Concerto Soloist - Diary entries
Many of the performance details listed here have been compiled from Zarui Apetian’s important research, published in Literaturnoye Nasledie [Collected Literature] (Sovietskii Kompozitor: Moscow, 1980, vol. 3, pp. 439-467). These details have been subsequently cross-referenced and checked with the many itineraries and other corroborating materials collected by Rachmaninoff’s sister-in-law, Sophia Satina, housed in the Rachmaninoff Archive of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C (LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R22, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89). Further information has been gathered from Barrie Martyn’s book Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor (Scolar Press: London, 1990), and A Catalogue of the Compositions of S. Rachmaninoff by Robert Threlfall and Geoffrey Norris (Scolar Press: London, 1982).
March 29 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
April 8 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina notes that this was a Gala Concert of the Vacation Association Inc., and that 'maestro Bambuschek' accompanied Geraldine Farrar. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 31 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina notes that this was the first time Rachmaninoff played this concerto in Boston. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
November 1 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89. Review: Boston Herald 1919.11.02 p. 14.
November 3 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
November 4 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina had believed that the program comprised a Schumann Symphony and Stravinsky's Firebird, however the review outlines different works alongside Rachmaninoff's op. 30. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
November 5 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
November 7 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Apetian lists Rachmaninoff's Concerto no. 1 for this concert, however Satina identified Liszt's Concerto no. 1. The attached reviews confirms this, along with the other works on the program. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
December 6 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
December 7 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
December 26 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: It was presumably the Suite, op. 57 by Rimsky-Korsakov, or a selection from it, that was performed. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
December 28 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: It was presumably the Suite, op. 57 by Rimsky-Korsakov, or a selection from it, that was performed. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 15 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina indicates that her knowledge extends only to the concerto in this performance, but given the concert the following day in Minneapolis it is presumed the program remained the same. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 16 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 23 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 24 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 27 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina was unsure of the orchestra for this concert, and also had a reservation about who was conducting, although Apetian names both the orchestra and the conductor. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 29 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 31 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 6 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina notes that this was the first performance in the USA of The Bells. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89. Review 2: Philadelphia Inquirer 1920.02.07 p. 20.
February 7 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 13 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: The attached reviews note that Rachmaninoff played his Prelude in C sharp minor, op. 3, no. 2, at the end. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 14 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: The attached review indicates that, after asking the conductor to allow the orchestra to leave the stage, Tchaikovsky's Troika was played as an encore at the end. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 22 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 26 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: The concert commenced at 8.30pm. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 27 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: The concert commenced at 2.30pm. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
March 7 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Details for this concert have been confirmed by Francis Crociata. The reviews indicate that Rachmaninoff played Liszt’s Second Rhapsody as a solo encore, featuring his own cadenza, and other solo pieces. The complete program for the second half of the concert is presently unknown, although songs by Grechaninov, Thomas and Helen Brown are noted in the second attached review.
April 7 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist and Chamber Musician
Notes: Satina indicated that this was a Rachmaninoff Festival Concert. Instead of The Bells, which was to have been conducted by Rachmaninoff, Damrosch conducted the Spring Cantata. The first attached review notes that Rachmaninoff had 'neurosis' of the arm, although both also indicate that Rachmaninoff felt unable to both conduct and play in the same concert. One of the songs appears to have been 'Spring Waters', op. 14, no. 11, while a further fourth song, which is noted as an encore, could have been op. 4, no. 4. Royal Dadmun is noted as a late replacement for Georges Baklanov. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
June 3 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina indicated that this was the 46th Meeting and Concert of the Litchfield County Choral Union, and that the orchestra comprised 75 players from New York City. She was unsure of the conductors, however the attached reviews provide clarity. Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp minor, op. 3, no. 2, is noted as the encore. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 1 1921
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina notes that this was a ‘Symphony Concert for Young People’. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.