On the day the February 1917 Revolution began in Saint Petersburg, Rachmaninoff performed a piano recital in Moscow in aid of wounded Russian soldiers who had fought in the war.[116] This was followed two months later with a visit to Ivanovka, where he found the house in chaos after a group of Social Revolutionary Party members seized it as their own communal property.[117] Despite investing most of his earnings on the estate Rachamninoff left after three weeks, vowing never to return.[118] It was soon confiscated by the communist authorities and became derelict.[119]
Following an August break with his family in the more peaceful Crimea, he performed at nearby Yalta on 5 September which was to be his final concert in Russia. Upon returning to Moscow, the political tension surrounding the October Revolution found the composer keeping his family safe indoors as often as possible and being involved in a collective at his apartment building, attending committee meetings and carried out civil guard duties at night. He completed revisions to his Piano Concerto No. 1 among gunshots and rallies outside.[120][121] Among such turmoil, Rachmaninoff received an unexpected offer to perform ten piano recitals across Scandinavia which he immediately accepted, using it as an excuse to quickly obtain permits for his family to leave the country.[122] On 22 December 1917, the Rachmaninoffs left Saint Petersburg by train to the Finnish border where they travelled through Finland on an open sledge and train to Helsinki. Carrying what they could pack into their small suitcases, Rachmaninoff brought some notebooks with sketches of compositions and scores to the first act of his unfinished opera Monna Vanna and Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel. They arrived in Stockholm, Sweden on 24 December. In January 1918, they relocated to Copenhagen, Denmark and, with the help of friend and composer Nikolai von Struve, settled on the ground floor of a house.[123] In debt and in need of money, the 44-year-old Rachmaninoff chose performing as his main source of income as a career solely in composition was too restrictive.[124] His piano repertoire was small, which prompted the start of regular practise of his technique and learning new pieces to play. Rachmaninoff toured between February and October 1918.[125][126]
During the Scandinavian tour, Rachmaninoff received three offers from the US to become the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for two years, conduct 110 concerts in 30 weeks for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and give 25 piano recitals.[126] He declined them all, worried about such a commitment in a country he hardly knew and had few fond memories from his debut tour in 1909. Yet Rachmaninoff now considered the United States as financially advantageous as he would not earn enough to support his family through composition alone. Unable to afford the travel fees, his fortunes changed when Russian banker and fellow emigre Alexander Kamenka agreed to give the composer an advance loan for the journey.[126] He also received assistance from friends and admirers; pianist Ignaz Friedman gave them $2,000.[124] On 1 November 1918, the family boarded the SS Bergensfjord in Oslo, Norway bound for New York City, arriving eleven days later. News of Rachmaninoff's arrival spread, causing a crowd of musicians, artists, and fans to gather outside The Sherry-Netherland hotel where he was staying.[126]'>>>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff
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