1909. He also distinguished himself as a conductor, first at the Bolshoi

Theater between 1904 and 1906, and later with the Moscow Philharmonic. As a composer he enhanced his reputation with a remarkable second symphony, two more piano concertos, and sundry works for orchestra. He was a traditionalist who preferred working within the structures and with the techniques handed down to him by Tchaikovsky. Like Tchaikovsky whom he admired and emulated, he wore his heart on his sleeve, ever preferring to make his music the vehicle for profoundly felt emotions. His broad rhapsodic style makes his greatest music an ever stirring emotional experience. In 1917 Rachmaninoff left Russia for good, establishing his permanent home first in Lucerne, Switzerland, and in 1935 in the United States. All the while he continued to tour the world as concert pianist. His last years were spent in Beverly Hills, California, where he died on March 28, 1943. The Prelude in C-sharp minor, op. 3, no. 2 (1892) is Rachmaninoff’s most popular composition; the transcriptions and adaptations it has received are of infinite variety. He wrote it when he was nineteen and instantaneously the piece traveled around the globe. Unfortunately, the composer never profited commercially from this formidable success, having sold the composition outright for a pittance. The Prelude opens in a solemn mood with a theme sounding like the tolling of bells, or the grim pronouncement by some implacable fate. The second theme is agitated and restless, but before the composition ends the solemn first theme recurs. Numerous efforts have been made to provide this dramatic music with a program, including one which interpreted it in terms of the burning of Moscow in 1812. The Prelude in G minor, op. 23, no. 5, for piano (1904), is almost as famous. The opening subject has the character of a brisk military march, while the contrasting second theme is nostalgic and reflective. The _Vocalise_, op. 34, no. 14 (1912) is one of the composer’s best known vocal compositions. This is a wordless song—a melody sung only on vowels, a “vocalise” being actually a vocal exercise. Rachmaninoff himself transcribed this work for orchestra, a version perhaps better known than the original vocal one. Many other musicians have made sundry other transcriptions, including one for piano, and others for solo instruments and piano. Joachim Raff Joseph Joachim Raff was born in Lachen, on the Lake of Zurich, Switzerland, on May 27, 1822. He was mostly self-taught in music, while pursuing the career of schoolmaster. Some of his early compositions were published through Mendelssohn’s influence, a development that finally encouraged Raff to give up schoolteaching and devote himself completely to music. An intimate association with Liszt led to the première of an opera, _King Alfred_, in Weimar in 1851. In 1863, his symphony, _An das Vaterland_, received first prize from the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. From 1877 until his death he was director of Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfort, Germany. He died in that city on June 25, 1882. A prolific composer of symphonies, concertos, overtures, quartets, sonatas and sundry other works, Raff was a major figure in the German Romantic movement, highly regarded by his contemporaries, but forgotten since his death. Only some of his minor pieces are remembered. The most popular is the _Cavatina_ in A-flat major, op. 85, no. 3, for violin and piano, a perennial favorite with violin students and young violinists, and no less familiar in various orchestral adaptations. A “cavatina” is a composition for an instrument with the lyric character of a song. Raff’s broad and expressive melody has an almost religious stateliness. Another popular Raff composition in a smaller dimension is the picturesque piano piece, _La Fileuse_ (_The Spinner_), op. 157, no. 2, in which the movement of the spinning wheel is graphically reproduced. Maurice Ravel Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France, on March 7, 1875. After studying music with private teachers in Paris he entered the Paris Conservatory in 1889, remaining there fifteen years, and proving himself a brilliant (if at times an iconoclastic) student. While still at the Conservatory his _Menuet antique_ for piano was published, and _Les Sites auriculaires_ for two pianos was performed. By the time he left the Conservatory he was already a composer of considerable stature, having completed two remarkable compositions for the piano—_Pavane pour une Infante défunte_ and _Jeux d’eau_, both introduced in 1902—and an unqualified masterwork, the String Quartet, first performed in 1904. The fact that a composer of such attainments had four times failed to win the Prix de Rome created such a scandal in Paris that the director of the Paris Conservatory, Théodore Dubois, was compelled to resign. But Ravel’s frustrations from failing to win the Prix de Rome did not affect the quality of his music. In the succeeding years he produced a succession of masterworks: the ballet _Daphnis and Chloe_, its première