Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff [ a ] [ b ] 1 April [ O. 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. 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 , having already written several compositions. In , following the disastrous premiere of his Symphony No. Rachmaninoff went on to become conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre from β, and relocated to Dresden , Germany, in He later embarked upon his first tour of the United States as a pianist in Following this, he spent most of his time touring as a pianist through the US and Europe, from 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 , his declining health led him to move to Beverly Hills , California, where he died from melanoma in Rachmaninoff was born on 1 April [ O. His paternal grandfather, Arkady Alexandrovich [ ru ] , was a musician who had taken lessons from Irish composer John Field. 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. 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. 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.
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. Later that year, his sister Sofia died at the age of 13 of diphtheria , and his father left the family for Moscow. In , Rachmaninoff suffered a further loss when his sister Yelena died at age 18 of pernicious anaemia.
