Salammbô (Rachmaninoff)

Background#

After his two recent operas, The Miserly Knight (Op. 24, 1904) and Francesca da Rimini (Op. 25, 1905), achieved little success, Rachmaninoff eagerly considered another, larger project. Svobodin did not respond, so Morozoff attempted to write some, but Rachmaninoff rejected his work in favor of another friend, Mikhail Slonoff. Slonoff worked for a few weeks, but Rachmaninoff was never satisfied, and on May 24 wrote to Slonoff reporting that he was unable to compose anything. A few days after the letter, Rachmaninoff’s wife and daughter became sick and the project was terminated.