Inspired by the painting by the Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin, Rachmaninoff composed his symphonic poem in the spring of 1909, completing it while on tour in Dresden just two weeks before the premiere - given in Moscow on 1 May 1909 with the composer conducting the Moscow Philharmonic. The score reproduced here is an authoritative Soviet score issued some time after the composer's death. Unlike so many of the on-demand scores now available, this one comes with all the pages and the images have been thoroughly checked to make sure it is readable. The matching large score and orchestra parts are also available from Serenissima Music (91900).
