his musical training ended at the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 when he
received a gold medal for a one-act opera, _Aleko_. In that same year he
also wrote the Prelude in C-sharp minor with which he became world
famous. His first piano concerto and his first symphony, however, were
dismal failures. In 1901 he scored a triumph with his Second Piano
Concerto which, since then, has been not only the composer’s most
celebrated composition in a large form but also one of the best loved
and most frequently performed piano concertos of the 20th century.
Rachmaninoff combined his success as composer with that as piano
virtuoso. Beginning with 1900 he toured the world of music achieving
recognition everywhere as one of the most renowned concert artists of
his generation. The first of his many tours of America took place in