Scherzo in D minor (Rachmaninoff)

Scherzo in D minor is Sergei Rachmaninoff's earliest surviving composition for orchestra, composed when he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory.[1] It is quite short, taking between four and five minutes to play.

The manuscript is dated 5-21 February 1888, when Rachmaninoff was still only 14. An unknown hand has changed this date to 1887.[2] It is dedicated to his cousin Alexander Siloti, and it was intended to be part of a larger work because it is headed "Third movement".

The model for the work is the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.[3] Rachmaninoff had earlier transcribed Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony for two pianos, and the Scherzo also has echoes of that work.[4]

The piece is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (B♭), 2 bassoons, horn (F), trumpet (B♭), 2 timpani, violins I, violins II, violas, cellos and double basses.

The first performance of both the Scherzo and another early work, Prince Rostislav,[5] took place in Moscow on 2 November 1945, conducted by Nikolai Anosoff. The Scherzo was published in 1947.

References
  1. "CD Baby". Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  2. "bnet". Archived from the original on 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  3. Harrison, Max (2006). Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings. London: Continuum. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-8264-9312-5. Archived from the original on 2017-10-10. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
  4. "Talk Classical". Archived from the original on 2009-07-30. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  5. "Chandos CD notes". Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
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