Sigma Alpha Iota

20 Summer 2024 • sai-national.org 20 Summer 2024 • sai-national.org A Wld of Music By Jayne I. Hanlin On April 1, 2023, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff, I thought not only about his music but also about his only surviving pupil, Ruth Slenczynska, /slen CHIN skuh/. When she was nine, Ruth filled in for him at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles. To this day, she still wears the Fabergé necklace with a miniature blue egg that he gave her when she studied with him in Paris. Ruth's 2022 album, My Life in Music (Decca 4852255) includes two of his piano works. Although he didn't like teaching, Rachmaninoff gave lessons to young Ruth. She credits him with putting strength and power in her fingers. roughout his time working with her, however, he disapproved of her giving more concerts until she was fieen. Written in conjunction with Louis Biancolli, Ruth's autobiography, Forbidden Childhood (Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1957), is a real page turner. Her father, Josef Slenczynski, exploited his oldest daughter from the start. Born in 1925, Ruth was considered one of the greatest child prodigies since Mozart and gave her recital debut when she was four. From an early age, she was a phenom, able to identify ten keys played simultaneously on the keyboard with her back turned and to play difficult pieces way beyond her young years. She gave a solo performance in Berlin at age six and made her first orchestral performance in Paris at age seven. For playing thirty After Forbidden Childhood, Fulfilled Life Arthur Fiedler and Arthur Fiedler and Ruth Slenczynska, circa 1956 Ruth Slenczynska, circa 1956 Ruth Slenczynska Collection, SIUE Ruth Slenczynska Collection, SIUE

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