ABSTRACT
In Russia the continuing political unrest after the abortive 1905 Revolution was likely to extend, so Rachmaninoff learned from the publisher Jurgenson, even to possible interruptions to the forthcoming season's Moscow orchestral concerts, at which he was due to appear as conductor. Already unhappy about the burden of his commitments, and using this as an excuse for resigning from them all, Rachmaninoff decided to escape from Russia with his wife and three-year-old daughter in search of solitude in Dresden, where he hoped to devote himself to composition free from the distractions of celebrity and await the return of more settled times back home. With the exception of extended summer holidays, which continued to be spent at Ivanovka, from October 1906 until the spring of 1909 the family lived in a six-room villa with garden they rented in Dresden's Sidonienstrasse, and it was here that Rachmaninoff worked on the four compositions that comprise the output of this Dresden period, all of them having one feature in common, their largeness of scale: the Second Symphony, First Piano Sonata, the symphonic poem Tbe Isle of the Dead, and his biggest operatic project, the ill-fated Manna Vanna. According at least to the Recollections, 1 the reason why Rachmaninoff chose the capital of Saxony as his retreat was principally its musical attraction; during a previous visit he had been impressed by the Dresden Opera's performance under Ernst von Schuch of Die Meistersinger, and as the city was within railway commuting distance of Leipzig, he could attend Nikisch's Gewandhaus concerts. However, the inexpensive living he also hoped for did not materialize, and Glinka prizes for the cantata Spring and for the Second Symphony, received during his stay, must have been doubly welcome.
