Rachmaninov personal life. The wife of Sergei Rachmaninov revealed a family secret only before her death: the composer’s heart did not belong to her alone

Personal life

Love flared up in the heart of the great composer more than once, which prompted him to write beautiful lyrical romances.

While visiting Ivanovka in the summer, at the estate of his father’s sister, seventeen-year-old Sergei Rachmaninov met there with the three Skalon sisters, one of whom was Verochka, whom Sergei nicknamed “The Psychopath”. The girl fell in love with the young musician, and he reciprocated her feelings. It was pure youthful love. During that amazing summer for them in Ivanovka, he dedicated the romance “In the Silence of the Secret Night” (to the verses of A. Feta). Having left for Moscow, he wrote her touching, sublime letters, of which more than 100 were written. But almost at the same time, eighteen-year-old Sergei Rachmaninov recklessly falls in love with the wife of his friend Pyotr Lodyzhensky, Anna Lodyzhensky, a meek and affectionate woman with huge black eyes, the sister of a famous gypsy singer. He dedicated his romance “Oh no, I pray you, don’t go!” to her.

And besides the romance “In the Silence of the Secret Night,” Sergei left Verochka Skalon two more priceless gifts: a romance for cello and piano and the second part of his First Piano Concerto.

But already in 1893, he became interested in Natalya Alexandrovna Satina, in whose parents’ house he lived for several years and with whom he spent almost his entire adolescence. The 20-year-old composer dedicated the amazing romance “Don’t sing, beauty, in front of me” to her. On April 29, 1902 they got married.

On April 29, 1902, the wedding of Sergei Rachmaninov and Natalia Satina took place in the church of the 6th Tauride Grenadier Regiment on the outskirts of Moscow. It was raining heavily, there were almost no people in the church, and the ceremony was somewhat hasty. After the wedding, as soon as they went home to change clothes, the newlyweds left for the station and took tickets to Vienna, from where they went on to their honeymoon. A few months later they returned to Russia, but lived for some time in Ivanovka, where their first daughter was born. Why did everything happen this way? The fact is that Sergei and Natalya were cousins. Marriages between close relatives were prohibited, and their holding required personal permission from the Sovereign-Emperor of Russia, which was given in exceptional cases. The petition was sent, but the bride and groom did not wait for an answer from the king - and risked breaking the law, despite the threat of great trouble. Everything worked out, and the young couple returned to Moscow to their apartment on Vozdvizhenka. The couple lived together all their lives, but the poor health of their daughters and their constant illnesses were constant reminders of the consequences of incest.

On March 14, 1903, a daughter, Irina, was born into the Rachmaninov family, and a daughter, Tatyana, was born on June 21, 1907.

Lyudmila Rostovtsova, a distant relative of Sergei Rachmaninov, sister of Verochka Skalon, wrote half a century later: “Seryozha married Natasha. He couldn't have chosen a better wife. She loved him from childhood, one might say, she suffered for him. She was smart, musical and very informative. We were happy for Seryozha, knowing in what reliable hands he was falling...” Rumor ascribes many more novels to Sergei Rachmaninov. Tall, handsome, always elegant, he had many admirers. During his life, S. Rachmaninov wrote more than 80 romances, each of which was dedicated to a woman. So, in September 1916, in just two and a half weeks, he wrote six romances dedicated to the young 22-year-old singer Nina Koshits (her full name is Nina Pavlovna Porai-Koshits). In October, she held concerts, at which she was accompanied by Sergei Rachmaninov, then they went on tour to many cities in Russia. Rachmaninov did not hide his lovestruck enthusiasm, which gave rise to gossip. But the revolution and Rachmaninov’s emigration put an end to this story. While in exile, he did not write a single romance. For the last eighteen years, Sergei Vasilyevich was accompanied on his tours by his wife, who shared with him all the hardships of long journeys, numerous transfers and tiring sleepless nights. She protected him from drafts, monitored his rest, food, packed his things after concerts and, most importantly, supported him morally. Sergei Vasilyevich called his wife “the good genius of my whole life.”

