RACHMANINOFF SERGEI: (1873-1943) Russian Pianist, Composer and Conductor.

A good, unusual vintage signed and inscribed 12 x 11 photograph by both Rachmaninoff and his wife, Natalya Satina, individually, the image depicting the couple seated together in a contented head and shoulders pose on a sofa in a wooden panelled room. 'Signed' and inscribed by Rachmaninoff in dark fountain pen ink, in Cyrillic, to the lower photographer's mount, 'To Tatiana Mikhailovna and Aleksei Alekseevich from the “Inseparable” Rachmaninoffs', and dated 1938 in his hand. Signed ('N. Rachmaninoffa') by his wife, also in dark fountain pen ink and in Cyrillic, with her name alone to the lower photographer's mount. Some very slight silvering to the edges of the image and with some slight chipping and a few small areas of paper loss to the edges and corners of the photographer's mount, about VG

The present signed photograph is dated in the same year that RCA Victor recorded Rachmaninoff and his wife playing his 4-hand piano duet, Polka Italienne, in New York.

Natalya Satina (1877-1951) herself a pianist, was in fact Rachmaninoff's first cousin and they first met in 1888 whilst young music students. They were married on 29th April 1902, but not without having to first petition the Tsar to allow the marriage as they were so closely related and the Russian Orthodox Church did not permit the marriage of first cousins.

The pianist, composer and conductor's works are from the late-Romantic period of classical music and some of these compositions are among the most popular in the classical repertoire. Rachmaninoff is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century