Solo Pianist - Diary entries
Many of the initial performance details listed here were 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, especially substantial research that identified precise program details, 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), A Catalogue of the Compositions of S. Rachmaninoff by Robert Threlfall and Geoffrey Norris (Scolar Press: London, 1982), and research undertaken at the Glinka Museum of Musical Culture, Moscow.
February 26 1917 (Julian calendar)
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: Satina notes that ‘50% of the money received will be given to the All-Russia Union of Cities, to help the sick and wounded soldiers’. Satina also indicates that the performance took place at the ‘Zimin Opera House’, which might be a reference to the Nikitsky Theatre. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
February 22 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: Satina notes that this was an all-Rachmaninoff program. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
March 18 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
March 22 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
April 24 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
April 26 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: The ordering of the two Etudes-Tableau in E flat minor, and in C minor, could be different, although Rachmaninoff frequently played the E flat minor op. 33 work before the E flat major op. 33 work, both prior to this concert and later. In hand-written notes, Satina appears unsure whether one or two Moments musicaux were played. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
May 2 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: Satina notes that the rest of the program is unknown, but also that it included ‘songs’ sung by ‘Madame Skalontz’. Bertensson and Leyda confirm this concert, also noting that Skalontz (Adelaide von Skilondz) sang songs by Rachmaninoff. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
September 18 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: Satina indicates that Tchaikovsky’s Romance might not have been played. A piano made by Hornung & Møller is noted. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
September 19 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
September 27 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
September 30 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 1 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 2 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 3 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 4 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 7 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: While the Elegy, op. 3, no. 1, was listed on the program, a direct line through it in the copy in the Library of Congress would appear to indicate that it wasn't performed. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 9 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 10 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 13 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 16 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
October 18 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
December 8 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: Satina indicates that in Providence a program misprint had stated that the Chopin Nocturne was in A minor. She also notes that this was Rachmaninoff’s first appearance in the USA since 1910. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
December 15 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: Satina notes that the concert began with ‘the American Hymn’ ('The Star-Spangled Banner'). LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89. Review: Boston Herald 1918.12.16 p. 11.
December 16 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
December 17 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
December 21 1918
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: The concert began at 2.30pm. The attached review notes that Beethoven's Scherzo from the Sonata in E flat major, op. 31, no. 3, was given as an encore after the Sonata. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 4 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: The attached review notes that Rachmaninoff played the Scherzo from Beethoven's Sonata in E flat major, op. 31, no. 3, as an encore after the Beethoven Sonata. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 10 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89. Review: Boston Herald 1919.01.11 p. 11.
January 13 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: The 250th Musical Morning of Mr Bagby’s Concerts, beginning at 11am. Satina indicates that the other soloists were Louise Homer, Maria Rappold (standing in for Florence Easton), and Reinald Werrenrath. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.
January 21 1919
Rachmaninoff's role: Solo Pianist
Notes: The attached reviews indicate Rachmaninoff's Barcarolle, op. 10, no. 3, and Polichinelle, op. 3, no. 4, were played as encores at the end of the recital, and that a 'Scherzo, op. 31' of Beethoven was played after the sonata. LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89.