Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Bio-Bibliography

366 Pages·2000·16.53 MB·English

by  Robert E. Cunningham

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). Photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
A Bio-Bibliography
Robert E. Cunningham, Jr.
Bio-Bibliographies in Music, Number 81
Donald L. Hixon, Series Adviser
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cunningham, Robert, 1948-
Sergei Rachmaninoff : a bio-bibliography / by Robert E. Cunningham, Jr.
p. cm.—(Bio-bibliographies in music, ISSN 0742-6968 ; no. 81)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ), discography (p. ), and index.
ISBN 0-313-30907-8 (alk. paper)
1. Rachmaninoff, Sergei, 1873-1943—Bibliography. 2. Rachmaninoff, Sergei,
1873-1943—Discography. I. Title. II. Series.
ML134.R12C86 2001
780,.92—dc21 00-042672
[B]
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2001 by Robert E. Cunningham, Jr.
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-042672
ISBN: 0-313-30907-8
ISSN: 0742-6968
First published in 2001
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32
Contents
Preface vii
Biography 1
Life 1
Compositional Output 6
Rachmaninoff and Contemporary Musical Trends 8
Rachmaninoff's View of the Creative Process 9
Personality and World-View 12
Creative Productivity 16
Reception History 17
Works and Performances 21
Bibliography 51
Reference Books and Articles 51
Music Dictionaries 51
Catalogs 55
Bibliographies 56
Discographies 56
Other References 59
General S urveys of Rachmaninoff' s Life and Works 61
Book-Length Biographies 87
Extended Discussions and Analyses of Selected Works 93
Brief Discussions of Selected Works 103
Rachmaninoff s Interviews and Letters 127
Rachmaninoff and His Contemporaries 136
Rachmaninoff's Performing Art 150
Reviews and Discussions of Performances 156
Reviews and Discussions of Books 176
vi Contents
Reviews and Discussions of Music Editions 185
Reviews and Discussions of Recordings 188
Miscellaneous Books and Articles 206
Discography 217
Appendix 1: Rachmaninoff's Works by Performance Medium 313
Appendix 2: Rachmaninoff's Recorded Repertoire 319
Appendix 3: Abbreviations and Acronyms 325
Index 327
Preface
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was one of the most eminent musicians
of his time. His accomplishments as a composer, pianist, and conductor are
world-renowned; indeed, his achievements in any one of these three careers
might have sufficed to merit his inclusion in this Bio-Bibliographies in Music
series. Although long appreciatedby the concertpublic and pianists, his legacy
has drawn wide interest among scholars only comparatively recently. The last
three decades have witnessed a spate of books and articles about Rachmaninoff
and his music, as well as many new recordings of his works. The most
comprehensive previous survey of the literature was a research guide by Robert
Palmieri, published in 1985.1 The present volume's Bibliography encompasses
a much wider range of sources, classified by category and extensively cross-
referenced. The Discography, unlike those of Palmieri and other authors, is
quite large in scope and includes not only Rachmaninoff's own recordings but
also recordings of his works by other performers.
Because several excellent biographies are widely available, the Biography
chapter presented here is relatively short. After an abbreviated account of events
in the composer's life, it endeavors to shed light on his stylistic evolution, his
personality, his perspectives on his art and on musical trends of his time, and
the Rezeptionsgeschichte of his works. Readers seeking further information
about Rachmaninoff s life story may wish to consult Sergei Bertensson'sand
Jay Leyda's highly detailed biography, Geoffrey Norris's concise scholarly
volume, or Barrie Martyn's monumental study.2
Robert Palmieri, Sergei Vasil'evich Rachmaninoff: A Guide to
Research (New York: Garland Publishing, 1985). Cf. B29 in the Bibliography.
2Sergei Bertensson and Jay Leyda, Sergei Rachmaninoff : A Lifetime in
Music (New York: New York University Press, 1956; reprint, London: Allen
viii Preface
Similarly modest in its aims is the Works and Performances chapter,
supplying basic data about the composer's works and their performances, with
cross references to the following Bibliography. Further details about the
compositions can be found in Robert Threlfall's and Geoffrey Norris's highly
recommended catalog.3 In the present study each work is assigned a number
preceded by the mnemonic "W": opp. 1-45 are designated by Wl through W45,
works without opus numbers by W46 through W94 (in chronological sequence),
and Rachmaninoff s transcriptions of other composers' compositions by W95
through W108 (sequenced by composer). The composer's alternative
arrangements of his own music are indicated by appending a letter to the work