Hobbies

Sergei Rachmaninov's main hobby (after music, of course) was technology. All guests of the luxurious villa "Senar", located near Lucerne and named after the first letters of the names of the owners - Sergei and Natalya Rachmaninov, were certainly shown an elevator, a vacuum cleaner and a toy railway. And for his invention - a muff with a heating pad inside to warm his hands before a concert - Sergei Rachmaninov even received a patent. Supported by the composer and helicopter designer - Sikorsky, so the US helicopter industry owes a lot to the Russian people - Sikorsky and Rachmaninov.

Rachmaninov's special passion was cars. The famous violinist Nathan Milstein recalled: “Rachmaninoff loved to drive a car. Every year Rachmaninov bought a new Cadillac or Continental because he didn’t like to bother with repairs.”

Almost every summer, while visiting Ivanovka, he gradually became interested, and then became very interested in agriculture. Having inherited a love of horses from his father, he rode superbly and loved to break young horses. He spent all his free hours in the field among the peasants, observing the progress of work. He often envied those who were freer than him and could devote more time to farming. In an effort to improve the economy, he spent a lot of money on improving equipment, breeds of livestock and putting in order the appearance of the estate with its large gardens and services. Any failure sincerely upset him. Successful sowing, good plowing, order in the stables, in the dairy farm greatly pleased him and always put him in a good mood.

The newspaper "Arguments and Facts" published an interview with the grandson of the brilliant Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov - head of the International Foundation. Rachmaninov in Switzerland Sergei Borisovich Rachmaninov. In this interview, Sergei Borisovich spoke about the amazing life-long love triangle in which his famous grandfather lived.

It is known that Rachmaninoff’s talent for music was discovered in early childhood. His mother gave him his first piano lessons, then a music teacher was invited. And at the age of 9, Sergei entered the junior department of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Education was going poorly, since Rachmaninov often skipped classes, so at the family council it was decided to transport the boy to Moscow and place him in a private boarding school of the famous music teacher, professor of the Moscow Conservatory N.S. Zvereva. However, four years later, a quarrel occurred between Rachmaninov and Zverev; Rachmaninov left the boarding school, but remained in Moscow, where he was sheltered by relatives - the Satins, whose daughter Natalya, also a pianist, he later married.

In the memoirs of members of the Rachmaninov family, which have survived to this day, the great composer appears as an exemplary family man who was faithful to one wife all his life. Their marriage was religious, and Rachmaninov himself did not like guests - he preferred to communicate mainly with his wife’s numerous relatives.

Another common opinion about Rachmaninov today is that he was a gloomy, depressive person. Any creative hitch very quickly led him to lose faith in himself, he had an obsessive thought that he would never be able to compose anything worthy in his life, and from this he quickly fell into depression. In addition, it is believed that he was extremely suspicious and often believed that he was falling ill with some serious illness. If the doctors managed to convince him, he became cheerful and joyful, but only until the next attack of suspiciousness.

However, according to the composer’s grandson, Rachmaninov’s widow Natalya Alexandrovna, shortly before her death, decided to “free her soul from sin” and say that this image of her husband was created by herself - and this image is in many ways far from what Sergei Vasilyevich really was .

Composer, pianist and conductor Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov (1873-1943) with his wife Natalya Satina. 1925, USA. From the collections of the M.I. Glinka State Museum of Musical Culture in Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti

In gratitude, Rachmaninov even dedicated his Second Concerto to the doctor. However, Natalya, who at that time was the composer’s fiancée, forced him through blackmail to change the inscription and dedicate the Second Concert to her. She said: “If you do not correct the inscription on the notes, I will not marry you and will say that you have dishonored me. But you are a nobleman and publicly promised to marry me. As a result, your reputation will be ruined.” And Rachmaninov, out of a sense of duty to the Satin family, was forced to obey. According to Rachmaninov’s grandson, it is difficult to condemn his grandmother for this step - from her youth she madly loved Sergei, this tall young man with huge hands, who lived in his own world of music, and became a wife, mother, sister for the composer.

