Uncle John's Actual and Factual Bathroom Reader by Bathroom Readers' Institute

Author:Bathroom Readers' Institute
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Portable Press

Walruses inflate their pharyngeal pouch to keep themselves floating while they sleep.

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943)

Claim to Fame: Russian pianist, composer, and conductor

Blocked! When Rachmaninoff’s Symphony no. 1 was performed in public for the first time in 1897, it was conducted by a man named Alexander Glazunov, who may have been drunk at the time. The performance was not well received by critics, one of whom compared it to the ten biblical plagues of Egypt. Though Rachmaninoff denied that he cared about what the critics thought, he slipped into a depression that lasted for three years. In that time, he was able to compose only a few short pieces of music and had to support himself by giving piano lessons. Even a visit from the writer Leo Tolstoy, one of Rachmaninoff’s favorite authors, failed to improve his spirits. It wasn’t until 1900, when Rachmaninoff began receiving psychotherapy and hypnotherapy treatments from a physician and friend named Nikolai Dahl, that his depression began to lift and he was able to compose again. His Piano Concerto no. 2, which he completed in April 1901, is dedicated to Dahl. Fortunately for lovers of his music, Piano Concerto no. 2 received good reviews, spurring Rachmaninoff on to further work.

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