In this work, Rachmaninoff was inspired by a music tune created by the early 19th century violin virtuoso, Niccolo Paganini, who was like the "rock star" of his time, as well as by Paganini's life. Paganini had revolutionised violin playing. His compositions were incredibly difficult to play. The legend even says that Paganini had sold his soul to the evil in exchange for his preternatural music skills. Paganini's most famous work was the 24 variations for solo violin. Each piece was a variation of a main music theme through changes in harmony, melody, orchestration and many other factors.
Rachmaninoff took these pieces and wrote a concerto for piano and orchestra. Across all 24 variations, he adapts the main music theme into all types of forms and styles (with the exception of variation #18, a beautiful melody which has captured people's imagination). Rachmaninoff had explained in detail how his Rhapsody was telling the story of Paganini, his deal with the devil and his doomed love for a woman. The first 6 variations introduce Paganini and his theme. The evil spirit appears for the first time in variation #7, through a melody of medieval catholic chant, a symbol of death and demonic forces in music. The following variations become increasingly demonic, symbolising Paganini's pact with devil. In variation #19 one can even hear Paganini's conversation with the devil. Paganini's love enters the music scene in variation #11, with variation #12 representing the appearance of a woman and all the next variations until variation #19 being love episodes. The last variations tell the story of Paganini's defeat by the evil and the final one makes a parody of the evil.