# Happy 139th Birthday, Sergei Rachmaninoff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452 "2012-04-01T06:54:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452/1 "2012-04-01T06:54:14Z")
Every year on this date, I play my entire collection of Rachmaninoff music. This year, I’m playing the tracks in order of length, shortest to longest. 214 tracks, taking 24 hours. The shortest track, at 1:12, is his piano arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s \*Flight of the Bumblebee, \*performed by Ruth Laredo. The longest track, at 23:00, is the \*Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, \*performed by Cecile Licad, Claudio Abbado and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452/2 "2012-04-01T13:01:11Z")
I agree-I never tire of his music. It seems that many of his themes show up in soundtracks, even bits and pieces in rock music. For a composer whose work was denigrated by musicologists, he has remained hugely popular-so He must have been doing something right. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452/3 "2012-04-01T13:43:04Z")
And, apparently [he had big hands](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifKKlhYF53w) (stay with it). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452/4 "2012-04-01T13:56:56Z")
I don’t know much (anything) about him, but whenever I hear the name I always thing of [The Seven Year Itch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7CnSPMPt68). ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452/5 "2012-04-01T15:30:28Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I don’t know much (anything) about him, but whenever I hear the name I always thing of [The Seven Year Itch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7CnSPMPt68). Curse you! Cut off at the pass before I could do my Marilyn imitation. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452/6 "2012-04-01T15:44:03Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Curse you! Cut off at the pass before I could do my Marilyn imitation. There’s still the second part of the scene, when she actually does show up and prefers chopsticks and sitting in front of the AC. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452/7 "2012-04-01T16:30:18Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > There’s still the second part of the scene, when she actually does show up and prefers chopsticks and sitting in front of the AC. “Champagne and potato chips! Isn’t it _elegant?_” ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-139th-birthday-sergei-rachmaninoff/617452/8 "2012-04-04T17:35:05Z")
I’ll toast to the maestro! I don’t think there’s been a month gone by in the past 20 years that I have not listened at least once to his _Piano Concerto No 2_, _Piano Concerto No 3_, or _Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini_. Rachmaninoff’s compositions sing with a voice that is hypnotic and of which I will never tire. I will, however, **never** watch _Groundhog Day_ again. Bastards. :mad: