Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Early influences of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers gave way to a thoroughly personal idiom notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness, dense contrapuntal textures, and rich orchestral colours. The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output and he used his skills as a performer to fully explore the expressive and technical possibilities of the instrument.

1 April 1873

Born on the same birth day (1 April): Abdul Qadeer Khan • Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans • Brook Lopez • Grace Lee Whitney • Harry Carney • Jane Powell • Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin • Jean-Pascal Delamuraz • Lon Chaney • Mark White (British musician) • Milan Kundera • Paul Manafort • Sydney Newman • Wangarĩ Maathai • William Bergsma • Yuka Kaneko

Born in the same month (April 1873): Edward Lawson (VC) • Ellen Glasgow • Howard R. Garis • James Harcourt • John McGraw • John W. Davis • Joseph Rheden • Kyösti Kallio • Sydney Barnes • Walter de la Mare