Sergei Raсhmaninoff and American Press at the Turn of the 1920s and 1930s

The turn of the 1920s and 1930s marks an important changes in the creative destiny of Sergei Raсhmaninoff. The problems that arose then were clearly reflected in he publications of the American press and in the reaction of Raсhmaninoff to them. During this period, several important events and circumstances came together for him. They can be combined into several groups. The first of them is associated with an attempt to boycott the composer’s work in the USSR after the publication in 1931 in the USA of a collective letter signed by Raсhmaninoff protesting against Stalin’s repressions; the second is determined by the changed relationship between Raсhmaninoff the pianist and the audiences, with potential and actual visitors to his concerts; the third is the ambiguous reaction of the US musical community to the premiers of new works created by Raсhmaninoff after a long composer’s silence. All three groups of problems are revealed based on documentary sources – articles in the American press (little known or commented for the first time) and published Raсhmaninoff’s letters. Conflicting assessments of the performing arts and composer’s works of the highlighted period can be eloquent evidence of a sharp turn in the Raсhmaninoff’s musical activities, of his emergence to a new level of thinking, unexpected and for the time being incomprehensible to his contemporaries. All the examined aspects of Raсhmaninoff’s relationship with American press of the late 1920s and early 1930s indicate an important milestone in his creative destiny. For the first time in Russia, the Appendix to the article contains the full text of the letter signed by Rachmaninov to Rabindranath Tagore.