“Natalya Alexandrovna knew that for many years Sergei Vasilyevich loved another woman and dated her,” says the composer’s grandson. - And Rachmaninov’s wife decided to present his visits to the doctor’s house as treatment. This is where the legend about Rachmaninoff’s severe mental illness came from. It was beneficial for Natalya Alexandrovna to present the case in such a way as to compromise her husband in front of society. Although in fact the composer went to Dahl's house to meet the woman he was madly in love with.

Lana always came to all Rachmaninov’s concerts with white lilacs. If this were in Italy, the legal wife would have thrown her shoe at her mistress after seeing her at her husband’s performance.

But Natalya Alexandrovna, seeing Lana in the hall, never said a word. For 40 years this story was a secret and no one knew about it, only the participants in this love triangle.”

In 1917, after the October Revolution, Lana obtained visas for Sergei Vasilyevich and his family so that, literally just before the border was closed, they were able to travel through Finland to Sweden, where the king invited Rachmaninov.

“And then Lana emigrated to the United States and accidentally saw a Rachmaninoff poster there. She even wanted to leave the USA so as not to destroy Rachmaninoff’s stable family. But I couldn’t find the strength in myself; I loved him too much. When he and Rachmaninov finally met, his heart began to beat at full strength. And Natalya Alexandrovna, seeing that bouquets of white lilacs began to appear at concerts again, was silent again. This was a unique feat - she never demanded from Rachmaninov that Lana not attend his concerts, and never staged a family scene. My grandparents generally had a seemingly ideal relationship; they never raised their voices at each other.

Relationships with two women tormented him. In fact, Sergei Vasilyevich punished himself all his life. If you listen to his music, you get the feeling that he is a sinner asking for forgiveness. There is wine there. Not only because he left his homeland, not only because he had a break with his mother, whom he left in Russia and then practically did not communicate with her. Not only because he ended up in prosperous America, and his native country was in the depths of World War II. Sergei Vasilyevich took all this very hard. But there was also this life of three, when he could not throw either one or the second woman out of his heart. Natalya was absolutely everything to him in the house, in everyday life. And Lana inspired his libido, thanks to this beautiful woman, the greatest works came from his pen for many years.”

When Rachmaninov was dying, Natalya Alexandrovna sent a driver for Lana. She arrived. At the dying moment, Rachmaninov suddenly heard that his music was being performed on the street. He quietly said: “Listen... My “All-Night” sounds.” Two women stood at the head of the dying Rachmaninov at that moment.

The spring of 1890, 19-year-old Seryozha Rachmaninov, as usual, spent in Ivanovka - the estate of his paternal aunt. “Thin as a stick, black as a jackdaw, girl Natalka, I don’t feel sorry for you,” he kindly teases his young cousin Natasha. The 13-year-old girl is in tears, it seems that this slender, handsome man kissed by God does not take her seriously at all.
Very little time will pass, and Rachmaninov will dedicate love romances of amazing lyricism and beauty to Natalia Satina as a sign of farewell to his first youthful feelings and a meeting with the true love of his life.

We weren't married in a church

The morning of April 29, 1902 was cold and rainy. There were almost no people in the small church of the 6th Tauride Grenadier Regiment on the outskirts of Moscow. However, this was even beneficial for the wedding couple. The ceremony itself took place somewhat hastily, without the pomp expected of the event. The bride and groom had good reasons to hurry: they were close relatives of each other - cousins, and only the Emperor could give permission for such incestuous marriages. Sergei and Natalya submitted a petition to the highest name, but did not wait for an answer, they decided to get married at their own peril and risk. Their honeymoon was more like an escape: after church, the newlyweds drove home, quickly changed clothes and rushed to the station. We took tickets to Vienna, and from there we went to travel around Europe. They returned a few months later, the emperor’s answer: “What is united by God cannot be separated by people” meant that the storm had passed.

