Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Opus 44

Composed: 1935–36

BY Sergei Rachmaninoff

BORN

April 1, 1873

Oneg, near Novgorod, Russia DIED

March 28, 1943

Beverly Hills, California

For years after leaving Russia in 1918, Rachmaninoff wrote almost no music. Facing the need to support his family, he changed the course of his life at the age of 45, embarking on a virtuoso career. Although he had been famous as a pianist since his youth, he had rarely performed anything but his own music. He now built up a repertoire, quickly establishing his international reputation as one of the greatest pianists of his time. His busy concert schedule in Europe and the United States left little time for composing. His only major works written during the 1920s were the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Three Russian Songs for chorus and orchestra.

It was not until the 1930s that Rachmaninoff again devoted more time to composing. In the villa he bought in Switzerland, he at last had time and peace of mind to engage in large-scale creative projects. In 1934, he wrote his popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, followed by the Third Symphony, and the Symphonic Dances (which was his last finished composition).

Almost 30 years separate the Third Symphony from the Second from 1907, but Rachmaninoff stayed remarkably true to himself, though with a style that had become richer with an expanded range of colors. A symphony, to Rachmaninoff passed down from his idol Tchaikovsky, was an invariably majestic and dignified work for orchestra whose movements were fairly standardized in character and whose formal structure followed tradition. The composer’s task was to fill that structure with his best melodies.

Rachmaninoff achieved this task admirably, introducing many subtle motivic innovations within the prescribed framework. In many ways, the formal rules helped impose a Classical discipline on his unbridled Romantic imagination. For example, the first movement of the Third Symphony is written in standard sonata form, with an easily recognizable opening theme, second theme, development section, and recapitulation. The second-movement Adagio has an “Allegro vivace” middle section that combines the traditional two middle movements of a symphony into one. The third-movement finale is again in sonata form; although its structure is less rigorous than that of the first movement.

Like the first two Rachmaninoff symphonies, the Third opens with a motto that recurs in all movements. This motto is made up of only three different notes; despite its simplicity, however, it bears the stamp of Rachmaninoff’s personality. Scored for clarinet, muted horn, and muted cello, it immediately draws our attention to the virtuosic orchestration that characterizes the entire piece. Patrick Piggott, writing on Rachmaninoff for the BBC Music Guide series, explains this motto as a “fatalistic” reminder “that our destiny is inescapable and that however persuasive human eloquence may be, fate will have the last, inevitable word.” The motto transforms in rhythm and orchestration to adopt a more resolute, dramatic tone, yet it is most memorable at the end of both the first and the second movements in a veiled, quiet pianissimo passage and with an unmistakable tinge of resignation.

The second movement contains many exquisite moments featuring successive solos for horn (accompanied by harp), violin, flute (accompanied by harp, celesta, and four solo violas), and bass clarinet. The fast middle section is remarkable for its rhythmic poignancy and many sudden contrasts in volume and instrumentation. The transition from slow to fast and back to the first tempo are signaled by a trill played alternately by the first and second violins. The movement ends with the motto, played pianissimo by plucked strings, closing the movement with a whisper.

The themes that make up the third movement are diverse in tempo, tonality, and orchestration. The buoyant first theme, played by the full orchestra with a strong rhythmic drive, is contrasted with a more lyrical second subject, to which the forceful chords of the harp make a significant contribution. A small melodic fragment, introduced by an unaccompanied solo bassoon, turns out to be the cell out of which a whole central fugue-like section grows. Some writers have detected traces of the famous “Dies irae” (which plays an important role in several of Rachmaninoff’s works) in parts of this finale. Its dark character, at any rate, seems hardly relevant to the exuberant mood of this section. The coda, which combines the first few notes of the chant with the symphony’s motto, belongs to the most brilliant moments in the piece: the final A-major chord is approached from an unusual angle that shows that Rachmaninoff was not always as conservative he is reputed to have been. Still, Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony is perhaps the last blossom on the tree of the Russian symphonic tradition symbolized by the name of Tchaikovsky.

Duration: about 40 minutes