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” and his family was in the service of the Russian
1
“Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943),” Piano Society web site,
http://www.pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=176 (accessed December 16, 2011).
2
Ibid.
tsars since the 16th century.3 There is a debate as to where he was actually born, with Sergey’s
own notions and other evidence pointing to a birth at Oneg in the Novgorod region, but the
official birthplace has been noted. Although the family owned estates and plenty of land during
Sergey’s childhood, financial woes, believed to be the fault of his father’s spending habits,
forced the family to move into their last estate at Oneg. During his time at their home in Oneg,
though his parents saw no real outstanding potential, young Sergey first gained piano training
from his mother, Lyubov, then from Anna Ornatskaya, a graduate of the St. Petersburg
Conservatory. Eventually, however, even their home in Oneg had to be sold to settle debts
accrued by Sergey’s father, so the family moved to St. Petersburg. 4
Hoping to continue his piano and musical training, young Sergey was accepted at the St.
Petersburg Conservatory at the age of nine with a scholarship, where he studied general
education and piano with Vladimir Demyansky (also spelled Delyansky5), and harmony with
Aleksandr Rubets. Although everything seemed fine and dandy, Sergey and two of his siblings
were infected with diphtheria, killing his sister Sophia. This event, coupled with the separation of
his parents after some years of conflict, landed a huge blow to the mood of the young musician.
He was known to become lazy in all of his studies, failing classes and spending time skating
instead of practicing. It was only after a move to Moscow that the youngster would change his
ways.6
Nikolay Zverev, piano instructor at the Moscow Conservatory, took Rachmaninov under
his wing, figuratively and literally, training the boy in piano while also housing him. Zverev
3
David Horton, “Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Sergej Rahmaninov): Russian Pianist, Composer, and
Conductor,” http://www.plu.edu/~hortondc/ (accessed December 16, 2011).
4
Geoffrey Norris. "Rachmaninoff, Serge." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/50146 (accessed December 15, 2011).
5
Chris Woodstra, Gerald Brennan, and Allen Schrott, ed., All Music Guide to Classical Music: The
Definitive Guide to Classical Music, (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2005), 1054.
6
“Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943),” Piano Society web site.
would not have the previous lifestyle of the boy, so Rachmaninov’s training regime was rather
rigorous, beginning sessions at 6 a.m., which led to his unparalleled technique. Zverev also
hosted some concerts on Sundays, concerts from which Rachmaninov would extract musical
ideas and exposure to different composers. This training from Zverev really lit the fire
underneath the young musician, and his promising talent grew exponentially. Although Zverev
never really encouraged composition, being mostly concerned with his piano technique and style,
Rachmaninov wrote a few early works, a Mendelssohn-style orchestral scherzo in 1888, some
piano pieces from 1887–8, and sketches for an opera Esmeralda in 1888, while boarding with his
teacher. Although much had been done for Rachmaninov, artistic differences arose between him
and Zverev. The young composer complained of concentration difficulties due to the practicing
of everyone else in the one-room household and demanded privacy. Zverev met his request for
more privacy by dismissing him from the household completely and not speaking to him for
three years. Although rather harsh, Rachmaninov had the chance to write with some freedom
after moving in with a friend from the conservatory and later with some relatives, the Satins. 7
It was at the country estate of the Satins in Ivanovka, his residence during the summers
between classes, where Rachmaninov truly found his voice through nature. In the isolated estate,
much like Mahler’s composition hut and embedded in the untouched nature of which he drew
inspiration, it is believed that Rachmaninov formed and cultivated roughly 85 percent of his
works.8
After instruction in counterpoint from Taneyev, Tchaikovsky’s former pupil, harmony
with Arensky, Rimsky-Korsakov’s former pupil, and some encouragement from Tchaikovsky
himself, Rachmaninov started to gain a knack for composition. At 18 years, he completed his
7
8
Norris. "Rachmaninoff, Serge." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Ibid.
