Serge Rachmaninoff
Biography, works and influence.
Serge Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) was a leading Russian composer, pianist and conductor of the modern era. He is particularly well-known for his works for piano and orchestra and his solo piano repertoire, but he wrote a substantial body of music across all major genres.
Who was Rachmaninoff?
Early life
Born into a wealthy family that owned an estate in Semyonovo, southern Russia, Rachmaninoff was encouraged by music-loving relatives to learn the piano from an early age. After his father squandered his finances, the family moved to St Petersburg and Rachmaninoff’s parents separated. Despite these difficulties, the young Rachmaninoff pursued piano lessons at the St Petersburg Conservatoire, prioritising music at the expense of his academic studies.
Finding success
Rachmaninoff later transferred to the Moscow Conservatoire, where he wrote a one-act opera (Aleko) as his graduation piece; he already had a piano concerto and a symphonic poem under his belt. As a young man, he earned money from teaching and from touring as a pianist. The failure of his First Symphony, thanks to a poor first performance conducted by the composer Alexander Glazunov, prompted a three-year period of depression and intense self-criticism, and he abandoned composition in favour of conducting. Undergoing a course of hypnosis and psychological therapy eventually gave Rachmaninoff the confidence to return to composition, and the warmly received Piano Concerto No 2 marked a full return to musical productivity.
Leaving Russia
In 1904, now a married man with a daughter, Rachmaninoff took up the position of conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre, which gave him the opportunity to stage two of his own operas. In 1906, he moved his family to Dresden for three years, also visiting Paris, and in 1909–10 undertook a tour of the United States, as both a pianist and conductor. Further European travels followed throughout the prewar years, with Rachmaninoff periodically returning to Russia, where he had been appointed conductor of the Philharmonic Society of Moscow. The turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917 prompted Rachmaninoff to look for opportunities to emigrate: a concert tour of Scandinavia offered a pretext to relocate to Copenhagen, and in 1918 the Rachmaninoffs moved to New York.
Later years in the US
A busy programme of concert tours of the US and Europe and in due course a recording contract made Rachmaninoff a wealthy man. His productivity as a composer slowed in this new environment, but he found renewed inspiration spending summers in Switzerland in the 1930s. In 1942, now suffering from multiple health complaints, the composer moved his family to Beverley Hills, seeking a warmer climate for therapeutic reasons. The following year, Rachmaninoff was found to be suffering from an aggressive cancer and he died in his Californian home at the age of 69.
Serge Rachmaninoff
Born: 1 April 1873, Semyonovo, Russia
Died: 28 March 1943, Beverly Hills, US
Contemporaries: Alexander Scriabin, Giacomo Puccini, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg
Best known for: Symphonies Nos 2 and 3, Piano Concertos Nos 1–4, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, All-Night Vigil, 24 Preludes for Solo Piano
The one piece you have to hear: Piano Concerto No 2
Connection to the LSO: London premiere of the Fourth Piano Concerto, with Rachmaninoff as soloist
Watch
Rachmaninoff’s music performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, at the Barbican and LSO St Luke’s.
Who inspired Rachmaninoff?
Rachmaninoff discovered the works of Tchaikovsky as a child and idolised the older Russian composer, emulating aspects of his harmonic and melodic language in his own early works. His death affected Rachmaninoff badly, sending him into a decline. Rachmaninoff was also influenced by his teachers at the Moscow Conservatoire, the composer-pianists Anton Arensky and Sergei Taneyev: both of these men had, themselves, followed in the footsteps of Tchaikovsky, and the latter had been one of his pupils.
Rachmaninoff’s stylistic indebtedness to the spirit of Russian Romanticism meant that his works were sometimes criticised for being ‘out of their time’ – relatively conservative in an era in which modernists such as his direct contemporary Arnold Schoenberg were making serious advances in terms of breaking boundaries in harmonic language and rhythm. The accessibility of Rachmaninoff’s music, however, won him immense popularity with audiences, countless opportunities to have his music performed and recorded, and arguably, a more important place in posterity.
