Sergei Rachmaninoff composed in Six Moments Musicaux in the fall of 1896. It is a set of six pieces of piano music in characteristic forms of past musical periods. The work was composed under a period of great financial stress for Rachmaninoff, and the impetus for its composition was essentially monetary. However, despite the short amount of time he had to compose the pieces, the Six Moments Musicaux rate among Rachmaninoff’s greatest works of piano music. The work is longer, more sophisticated and requires a greater virtuosity than any of his previous piano compositions. It is indicative of the high quality that Rachmaninoff’s future music would have. In an interview in 1941, Rachmaninoff said, “What I try to do, when writing down my music, is to make it say simply and directly that which is in my heart when I am composing.” Indeed, the Six Moments Musicaux came from the heart, and perhaps it was the strenuous outward circumstances that allowed him to do so.
The Six Moments Musicaux contains six characteristic forms of previous musical periods: the nocturne, song without words, barcarolle, virtuoso etude, and theme and variations. Although written as a set, each piece is capable of standing on its own as a separate work. The first piece is a lyrical Andantino in B flat minor. Interestingly, a pause occurs in the middle of the piece at an almost identical place as in Franz Schubert’s first Moments Musicaux. The second is an Allegretto that adequately display Rachmaninoff’s mastery of piano technique. The third, in B minor, is reminiscent of a funeral march but takes on the guise of a song without words. The fourth piece is another dazzling virtuosic etude in E minor. It has some similarities to Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude in it’s daunting and constant left-hand figurations. The fifth piece, an Adagio sostenuto, is a great relief after the previous virtuosic display. It is an intensely lyrical barcarolle, a folk song with a rhythmic triplet accompaniment. The final piece is a Maestoso in the key of C major and another display of virtuosic piano technique. Along side this is also the brilliant display of compositional technique in the use of canons and triple counterpoint.