piano degree and a year later received a gold medal in composition from the conservatory for his
opera Aleko in 1892.9
After his graduation, even though many of his works were met with some success
throughout various premieres, especially the fame of his Piano Prelude in C-sharp minor, the
reception from the premiere of his first symphony in 1897 was nothing but cold. Alexander
Glazunov, the conductor for the piece, was allegedly drunk during the performance and
conducted incredibly poorly. César Cui, a member of the “Mighty Handful” of Russian
Nationalistic music, tore the performance apart, comparing the piece to “a student attempt to
depict in music the seven plagues of Egypt,” and having “morbid harmonic perversions.”10
Rachmaninov stated in a letter a few weeks after, “I am amazed how such a highly talented man
as Glazunov can conduct so badly. I am not speaking now of his conducting technique (one can’t
ask that of him) but about his musicianship. He feels nothing when he conducts. It’s as if he
understands nothing.” Although Rachmaninov and many others attributed much of the criticism
of the premiere to the conductor, the composer fell into a deep state of depression and self-doubt,
not to mention he experienced the stress of church disapproval of marrying his second cousin
Natalia (Natal’ya). It was only after three years devoid of almost any musical output, and help
from Dr. Nikolai (Nikolay) Dahl, a psychiatrist and fellow music lover, via therapy and
hypnosis, that he would strap up his boots again.11
After the success of the premiere of his famous Piano Concerto no. 2 in 1901, dedicated
to Dr. Dahl and performed by the composer, and gaining permission to marry his beloved
Natalia, Rachmaninov was back in business. It was also around this time in which the composer
9
Woodstra, Brennan, and Schrott, ed., All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to
Classical Music, 1054.
10
Joseph Yasser, “Progressive Tendencies in Rachmaninoff’s Music,” Tempo, no. 22 (Winter 1951-1952),
11-25, http://www.jstor.org.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2048/stable/pdfplus/943073.pdf (accessed December 15, 2011).
11
“Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943),” Piano Society web site.
was given a chance to show his conducting chops by becoming the director of the Moscow
Private Russian Opera for the 1897–8 season. This experience not only cultivated his conducting
skills, but he also gained familiarity with Russian and Western opera. After this position, he was
also given an opportunity as conductor at the Bolshoi (Bol’shoy) in Moscow’s Imperial Grand
Theater in 1904, which he held for two seasons.
Although he was quite successful as a conductor, he would constantly move back to
composing. Since one of the homes in Ivanovka was given to him and Natalia as a wedding gift,
he would often return there with his newly born daughter to work on various operas, concerti,
and chamber works. Due to the political turmoil plaguing Russia at the time and not being able to
escape his fame, Rachmaninov resigned from the Bolshoi position, fled almost immediately for
Italy, went back to Russia and realized it still was not a very beneficial environment for
composition, and finally settled in Dresden. It was at the Dresden house that work on Symphony
no. 2 began.
The solitude of living in a house in Germany was good for the primed composer; it gave
him a chance to compose incognito. During his three years there he denied any speculation of a
symphony, saying, “I give my solemn word – no more symphonies. Curse them! I don't know
how to write them, but mainly I don't want to."12 However, for all his charades and fear of
symphonic failure, the bulk of his second symphony was completed in the last months of 1906.
In February 1907, after rumors leaked of his new project, he confessed to a friend, “I have
composed a symphony. It’s true! I finished it a month ago and immediately put it aside. It was a
12
Janet E. Bedell, “Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, op. 27 Sergei Rachmaninoff,” program notes, Baltimore
Symphony Orchestra web site, http://www.bsomusic.org/main.taf?p=1,1,1,10,1&program=OTC4 (accessed
December 16, 2011).
