Sergei
Rachmaninov
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Sergei Rachmaninov
1873 - 1943
Sergei Rachmaninov
1873 – 1943
Rachmaninov was a multi-talented musician;
brilliant at composing, playing piano
and conducting.
He started to compose at the age of 13 whilst a student at
the St Petersburg Conservatoire. During his teenage years his
home life became quite unsettled, and he ended up failing all
his exams at school.
Luckily Rachmaninov managed to win a place to study music
in Moscow. He threw himself into his studies, getting up at
6am every day to practise.
He ended up graduating with the conservatoire’s highest
possible mark and gold medal.
Rhapsody
on a Theme of
Paganini
In 1934 Rachmaninov composed Rhapsody on
a Theme of Paganini.
Paganini was born almost 100 years before
Rachmaninov and was a phenomenal violin
soloist. He was a truly outstanding musician
with the most incredible playing technique.
Rachmaninov used Theme and Variation
form for his composition.
He took the melody of Paganini’s 24th Violin
Caprice and used it as the basis of a new
composition for solo piano and orchestra.
Theme &
Variations
This is the theme borrowed from
Paganini’s 24th Violin Caprice.
You can hear this theme played by the violin
section of the orchestra on Track 5 of the
MUSICWORKS CD. Fast forward to 00:27.
Variation
- a musical form in which
a composer takes
a melody and modifies it.
Rachmaninov composed 24 different
variations on Paganini’s theme.
Some of the variations are very
straightforward and are closely linked to the
original theme.
Others are more complex and sound like
entirely new pieces of music.
Look at Paganini’s theme once more.
Here is an example of a simple
variation Rachmaninov made.
You can hear this variation played by the
piano on Track 5 of the MUSICWORKS CD.
Fast forward to 00:47.
Theme by Paganini
Variation by Rachmaninov (No.2)
Rachmaninov gave the music
a quirky character by adding
some crushed notes to the
theme.
Acciaccatura
- a type of grace note indicated
by a small note with a line
through the tail. The acciaccatura
is played so quickly it is literally
crushed into the note it precedes.
The most adventurous variation Rachmaninov made
was number 18. Variation 18 sounds like an entirely
new piece of music with no relation to Paganini’s
theme.
However, it is absolutely connected to Paganini.
Rachmaninov was just incredibly clever in his
approach.
Variation 18 is an inversion of Paganini’s theme.
Rachmaninov literally turned Paganini’s theme
upside down.
Inversion
- to turn a musical element
upside down,
e.g. a chord, interval or melody.
To make Variation 18,
Rachmaninov took Paganini’s theme,
selected the accidentals,
and removed them.
He set a line of symmetry and
then flipped the staves over,
so that the music is upside down.
He selected some notes,
moved them down an octave,
and added a couple of flats.
He joined repeating notes together,
and raised one note from C to D.
Finally, he re-scored the music in 3/4
adding some triplets.
This is now Variation 18.
You can hear Variation 18 on Track 5 of the
MUSICWORKS CD. Fast forward to 02:00.
Theme by Paganini
Variation by Rachmaninov (No.18)
For such a mechanical process, it is
amazing how beautiful this new music is.
Variation 18 became one of
Rachmaninov’s most popular melodies,
but it’s simply an inversion of Paganini’s
Violin Caprice.
Sergei
Rachmaninov