The moving story of Rachmaninoff's years in exile and the composition of his last great work, set against a cataclysmic backdrop of two world wars and personal tragedy.
In 1940, Sergei Rachmaninoff, living in exile in America, broke his creative silence and composed a swan song to his Russian homeland—his iconic “Symphonic Dances.” What happened in those final haunted years and how did he come to write his farewell masterpiece?
Rachmaninoff left Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) in 1917 during the throes of the Russian Revolution. He was forty-four years old, at the peak of his powers as composer-conductor-performer, moving in elite Tsarist circles, as well as running the family estate, his refuge and solace. He had already written the music which, today, has made him one of the most popular composers of all time: the second and third Piano Concertos and two symphonies. The story of his years in exile in America and Switzerland has only been told in passing. Reeling from the trauma of a life in upheaval, he wrote almost no music and quickly had to reinvent himself as a fêted virtuoso pianist, building up untold wealth and meeting the stars—from Walt Disney and Charlie Chaplin to his Russian contemporaries and polar opposites, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.
Yet the melancholy of leaving his homeland never lifted. Using a wide range of sources, including important newly translated texts, Fiona Maddocks’s immensely readable book conjures impressions of this enigmatic figure, his friends and the world he encountered. It explores his life as an emigré artist and how he clung to an Old Russia which no longer existed. That forging of past and present meets in his Symphonic Dances (1940), his last composition, written on Long Island shortly before his death in Beverly Hills, surrounded by a close-knit circle of exiles. Goodbye Russia is a moving and prismatic look at Rachmaninoff and his iconic final work.
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Notes from Hannah, Wine Merchant:
I selected two wines from Georgia. Families from both wineries had to learn to navigate their world, both personally and professionally, post-USSR. While not a direct parallel to Sergei Rachmaninoff, the families and the composer had to navigate reconciling their Russian past with their displaced present.
Dila-O Rkatsiteli Mtsvane Amber: Young Georgian winemaker Temur Dakishvili grew up in the family of winemaking legend Gogi Dakishvili, the founding force behind several iconic Georgian wine producers and a leader of the qvervi renaissance in winemaking. Together at Orgo, they combine forces to continue to elevate Georgian wine traditions. Orgo sources grapes from several villages in Kakheti, including the Kurdgelauri and Tsinandali villages in Telavi, along the right bank of the Alazani river. All of the vineyards are 50 to 80 years old, a rarity in Georgia, as most older vines were ripped up and replanted to increase production during Soviet times.
Dila-O Amber is a 50/50 blend of Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane grapes fermented with ambient yeasts in qvevri (clay wine vessels traditionally buried underground as a method of temperature control) and bottled without filtration. This amber, or orange, wine is made in a lighter style with one full month of skin contact, which allows the juice to stay in contact with the white wine grape skins. This skin contact provides deeper color, firmer tannins and amped-up flavors in the final wine. The blend combines the crisp acidity of Rkatsiteli with the aromatic high tones of Mtsvane. Notes of dried apricot, cantaloupe and wildflowers are backed by bright acidity and gentle tannins on the finish. Organically grown, this is a low-intervention wine.
Mildiani Saperavi Red Dry: Owned by four brothers, this winery has been the driving force of modern Georgian winemaking since the 1990s. One of the first privately-owned wine estates in the country, Mildiani take credit for reviving the qvevri tradition and bringing international attention to Georgian orange (skin-contact white) wines. Today this estate boasts a collection of vineyards across the country, and remains family-owned.
When the Mildiani winery was founded, Georgia was still recovering form the collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact, the winemaking industry was on its knees; during the Soviet times, all wineries were controlled by the state and focused mainly on cheap mass-market wine. The Mildiani brothers dreamed of reviving traditional Georgian winemaking, and founded a winery of their own in the Kakheti region. They became one of the first modern commercial wineries to introduce qvevri, big clay amphorae which have been used in Georgian winemaking for eight millennia.
Saperavi is a red grape indigenous to Georgia, best known for its inky color and robust tannins. Saperavi is a rare type of grape with both red skin and red flesh, which is what gives the wine its deep color. The 2023 Mildani Saperavi is deep and dark, with ripe black fruits and earthy spice on the nose. The palate is bursting with blackcurrant, cherry and a subtle hint of black pepper. The tannins are delicate and sweet, with a soft, balanced acidity that harmonizes seamlessly with the fruit.
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