Depending on where you look, Igor Stravinsky described Sergei Rachmaninoff as either “six foot two of Russian gloom” or “a six and a half foot scowl” (perhaps both). It’s true, you won’t find very many photos of Rachmaninoff smiling, but just to prove that he was not entirely without a sense of humor, I share with you the following anecdote:
Rachmaninoff and his friend, the violinist Fritz Kreisler, were in the middle of a joint recital, when all of a sudden Kreisler got lost and began to noodle. Rachmaninoff would have noticed immediately, of course, and the two improvised brilliantly as the violinist searched for a way back. Hoping to save face, Kreisler inched over to his pianist and whispered, “Where are we?” To which Rachmaninoff replied, “Carnegie Hall.”
On this April Fool’s Day – which also happens to be Rachmaninoff’s birthday – the two friends will be reunited in Rachmaninoff’s transcription of Kreisler’s “Liebesfreud,” or “Love’s Joy.”
More in keeping with our impression of the dour pianist-composer, Rachmaninoff was crushed by the failure of his First Symphony (the responsibility for which may lay at the feet of its conductor, Alexander Glazunov, who is said to have been drunk at the work’s premiere). So devastated was the 23 year-old Rachmaninoff that he found himself unable to compose and sought psychiatric help. His physician, Nikolai Dahl, who was also an amateur violist, was able to restore his confidence after months of hypnotherapy, and Rachmaninoff returned to the concert stage in blazing triumph with his Piano Concerto No. 2.
In gratitude, Rachmaninoff dedicated the concerto to Dahl, but there is another story behind the work, and it is a tender one. Rachmaninoff had fallen in love with Natalia Satina, a fellow pianist, who would later become his wife. Already in hot water with his piano teacher, Nikolai Sverev, who berated him for diverting time from his practice in order to compose, Rachmaninoff now endured the additional stress of making his relationship with Satina public, much to the dismay of his family and the Russian Orthodox Church.
You see, Satina was Rachmaninoff’s first cousin. Any kind of union between the two would have been forbidden. However, Rachmaninoff was able to obtain a special dispensation from the Tsar, and the couple bypassed the Church by marrying at a military barracks. By all accounts the union was a happy one, and the Rachmaninoffs raised two healthy daughters.
The marriage took place only after the concerto’s successful premiere. So “Brief Encounter” is not the only love story to be able to claim it as a soundtrack. Love makes fools of us all.
What are the odds? Today is also the anniversary of the birth of another one of the great pianists, Ferruccio Busoni. We’ll keep it light with Busoni’s “Lustspielouverture,” or “Comedy Overture,” as well as his fantasy on themes from Mozart’s elevated farce, “The Marriage of Figaro.”
The rest of the afternoon will be devoted to April’s fools and salutations to the month. We’ll be none the wiser, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
