Lisbon -
It happened one night in Istanbul. My sister and I were attending a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #2. I like the piece now, but was then unfamiliar with it.
A rush of familiarity came over me during the second movement. I seemed to know the work but was soon bemused as to why. It was not as awkward a revelation as recognizing an aria during a Sydney Opera House performance of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” from a Three Stooges skit. But it reminded me of that moment.
It turns out that the singer-songwriter Eric Carmen - let’s leave his politics aside for the moment - based his 1975 hit song “All by Myself” expressly on Rachmaninoff’s second movement.
It turns out that Carmen’s 1976 hit “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” was based on the third movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto. Carmen thought the concerto was in the public domain. It had no copyright in the U.S. but the piece was still protected elsewhere in the world. For its part, Rachmaninoff’s estate secured 12 percent of royalties on both songs. That’s undoubtedly more money than Rachmaninoff made in his entire career.
Growing up with very little exposure to the arts instilled in me a lifelong quest to learn and experience as much of it as possible. Every once in a while one world meets the other - and joyously so. Far from being awkward, however, such moments are authentic, amusing, and to be cherished. It’s an accessible, relatable form of vulnerability.
Opera was popular music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the U.S., fueled by Italian, German, Polish, and other immigrants. It found its way into low, medium, and highbrow entertainment. That’s why opera often served as backdrop to the uptown zaniness of the Marx Brothers or the downtown antics of the Three Stooges. If that prepared me to enjoy Donizetti or a Top 40 pop song softened my Rachmaninoff landing, all the better. It’s called learning and growing and it’s all part of the journey.
Rockmaninoff, baby!
Image courtesy of musescore.com