Villa Senar

{{Short description|Estate in Switzerland}} [[File:Weggis-Hertenstein-Villa Senar-04ASD.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|A view of the Villa Senar]] '''Villa Senar''' is an estate built in [[Switzerland]] by the [[Russians|Russian]] composer [[Sergei Rachmaninoff]]. He purchased the plot of land near [[Hertenstein, Lucerne|Hertenstein]] on the shores of [[Lake Lucerne]] in 1932. The name of the estate originated from the names of Rachmaninoff and his wife: Sergei and Natalia, by combining the first two letters of each given name and the first of their surname.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Sergei Rachmaninoff |url=https://rachmaninoff.ch/ |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=Sergei Rachmaninoff |language=de-CH}}</ref> The architects of the very modern design were the Swiss architects Alfred Möri and Karl Friedrich Krebs.

The villa was designed to remind Rachmaninoff of the estate of [[Ivanovka estate|Ivanovka]] the family had in southern Russia before the [[October Revolution]] and their migration to Western Europe in 1918. A park and a magnificent [[rose garden]] were laid at Senar. The Rachmaninoffs spent every summer at Senar until their final migration to the United States in 1939 at the outbreak of [[World War II]]. Two of Rachmaninoff's major compositions were written at Senar: ''[[Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini]]'' completed in 1934 and the [[Symphony No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Third symphony]] completed in 1936. The villa hosted famous Russian immigrants, including [[Ivan Bunin]] and [[Vladimir Horowitz]].

Rachmaninoff left Senar for the last time on 16 August 1939, going to [[Paris]] and preparing to move to [[New York City]]. In 2013, it was reported that Russia was interested in purchasing the Villa and preserve it in memory of Rachmaninoff.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2023-04-01 |title=Villa öffnet als Kulturzentrum - Luzern steckt Millionen in die Villa von Starpianist Rachmaninoff |url=https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/villa-oeffnet-als-kulturzentrum-luzern-steckt-millionen-in-die-villa-von-starpianist-rachmaninoff |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) |language=de}}</ref>

After the death of Rachmaninoff, the villa stayed in possession of the family.<ref name=":1" /> His grand child Alexandre Rachmaninoff Conus established the Rachmaninoff foundation.<ref name=":0" /> After the death of Rachmaninoff Conus, his will mentioned Lucerne as a possible inheritor, but it was not worded properly enough. In order to prevent a possible legal case between Lucerne and his descendants the [[Canton of Lucerne|Canton Lucerne]] bought the estate in 2022 and on the 1 April 2023, the 150th birthday of Rachmaninoff, the Villa was made accessible to the public.<ref name=":1" />

==References== <references />

==External links== *[http://magazines.russ.ru/druzhba/2001/4/shish.html Михаил Шишкин, Русская Швейцария] *[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03c89mx/p03c8njk Photographs of Villa Senar taken during production of ''The Joy of Rachmaninoff'', BBC Four] *[https://www.rachmaninoff.org/images/PDF/SENAR_flyer_Web.pdf Brochure with drawings, plans & pictures],

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villa Senar}} [[Category:Sergei Rachmaninoff]] [[Category:Villas in Switzerland]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in the canton of Lucerne]]