Sergei Rachmaninoff
(1873-1943)
Photo taken when he was 36, courtesy of Rachmaninoff a biography by Victor I. Seroff, published 1951, my most cherished book.
When its pages were first opened, the smell of tobacco reached my nose, and it was good.
Most beautiful face and voice of 1965 - Moffo!
Rachmaninoff listened from heaven as she sang his melody without words.
Next is the first record I bought with my own money, age 16, recorded 1930. The selection at Tower Records in SF was small, and I picked Solesmes (France) without knowing that they are the foremost singers in this genre still today. They are non-professionals, and that tells you something: practice daily and mean it.
The truth I discovered a year later and hid from everyone but my parents was that I wanted to go directly to Solesmes. However, the love affair with Mom and Dad was so intense that I found it unbearable to leave them, a strong resistance to facing the fact that some day they would leave me. A friend years ago reminded me that they would die.
He was quite gentle about my dependency, a handicap I love because it had one marvelous result. See the Holy Ghost.
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