Scherzo in D minor (Rachmaninoff) explained

Scherzo in D minor is Sergei Rachmaninoff's earliest surviving composition for orchestra, composed when he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory.[1] It takes between four and five minutes to play.

The manuscript is dated 5-21 February 1888, when Rachmaninoff was still only 14. An unknown hand has changed this date to 1887.[2] It is dedicated to his cousin Alexander Siloti, and it was intended to be part of a larger work because it is headed "Third movement".

The model for the work is the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.[3] Rachmaninoff had earlier transcribed Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony for two pianos, and the Scherzo also has echoes of that work.[4]

The piece is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (B♭), 2 bassoons, horn (F), trumpet (B♭), 2 timpani, violins I, violins II, violas, cellos and double basses.

The first performance of the Scherzo took place in Moscow on 2 November 1945, conducted by Nikolai Anosoff, along with another early work by Rachmaninoff, Prince Rostislav. The Scherzo was published in 1947.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: CD Baby . 2009-02-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121004140356/http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/evgeni35 . 2012-10-04 . live .
  2. Web site: bnet . 2009-02-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090602094111/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6657/is_n2_v50/ai_n28633100/ . 2009-06-02 . live .
  3. Book: Harrison, Max . Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings . 2006 . . . 978-0-8264-9312-5 . 19 . 2016-11-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171010085517/https://books.google.com/books?id=HwSvhu1kLikC&pg=PP1&dq=harrison+max+rachmaninoff#PPA19,M1 . 2017-10-10 . live .
  4. Web site: Talk Classical . 2009-02-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090730060626/http://www.talkclassical.com/2507-sergei-rachmaninoff.html . 2009-07-30 . live .
  5. Web site: Chandos CD notes . 2009-02-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110526095803/http://www.chandos.net/CD_Notes.asp?CNumber=CHAN%2010104 . 2011-05-26 . live .