This is the first issue of The Etude which has ever been devoted in great part to a living composer—a Rachmaninoff issue. Editorial binoculars often look far into the distance, but cannot even focus upon men and things nearby.
That we have now residing in America a great master— one who in future years will stand out on the pages of history, as stood his great predecessors—is in itself an honor we should not ignore.
Not since Rubinstein visited America has any European composer-pianist of the stature of Sergei Rachmaninoff been with us. Simple, sincere, earnest, intense, granite in strength, yet fern-like in delicacy, the works of Rachmaninoff rank with the great music of all time. Representing, as he does, the genius of Russia, he brings a message to America to which our future MacDowells will eagerly listen. Indeed, his own admiration for the genius of MacDowell is very warm and sincere.
The Etude takes pardonable pride in presenting in this issue Rachmaninoff's views upon important musical problems, and a composition by the master hitherto unpublished.
