Three years after his third piano concerto was finished, Rachmaninoff moved with his family to a house in Rome that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had used. It was during this time in Rome that Rachmaninoff started working on his second piano sonata. However, because both of his daughters contracted typhoid fever, he was unable to finish the composition in Rome. Instead, Rachmaninoff moved his family on to Berlin in order to consult with doctors. When the girls were well enough, Rachmaninoff traveled with his family back to his Ivanovka country estate, where he finished the second piano sonata. Its premiere took place in St. Petersburg in December 1913.
| Date of composition | 1913 (Revised in 1931) in Rome, Italy |
| Premiered | 1913, December 16th in Russia, Moscow by Sergei Rachmaninov |
| Type | Sonata |
| Tonality | B-flat Minor |
| Catalogue | Op. 36 |
| Approx. duration | 18 minutes |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Autotranslations beta |
Sergueï Rachmaninov: Sonate pour piano n°2 en si bémol mineur, Op. 36 Sergej Vasil'evič Rachmaninov: Sonata per pianoforte n. 2 in si bemolle minore, Op. 36 Sergei Wassiljewitsch Rachmaninow: Sonate Nr. 2 für Klavier b-moll, Op. 36 |