by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Paris on June 8, 1912; the _Spanish Rhapsody_ (_Rapsodie espagnole_) for orchestra; the suite _Miroirs_, for piano. During World War I, Ravel served at the front in an ambulance corps. After the war, he withdrew to his villa in Montfort l’Amaury where he lived in comparative seclusion, devoted mainly to creative work. Nevertheless, in 1928, he toured the United States, making his American debut in Boston with the Boston Symphony on January 12, 1929; Ravel died in Paris on December 28, 1937, following an unsuccessful operation on the brain. One of the most significant of Impressionists after Debussy, Ravel was the creator of music that is highly sensitive in its moods, elegant in style, exquisite in detail, and usually endowed with the most stunning effects of instrumentation, rhythm, and harmony. Some of his best-known works derive their inspiration and material from Spanish sources. It is one of these that is probably his most popular orchestral composition, and one of the most popular of the 20th century, the _Bolero_. A “bolero” is a Spanish dance in ¾ time accompanied by clicking castanets. Ravel wrote his _Bolero_ in 1928 as ballet music for Ida Rubinstein who introduced it in Paris on November 22, 1928. But _Bolero_ has since then separated itself from the dance to become a concert hall favorite. When Toscanini directed the American première in 1929 it created a sensation, and set into motion a wave of popularity for this exciting music achieved by few contemporary works. It was performed by every major American orchestra, was heard in theaters and over radio, was reproduced simultaneously on six different recordings. It was transcribed for every possible combination of instruments (including a jazz band); the word “Bolero” was used as the title of a motion picture. Such immense appeal is not difficult to explain. The rhythmic and instrumental virtuosity of this music has an immediate kinaesthetic effect. The composition derives its immense impact from sonority and changing orchestral colors. The bolero melody has two sections, the first heard initially is the flute, then clarinet; the second is given by the bassoon, and then the clarinet. This two-part melody is repeated throughout the composition against a compelling rhythm of a side drum, all the while gradually growing in dynamics and continually changing its colors chameleon-like through varied instrumentation. A monumental climax is finally realized, as the bolero melody is proclaimed by the full orchestra. Another highly popular Ravel composition has a far different personality—the _Pavane pour une Infante défunte_ (_Pavane for a Dead Infante_). Where the appeal of the _Bolero_ is strong, direct, immediate and on the surface, that of the Pavane is subtle, elusive, sensitive. A Pavane is a stately court dance (usually in three sections and in ⁴/₄ time) popular in France. Ravel’s _Pavane_ is an elegy for the death of a Spanish princess. Ravel wrote this composition for piano (1899) but he later transcribed it for orchestra. An American popular song was adapted from this haunting melody in 1939, entitled “The Lamp Is Low.” Emil von Rezniček Emil Von Rezniček was born in Vienna, Austria, on May 4, 1860, the son of a princess and an Austrian field marshal. For a time he studied law, but then devoted himself completely to music study, mainly at the Leipzig Conservatory. From 1896 to 1899 he was the conductor of several theater orchestras in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In 1902 he settled in Berlin where he founded and for several years conducted an annual series of orchestral concerts. Subsequently he was the conductor of the Warsaw Opera and from 1909 to 1911 of the Komische Oper in Berlin. He also pursued a highly successful career as teacher, principally at the Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin and from 1920 to 1926 at the Berlin High School of Music. He went into retirement in 1929, and died in Berlin on August 2, 1945. Rezniček was the composer of several operas, five symphonies, three tone poems and various other compositions. His greatest success came with the comic opera, _Donna Diana_, introduced in Prague on December 16, 1894, and soon thereafter heard in forty-three European opera houses. The opera—libretto by the composer based on a Spanish comedy by Moreto y Cabana—is consistently light and frothy. Carlos is in pursuit of Princess Diana, and to effect her surrender he feigns he is madly in love with her. Princess Diana plays a game of her own. Coyly she eludes him after seeming to fall victim to his wiles. In the end they both discover they are very much in love with each other. The opera is almost never heard any longer, but the witty overture is a favorite throughout the world; it is the only piece of music by the composer that is still often performed today. A sustained introduction leads into the jolly first theme—a fast, light little melody that sets the prevailing mood of frivolity. The heart of the overture is an expressive melody shared by basses and oboe. It grows in passion and intensity as other sections of the orchestra develop it. When this melody comes to a climax, the passionate mood is suddenly dissipated, and the frivolous first theme of the overture returns to restore a mood of reckless gaiety. