It was only after the composer's death that the identity of the sender was found to have been Maria Danilova, who was then a young cello student at the Moscow Conservatory. This suggestion was both extremely sensitive and opportune. The sender asked him to read the verses, suggesting they were suitable for musical setting and would especially appeal to him. However, while on a holiday in Rome, Italy early in 1907, Rachmaninoff received an anonymous letter containing a copy of Balmont's translation of The Bells. Rachmaninoff wrote to his friend Nikita Morozov in December 1906, asking whether he could think of a suitable subject for a choral piece to follow his cantata Spring.
The US Premiere of the work was given by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus on 6 February 1920 and the UK Premiere by Sir Henry Wood and the Liverpool Philharmonic and Chorus on 15 March 1921.
Rachmaninoff dedicated The Bells to Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Rachmaninoff called the work both a choral symphony and (unofficially) his Third Symphony shortly after writing it however, he would later write a purely instrumental Third Symphony at his new villa in Switzerland. It was one of Rachmaninoff's two favorite compositions, along with his All-Night Vigil, and is considered by some to be his secular choral masterpiece.
The traditional Gregorian melody Dies Irae is used frequently throughout the work. The words are from the poem The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe, very freely translated into Russian by the symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont. 35, is a choral symphony by Sergei Rachmaninoff, written in 1913 and premiered in St Petersburg on 30 November that year under the composer's baton. The Bells ( Russian: Колокола, Kolokola), Op.
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