Opera Scotland

Sergey Rachmaninov Suggest updates

Sergey Vasilyevich Rakhmaninov

Born Semyonovo, 1 April 1873.

Died Beverly Hills, Calif., 28 March 1943.

Russian pianist and composer.

It is a pity that Rachmaninov did not return to opera composition later in his career, because each of these three early works, though brief, shows a certain talent for drama, even if the young composer was not at that stage as confident at dealing with librettists. Aleko is probably the most satisfying, based on a story by Pushkin and with a man of the theatre adapting the text. Francesca really struggles because of the poorly proportioned text supplied by Modest Tchaikovsky - Paolo and Francesca don't have enough time to make an impact.  The Miserly Knight is an excellent piece, if unrelievedly gloomy.

Several years later, inspired by reading Balmont's translation of Poe's poem The Bells, he composed a large-scale choral symphony which is very impressive.

Operas and choral works performed in Scotland are shown in bold:-

01   Aleko (Moscow 1893) (Nemirovich-Danchenko)

02   The Miserly Knight - Skupoi Rytsar' (Moscow 1906) (Pushkin)

03   Francesca da Rimini (Moscow 1906) (M Tchaikovsky)

04   The Bells (St Petersburg 1913) (Poe tr Balmont)