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).
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 along with the remainder of 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, or a selection from it, by Rimsky-Korsakov. 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, or a selection from it, by Rimsky-Korsakov. 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 one might presume the program was 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 whether it was Damrosch conducting, although Apetian named 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: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 14 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: 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, featuring his own cadenza.
April 7 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist and Chamber Musician
Notes: Satina indicates that this was a Rachmaninoff Festival Concert. Instead of The Bells, which was to have been conducted by Rachmaninoff, Damrosch conducted the Spring Cantata as the composer ‘had a pain in his arm’. Satina noted a 'church song' ‘Laud ye the Name of the Lord’, which is presumed to be from the All-Night Vigil. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
June 3 1920
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina indicates 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, one of whom was perhaps Ernst Schmidt. While Satina listed conductors for most works, she makes no remark about the conductor of Rachmaninoff's op. 29. 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.
January 2 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.
January 19 1921
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: The first work by Wagner could be ‘Träume’, the Wesendonck song, in the arrangement the composer made for solo violin in late 1858. No singer is listed by Satina. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 20 1921
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 27 1921
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.
January 28 1921
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: The concert commenced at 8.30pm. Satina believed that the program of the previous day had been repeated in this concert but, apart from Rachmaninoff's op. 30, the other works were different. The exact order of the program is not known. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 10 1921
Rachmaninoff's role: Concerto Soloist
Notes: Satina notes that this was part of a series called ‘The Historic Cycle’, with this concert dedicated to works by Russian Composers. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.