Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) was a
Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor.
Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest
pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last
great representatives of Romanticism in Russian
classical music. Early influences of Tchaikovsky,
Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers gave way
to a thoroughly personal idiom notable for its
song-like melodicism, expressiveness, dense
contrapuntal textures, and rich orchestral c...(+)
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) was a
Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor.
Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest
pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last
great representatives of Romanticism in Russian
classical music. Early influences of Tchaikovsky,
Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers gave way
to a thoroughly personal idiom notable for its
song-like melodicism, expressiveness, dense
contrapuntal textures, and rich orchestral colours. 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 entered a
four-year depression and composed little, until
supportive therapy allowed him to complete his
well-received Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1901.
Rachmaninoff went on to become conductor of the Bolshoi
Theatre from 1904–06, and relocated to Dresden,
Germany, in 1906. He later embarked upon his first tour
of the United States as a 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 through the US and Europe, from 1932
onwards spending his summers at 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.
In 1886, the thirteen-year-old Sergei Rachmaninoff was
taken by his teacher Nikolai Zverev to Crimea, where
Rachmaninoff continued his studies, hoping to gain
entrance into Anton Arensky's harmony class at the
Moscow Conservatory. It was during this time that
Rachmaninoff created his first composition, a two-page
Étude in F-sharp Major (the manuscript of which is now
lost). After admission to the class, he produced ten
exercises, the earliest of which is Song without Words:
Lento in D Minor (1887?), the only surviving piece of
the ten.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff).
Although originally composed for Solo Piano, I created
this Arrangement of "Song without Words" in D Minor for
String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC