Sergei Rachmaninoff Timeline

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, born at Oneg, near Novgorod, 20 March (1 April, new calendar style)

Begins studies at St Petersburg Conservatory, remaining there until 1885

Moves to Moscow, where he starts piano lessons with Nikolay Zverev

Begins composing first piano pieces: 3 Nocturnes, a Romance, Prelude, Melodie and Gavotte

Enters Alexander Ziloti’s piano class at the Moscow Conservatory. Also studies counterpoint with Sergey Taneyev and harmony with Anton Arensky

Starts writing Piano Concerto No.1 and begins work on the 6 Songs published as op.4

Composes the two-piano Rhapsodie russe. Graduates from piano section of the Moscow Conservatory. Completes Piano Concerto No.1 and the tone poem Prince Rostislav

In Moscow gives premiere of Piano Concerto No.1 (first movement), composes Trio élégiaque in G minor and Prelude in C# minor. Graduates in composition, gaining the highest possible mark, 5+, for the opera Aleko, and wins the conservatory’s Great Gold Medal

At the Bolshoy Theatre, Aleko has its premiere and is warmly praised by Tchaikovsky. Rachmaninoff composes the orchestral fantasy The Rock, the 6 Songs Op.8, and Trio élégiaque in D minor, prompted by Tchaikovsky’s death

Completes Morceaux de salon op.10 for piano, Six Morceaux op.11 and the orchestral Caprice bohémien

Starts composing Symphony No.1, Moments musicaux op.16 for piano and the 12 Songs op.14

Symphony No.1 has a disastrous premiere in St Petersburg, conducted by Glazunov. Rachmaninoff accepts a post as conductor of the Moscow Private Russian Opera Company

Makes his international concert debut at Queen’s Hall in London, conducting The Rock and playing the Elégie and Prelude in C# minor from Op.3

Begins work on Piano Concerto No.2 and the two-piano Suite No.2. In Moscow gives premiere of the concerto’s second and third movements

Completes Suite No.2 and Piano Concerto No.2, performing the complete concerto in Moscow in the autumn. Composes Cello Sonata

Marries his cousin, Natalya Satina; composes the cantata Spring and 12 Songs op.21

The Rachmaninoffs’ first daughter, Irina, is born Composes Chopin Variations and completes 10 Preludes op.23

Signs contract to conduct opera at the Bolshoy Theatre

His appointment at the Bolshoy urges him to finish two operas on which he had recently been working: Francesca da Rimini and The Miserly Knight. Conducts the premieres at the Bolshoy. Since his youth, Rachmaninoff had spent many summers at the Satins’ country estate at Ivanovka. This summer he finishes there the 15 Songs op.26. In the autumn the family decides to spend some time in Dresden, to free the composer from the pressures of Moscow. Begins work on Symphony No.2 in Dresden.

A second daughter, Tatyana, is born at Ivanovka

Conducts premiere of Symphony No.2 in St Petersburg

In Dresden completes the symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead; at Ivanovka writes Piano Concerto No.3, in time to give its premiere during his first American tour in the autumn

Back in Russia he writes the choral Liturgy of St John Chrysostom and the 13 Preludes op.32

Takes charge of the estate at Ivanovka, and there composes the Études-tableaux op.33

In Rome starts work on the choral symphony The Bells, which, together with Piano Sonata No.2, he completes at Ivanovka

Composes All-night Vigil (Vespers)

Composes 6 Songs op.38 and some of the Études-tableaux op.39 (completed 1917)

Anxious to leave Russia after the October Revolution, he accepts an invitation to give concerts in Stockholm. Revises Piano Concerto No.1. Leaves Russia at the end of December, never to return

From Stockholm the family moves to Copenhagen. In November they sail to America

Rachmaninoff begins a new full-time career as a concert pianist, undertaking extensive tours every season from now on

Signs his first recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Co. (later RCA)

Makes his first recording of Piano Concerto No.2

He establishes the Tair publishing house in Paris, the name deriving from his two daughters, Tatyana and Irina. Tair publishes several of his own works

Completes Piano Concerto No.4 and the Trois Chansons Russes op.41

Piano Concerto No.4 is unenthusiastically received when Rachmaninoff plays it in March. He withdraws it from the repertory

With the Philadelphia Orchestra records The Isle of the Dead, his orchestral arrangement of the Vocalise, and makes his second recording of Piano Concerto No.2

Respighi orchestrates some of the Études-tableaux. The Rachmaninoffs decide to build a villa, Senar, on the shores of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland

Revises Piano Sonata No.2

The family moves in to the now completed Villa Senar. Composes Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, performing and recording it with the Philadelphia Orchestra

At Senar he begins work on Symphony No.3

Completes Symphony No.3 (which he revises in 1938), and creates an alternative simplified version of the choral parts for the Presto movement of The Bells for the Sheffield Festival

Plays Piano Concerto No.2 in the concert for Sir Henry Wood’s jubilee, 5 October

Gives final concerts in England. Has a fall at Senar, and is prevented from attending the Covent Garden premiere of a ballet based on the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. In the USA he records Symphony No.3 and Piano Concertos Nos.1 and 3, with the Philadelphia Orchestra

Composes Symphonic Dances

Revises Piano Concerto No.4, and records it

Gives final concert at Knoxville, Tennessee, on 17 February. Seriously ill, returns to Los Angeles, going first to hospital and then back home to Beverly Hills. He dies there on 28 March. His body is taken back to New York, and buried in Kensico Cemetery