RACHMANINOV:  THREE VICTORIES OVER YOURSELF

     Many of us have probably made mistakes. The ancient sages said: “To err is human.” Unfortunately, there are also such serious wrong decisions or actions that can harm our entire future life. We ourselves choose which path to follow: the difficult one that leads us to a cherished dream, a wonderful goal, or, on the contrary, we give preference to the beautiful and easy one.  a path that often turns out to be false,  dead end.

     One very talented boy, my neighbor, was not accepted into the aircraft modeling club because of his own laziness. Instead of overcoming this disadvantage, he chose the cycling section, which was pleasant in all respects, and even became a champion. After many years, it turned out that he has phenomenal mathematical abilities, and airplanes are his calling. One can only regret that his talent was not in demand. Maybe completely new types of aircraft would be flying in the sky now? However, laziness defeated talent.

     Another example. A girl, my classmate, with the IQ of a super-talented person, thanks to her erudition and determination, had a wonderful path to the future. Her grandfather and father were career diplomats. The doors to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, further, to the United Nations Security Council were open to her. Perhaps it would have made a decisive contribution to the process of weakening international security and would have gone down in the history of world diplomacy. But this girl was unable to overcome her selfishness, did not develop the ability to find a compromise solution, and without this, diplomacy is impossible. The world has lost a talented, erudite peacemaker.

     What does music have to do with it? – you ask. And, probably, after thinking a little, you will find the correct answer on your own: Great musicians grew up from little boys and girls. This means that they, too, sometimes made mistakes. Something else is important. They seem to have learned to overcome the barriers of mistakes, to break through the wall made of bricks of laziness, disobedience, anger, arrogance, lies and meanness.

     Many famous musicians could serve as an example for us young people of timely correction of our mistakes and the ability not to make them again. Perhaps a striking example of this is the life of an intelligent, strong man, talented musician Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov. He was able to accomplish three feats in his life, three victories over himself, over his mistakes: in childhood, adolescence and already in adulthood. All three heads of the dragon were defeated by him…  And now everything is in order.

     Sergei was born in 1873. in the village of Semenovo, Novgorod province, in a noble family. The history of the Rachmaninov family has not yet been fully studied; many mysteries remain in it. Having solved one of them, you will be able to understand why, being a very successful musician and having a strong character, he nevertheless doubted himself all his life. Only to his closest friends did he admit: “I don’t believe in myself.”

      Family legend of the Rachmaninovs says that five hundred years ago, a descendant of the Moldavian ruler Stephen III the Great (1429-1504), Ivan Vechin, came to serve in Moscow from the Moldavian state. At the baptism of his son, Ivan gave him the baptismal name Vasily. And as the second, worldly name, they chose the name Rakhmanin.  This name, which comes from Middle Eastern countries, means: “meek, quiet, merciful.” Soon after arriving in Moscow, the “envoy” of the Moldovan state apparently lost influence and significance in the eyes of Russia, since Moldova became dependent on Turkey for several centuries.

     The musical history of the Rachmaninov family, perhaps, begins with Arkady Alexandrovich, who was Sergei’s paternal grandfather. He learned to play the piano from the Irish musician John Field, who came to Russia. Arkady Alexandrovich was considered a talented pianist. I saw my grandson several times. He was approving of Sergei’s music studies.

     Sergei’s father, Vasily Arkadyevich (1841-1916), was also a gifted musician. I didn’t do much with my son. In his youth he served in a hussar regiment. Loved to have fun. He led a reckless, frivolous lifestyle.

     Mom, Lyubov Petrovna (nee Butakova), was the daughter of the director of the Arakcheevsky Cadet Corps, General P.I. Butakova. She started playing music with her son Seryozha when he was five years old. Very soon he was recognized as a musically gifted boy.

      In 1880, when Sergei was seven years old, his father went bankrupt. The family was left with virtually no means of subsistence. The family estate had to be sold. The son was sent to St. Petersburg to stay with relatives. By this time, the parents had separated. The reason for the divorce was the father’s frivolity. We have to admit with regret that the boy actually did not have a strong family.

     In those years  Sergei was described as a thin, tall boy with large, expressive facial features and large, long arms. This is how he met his first serious test.

      In 1882, at the age of nine, Seryozha was assigned to the junior department of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Unfortunately, the lack of serious supervision from adults, early independence, all this led to the fact that he studied poorly and often missed classes. At the final exams I received bad marks in many subjects. Was deprived of his scholarship. He often spent his meager money (he was given a dime for food), which was only enough for bread and tea, for completely other purposes, for example, buying a ticket to the skating rink.

      Serezha’s dragon grew its first head.

      The adults tried their best to change the situation. They transferred him in 1885. to Moscow for the third year of the junior department of the Moscow  conservatory. Sergei was assigned to the class of Professor N.S. Zvereva. It was agreed that the boy would live with the professor’s family, but a year later, when Rachmaninov turned sixteen, he moved to his relatives, the Satins. The fact is that Zverev turned out to be a very cruel, intemperate person, and this complicated the relationship between them to the limit.

     The expectation that a change of place of study would entail a change in Sergei’s attitude towards his studies would have turned out to be completely wrong if he himself had not wanted to change. It was Sergei himself who played the main role in the fact that from a lazy person and a mischievous  at the cost of enormous efforts, he turned into a hardworking, disciplined person. Who would have thought then that over time Rachmaninov would become extremely demanding and strict with himself. Now you know that success in working on yourself may not come immediately. We have to fight for this.