number. His two-piano arrangement of the Symphonic Dances (op. 45), for
example, is designated as W45a. Components within a work are referenced by a
slash: W32/2-4, for instance, indicates the second, third, and fourth of the
Thirteen Preludes (op. 32). Works are categorized by performance medium in
Appendix 1, through which, for example, work numbers for the piano concertos
can be readily determined.
The Works and Performances chapter includes an entry for each work,
typically including the name of the work, its opus number or its reference
number in Threlfall's and Norris's catalog, its composition date, its publication
date (if different), its key, its approximate duration, references to the Biography
and significant related items in the Bibliography, and major modern editions.
Scholars investigating a specific composition may wish to examine, in addition
to the bibliographic sources noted in the entry, Norris's and Martyn's
biographies (which discuss virtually all of these works), the catalog entry, and
reviews of recordings in the corresponding portion of the Discography. Only
the most prominent music editions, as well as significant scholarly editions
published after the catalog, have been listed. Some publishers are represented by
acronyms (e. g., "BM" for Belwin Mills), listed in Appendix 3 alongside other
acronyms and abbreviations used throughout the book. Many of the edition
citations are accompanied by references to reviews in the Bibliography.
Where the components of a work constitute independent units, such as
individual songs within an opus, they are listed with the work. English
renderings of the song titles often vary widely from source to source. Here a
Russian title, an English translation, and several alternative titles are typically
& Unwin, 1965), 1-464 (page references are to original edition); Geoffrey
Norris, Rachmaninoff, 1994 ed., The Master Musicians Series (New York:
Schirmer Books, 1994), 1-194; Barrie Martyn, Rachmaninoff: Composer,
Pianist, Conductor (Aldershot, England: Scoiar Press, 1990), 1-584.
^Robert Threlfall and Geoffrey Norris, A Catalogue of the
Compositions of S. Rachmaninoff(London: Scoiar Press, 1982), 1-218. Cf.
B28.
Preface ix
provided. A song or other work can be located from any of the cited titles
through the Index.
The entry for a work is followed by entries for its premiere (if known) and
often other highly significant performances. Each performance is designated by
appending a decimal point and an additional digit to the work number. For
instance, the premiere of the Piano Concerto No. 4 (op. 40) is identified as
W40.1. As can be seen from the entry (see below), this concert also featured the
composer's op. 41, i. e., his Three Russian Songs for Orchestra and Chorus.
The date, location, and performers are identified; in many cases, references to
conceit reviews in the Bibliography are included.
W40.1 [w W41] 18 March 1927, Philadelphia. Sergei Rachmaninoff, pf;
Leopold Stokowski, end; Philadelphia Orch. In W41: Philadelphia
Orch and Chorus.
The largest chapter in this book is the Bibliography, divided into thirteen
sections and sequencedby author within each section or subsection. The
mnemonic "B" precedes each entry number. Because some sources span
multiple categories, several of the sections conclude with cross references to
entries in other sections. A brief final section, Miscellaneous Books and
Articles, contains sources that could not be clearly assigned to any of the
previous twelve sections. The entries are linked by numerous cross references;
book reviews, for instance, are referenced within the annotations for the
corresponding books. A number of sources have been included for their
historical importance, even though they may treat the composer in a dismissive
manner. In particular, cursory and often contemptuous remarks about
Rachmaninoff's style by scholars of his time highlight his conflict with
contemporary fashion; this antagonistic environment, as I suggest in the
Biography chapter, was a major factor in the declining compositional
productivity of his last twenty-five years. For reasons of space, annotations
have been kept brief, with more extensive commentary reserved for the most
significant sources. Some frequently cited journals are indicated by acronyms,
listed in Appendix 3. Although essential sources in less familiar languages
(especially Russian) have been included, others have had to be omitted or left
unannotated because of space limitations; in any case such sources would
probably be linguistically inaccessible to many readers and frequently cannot be
easily obtained in the West. For sources in languages outside the Germanic and
Romance families, English translations of the titles are shown in brackets, thus
providing some indication of their contents even when annotations are absent
Titles, author names, and publishing information from Cyrillic sources have