severe worry to me and I am not going to think about it anymore.”13 While the rest of 1907 was
spent meticulously revising and editing his work, he returned to St. Petersburg to premier his
work on January 26, 1908.14
To understand Rachmaninov’s Symphony no. 2, one must first understand the definition
of “Romantic” music. The Romantic Period is, “A period in European music history usually
considered to have lasted from the early 19th century until the modernist innovations of the early
20th and sometimes subdivided, with an early phase before about 1850 and a late one from about
1890.”15 This period was explored by composers that wished to break free of the “Classical”
mold, a period that tested the extremes of music, and merely the fact that there are attempts to
classify it goes against its will. Extreme brevity was explored by the length of short piano pieces
and art songs. There was an emphasis on indefinite, infinite, and indefinable, breaking down the
concept of beginning, middle, and end. Composers began reaching farther from familiar tonality
and harmony and a new richness was heard through different instrumental effects. There were no
more attempts at soloistic ornamentation in a set tonality; rather soloists would become a
medium for the “intentions” of the composer. This period was an attempt to reach the ethereal
and intangible realm through compositions which expressed a composer’s true spirit. Although
extremely difficult to define and pigeon-hole the Romantic period, the preceding characteristics
were common to that time.16
13
Phillip Huscher, “Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27,” program notes, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
web site,
http://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/042210_ProgramNotes_Rachmaninov_Sympho
ny2.pdf (accessed December 18, 2011).
14
Keith Anderson, “Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943): Symphony No. 2 in E minor, op. 27,” program
notes, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, NAXOS web site,
http://dumn.naxosmusiclibrary.com.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2048/sharedfiles/booklets/NAC/booklet-8.554230.pdf
(accessed December 15, 2011).
15
The Harvard Dictionary of Music, 4th ed., s.v. “Romantic.”
16
Ibid.
Rachmaninov once stated, "I am organically incapable of understanding modern music,
therefore I cannot possibly like it; just as I cannot like a language, let us say, whose meaning and
structure are absolutely foreign to me."17 He was considered a conservative through much of his
era, as seen in this quote, and he embodied the Romantic spirit through many of his works. He
technically did embody the spirit of “modern” music in the early 20th century as well, though not
through direct action but through intentional ignorance. However conservative or liberal
Rachmaninov was in composing, critics would often find a new “freshness” in his music, even
from his graduation piece Aleko early in life, and this “freshness,” combined with the essence of
19th century composers, surrounded the man in some mystery and continued to the second
symphony.
Completed and premiered in January 1908 in St. Petersburg, Rachmaninov’s Symphony
no. 2 was to be a retribution for the failure of his first symphony almost 11 years before. Not
taking any chances on another drunken conductor, the composer would end up pouring his music
out to the audience under his own baton. The piece, an extended form in the key of E minor,
includes four movements that span approximately one hour, when original repeat signs are
observed, and it shows his profuse but substantially varied and clever use of the orchestra,
especially in the second movement. The score calls for three flutes and piccolo, three oboes and
English horn, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three
trombones and tuba, timpani, glockenspiel, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, and strings.18
The first movement, Largo: Allegro moderato, lasts six minutes longer than any of the
movements, and it begins with a motto, or head-motive, shown in figure 2, which recurs at the
17
18
Yasser, “Progressive Tendencies in Rachmaninoff’s Music.”
Phillip Huscher, “Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27,” program notes, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
web site,
http://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/042210_ProgramNotes_Rachmaninov_Sympho
ny2.pdf (accessed December 18, 2011).
beginning of each major section. This main theme, an ascending half step followed by a
descending four note tail, introduced by the cellos and basses, serves as the basis by which all
other themes are spawned.
Figure 2. Beginning “motto” theme of movement one.19
The slow introduction (quarter note=48 b.p.m.) sets the mood with languid legato and mournful
strings. The violins immediately make the first theme their own, in just the fourth measure, by
molding it through descending reiteration. After the theme is played in almost a fugue-like
manner, creating harmonies through simultaneously juxtaposing different parts of the theme, a
solo English horn calms the preceding climax and serves as the transitional element to the
Allegro moderato. The allegro section, though at half note = 63, is felt in two as the violins
introduce the very lyrical theme in G major. This transforms into a jarring, triplet-infused four,
and another solo instrument, the clarinet, serves as a transition to a moderato section. In this
section, there are a couple measures that bear an eerie resemblance to Puccini’s soprano aria
from the opera Gianni Schicci entitled “O mio babbino caro,” but Rachmaninov wrote this
symphony ten years before Puccini’s opera.20 There is no proof of influence between the two
works, but interesting to note nonetheless. A solo violin, then solo clarinet, and solo horn all
explore the development section. A huge arrival, marked by cymbal crashes, bass drum, and
19
Sergey Rachmaninov, Symphony no. 2, score, IMSLP web site,
http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/9/9a/IMSLP105597-PMLP09270-Rachmaninov_-_27__Symphony_n.2_e_fs__ed.Gutheil_.pdf (accessed December 15, 2011).
