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University of Cincinnati UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Reassessing a Legacy: Rachmaninoff in America, 1918–43 A dissertation submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN MUSIC in the Division of Composition, Musicology, and Theory of the College-Conservatory of Music 2008 by Robin S. Gehl B.M., St. Olaf College, 1983 M.A., University of Minnesota, 1990 Advisor: bruce d. mcclung, Ph.D. ABSTRACT A successful composer and conductor, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) fled Russia at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution never to return. Rachmaninoff, at the age of forty-four, transformed himself by necessity into a concert pianist and toured America for a quarter of a century from 1918 until his death in 1943, becoming one of the greatest pianists of the day. Despite Rachmaninoff‘s immense talents, musicologists have largely dismissed him as a touring virtuoso and conservative, part-time composer. Rather than using mid-twentieth-century paradigms that classify Rachmaninoff as a minor, post-Romantic, figure, a recent revisionist approach would classify Rachmaninoff as an innovator. As one of the first major performer-composers in America to embrace recording and reproducing technology, along with the permanence and repetition it offered, Rachmaninoff successfully utilized mass media for twenty-five years. Already regarded as a conductor and composer of appealing music, Rachmaninoff extended his fame by recording and performing his own works, and those of others. Traditionally, scholars and critics have examined and classified composers according to their musical style, and that mode of classification has rendered Rachmaninoff old-fashioned. Using a paradigm based on economic and social relations inverts the ―musical style‖ hierarchy, with Rachmaninoff now becoming one of the twentieth century‘s most progressive composers. Rachmaninoff, desiring a ―lasting, indestructible art,‖ achieved that goal through his recordings, preserved and reissued to this day, and through the ongoing performing and recording of his compositions enjoyed by audiences world-wide. Reassessing Rachmaninoff‘s American career brings into bold relief his marketing and business dealings with ii Steinway and Sons, reception by American audiences and critics, and charitable fundraising and programming trends. The Library of Congress in Washington now houses much of his American-era correspondence, concert reviews and programs, and documentary human interest stories. These items comprise the primary sources for this study, which reconsiders Rachmaninoff‘s position in the musical canon. Ancillary materials include listings of Rachmaninoff‘s concert and recital dates and locations in America, the orchestras and conductors with whom he performed, his repertoire, and works he recorded. A reassessment of Rachmaninoff‘s career and reception in America reveals his true accomplishment as an innovator. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My interest in Sergei Rachmaninoff stems from first hearing and enjoying recordings of his music on the radio. Assuming that he spent his life and career in Russia, little did I realize that Rachmaninoff lived in America during the formative years of the recording and broadcasting industries, and his decisions regarding use of those media proved prescient. While attending a twentieth-century music history course taught by Dr. Robert Zierolf at the College-Conservatory of Music, I was drawn to a germ of an idea, on a long list of many, for an extra-credit research topic, ―Rachmaninoff in America.‖ After completing that project, Dr. Zierolf suggested that I may have a dissertation topic worth pursuing. Thanks to his advice and others, I spent many enjoyable hours reviewing the archives of materials from Rachmaninoff‘s tenure in America now placed in libraries in New York, Washington, DC, and College Park, Maryland. I am grateful for the opportunity to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music under a full university scholarship, and especially for the support of the Composition, Musicology, and Theory division, in particular Dr. Robert Zierolf, Division Head, who also served as dissertation reader, and Dr. Edward Nowacki, Interim Chairman. Dr. Mary Sue Morrow offered expert advice and counsel throughout my tenure, and Dr. Jeongwon Joe provided valuable assistance preparing my dissertation proposal and the dissertation itself, serving as reader. I also greatly appreciate the friendship and encouragement of my classmates and colleagues active in the division during my years of coursework. In v