Relatives on both sides were quite surprised by the unexpected (for them, at least) decision of Natasha and Seryozha to get married, because, as they say, “nothing predicted it.” None of the inhabitants of Ivanovka noticed any special affection or spark between them. True, Natalya later admitted that she had passionately loved her cousin since childhood. Music spoke for Sergei Rachmaninov better than any words. He dedicated the charming romance “Don’t sing, beauty, in front of me” to his beloved.

Despite such a “detective” and extraordinary beginning of the story, the marriage of composer Sergei Rachmaninov and Natalya Satina turned out to be strong and happy, which was recalled half a century later by people who knew their family closely: “Seryozha married Natasha. He couldn't have chosen a better wife. She loved him from childhood, one might say, she suffered for him. She was smart, musical, very informative. We were happy for Seryozha, seeing what good hands he was falling into..."

You are my melody

Loving a genius is both simple and difficult at the same time. A man endowed with talent invariably attracts women's attention; you must try very hard to make this treasure yours alone. Rumor brought rumors to Natasha about Rachmaninoff’s numerous novels. Before falling “into her reliable hands,” he fell in love, more than once. Tall, slender, with a noble appearance and manners, he was liked by both married ladies and young ladies like Natasha. At 18, Sergei was completely fascinated by their neighbor on the estate, the lovely Verochka Skala, who reciprocated the young musician’s feelings. She even sacrificed her beloved porcelain piggy bank to buy the poor young man a coat. Although Rachmaninov belonged to an eminent noble family, “thanks to” his father, a brave guards officer who had squandered not only his own fortune, but also that of his wife, he was as poor as a church mouse. That is why, according to a long-standing family tradition, he was not sent to the Corps of Pages; there was nothing to pay for training. But at the conservatory, a gifted boy who was compared to the young Mozart, which was by no means an exaggeration - Seryozha composed plays and piano concertos from the age of four, could play a piece of any complexity by looking at a sheet of music just once - was accepted with joy. Still, the Lord knows in whom to ignite the divine spark, and one way or another leads a person to the goal.

Verochka Skalon soon got married successfully. Their pure childhood romance flared up, went out, but left quite serious “adult” “fruits” - beautiful music (romance for cello and piano, second part of the First Piano Concerto). By the way, dedicating musical works to the women with whom he enthusiastically fell in love became a kind of calling card of the composer. Rachmaninov wrote more than 80 romances, and behind almost every one of them there is a love story. The list of muses of the great composer includes Anna Lodyzhenskaya (the wife of his friend), the young singer Nina Koshits, the daughter of the famous Moscow psychiatrist Nikolai Dahl...

It should be noted that Natalya Alexandrovna was truly an extraordinary woman, of extraordinary spiritual beauty and greatness. One can only guess about what passions were boiling in her soul... She was the only one who allowed herself to show firmness and inflexibility. And this was connected precisely with another of Rachmaninov’s heartfelt passions.

At the age of 22, the young talented composer wrote a work that brought him world fame - the First Symphony. True, fame and recognition did not come immediately; the path to them turned out to be quite thorny. The premiere at the beginning of 1897 ended in resounding failure. The audience booed, the critics were angry: “The author is certainly talented. But if there was a conservatory in hell, then Rachmaninov would undoubtedly be one of its first students.” All the blame for the fiasco lay with the conductor Glazunov (he had a sin - he was greedy for the green serpent). So this time he stood up at the controls, not too sober, “phlegmatically” defended, “phlegmatically” played, and, most importantly, absolutely did not understand the depth and scale of what was being performed. For Rachmaninov, this was a real shock, he fell into depression, did not sit down at the instrument, did not write a single note... The bride Natalya Alexandrovna (they were already engaged) did not calmly look at the groom’s mental anguish and almost by force forced Sergei to go to an appointment with Nikolai Dahl, a well-known psychiatrist in Moscow. I wish I knew what the “hypnosis sessions” would turn out for her...