In Depth
Eight things you didn’t know about Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 2
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 2 is one of the most popular and recognisable concertos in the classical repertoire. Widely enjoyed but played only by the most skillful pianists, it has been performed in concert halls consistently since 1901. But how much do you really know about this landmark piece?
Seven times classical music was used in film
Delve into this list of iconic classical music pieces featured in film which you may recognise.
Happy World Piano Day
We celebrate Piano Day on the 88th day of the year, honouring the 88 keys of the piano. Browse videos, articles, future concerts and more, related to all things piano!
What are Rachmaninoff’s most famous pieces?
Orchestral and piano music
Given Rachmaninoff’s status as one of the finest pianists of his generation, it is unsurprising that his oeuvre for piano should be particularly large and that he paid great attention to exploring the instrument’s expressive capabilities. He is also very well-known for his orchestral works, which he wrote from the 1890s until the end of his life, including several symphonies and programmatic pieces such as the highly evocative, doom-laden symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead. Rachmaninoff’s distinctive style is characterised by broad, sweeping melodic lines, sumptuous harmonies, and a prevailing mood of melancholy and nostalgia. All of this meant that the works leant themselves to obvious appropriation in popular culture: most famously the Piano Concerto No 2, with its yearning themes, was used memorably in the film Brief Encounter.
Choral music
In his youth, Rachmaninoff wrote three operas, but then abandoned the genre, after choosing libretti that made little impact on the stage. Chamber music formed only a minor part of his output, but he wrote many songs, often setting poems by noted Russian Romantic or Symbolist authors. Rachmaninoff also made significant contributions to the choral repertoire, with his ‘choral symphony’ The Bells and his All Night Vigil (commonly, though incorrectly, often referred to as the ‘Rachmaninoff Vespers’). The latter work, highly atmospheric, is based on Russian Orthodox chants and has a timeless, meditative, distinctively Eastern quality, calling at times for extremely low bass voices.
With the LSO
The LSO performed the London premiere of Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto at the Queen’s Hall on 11 November 1929, with the composer as soloist. You can view the original programme below. His other appearance with the Orchestra was in 1936, performing his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
The LSO began recording the works of Rachmaninoff during the 1930s. The Orchestra first performed Rachmaninoff’s First and Second Piano Concertos at Proms concerts at the Queen’s Hall in 1940; a performance of the Third was cancelled because of bombing raids. It first performed the composer’s Second Symphony at the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 1957, alongside extracts from works by Wagner.
Composer Connections
Rachmaninoff was a well-connected composer. As a young man, he established a close friendship with Alexander Scriabin: he was devastated by his friend’s death in 1915, acting as a pallbearer at his funeral and undertaking a tour, promoting Scriabin’s music. When living in the United States in later life, he made a point of seeking out fellow Russian musicians, including Vladimir Horowitz and Igor Stravinsky. Rachmaninoff is often mentioned in the same breath as Giacomo Puccini, although they never met. Both men were criticised for holding on to 19th-century compositional techniques, but had an astonishing melodic gift and produced works that enraptured audiences and had immense, long-running success.
Listen to Rachmaninoff live
Upcoming concerts featuring music by Rachmaninoff.
Half Six Fix: Rachmaninoff
Gianandrea Noseda
Wednesday 25 February 2026 • 6.30pm
Rachmaninoff's First Symphony, once a failure, now shines with ominous drama and triumphant brass. Under Noseda's baton, the LSO ignites its fiery brilliance.
Debussy, Berg and Rachmaninoff
Artist Portrait: Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Thursday 26 February 2026 • 7pm
The LSO and Gianandrea Noseda perform Debussy, Berg, and Rachmaninoff, with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja bringing raw intensity to Berg's Violin Concerto.
Written by Dr Alexandra Wilson
