to him stating that nothing had been penned so far. For the rest of the summer and autumn of 1899, Rachmaninoff's unproductiveness worsened his depression. A friend of the Satins (relatives of Rachmaninoff), in an attempt to revoke the depressed composer's writer's block, suggested he visit Leo Tolstoy. However, his visit to the querulous author only served to increase his despondency, and he became so self-critical that he was rendered unable to compose. The Satins, anxious about his well-being, persuaded him to visit Nikolai Dahl, a neurologist who specialized in hypnosis, with whom they had a good experience. Desperate, he agreed without hesitation. From January to April 1900, he visited him daily free of charge. Dahl restored Rachmaninoff's health as well as his confidence to compose. Himself a musician, Dahl engaged in lengthy conversations surrounding music with Rachmaninoff, and would repeat a triptych formula while the composer was half-asleep: "You will begin to write your concerto ... You will work with great facility ... The concerto will be of an excellent quality". Even though the results were not readily evident, they were still successful. Composition and premiere In June 1900, after receiving an invitation to perform Mefistofele in La Scala, Feodor Chaliapin invited Rachmaninoff to live with him in Italy, where he sought his advice while studying the opera. During his stay, Rachmaninoff composed the love duet of his opera Francesca da Rimini and also began working on the second and third movements of his Second Piano Concerto. With newfound enthusiasm for composition, he resumed working on them after returning to Russia, which for the rest of the summer and the autumn were being finished "quickly and easily", although the first movement caused him difficulties. He told his biographer Oscar von Riesemann that "the material grew in bulk, and new musical ideas began to stir within me—far more than I needed for my concerto". The two finished movements were to be performed in the Moscow Nobility Hall on at a concert arranged for the benefit of the Ladies' Charity Prison Committee. On the eve of the concert, Rachmaninoff caught a cold, prompting his friends and relatives to stuff him with remedies, filling him with an excess of mulled wine; he didn't want to admit his desire to cancel the performance. With him as soloist with an orchestra after an eight-year hiatus and his cousin Alexander Siloti making his conducting debut,