The treatment turned out to be so successful that the inspired and inspired Sergei Rachmaninov wrote the Second Concerto, which became world famous. But visits to the doctor do not stop; on the contrary, they become more frequent. Soon it is no secret to anyone (including Natalya) that the reason is not health concerns, but the beautiful daughter of an aesculapian. And then another blow. Natalya Alexandrovna finds out that the dedicatory inscription for the concert does not contain her name (and this, as you understand, actually means a declaration of love for another). “You gave your word to marry me, if you don’t change your dedication, I will refuse to become your wife,” she calmly but firmly tells the groom. The name of the rival remained a mystery to history (the second concert is dedicated to Dr. Dahl), as well as the true meaning of Sergei’s visits to the doctor. The Master's future wife gracefully and forever veiled them under the legend of the composer's penchant for melancholy. They never had any more disagreements. The family of Sergei and Natalia Rachmaninov was ideal. Natalya never uttered a word of reproach and did not sort things out with her husband, and he was deeply and heartily attached to her.

Requiem for a Dream

Natalya Alexandrovna became both the muse of the great composer, and the guardian angel of their family hearth, and a caring mother for two daughters. Life in exile, in forced separation from their homeland (Rachmaninov did not accept the October Revolution and left the country) only strengthened their bonds. For the last 17 years, Natalya Alexandrovna was everything to the composer: she accompanied her husband on all his tours, shared with him the hardships of long journeys, tiresome sleepless nights, protected him from drafts, watched how he ate and dressed. The composer, by the way, was a famous dandy; he ordered suits from the best tailors. And most importantly, only with her could he talk for hours about his Motherland, remember... To say that Rachmaninov was homesick is to say nothing. During his emigration, he did not write a single romance. “After leaving, I lost the desire to compose. .. I stopped listening to music..."

“I write the music that I hear inside myself. I am a Russian composer, and my Fatherland influenced both my temperament and my worldview. That’s why my music is Russian…” Natalya Alexandrovna did everything possible so that their connection with the Motherland would not be interrupted, at least spiritually, if not physically. Russian speech was heard in their house: the girls, the driver, the doctor, and the servants spoke Russian. The composer's family perceived the Second World War as a personal grief. Sergei Vasilyevich donated the money collected from one of his concerts to the USSR Defense Fund with the words: “From one of the Russians, all possible assistance to the Russian people in the fight against the enemy. I want to believe and believe in complete victory.”

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov did not live to see the victory, did not learn that his beloved Motherland emerged from the bloody meat grinder of World War II as a winner. On March 8, 1943, the great composer, virtuoso pianist, and brilliant conductor passed away.
He spent his last days in California, next to Rachmaninov were his faithful Teta and daughter Irina. Leaving was difficult. The composer smoked a lot all his life, practically never took a cigarette out of his mouth, the disease did not leave a chance.

“You hear, right? Are they playing my “Vespers” on the street? — consciousness returned to him for a few minutes, his gaze settled on his crying wife. A minute later, life left the great Sergei Rachmaninoff. And eight years later, the one he called “the good genius of my whole life...” also left him.

The genius of Russian music, Sergei Rachmaninov, comes from a family of nobles. He was born on March 20 (April 1), 1873 on the Oneg estate, which his mother owned. It was located near Novgorod. As a child, little Seryozha loved to listen to the performance of folk songs, which sank deeply into his soul. With his grandmother, he often visited Orthodox monasteries, where he really liked the special sound of bells, as well as ancient ritual chants.

