Composed between 1906 and 1907, Rachmaninoff was not satisfied with his first draft of this symphony but after reexamining and polishing it, he finished the work which was premiered in 1908 and earned him an award a few months later. It is even surprising that Rachmaninoff ever wrote a second symphony. He was so devastated by the negative criticism that he had received for his first symphony that for the next 3 years of his life he fell into depression. He struggled to write a music page worth keeping. He often visited Leo Tolstoy to stimulate his creativity but their conversations had the opposite impact on him, they discouraged him. He finally went to see a psychiatrist who helped him, through hypnosis, to start believing in himself. "You will work with great facility" was one of the doctor's leitmotifs. Rachmaninoff recovered and began composing again, and "with great facility". He composed the Second Concerto which "marked the turning point" for Rachmaninoff but the victory came with his Symphony 2.
The third movement of this symphony is an ultra-romantic, heart-felt and emotionally soaring melody from beginning to end and is one of the best music Rachmaninoff has written. The melody of this piece has been used by pop star Eric Carmen's "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" in 1976. We believe that this title expresses very well the sad and romantic mood of this music, so the title that we would suggest for this composition would be the same.