Symphony No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)

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The First Symphony in D minor, Op. 13 by Sergei Rachmaninoff was created in 1893 – 1895.

1 Contemporary critical response
2 The second life of the symphony
3 Scoring
4 Movements
5 External links

[edit] Contemporary critical response

The symphony premiered on March 5, 1897 in Saint Petersburg under the baton of Alexander Glazunov, when Rachmaninoff was 23. The symphony's premiere was an absolute failure; Rachmaninoff left in agony before the performance was finished. Several attendees remarked that Glazunov seemed drunk.

The work was lambasted by reviewers, most famously by César Cui, who said that "if there were a conservatory in Hell, and if one of its talented students was to compose a symphony based on the story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, and if he had written one similar to Rachmaninoff's, he would have brilliantly accomplished his task and would have delighted the inhabitants of Hell."

The work's failure left Rachmaninoff shattered and he was unable to compose until 1899, when family members and friends convinced him to seek hypnotic therapy with Dr. Nikolai Dahl. The famous product of these meetings was the immensely popular Second Piano Concerto.

[edit] The second life of the symphony

The symphony left the repertoire after its failure in 1897, and the score was thought to be lost. However shortly after the composer's death in 1944, the instrumental parts were discovered, and the full score was reconstructed by a group of scholars headed by a prominent Russian conductor Aleksandr Gauk. The second premiere of the piece conducted by Aleksandr Gauk took place at the Moscow Conservatory on October 17, 1945, and was a grand success. This led to a new and more enthusiastic evaluation of Rachmaninoff's music in Russia. The American premiere took place in 1948, conducted by Eugene Ormandy.

Some critics today feel the symphony is one of Rachmaninoff's best works; it is full of youthful enthusiasm, soaring melodies, shows the beginning of his obsession with Russian Orthodox chants, the motivic use of bells, and a very Wagneresque orchestration including a heavy brass section, a gong, and a tambourine. Interesting also is the presence of dies irae, the motive which occurs in many of his later works. Inscribed in the symphony is the biblical quotation "Vengeance is mine".

Rachmaninoff quotes the first theme of the first movement in his Symphonic Dances, completed in 1940 in much more serene circumstances, with a lush and peaceful orchestration. The symphony had not been published or heard in almost fifty years, and it is very unlikely that anyone outside Rachaninoff's immediate circle caught the reference; it may be viewed, however, as Rachmaninoff coming to terms with the failure of the symphony.