“ Petersburg, and Sergei entered the Conservatorium, where he remained till 1885, when, on the family again removing to Moscow, he joined the Conservatorium there, and was on terms of friendship with Scryabin, Siloti, Taneyeff and Arensky. When, in 1892, Rachmaninoff left the Conservatorium, he won the large gold medal for a one-act opera Aleka and followed it by many other works. About 1893 he composed a pianoforte suite, another for two pianos, a dozen songs, his first piano concerto, the symphonic picture The Rock and the elegiac trio on the death of Tschaikovsky. ”