Biography

The Rachmaninov family was famous for its musicality. The grandfather of the future genius, whose name was Arkady Alexandrovich, was a student of John Field, played the piano very well and wrote several musical pieces, published in music collections of the 18th century. Dad Vasily Arkadyevich was also a gifted musician from childhood, and Sergei’s mother personally taught her son to play the piano. At the age of four, Rachmaninov could play music with his grandfather four hands, so we can safely say that music has been with him since childhood.

When the boy was eight years old, he and his parents moved to St. Petersburg, where in 1882 he entered the conservatory and studied with teacher Vladimir Demyansky. Three years later, the young talent auditions with the then famous musician Alexander Ziloti, after which in Moscow Sergei is accepted into the conservatory with Nikolai Zverev. Next, Rachmaninov moved to the senior department of this prestigious musical institution and continued to master composition with Anton Arensky and Sergei Taneyev.

At the same time, a significant meeting for Rachmaninov with Tchaikovsky took place. The eighteen-year-old boy graduated from the conservatory in piano and, after passing the essay exams, received a gold medal for his efforts. During the final exam, Sergei Rachmaninov performs in front of the commission the opera "Aleko", written by him based on Pushkin's classic poem "Gypsies". It is known that the composer spent a little more than two weeks composing it. Tchaikovsky, who sat on the examination committee, rated the opera an A with three pluses. The following year, the young composer’s musical work was staged at the Bolshoi Theater. Shortly before Tchaikovsky's death, Rachmaninov often visited him.

After graduating from the conservatory, Sergei Vasilyevich wrote several iconic musical works - the romances “Spring Waters”, “Island”, the C-sharp prelude and the fantasy “Cliff”. After the October Revolution, Rachmaninoff was invited to perform in Scandinavian cities. He goes on a trip with his whole family and after that he never returns to his country. All his life, the composer had a negative perception of Soviet power, and he did not feel the separation from his homeland so painfully.

At first, Sergei Rachmaninov lived in Denmark and often played concerts there, and in 1918 he moved to the USA. His American debut took place in the city of Providence. For a quarter of a century, he has been touring and delighting fans with his creativity. It was in the USA that he managed to reach the pinnacle of his performing arts. He became America's most famous foreign musician. Despite the fact that Rachmaninoff is often invited to conduct, Sergei Vasilyevich does this very rarely. At one time, the Russian composer was offered to lead the orchestras of Cincinnati and Boston, but he refused and conducted only when they performed works written by him.

During the war, Rachmaninov played special concerts in the United States, the money for which he sent to the Soviet Army Fund. After the composer's death, these merits were remembered in his homeland and he was allowed to perform his musical works and study creativity in conservatories. A month and a half before the death of Sergei Rachmaninov, he played “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” but cancer forced the composer to suddenly end his tour.

On March 23, 1943, Rachmaninov died, but on the eve of his death he managed to receive a congratulatory telegram from composers from the USSR, congratulating him on his 70th birthday. Fortunately, technical capabilities made it possible to make several recordings on which you can hear the composer play.

Personal life

The composer was married to Natalya Satina. Sergei Rachmaninov had daughters - Irina and Tatyana, who became the wife of lawyer B.Yu. Konyus, and their son Alexander bore the surname of his maternal grandfather. He subsequently became director of the Rachmaninoff Foundation. Thanks to the fact that Alexander received a legal education and specialized in copyright law, he was very successful in turning the creative legacy of his famous grandfather into a fairly profitable business, part of which was charity. Alexander Rachmaninov gave birth to two girls, great-granddaughters of the great composer - Emmanuelle and Marina. Rachmaninov's daughter Irina gave birth to a daughter, Sofia, who at one time lived in Costa Rica.