particular, I am extremely grateful for the expertise and patience of Dr. bruce d. mcclung who graciously served as my dissertation advisor. His expert editing, teaching, and coaching abilities, along with his remarkable knowledge of music in twentieth-century America proved most beneficial. I am indebted to his careful reading of my work; what deficiencies remain are mine. I wish to thank the librarians, curators, specialists, archivists, and staff of the following institutions: The Rachmaninoff Archive, Library of Congress (Mark Horowitz, Kevin LaVine, and Patricia Baughman); International Piano Archive at the University of Maryland (Donald Manildi and Maxwell Brown); Wagner and LaGuardia Archives, LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York (Steven Levine); the University of Cincinnati‘s Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library and Langsam Library (interlibrary loan department and reference librarians); Halifax Historical Society and Museum, Daytona Beach, Florida (Fayn LeVeille); Hamilton County Public Library, downtown Cincinnati branch; Boston Symphony Orchestra (Bridget P. Carr); Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library (Mark Bowden); Minnesota Orchestra (Sandi Brown); Minnesota Historical Society Library, St. Paul; Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (Eddie Silva); nearly one hundred public librarians across the country who consulted reviews in local historic newspaper collections to determine concert venues; and special thanks to Henry Z. Steinway of Steinway & Sons for sharing his reminiscences and a personal tour of Steinway Hall. In addition, I wish to acknowledge the support and encouragement of my colleagues and friends at Cincinnati Public Radio (WGUC and WVXU), in particular CEO and General Manager Richard Eiswerth; the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi; and former colleagues at Minnesota Public Radio. vi Finally, I thank my parents for instilling in me a life-long love of learning and an appreciation for music. August 2008 Cincinnati, Ohio vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v LIST OF TABLES . x INTRODUCTION . 1 Chapter 1. LIFE IN RUSSIA AND COMING TO AMERICA . 12 2. 992 CONCERTS IN 221 CITIES . 41 3. RECEPTION BY CONDUCTORS AND FELLOW MUSICIANS . 70 4. RECEPTION BY AMERICAN AUDIENCES . 103 5. RACHMANINOFF: RECORDINGS AND RADIO . 129 6. CHARITABLE WORK . 157 7. CONCLUSION: FINAL TOUR AND AMERICAN LEGACY . 182 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 208 Appendix A CATALOGUE OF RACHMANINOFF‘S WORKS . 231 B STEINWAY COMPANY ADVERTISEMENT FEATURED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES . 233 C NBC ARTIST SERVICES PRESS PACKET, 1932–1933 . 235 D AMERICAN CITIES IN WHICH RACHMANINOFF PERFORMED . 252 E RECITAL REPERTOIRE ADDED EACH SEASON IN AMERICA . 298 viii F ORCHESTRAS WITH WHOM RACHMANINOFF PERFORMED IN AMERICA . 314 G CONDUCTORS WITH WHOM RACHMANINOFF PERFORMED IN AMERICA. 322 H NEWSPAPER REVIEWS, 1918–1943. 330 I AMPICO PIANO ROLLS RECORDED BY RACHMANINOFF, 1919–1929. 340 J MUSICAL WORKS RECORDED ON GRAMOPHONE BY RACHMANINOFF, 1919–1942 . 344 K 1922 REPARATION OF FOOD REMITTANCE LIST (AMERICAN RELIEF ADMINISTRATION). 351 L ―TAGORE ON RUSSIA‖ LETTER TO THE EDITOR, NEW YORK TIMES . 353 ix LIST OF TABLES TABLE 2.1 AMERICAN CITIES IN WHICH RACHMANINOFF PERFORMED TEN OR MORE TIMES . 54 TABLE 2.2 WORKS PERFORMED WITH ORCHESTRA AND NUMBER OF PERFORMANCES . 67 x INTRODUCTION Sergei Rachmaninoff considered coming to America with trepidation, complaining to his cousin Zoya Pribitkova that all Americans thought about was business.1 Yet, of the many musicians who relocated to America in the first half of the twentieth century, it was Rachmaninoff, the country-less Russian, who truly lived the American Dream. Arriving with his wife, two daughters, and few worldly possessions in 1918, he went on to perform 992 concerts in more than two hundred American cities and to capitalize on the nascent American recording industry. From his early and ongoing love of driving American cars to his final days spent in Beverly Hills, the Russian American availed himself of every opportunity to both touch American audiences and to provide for his family and many Russian émigrés plagued by financial hardship. At the end of his life, at the age of sixty-nine, both he and his wife became naturalized American citizens, participating in a ceremony at the United States Naturalization Court in New York City. At that event he remarked, ―I am very happy to become a United States citizen in this land of opportunity and equality.‖2 At first a reluctant visitor, Rachmaninoff went on to
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