Evening star., 1934-07-08

Macmillan Co.
IN THE quiet retreat of his country place
! outside the little village of Clairefontaine,
with the only sound interrupting the speaker
the croaking of frogs in the ponds, Rach-
maninoff told the story of his life to his friend
and neighbor, a Moscow conductor during pre-
revolutionary concert days. Herr Won Riese-
mann took the "reminiscences from dictation,
SO they are written in the first person, and he
conscientiousy hopes and believes that he has
kept away from the personal memoir tempta-
ton, which was exceptionally great because he
hes himself known well most Of the musicians
mentioned in the book The only outside
source material used a pamphlet. pub
aished in Soviet Russia in 1923. giving an
index of RachmaninCh's works, with dates
of their beginning and completion, all prob
ably taken by some Soviet agency from the
collection of manuscripts left by Rachman-
inoff when he departed from Russia.
Rachmaninoff was born into a family of
the Russian landed artistocracy, in 1873, and
passed a happy childhood in the country of a
IVA nished Russia where long, low manor
house of many rooms struggled among its
lawns, gardens, stables and kennels. In 1882
his parents separated and he went with his
mother to live in a small house in ST. Peters
burg. where he entered the Conservatore and
was considered very lazy. On the advice of his
cousin, the musical star Siloti, he was
sent to Moscow to be under the discipline of
Sverev. Sergei Rachmannof was then IL
years old and dreaded the severity which was
to replace the spelling of MS grandmother. 1t
was all that he expected and he made rapid
progress His relations with Sverev remained
fairly pleasant until the boy was 16 when a
terrible row. ended in a definite break. He
then went to live with relatives and continued
his studies at the Conservatoire. He al
ready composing and teaching piano. He was
now free artist" in Moscow, and in 1897
his first symphony was performed. in St.
Petersburg 1t was a fail'lre. and as result
a "paralyzing apathy" took possession of him,
which lasted for two years, until he was cured
by Dr. Dahl with form of hypnosis.
He again knew the Joy of creating and from
that time his success was almost uninterrupted.
In 1905 he became a conducted in the Imperial
Grand Theatre of Moscow though he had
before this given up conducting as uncongenial
work Meanwhile he had married his cousin
Natalie Satin. In 1909 he came to the United
States for series of concerts in which he
was TO appear in the two capacities Of pianist
and conductor On his return to Moscow
he became conductor of the Moscow Phil
harmonic Concerts. When the revolution came
In Russia Rachmaninoh managed to leave
the country, but was allowed to take with
him only the most necessary articles and not
over 500 rubles for each member OF the family.
Even so, he was more fortunate than many
who tried to escape later. He has been an
exile since, to the great disadvantage,
Of course, of the U. S. S. r. The governing
body of the Leningrad Conservatoire, according
TO q Paris newspaper of March 81, 1881, passed
a resolution opposing without compromise
all teaching of Rachmaninoff's works in the
higher colleges of music" During the years
OF pleasant exile Rachmaninoh has lived
In Sweden, the United States, France and
Switzerland
Delightful glimpses of Rachmaninoff's many
friends among musicians are given in the
course of this biography-Tchaikovsky Chalia-
pin, Rimsky- -Korsakov, Koussevitsky, Scriabin,
Taneyev and others. Herr Won Riesemann
Tn q final chapter estimates Rachmaninoff as
composer. He regrets that his fame
as a composer rests on so few of his
works and gives three reasons for this; he
has not followed the fashion in music,
but stands on the border of two musical eras;
'Fachmaninof the pianist stands in the light
Of Rschmaninof the composer: and he Is an
emigre, always missing the public for whom
his works were primarily composed. Biographies
such this, written from intimate knowledge
and with the possibility of insight in inter-
probation, do much to increase the intelligent
pleasure of music lovers.
WALKING IN THE NEW FOREST. BY Joan
Begbie. New York: The Macmillan Co.
TO LIVE most happily in the New Forest, one
u must be lover of horses and dogs. Miss
Begbie, who lives at Ringwood on the edge of
the Forest, loves both. Her walks through all
parts of the Forest, averaging about 10 miles
each, were accompanied by two very active
companions, Bill, bull terrier, and Mr. Bundy
% rough-haired brindled griffon of diminutive
size and cholerc disposition" For those who
think forest means forest, Miss Begbie ex-
plains that the 100 square miles lying within
the watery embrace of Southampton Water, the
5olent and the Avon. and rubbing shoulders
with wiltshire on the north,' and known as
the New Forest, are by no means all woods,
but incfose moors, bogs, thickets, commons,