“Music is meant to bring relief. It should have a cleansing effect on minds and hearts, but modern music does not do this. If we want real music, we need to go back to the basics that made the music of the past great. Music cannot be limited to color and rhythm, it must reveal deep feelings.” S. V. Rachmaninov

I love the music of Sergei Rachmaninov. From my youth. My soul responded instantly and the music lifted me above the world, promising that my life would definitely happen, I would find myself, I would cope with everything, and everything would be fine. And with age, nothing changed in my affection. It’s just that the person who wrote this music has become a close acquaintance to me, a wise and congenial person who is always there when I turn on his music. I listen to his music very often. You breathe easily, and again you believe that you can understand something in this life.
Unexpectedly, fate gave me another unforgettable opportunity to meet Rachmaninov. It so happens that lately I have been visiting America, near New York. It turned out that very close, 20 minutes away by car, in the Kensico cemetery, in the town of Valhalla, there is the grave of Sergei Rachmaninov.

I wanted to go to Rachmaninov in late spring, when the lilacs bloom. I remembered that the famous pianist Van Cliburn planted a white lilac bush brought from Moscow on Rachmaninov’s grave. The history of this lilac bush is worthy of special mention. For the participants of the First Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow in 1958, an excursion was organized to Klin, to the Tchaikovsky House-Museum. There, Cliburn dug up a lilac bush and looked after it in his hotel room until the end of the competition, and then took it to America and planted it on Rachmaninoff’s grave.

May near New York is a lush month, lilacs, tulips, azaleas are in bloom, fruit trees are drenched in color. The luxury of nature after winter weather and cold.
Wonderful sunny morning. Several people with children gathered who wanted to go to Rachmaninov. We didn't go long. The largest cemetery in New York State is very well maintained. Beautiful, clean, no fences, greenery, flowers, trees everywhere.
The workers immediately showed us this place, memorable for Russians, and special care was taken for it. They said that this grave is often visited.
The Rachmaninoff place is quite large. On the sides of the grave are two stone benches. Behind the cross, enclosing the area, three rhododendrons and two
evergreen azalea bush. There are lilacs in the neighboring area, ordinary, purple.
But there are no lilacs on the composer’s grave. Apparently, a lot of time has passed since 1958...

The grave is covered with a green carpet of climbing greenery. On the large light Orthodox cross is the name and dates of the life of Sergei Rachmaninov. And on a small slab near the grave are the names of both, Sergei and his wife, Natalia Rachmaninov.
Next to it, on the left, is a slab with the name of Irina Volkonskaya, their eldest daughter.
We sat down on the benches. We listened to “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” from our iPhone, and the kids ran around happily. I thought it was not good that they were running around having fun, but then I decided that it was nothing. Sergei Vasilyevich loved children, could not pass by, he always stopped. And he loved his grandchildren very much, Sofinka and Sasha.

Sergei Vasilyevich died in California. And he was buried near New York... Why?
Sergei Vasilyevich died from a transient form of cancer, melanoma, on March 28, 1943 at his home in Beverly Hills, California, three days before his seventieth birthday.
The funeral service was held for him in the small church of the “Icon of the Mother of God of the Salvation of the Perishing” on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Relatives donated to the church a historical icon of St. Panteleimon in the family of the deceased, which was in the families of the counts Shuvalovs and princes Volkonsky. The zinc coffin was sealed in hopes of being transported to Russia via New York. But for some reason this has not happened until now.

Natalya Alexandrovna, the composer's widow, bought a place in the Kensico cemetery in the town of Valhalla near New York. The funeral took place on June 1, 1943.
Metropolitan Theophilus served, and a large Russian choir sang. A lot of people came to the funeral - musicians, friends, Russian and American fans of Rachmaninov, and there were also representatives of Soviet Russia who came from Washington.
From an interview published in AiF Tambov with Alexander Ermakov, director of Rachmaninov’s Ivanovka museum-estate, I learned that the lease for the burial site in the Kensico cemetery was concluded for a hundred years. Its term will expire in 2043. The decision on the place of reburial of Sergei Vasilyevich’s ashes will be made by his relatives. Of course, the museum asks that it be Ivanovka, where his father and other relatives are buried. It is not yet known how this issue will be resolved.
I wanted to know more about Rachmaninov’s life in exile, about the fate of his descendants. A new round of immersion in information about the life of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov in America captivated me.

