Nikolai Vladimirovich Dahl, often called Nicolai Dahl (russian: Николай Владимирович Даль) (July 17, 1860 – 1939) was a Russian Empire

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. He is most notable for his successful treatment of the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, who was suffering a creative block after the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony. Among his other notable patients were Shalyapin, Skryabin, Stanislavsky, and many others.

Career

Dahl was born in 1860, and graduated from the Moscow University in 1887. He studied in France with Jean-Martin Charcot, who initiated a therapy by hypnotizing his patients. Dahl had a private practice in Moscow. His speciality was in the fields of

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psych ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

. Dahl was interested in music and he was a competent amateur

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

player. Dahl is best known for treating the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. The composer had a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

because of poor critical reviews of his Symphony No. 1 in 1897 and went into a creative block. Although he continued his career as a pianist and conductor, he found himself unable to compose music. In January 1900 Dahl commenced a treatment program for Rachmaninoff which lasted daily for more than three months, using hypnotherapy and supportive therapy since psychotherapy as started by Freud had yet to be invented. Dahl's treatment, helped by support from Rachmaninoff's own family and friends, cured the composer, who dedicated his Piano Concerto No. 2 (1901) to Dahl. Dr. Dahl emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1925 and settled in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. He played the viola in the orchestra of the American University of Beirut. On one occasion, Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto was performed, with Arkadie Kouguell as soloist and conductor. The audience were informed that the dedicatee of the concerto, Dr. Dahl, was a member of the viola section of the orchestra, and they asked him to rise and take a bow.Sergei Bertensson and Jay Leida, ''Sergei Rachmaninoff'', footnote p.96, as mentioned a
Maurice Kouguell, ''Remembering Dr. Dahl: Hypnosis Saves Rachmaninoff''
Retrieved 17 October 2013 He died in Beirut in 1939. Dahl and Rachmaninoff's relationship was dramatized in the 2015 Off-Broadway musical '' Preludes'' by

Dave Malloy Dave Malloy (born January 4, 1976) is an American composer, playwright, lyricist, and actor. He has written several theatrical works, often based on classic works of literature. They include ''Moby-Dick'', an adaptation of Herman Melville's cla ...

Lincoln Center Theater The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT), the Beaumont is the only Broad ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahl, Nikolai 1860 births 1939 deaths Neurologists from the Russian Empire Hypnotists from the Russian Empire Moscow State University alumni Soviet emigrants to the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Psychiatrists from the Russian Empire Sergei Rachmaninoff