Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14 – Sergei Rachmaninoff (4 hands Piano arr. sheet music)
Rachmaninoff, a virtuoso pianist of legendary abilities, is known today almost exclusively for his instrumental music. But he also completed three operas and composed a body of choral works and solo songs that is substantial in both quantity and quality.
Vocalise is a song written by Sergei Rachmaninoff as the 14th and final part of his 14 Songs or 14 Romances, written and published in 1915. Originally written for high voice and piano, this arrangement is made for 2 pianos or 4 hands piano.
A vocalization is basically a song without text, the part of the voice sustained by a single vowel sound. Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise was the last of a group of 14 songs that he completed in 1912 as Opus 34. This haunting, winding melody has been arranged for many different instruments, and the composer himself arranged it for orchestra.
Biography
Serguéy Vasílievich Rachmaninov ( сергейй васи́ьевич, Semionoovo, April 1, 1873 – Beverly Hills ( Los Angeles, US The last great romanticist composers of European classical music, currently considered one of the most influential pianists of the twentieth century.
Some translations in other languages for his name include Sergey or Serge and Rachmaninov, Rachmaninow, Rahmaninov, Rahmanjinov or Rakhmaninov. “Sergei Rachmaninoff” is the name that Rajmaninov himself used while living in the West.
His first music lessons received them from his mother. At age nine, he began his musical studies at the Conservatory of St. Petersburg and finished them in 1892 in Moscow. In 1902, he married Natalia, his cousin. In 1904 (at the age of 31), he was hired for two years as an orchestra director at the Moscow Bolshoy Theater.
He made various tours around the world as a pianist. In 1917, after the Russian Revolution, he left his country and lived in Paris (France), Switzerland and since 1935 he settled in the United States.
He died of cancer in Beverly Hills (Los Angeles, USA) on March 28, 1943, about to turn 70.
More important works:
* First piano and orchestra concert (1891)
* Prelude in C# minor, Op. 3 nº2 (1892), during his life, was his best known work.
* Elegiac trio (1893), to the memory of his admired musician Piotr I. Tchaikovsky.
* First symphony (1897).
* Second Piano concert in C Minor, Op. 18 (1899), one of him currently known. Dedicated to Dr. Nikolai Dahl that helped him overcome the depression produced by his first symphony.
* Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 (1909) dedicated to Josef Hoffmann. One of the most demanding piano and orchestra works. Immortalized in the movie ‘Shine’ (1996)
* Prelude in Bb Major, Op. 23, No. 2
* Prelude in D major, Op. 23, No. 4
* The island of the dead, op. 29 (symphonic poem).
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