As known, Sergey Rachmaninoff wrote two piano trios with this title (in the manuscript of the 1st trio the title was written in French - "Trio Elegiaque pour piano, violon et violoncello"), and many confuse the reasons why these trios were written: Elegiac trio no. 2 was completed approximately 1,5 month after Tschaikovsky's death, Rachmaninoff's older friend and mentor; the title page was inscribed with dedication "In the memory of a great artist" by composer himself. The 1st Elegiac trio, however, doesn't bare any connotation with upcoming death of Tschaikovsky, simply due to his good health condition: in 1892, when the trio no. 1 was completed, Tschaikovsky did not yet have any symptoms of cholera, that caused his death in November 1893.
Interestingly, the dates of completion of Elegiac trio no.1, suggested by sister of Rachmaninoff's wife Sofia Satina were different: Winter 1890-1891. There is a possible explanation: on January 30, 1892 Mr. Rachmaninoff had his official debut at the moscow conservatory as a concert pianist (he played some works of Chopin, Liszt and Tschaikovsky) and composer - two works for cello and piano and Elegiac Trio no.1 were performed, so composer probably did some kind of revision and corrections to his trio, in thrill of the upcoming concert.
The Trio had huge success and appreciation of contemporaties, albeit it was not published in composer's lifetime for some unknown reasons. The manuscript was believed to be lost forever, however, it has been in posession of Rachmaninoff's friend Michail Slonov, a singer, who also studied in Moscow conservatory in 1890s. After death of Slonov the manuscript was brought to the Central Museum of Musical Culture of USSR.
The first publication of the trio was made in 1947 by State Music Publishers of USSR.
16 окт 2024
