September 16 1898 (Julian Calendar)

Rachmaninoff's travels to Crimea with Chaliapin and other singers are noted in various sources, however specific details of performances are recorded by Val'kova (vol. 1, pp. 222-224). While she notes that Rachmaninoff's name was not mentioned in any of the press notices about concerts, she cites other press and biographical sources that conclusively place him with the group of Russian Private Opera singers. The Chronicle of Life and Works of Chaliapin (1984) similarly includes details, also naming a concert in Sevastopol on September 23 (pp. 126-127). A press announcement in Moskovskiye Vedomosti on September 13 is cited, which names Rachmaninoff along with the singers. The concerts on September 16, 18, 21 and 23 are supported by notices in the Crimean Courier, and are listed here. It seems likely that other concerts planned for Kharkiv, Kyiv and Odesa also took place, based on the reminiscence E.R. Winter-Rozhanskaya in Vospominania (vol. 2, p. 24), who reflects personally on a concert in Alupka, apparently the last on the tour, however no further dates have been given. Winter-Rozhanskaya notes that by the final concert Rachmaninoff played everything 'by heart' ['Но Сергей Васильевич играл все наизусть, и даже при аккомпанементе свечи ему не понадобились'].