       Many who knew Sergei before his transfer  from St. Petersburg and after, they were amazed at other changes in his behavior. He learned to never be late. He clearly planned his work and strictly carried out what was planned. Complacency and self-satisfaction were alien to him. On the contrary, he was obsessed with achieving perfection in everything. He was truthful and did not like hypocrisy.

      Enormous work on himself led to the fact that outwardly Rachmaninov gave the impression of an imperious, integral, restrained person. He spoke quietly, calmly, slowly. He was extremely careful.

      Inside the strong-willed, slightly mocking superman lived the former Seryozha from  distant unsettled childhood. Only his closest friends knew him like this. Such duality and contradictory nature of Rachmaninov served as explosive material that could ignite inside him at any moment. And this really happened a few years later, after graduating with a big gold medal from the Moscow Conservatory and receiving a diploma as a composer and pianist. It should be noted here that Rachmaninov’s successful studies and subsequent activities in the musical field were facilitated by his excellent data: absolute pitch, extremely subtle, refined, sophisticated.

    During his years of study at the conservatory, he wrote several works, one of which, “Prelude in C sharp minor,” is one of his most famous. When he was nineteen years old, Sergei composed his first opera “Aleko” (thesis work) based on the work of A.S. Pushkin “Gypsies”. P.I. really liked the opera. Tchaikovsky.

     Sergei Vasilievich managed to become one of the best pianists in the world, a brilliant and exceptionally talented performer. The range, scale, palette of colors, coloring techniques, and shades of Rachmaninov’s mastery of performance were truly limitless. He fascinated connoisseurs of piano music with his ability to achieve the highest expressiveness in the subtlest nuances of music. His huge advantage was his unique individual interpretation of the work being performed, which could have a strong influence on people’s feelings. It’s hard to believe that this brilliant man once  received bad grades in music subjects.

      Still in my youth  he demonstrated excellent abilities in the art of conducting. His style and manner of working with the orchestra bewitched and enchanted people. Already at the age of twenty-four he was invited to conduct at the Moscow Private Opera of Savva Morozov.

     Who would have thought then that his successful career would be interrupted for four whole years and that Rachmaninov would completely lose the ability to compose music during this period…  The terrible head of the dragon loomed over him again.

     March 15, 1897 the premiere in St. Petersburg of his First  symphony (conductor A.K. Glazunov). Sergei was then twenty-four years old. They say that the performance of the symphony was not strong enough. However, it seems that the reason for the failure was the “overly” innovative, modernist nature of the work itself. Rachmaninov succumbed to the then prevailing trend of a radical departure from traditional classical music, searching, sometimes at any cost, for new trends in art. At that difficult moment for him, he lost faith in himself as a reformer.

     The consequences of an unsuccessful premiere were very difficult. For several years he was depressed and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The world might not even know about the talented musician.

     Only with a huge effort of will, as well as thanks to the advice of an experienced specialist, Rachmaninov was able to overcome the crisis. Victory over oneself was marked by writing in 1901. Second piano concerto. The gloomy consequences of another blow of fate were overcome.

      The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by the highest creative upsurge. During this period, Sergei Vasilyevich created many brilliant works: the opera “Francesca da Rimini”, Piano Concerto No. 3,  Symphonic poem “Island of the Dead”, poem “Bells”.

    The third test fell to Rachmaninov after his departure with his family from Russia immediately after the 1917 revolution. Perhaps the struggle between the new government and the old elite, representatives of the former ruling class, played an important role in making such a difficult decision. The fact is that Sergei Vasilyevich’s wife was from an ancient princely family, descended from the Rurikovichs, who gave Russia a whole galaxy of royal persons. Rachmaninov wanted to protect his family from trouble.

     The break with friends, the new unusual environment, and longing for the Motherland depressed Rachmaninoff. Adaptation to life in foreign lands was very slow. Uncertainty and anxiety about the future fate of Russia and the fate of their family grew. As a result, pessimistic moods led to a long creative crisis. The serpent Gorynych rejoiced!

      For almost ten years Sergei Vasilyevich could not compose music. Not a single major work was created. He made money (and very successfully) through concerts. 

     As an adult, it was difficult to fight with myself. Evil forces again overcame him. To Rachmaninov’s credit, he managed to survive difficulties for the third time and overcame the consequences of leaving Russia. And in the end it doesn’t matter whether there was a decision to emigrate  mistake or fate. The main thing is that he won again!

       Returned to creativity. And although he wrote only six works, they were all great creations of world class. This is Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for Piano and Orchestra, Symphony No. 3. In 1941 composed his last greatest work, “Symphonic Dances.”

      Probably,  the victory over oneself can be attributed not only to Rachmaninov’s internal self-control and his willpower. Of course, music came to his aid. Perhaps it was she who saved him in moments of despair. No matter how you remember the tragic episode noticed by Marietta Shaginyan that happened on board the sinking ship Titanic with the orchestra doomed to certain death. The ship gradually sank under water. Only women and children could escape. Everyone else did not have enough space in the boats or life jackets. And at this terrible moment music began to sound! It was Beethoven… The orchestra fell silent only when the ship disappeared under water… Music helped to survive the tragedy…

        Music gives hope, unites people in feelings, thoughts, actions. Leads into battle. Music takes a person from a tragic imperfect world to the land of dreams and happiness.

          Probably, only music saved Rachmaninov from the pessimistic thoughts that visited him in the last years of his life: “I don’t live, I never lived, I hoped until I was forty, but after forty I remember…”

          Lately he has been thinking about Russia. He negotiated about returning to his homeland. When World War II began, he donated his money to the needs of the front, including the construction of a military aircraft for the Red Army. Rachmaninov brought Victory closer as best he could.