20
Naxos Digital Services, “Gianni Schicchi,”
http://dumn.naxosmusiclibrary.com.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2048/work.asp?wid=142034 (accessed December 18, 2011).
timpani, after full use of various swelling passages, indicates the climax before returning to
familiar material. Rachmaninov shows his mastery of extending themes and maintaining
suspense throughout and the movement ends with an E minor blast.21
The second movement, Allegro molto, is a lively scherzo in C major that features intense,
bouncy themes while interjections with emphasis on beats two and four keep the listener awake
and alive. A common theme among Rachmaninov’s music, the Dies irae from the Latin Requiem
Mass, though a twisted version, is introduced as an idée fixe, or fixed idea, in this movement as
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. The modified Dies irae theme as shown in the horns.22
An ever-growing, beautiful, sweeping melody breaks up the stress of the scherzo before the
return of the A section material. Rachmaninov brings the orchestration and dynamic level to zero
with a caesura before punching a sforzando unison chord to begin the meno mosso, a ferocious
fugue introduced by the second violins. After the return of the scherzo, the brass section plays a
chorale version of the Dies irae and the movement fades into nothing.23
The third movement, Adagio, is a very lush, romantic movement in A major, spearheaded
by the strings. The ascending string line at the very beginning sounds almost exactly like the
buildup to Tchaikovsky’s love theme from Romeo and Juliet, with the leading tone overhanging
and resolving upward after beat one, which is interesting to note since Rachmaninov was a great
21
Sergey Rachmaninov, Symphony no. 2, score.
Ibid.
23
Ibid.
22
admirer of Tchaikovsky. The string theme only lasts only five measures before a beautiful
clarinet solo takes the stage until rehearsal 47. Consuming about twenty measures, the clarinet
solo is lengthy yet there is no repeated material included. Oboe and English horn solos
underpinned by pizzicato strings dominate the material of the middle section with some tutti,
legato string interjections. A master of extended tension, Rachmaninov did not lead into an
arrival point until about 7:17, right before the return of more solo themes. The violins take most
of the melodic material for their own, as the clarinet did in the beginning, and lead the orchestra
to a serene ending.24
The fourth and final movement, Allegro vivace, begins with a vigorous, playful, and
chromatic dance in E major. This is wound down to a quiet, staccato march followed by a
languid section and a recall of the material from the third movement in the strings, if only for six
measures. There is also the return of the four-note tail theme from the first movement, only in the
scherzo spirit of the second, with a clever emphasis on beats two and four, fully occupying the
ears of the audience. The following tailspin of simultaneous descending scales at different
speeds, a recreation of Russian church bells, creates terrific tension right before the return of the
first triumphant dance.25 It is the final section in which Rachmaninov recalls the chorale-like
version of the Dies irae, as shown in Figure 4, but it is set in a jubilant manner.
Figure 4. Return of the Dies irae in movement four.26
24
Sergey Rachmaninov, Symphony no. 2, score.
Bedell, “Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, op. 27, Sergei Rachmaninoff,” program notes.
26
Sergey Rachmaninov, Symphony no. 2, score.
25
The ending of this symphony does not disappoint; the second theme from earlier in the
movement returns in maximum splendor and jubilance while the percussion section punches the
path to the incredible end in E major.27
The premier of this piece was a rousing success, winning the Glinka prize of 1,000
rubles, ridding Rachmaninov of the shackles of the failure of his first symphony, and forever
establishing him as a true symphonist.28 Because of the constant turmoil in Russia, he moved to
Sweden, Denmark, and finally found a home in the United States after coming to New York in
1918. His composition output sank over his final years, completing only six works from 1918 to
his death in 1943, but he forever made his mark on the music community as an outstanding
pianist, composer, and conductor.29
27
Sergey Rachmaninov, Symphony no. 2, score.
Huscher, “Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27,” program notes.
29
“Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943),” Piano Society web site.
28
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(accessed December 15, 2011).