--- description: Before the Revolution of 1917 Russia knew its Sergei Vassilievitch Rachmaninoff chiefly as a composer who patterned himself after Tchaikovsky and wrote gentle, nostalgic music according to 19th... title: Music: Rachmaninoff Reverts image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Music: Rachmaninoff Reverts by [TIME](/author/time/) Nov 19, 1934 5:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Nov 19, 1934 5:00 AM CUT Before the Revolution of 1917 Russia knew its Sergei Vassilievitch Rachmaninoff chiefly as a composer who patterned himself after Tchaikovsky and wrote gentle, nostalgic music according to 19th Century traditions. The U. S. knows Rachmaninoff best as a pianist, a career forced on him by exile and the loss of his fortune. But in his quiet unpublicized way Rachmaninoff has gone on writing music. In Baltimore last week a Rapsodie which he composed last summer was given its premiére by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Because Rachmaninoff was there to solo, the audience was completely satisfied with the oldtime combination of pianistic glitter and cello-sweet sadness. Music: Rachmaninoff Reverts ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6891252/music-rachmaninoff-reverts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6891252/music-rachmaninoff-reverts/"},"headline":"Music: Rachmaninoff Reverts","datePublished":"1934-11-19T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-19T19:48:25.706Z","description":"Before the Revolution of 1917 Russia knew its Sergei Vassilievitch Rachmaninoff chiefly as a composer who patterned himself after Tchaikovsky and wrote gentle, nostalgic music according to 19th...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6891252/music-rachmaninoff-reverts/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6891252/music-rachmaninoff-reverts/","name":"Music: Rachmaninoff Reverts"}}]}] ```