Sergei Rachmaninoff and Mikhail Vrubel: Creative Parallels

Abstract

The article offered to your attention is
dedicated to the interrelations between Sergei
Rachmaninoff and Mikhail Vrubel. Turning
directly to the legacies of the two artists,
it is possible to observe a definite and
continued “creative dialogue” between them
manifested in the artistic themes in images
to which Rachmaninoff and Vrubel consistently
turned. Most prominent among them are the
images of the Lilac and Goethe’s “Faust”.
The author examines the peculiarities of their
interpretations by the two artists in such works
as Rachmaninoff’s song “The Lilac” opus 21
No. 5 and the First Piano Sonata opus 28,
as well as Vrubel’s “Faust” triptych (1896)
and the painting “The Lilac” (1900).
Also subjected to analysis are a number
of biographical details, which make it possible
to assert that one artistic experience had
exerted direct influence on the other.
From the perspective of the art
of performance, such tracing of artistic
parallels makes it possible to glance anew
at certain compositions by Rachmaninoff
particularly from the position
of interpretation in the context of the Art
Moderne artistic direction, to which the greater
part of Vrubel’s artistic legacy
may be attributed.