About Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in 1873 in Novgorod Governorate in the Russian Empire and trained at the Moscow Conservatory, where he wrote his Prelude in C-sharp minor at 19. After the failed premiere of his First Symphony in 1897 he stopped composing for several years, then returned with the Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1901. He left Russia after the 1917 revolution and settled in the United States, where he built a second career as one of the leading concert pianists of his time. The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini followed in 1934. He died in Beverly Hills in 1943.