Not just a one hit wonder … but there was an audience favorite

Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp minor proved very popular with the public. At times, it was programmed “by request” (1), and if not was freqently expected as an encore. In 1922, Rachmaninoff performed in the Queens Hall (London). A critic in the Musical Times described the event:

It was clear that the bulk of those who filled Queen’s Hall at Rachmaninov’s first recital on May 6 came to see the composer of a certain Prelude rather than hear a certain pianist of unusual excellence. We felt that Mozart’s Sonata in A, Beethoven’s in E [minor] (Op. 90), a Chopin group, and Mendelssohn’s Andante and Rondo Capriccioso were mere preliminaries. The real business of the afternoon, we knew, was to come at the end. And so it was. A batch of pieces in which the pianist figured as composer (a jolly Polka and the Preludes in G flat and B flat) and transcriber (Kreisler’s Liebesleid roused the assembled suburbians for the supplementary recital without no occasion of the kind complete. Rachmaninov knew what was coming, if his depressed air was any guide. He had hardly sunk onto the piano-stool when cries of “C sharp minor!” were fired at him, and he got to work at once, not even making a fresh start when the mob broke in on the opening notes with applause. … More enthusiasm followed, and he continued playing and his admirers went on making noises till the attendents applied the closure by switching off the lights and shutting the pianoforte. It would be a great treat to hear this fine and unassuming pianist in a small hall from which all Prelude-maniacs had been barred.

He gave a second recital on May 20, when Queen’s Hall was again crowded. They got that Prelude again!

(1) Rachmaninoff performed before the Philharmonic Society (England) in 1911 performing his D minor piano concerto. The program also included “Prelude in C-sharp minor (by Special Request”).

Source: Scholes, Percy (1947) The Mirror of Music. London: Novello. vol.1, p.447.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

, ,

Featured Content

Stravinsky on composition
“For me, as a creative musician, composition is a daily function that I am compelled to discharge. I compose because I am made for that and cannot do otherwise … I am far from saying that there is no such thing as inspiration; quite the opposite. It is found as a driving force in every […]
The musician’s role: maintain our trust in the world
“I feel that tolerance, love and social harmony can and should be the by-products of an artist’s way of life and creation.  I would like to believe that beauty and truth, two great disciplines, when combined as they are in music, where order is based on self-restraint and a better understanding of repose, will lead […]
Through teaching we teach ourselves
“It is by teaching that we teach ourselves, by relating that we observe, by affirming that we examine, by showing that we look, by writing that we think, by pumping that we draw water into the well.” —Henri Frederic Amiel.  Swiss philosopher, poet & critic. H. F. Amiel, Amiel’s Journal, trans. H. Ward, London, Macmillan […]
Claudio Arrau in Newcastle
While the Century Theatre in Broadmeadow (Australia) primarily operated as a cinema, it was also hosted concerts, including by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. On one occasion, Claudio Arrau performed in the theatre, as recalled by Harry Armstrong: With only a few minutes to go before the famous pianist was scheduled to commence his performance, which […]
The necessity of the serial method
Boulez declares: “Any composer of our time who has not felt the necessity of the serial method is worthless.”  Omit the word “not,” and I agree. Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary 1986-1999.  Cambridge: MA: Da Capo Press, p.69.
Mozart on Craft
“People are mistaken, if they think that my art has come easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has devoted so much effort in the study of composition as have I. There is scarcely a famous master in must whose works I have not diligently, and often repeatedly, studied.” – Mozart, in […]
The development of keyboard technique
Before the time of Bach, keyboardists would often only use the middle three fingers of each hand and tended to keep their hands flat. Bach taught his students under the new principle of using all the fingers. Beethoven asked his pupils to curve the hand. Source: Marek, George (1969) Beethoven: Biography of a Genius. London: William […]
It’s two-four … It’s three-four
Chopin had a free sense of rhythm.  In 1842, Chopin was giving a lessen to Wilhem von Lenz when Meyerbeer walked in.  The Mazurka (op. 33 no. 3) was being played.  von Lenz recounts: Meyerbeer had seated himself; Chopin let me play on. “That is two-four time,” said Meyerbeer. For reply, Chopin made me repeat, […]
Bach’s method of keyboard teaching
The teaching methods of Johann Sebastion Bach are recounted by his son, Philip Emanuel Bach: The first thing he did was to teach his pupils his special ways of touching the keyboard. For this he made them practice for months nothing but separate exercises for all the fingers of both hands, with constant attention to […]
I am Beethoven
An account of Beethoven being lost in his creative world: Thayer tells us of a conversation he had with a Professor Blasius Höfel, a teacher of fine arts at Weiner Neustadt, a little town near Vienna.  one evening, Höfel was in a tavern with some of his colleagues, the Commissioner of Police being a member […]