RACHMANINOFF, Sergei (1873-1943). Russian composer and pianist.
Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Rybner, 1 page small 4to with integral blank, no place, 8 September 1925. A charming letter in good English sending family news and announcing his imminent return to America.
The letter is almost certainly to Dagmar [Mrs Cornelius] Rybner, a Danish-American with whom the composer had already had some correspondence before the first World War, and who worked as his secretary and interpreter.

'... I only want to tell you that I have a grand daughter - Sophie, who is an exact likeness of her father. Tomorrow is her birthday: she will be a week old. I like her so much and go to see her every day. Irene [Irina] is well so far and I hope to bring them both here the 15th of September, when I will wheel around Sophie in her carriage.
 The 17th October my wife and I expect to sail for America.'

Sophie was Rachmaninoff's first grandchild and was born after the tragically early death of her father, Volkonsky. Irina was left a widow at 22 and took up work in the composer's new publishing firm, Tair, which he had founded in part to occupy his daughters. See Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings, by Max Harrison, 2007, page 250.
[No: 25279]