Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1873 –1943
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. In 1915, Rachmaninoff completed his second major choral work, All-Night Vigil (Op. 37), also known as the Vespers. It was the fifth movement of All-Night Vigil that Rachmaninoff requested to have sung at his funeral.
Following the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia, and in 1918 they settled in New York City. By 1942, his declining health led to his relocation to Beverly Hills, California, and he became a US citizen a few weeks before he passed in 1943.
