One of my favorite composers is Sergei Rachmaninoff. Here is a brief bio of the man which explains why as a person I find him so fascinating.

To many Americans in the first half of the Twentieth Century, Sergei Rachmaninoff was a tall, stern, brilliant figure in classical music. He was a Romantic who staunchly rejected the Modern age even as he lived and breathed in it. He was a composer and piano virtuoso equal to Liszt. His rich, melodious, and sometimes brooding compositions were immediately recognizable. He was the protégé of Peter Tchaikovsky and son of the storied pre-Soviet Russian school of music. When he lived in America from 1918 to 1943, he seemed to belong to another age, one rich with beautiful music from men like Chopin and Mendelssohn, but one which ended in socialist revolution and the horrific trauma the First World War.

Another side of Rachmaninoff was known by his countrymen, that of the young, sensitive and often luckless artist whose failures were almost as famous as his successes. Born in 1873 into an aristocratic family that had seen better times, Sergei began his studies in St. Petersburg at nine. Soon, he moved to Moscow and began composing.

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