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin, Russia, on March 18, 1844. Trained for a naval career, he was graduated from the Naval School in St. Petersburg in 1862, after which he embarked on a two-and-a-half-year cruise as naval officer. From earliest boyhood he had been passionately interested in music, especially the folk operas of Glinka and Russian ecclesiastical music. When he was seventeen, he was encouraged by Balakirev to essay composition. After returning to Russia in 1864, Rimsky-Korsakov associated himself with the national Russian school then being realized by Balakirev and Mussorgsky among others, and completed his first symphony, introduced in St. Petersburg in 1865. He plunged more deeply into musical activity after that by completing several ambitious works of national character, including the _Antar Symphony_ and an opera, _The Maid of Pskov_. In 1873 he was relieved by the government of all his naval duties and allowed to devote himself completely to music. At that time the special post of Inspector of Military Orchestras was created for him. He soon distinguished himself as a conductor of the Free Music Society in St. Petersburg and as professor of composition and orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He did not neglect composition, producing many significant operas and orchestral works. In his music he remained faithful to national ideals by filling his music with melodies patterned after Russian folk songs, harmonies derived from the modes of Russian church music, and rhythms simulating those of Russian folk dances. To all his writing he brought an extraordinary technical skill in structure, orchestration and harmony. He died of a heart attack in Liubensk, Russia, on June 21, 1908. The exotic personality and harmonic and instrumental brilliance of Eastern music are often encountered in Rimsky-Korsakov. They are found in two extremely popular excerpts from his opera _Le Coq d’or_ (_The Golden Cockerel_): “Bridal Procession” and “Hymn to the Sun.” _Le Coq d’or_ is a fantasy-opera, introduced in Moscow on October 7, 1909; the libretto, by Vladimir Bielsky, is based on a tale by Pushkin. A golden cockerel with the talent of prophecy is presented to King Dodon by his astrologer. In time the cockerel accurately prophesies the doom of both the astrologer and the King. The oriental, languorous “Hymn to the Sun” (“_Salut à toi soleil_”) appears in the second act, a salute by the beautiful Queen of Shemaka. After the Queen has captured the love of King Dodon with this song, they marry. There are many transcriptions of this beautiful melody, including one for violin and piano by Kreisler and for cello and piano by Julius Klengel. The third act of this opera opens with the brilliant music of the “Bridal Procession.” The royal entourage passes with pomp and ceremony through the city accompanied by the cheers of the surrounding crowds. In the vital “Dance of the Tumblers” or “Dance of the Buffoons” for orchestra, Rimsky-Korsakov skilfully employs folk rhythms. This dance comes from the composer’s folk opera, _The Snow Maiden_ (_Snegourochka_). The third act opens with a gay Arcadian festival celebrated by the Berendey peasants during which this gay and exciting folk dance is performed. The pictorial, realistic “Flight of the Bumble Bee” is an excerpt from still another of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas, _The Legend of Tsar Saltan_. This is an orchestral interlude in the third act describing tonally, and with remarkable realism, the buzzing course of a bee. This piece retains its vivid pictorialism even in transcriptions, notably that for solo piano by Rachmaninoff, and for violin and piano by Arthur Hartmann. The “Hindu Chant” or “The Song of India” is also an operatic excerpt, this time from _Sadko_. It appears at the close of the second tableau of the second act. Sadko is the host to three merchants from foreign lands. He invites each to tell him about his homeland, one of whom is a Hindu who proceeds in an Oriental melody to speak of the magic and mystery of India. The _Russian Easter Overture_ (_La Grand pâque russe_), for orchestra, op. 36 (1888) was one of the fruits of the composer’s lifelong fascination for Russian church music. The principal thematic material of the overture comes from a collection of canticles known as the _Obikhod_ from the Russian Orthodox Church. Two of these canticles are heard in the solemn introduction, a section which the composer said represented the “Holy Sepulcher that had shone with ineffable light at the moment of the Resurrection.” The first is given loudly by strings and clarinets, the second quietly by violins and violas accompanied by woodwind, harps, and pizzicato basses. A brief cadenza for solo violin is the transition to the main body of the overture where the two canticles from the