Soren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855)
Danish philosopher and religious thinker. Kierkegaard's outwardly uneventful life in Copenhagen contrasted with his intensive inner examination of self and society, which resulted in many diversified and profound writings; their dominant theme is that “truth is subjectivity.” Kierkegaard argued that in religion the important thing is not truth as objective fact but rather the individual's relationship to it. Thus it is not enough to believe the Christian doctrine; one must also live it. He attacked what he felt to be the sterile metaphysics of G. W. Hegel and the worldliness of the Danish church. His writings fall into two categories—the aesthetic and the religious. The aesthetic works, which include Either/Or (1843), Philosophical Fragments (1844), Stages on Life's Way (1845), and The Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846), were all published under pseudonyms and interpret human existence through the eyes of various poetically delineated characters. In those works Kierkegaard developed an “existential dialectic” in opposition to the Hegelian dialectic, and described the various stages of existence as the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious. As the individual advances through these stages he becomes increasingly more aware of his relationship to God. This awareness leads to despair as the individual realizes the antithesis between temporal existence and eternal truth. The specifically religious writings include Works of Love (1847) and Training in Christianity (1850). Kierkegaard also kept an extensive journal that contains many of his deepest insights. Although practically unknown outside Denmark during the 19th cent., he later exerted a tremendous influence upon both contemporary Protestant theology and the philosophic movement known as existentialism. His major works have been translated into English.
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Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (April 1, 1873 – March 28, 1943)
Russian pianist, composer, and conductor. He became known as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, and he was also successful as a conductor and composer. From 1885 to 1892 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory, after which he began his career as a concert pianist. In Moscow he was conductor of the Imperial Opera (1905–6) and of the Philharmonic concerts (1911–13); he twice refused permanent conductorship of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1917 he left Russia and never returned. After living in Switzerland until 1935, he immigrated to the United States and became a U.S. citizen shortly before his death.
As a composer he was strongly influenced by his friend Tchaikovsky. Rachmaninoff's music, particularly his piano compositions, are characterized by their dark and massive chords, whose dramatic effects and strong melodic lines have made them enormously popular. His best-known works are the second (1901) of his four piano concertos, and the Prelude in C Sharp Minor (1892), for piano. Other compositions include Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934), for piano and orchestra; an orchestral tone poem, The Isle of the Dead (1909); The Bells (1913), for chorus and orchestra; three symphonies; two sacred choral works, Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (1910) and Vespers (1915); and many piano pieces and songs.
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