- Rachmaninoff wrote his Second Piano Concerto in 1900-1901, after a three-year period of depression and creative frustration following the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony in March of 1897.1
- The First Symphony’s premiere had been very badly conducted by Alexander Glazunov. Rachmaninoff wrote in a letter, “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.”
- Rachmaninoff’s wife Natal’ya Satina, however, was not amazed. She said Glazunov was drunk.
- Many of Rachmaninoff’s friends worked on getting him out of his post-1897 composing slump, including Feodor Chaliapin, who went on a trip to Italy with Rachmaninoff in the summer of 1900. That’s where Rachmaninoff started work on his Second Piano Concerto.2
- Another person who helped Rachmaninoff in this tough time was psychotherapist Dr. Nikolay Dahl, a musical person who was an effective doctor and friend to Rachmaninoff.3 Rachmaninoff dedicated the Second Concerto to Dahl.4
- Rachmaninoff played the premiere of his Second Piano Concerto in Moscow on November 9, 1901, with the Philharmonic Society Orchestra and conductor Alexander Siloti.5
Sources
- Geoffrey Norris, “Rachmaninoff [Rakhmaninov, Rachmaninov], Serge,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed April 1, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000050146.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- “Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 (Rachmaninoff, Sergei),” IMSLP, accessed April 1, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No.2%2C_Op.18_(Rachmaninoff%2C_Sergei).
- Ibid.
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