c1935….The hands of Rachmaninoff. In The Lives of the Great Composers, Harold C. Schonberg writes that Rachmaninoff’s hands were “supple,” “spectacular,” and “phenomenal.” The Sound Post reports that his oversized hands were contrarily delicate.” Wikipedia states that “Rachmaninoff possessed extremely large hands, with which he could easily maneuver through the most complex chordal configurations.” Wikipedia tells us in a pictures caption to “note the hands. And how big were Rachmaninoffs hands? In A Walk on the Wild Side, the pianist Earl Wild states, “His reach extended to a twelfth!” Put another way, Max Harrison in Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings reports that “Such personal acquaintances as Cyril Smith said that [Rachmaninoff] could with his left hand stretch C–E-flat–G–C–G and the right could manage C (second finger)–E–G–C–E (thumb under).” Sit at a piano and see if your fingers can stretch as far as Cyril Smith described. Anyone with average-sized hands will probably be astonished that fingers can reach that far. The reason Rachmaninoffs hands were so large may have stemmed from a genetic disorder. In the British Medical Journal (Volume 293, December 20-27, 1986) D.A. Young states, “The extraordinary size and extensibility of Rachmaninoffs hands might indicate Marfans syndrome.” The disease is also mentioned in Wikipedia: “Along with his musical gifts, Rachmaninoff possessed physical gifts that may have placed him in good stead as a pianist. These gifts included exceptional height and extremely large hands with a gigantic finger stretch. They and Rachmaninoffs slender frame, long limbs, narrow head, prominent ears, and thin nose suggest that he may have had Marfan syndrome, a hereditary disorder of the connective tissue. This syndrome would have accounted for several minor ailments he suffered all his life. These included back pain, arthritis, eye strain and bruising of the fingertips.” As D.A. Young concluded in his article about Rachmaninoffs Marfan syndrome in the British Medical Journal, “I should add that Rachmaninovs eminence as a pianist was founded as much on his interpretation of the music of others, especially Chopin, as on the extraordinary virtuosity he displayed in performing some of his own compositions. Undoubtedly, his hands contributed to his virtuosity; but for his interpretation of others work it was artistic genius, not large hands, that made his performance so memorable.”
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:58:59 +0000
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