Sergei Rachmaninoff's Role In The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church has always played a large role in the growth of music, and has led to some of its most important developments. One such musical development to come from the Church is the chant, a unison song with melodies to accompany different prayers and texts of the church. Perhaps one of the most memorable chants of the Catholic Church is the Dies irae, a Gregorian chant that has been performed for many centuries. The text of it is attributed to Thomas of Celano, who most likely based it on a trope from the responsory Libera me. The Dies irae is a particular genre of chant known as a sequence; sequences were used in the early years of the church. However, the Catholic Church held a series of three meetings from 1545 to 1563,

29. Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in the Novgorod region of Russia on April 1, 1873 into a musically inclined family; it was from his mother that he received his first piano lessons. While he was studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, his family went through rough times with the death of his sister and the separation of his parents. This proved to have a profound effect on Rachmaninoff’s career. He would eventually study at the Moscow Conservatory, then move to Ivanovka, a region in the Russian countryside where he completed most of his compositions. He was first inspired to write his piece Isle of the Dead in 1907, when he visited Paris and saw a black and white reproduction of the painting Isle of the Dead by Arnold Böcklin. Rachmaninoff began to compose this work in 1909 not while in Ivanovka, but while living in seclusion in Dresden. In this composition, he attempts to describe the painting by Böcklin through music. The painting depicts a boat which is heading towards a mysterious island in the river Styx; a figure dressed in white, which represents a recently departed soul who is about to explore what lies beyond death, stands on the bow of the boat. Death is an obvious theme in this picture, and Rachmaninoff represents this through the use of the Dies irae, which is heard often throughout the piece. It is heard only in incomplete fragments, beginning in the

As is suggested by the title, the melody of this piece is based on the Dies irae. Franz Liszt was born during the midst of the Napoleonic wars, in 1811; however, the condition of his hometown of Raiding, Austria was one of peace rather than struggle during Liszt’s birth. Liszt was a very musical child, and his experiences during his childhood, such as those of gypsies who wandered to Raiding and shared their music, would always be an important influence to him. He was also influenced by other musicians that he met. Notably, Liszt met the violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini in 1861 while in Paris; this had a profound impact on his musical career, especially in his role as a piano virtuoso. Liszt established his reputation as a pianist at an early age. He was known for greatly expanding the range of the piano’s technique during his life; notably, his hand span was very wide, allowing him to cover a large range with each hand. This certainly reflects in his compositions. Liszt is well known for writing works for piano, such as the piece featured on this concert, Totentanz, which is written for piano and orchestra. Liszt spent a large amount of time from 1838 to 1859 working on this piece. It was inspired by the painting of an Italian Renaissance artist named Orcagna, entitled The Triumph of Death, which Liszt became greatly impressed with in 1838 while travelling