About the fate of the descendants of Sergei Rachmaninov
Sergei and Natalia Rachmaninov had two daughters: Irina and Tatyana.
The family life of Rachmaninov’s eldest daughter ended almost at the very beginning: Irina Sergeevna’s husband, the artist, Prince Volkonsky, died a year after his marriage. She remained a widow with her little daughter Sofinka and then always lived with her parents, brightening up the last years of their lives with her daughter’s love, her spontaneity and cheerful character. Irina Sergeevna's daughter Sofya Volkonskaya (1925-1968) was the adored granddaughter of Sergei Vasilyevich, who inherited her grandfather's musical talent and her father's artistic abilities. Her first marriage was unsuccessful, but then she married diplomat Wanemaker and went with him to Costa Rica. Unfortunately, her life was short. Sofya Petrovna died of heart failure very young, leaving three small children orphans.

Many years passed, and it would seem that the traces of Sofia Petrovna’s descendants were forever lost somewhere on the American continent, but, as you know, detective stories
stories take place not only on the pages of adventure books, but also in life.
In the capital of Costa Rica, the city of San Jose, the great-granddaughter of F.I. Chaliapin, Christina Wright, found herself, who managed to find the children of S.P. Wanemaker and contact them. And so in July 1989, at the invitation of the Soviet Cultural Foundation, the great-grandchildren of S. V. Rachmaninov flew to Moscow: Peter, Natalie and Alison, together with their father Al. T. Wanemaker.
As it turned out, this family honors the memory of their ancestors and cherishes the family traditions of the Rachmaninoffs and Satins. After her death, Sofia Petrovna’s husband took part in the construction of a cultural center in San Jose, where an exhibition hall named after her was opened. In the Wanemakers' house near the city of San Jose, relics relating to the last years of the life of the great Russian musician are carefully preserved: his last piano, a working music library, numerous documents, portraits and photographs. The head of the family and his youngest daughter Alison lived in this house. Peter Wanemaker, a businessman, and his sister Natalie (married Jovier) live in the United States. Natalie, who bears the name of her great-grandmother N.A. Satina, has a son, whom she named in memory of her great-great-grandfather Sergei. Who knows, perhaps the great-great-grandson of S. V. Rachmaninov will inherit, along with his name, the musical talent of his ancestors...

Alexander Rachmaninov-Konyus, the son of the Rachmaninovs' daughter Tatyana, the only heir and legal successor, the grandson of Sergei Rachmaninov, inherited the Rachmaninovs' house, the Senar villa in Switzerland, from his mother and lived there. Alexander Borisovich founded the Rachmaninoff Foundation and tried to promote his grandfather’s work throughout the world, putting things in order regarding his creative heritage. On November 1, 2012, he died of a stroke at the age of 79. The will was left in favor of the widow of Alexander Rachmaninov-Konyus, Natalia. He left 4 children from his previous ones
marriages. No reports were found anywhere about their fate.

Pianist Denis Matsuev, art director of the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation, approached the President of Russia with a request to buy the Senar villa for the Rachmaninoff House Museum.
V.V. Putin agreed to Russia’s purchase of the Rachmaninoff family house in Switzerland.
Alexander Rachmaninov's widow, Natalya, continues the work of the Foundation and wants to sell Senar to Russia. As soon as family financial relations between
relatives will be settled, the issue of selling the house will be resolved. Quite recently it became known that some philanthropist was donating money for this purchase. His name has not yet been announced.

My search did not end there. I hope to write later about how Sergei Rachmaninov’s fate unfolded in emigration.

Materials used:
http://menkova.ru/Rahmaninov_Rodstvennoe_okrujenie.pdf
magazines.russ.ru/nj/2013/270/r20.htm