One can hardly overestimate the reputation that Anton Rubinstein earned, not only as one of the great (if controversial) concert pianists of the 19th century, but also as the director of the Imperial Conservatory in St. Petersburg; he was also a successful orchestra conductor and a prolific composer. In his short life span, his younger brother, Nikolai (1835-1881), wielded similar influence as the founding director of the Moscow Conservatory. The two brothers developed two estimable institutions devoted to the development of the Russian music culture.
Anton’s St. Petersburg Conservatory favored a more traditional, Western European approach to the teaching of music theory and composition, while Nikolai’s Moscow Conservatory tended more toward the growing interest in Russian folk music and other indigenous sources. Even though his own education in music had been largely directed by private instruction outside institutional walls, Rachmaninoff maintained strong relationships with mentors and colleagues in both the St. Petersburg and Moscow conservatories.
As a precocious 12-year-old piano student, Rachmaninoff described his first impressions of hearing Anton Rubinstein in concert. Observing the great man at close range influenced Rachmaninoff mightily. “It was not so much his magnificent technique that held one spellbound, as the profound, spiritually refined musicianship, which spoke from every note...and singled him out as the most original and unequalled pianist in the world.”
As a composer, Rubinstein hewed closely to the classical Germanic styles and conventions. His heart lay with Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Schumann, as reflected in his 20 operas, five piano concertos, several symphonies, concertos for violin and for cello and much more. Anton Rubinstein composed quickly and confidently, relying on his fame to help sell his scores.
Of the set of Six Soirées à Saint-Pétersbourg for solo piano, the lyrical first piece, “Romance,” gained particular favor with the public, in Russia and abroad. So popular was the piece that many composers and arrangers adapted it for other instruments: piano in duet with the violin, cello, flute, cornet or voice; for solo harp; and for orchestral ensembles of various sizes and abilities.
The arrangement for piano trio was published in 1913 by the Viennese pianist-violinist-composer Hugo Riesenfeld (1879-1939), who had emigrated to the U.S. in 1907. He became one of the musical stars of the early motion picture industry in Hollywood.
— Program notes by Sandra Hyslop