Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in Semyonovo, Russia, on April 1, 1873, and died in Beverly Hills, California, on March 28, 1943. The first performance of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini took place in at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 7, 1934, with the composer as soloist, and Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. 

In addition to the solo piano, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, glockenspiel, suspended cymbal, snare drum, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, harp, and strings. Approximate performance time is twenty-two minutes.

The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s final work for solo piano and orchestra, was completed in 1934 and premiered that same year in Baltimore on November 7. Rachmaninoff was the piano soloist, performing with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. That Christmas Eve, those same musicians recorded the work for RCA. This priceless historical treasure (think of what we would give for recordings of Mozart, Beethoven, or Chopin interpreting their own compositions!) continues to be available for purchase and listening.

Rachmaninoff’s prodigious technique, which allowed him to negotiate the most difficult passages with ease and clarity, is evident throughout the 1934 recording. Equally striking is a lack of the interpretive indulgences and excesses many assume to be essential to late-Romantic repertoire. But Rachmaninoff’s taut, straightforward (and flawlessly executed) rendition of his Rhapsody is ideally suited to a work notable for its unity of construction, logical sequential argument, inexorable progression, and admirable partnership of soloist and orchestra.

While the term “Rhapsody” traditionally suggests a rather free-flowing piece, Rachmaninoff’s composition is, in fact, a tightly organized series of twenty-four variations on the principal theme of the Caprice No. 24 for solo violin by the Italian virtuoso and composer Nicolò Paganini (1782-1840). 

Although the Rhapsody is performed as a continuous entity, the work also divides rather neatly into four sections: Variations I-XI constitute the opening fast portion (with cadenza), Variations XII-XV are a combination minuet and scherzo, Variations XVI-XVIII offer a slow-tempo interlude, and Variations XIX-XXIV provide the lively conclusion.

The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini teems with felicities that, at every turn, display Rachmaninoff's skill and imagination as a composer. Take, for example, the work’s opening measures, in which the first variation precedes the introduction of the theme itself!

Rachmaninoff’s preoccupation with the ancient Dies Irae chant is well documented, and it is fascinating to see how the composer weaves this music into Variations VII, X, and XXIV. To be sure, the inclusion of the Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”), as well as the use of the bone-rattling col legno effects in Variation IX, inject a diabolical element into the Rhapsody (rumors circulated during Paganini’s life that he acquired his phenomenal virtuosity via a contract with the Devil). Even the unforgettable Andante cantabile melody in Variation XVIII is the product of a bit of compositional legerdemain, as it is derived from an inversion of the original Paganini theme.

Rachmaninoff believed that each musical piece contained what he termed “the point,” the work’s culminating moment. In the Rhapsody, “the point” bursts onto the scene in the concluding variation, with the Paganini theme overwhelmed by a blazing account of the Dies Irae. Still, Rachmaninoff offers one last delightful surprise, as the Rhapsody ends not with the expected orchestral bang. Instead, the soloist teases the listener with a hushed fragment of the Paganini theme.