- Rachmaninoff composed his Symphonic Dances in 1940. It was his last composition.
- Rachmaninoff had a lifelong fascination with tone color, and in this work, that led him to the unusual choice of adding an alto saxophone to his orchestration.
- There are religious and nostalgic overtones to the Symphonic Dances. The first movement quotes chant-derived motifs from his First Symphony; the last movement quotes the Dies irae chant and Blagosloven yesi, Gospodi (“Blessed be the Lord”) from his own All-night Vigil (composed in 1915). Rachmaninoff wrote “I thank thee, Lord” at the end of the score.1
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.
Cut IDs
13167 40977 41130 22026 23254 16939 22225