I feel like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing, and I cannot acquire the new.

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Musicians

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Born in Russia in 1873, Sergei Rachmaninoff later settled in the United States as one of the last great representatives of late Romanticism. Also ranked among the finest pianists of the twentieth century, he suffered a four-year creative collapse after his Symphony No. 1's disastrous premiere, recovering through hypnotherapy to complete his celebrated Piano Concerto No. 2. After leaving Russia permanently following the Revolution, he devoted himself primarily to performing while preserving the Romantic tradition to the end.

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Source: Attributed, various biographical sources on Rachmaninoff's later yearsUnverified

Sergei Rachmaninoff's Other Quotes

What was important to my composing was that I spent my childhood in the heart of Russia.

Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.

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