Vigils

the Vigils (), Opus 37, is a composition has cappella for mixed chorus by Sergueï Rachmaninov written and created in 1915. It consists of a group of texts extracted the ceremony of the night Vigils of the orthodoxe Église. One said of it that it was the major composition of Rachmaninov and “one of the greatest musical achievements for the Russian Orthodoxe Church”. It was in any case one of the two favorite compositions of Rachmaninov with the Bells , and the type-setter asked that one of the movements (the fifth) be sung with its funeral. The title of work is often translated simply by the word " Vêpres" , which is incorrect as well from a literal point of view as conceptual when it applies to whole work: in fact only the first six movements correspond to Vespers in the office of the hours, followed by the Crossbred ones.

Public composition and executions

the night Vigils were written in less than two weeks in January and February 1915, and were carried out in Moscow in March of the same year, partly for the benefit of the effort of Russian war. Nicolai Danilin directed the chorus (entirely male) of the Synod of Moscow to the first. Work was accepted cordially at the same time by the public and the critic, and success was so large that it was again carried out five times in one month.

However, the revolution of 1917 and the introduction of the Soviet mode led to the prohibition of any public execution of sacred music, and on July 22nd, 1918 the Chorus of the Synod was replaced by a nonreligious chorus the “Academy of the chorus of the People”. It was said that no composition more clearly represented the one era end than this religious work.

Description

the night Vigils are one of the two religious compositions (the other being the Liturgie of Saint Jean Chrysostome ) of a type-setter who had for a long time ceased attending the churches. As that is required by the orthodoxe church, Rachmaninov based ten of the fifteen movements on the principle of the modes. The five others (1, 3,6,10, & 11) are influenced however so much by this principle which the type-setter spoke like “conscious counterfeits”.

the Vigils include three type of modes: the znamenny (in the movements 8,9,12,13 & 14), a Greek style nearer to récitatif (numbers 2 and 15), and mode Kievien - Ukrainian adaptation of the style znamenny (numbers 4 and 5). Before composing, Rachmaninov had studied the old modes under the direction of Stepan Smolensky to which it dedicated the part. She is written for a chorus with four votes, supplemented by a major basic part. However, with much of moments there are three, five, six or eight vote; during the seventh movement, it sometimes happens at the chorus to be divided into eleven parts. Movements 4 and 9 contain a short part of tenor solo, and movements 2 and 5 respectively offer long solos for viola and tenor. The fifth movement, Nunc dimittis (Nyne otpushchayeshi) acquired a certain celebrity because of her termination where the low deep ones must carry out a falling scale which ends in serious B flat (with the third octave under central C of the piano). Rachmaninov reported that when he initially played this passage to Kastalsky and Danilin in preparation of the first execution,

Danilin shook its head while saying: “But where one thus will be able to unearth such low? They are as rare as asparaguses with Christmas! ” Nevertheless, it unearthed them. I knew the voice of my compatriots… This recording always has a legendary reputation, partly because of its low deep extremely powerful, but also because of its incredible tenor solo by Konstantin Ognevoi.

  • Aleksandr Sveshnikov, State Russian Choir/USSR Academic Russian Choir, Klara Korkan (mezzo-soprano), Konstantin Ognevoi (tenor), 1965, Melodiya/Yedang

  • Karl Linke, Johannes-Damascenus Chor, Essen joined by the Choir off the Papal Russian College, Rome, 1967, Christophorus
  • Vladislav Chernushenko, Leningrad Glinka Choir/St. Petersburg Cappella, 1978, Song of the World
  • Georgi Robev, Bulgarian Choir " Svetoslav Obretenov" , Natalia Peneva (viola), Todor Grigorov-Tres (tenor), 1978, Vanguard
  • Evgeni Svetlanov, Bulgarian Choir " Svetoslav Obretenov" , 1983, Russian Disc
  • Valery Polyansky, Choir Chamber off the Ministry off Culture off US the, Irina Arkhipova (Mezzo Soprano), Victor Rumantsev (Tenor), 1986, Melodiya/Moscow Studio Files
  • Mstislav Rostropovich, Choral Arts Society off Washington, Maureen Forrester (mezzo-soprano), Gene Tucker (tenor), 1987, Erato,
  • Robert Shaw, The Robert Shaw Singers Festival, Karl Tooth (tenor), 1989, Telarc
  • Matthew Best, Corydon Singers, Joya Logan (viola), John Bowen (tenor), 1990, Hyperion
  • Oleg Shepel, Voronezh State Institute off Arts Chamber Choir, Yelena Necheporenko (Mezzo Soprano), Alexander Zlobin (Tenor), Ruben Sevostyanov (Tenor), Alexander Nazarov (Low), September 1991, Earth
  • Vladislav Chernushenko, St Petersburg Cappella, Zhanna Polevtsova (mezzo-soprano), Sergei Rokozitsa (tenor), 1992, Song of Monde/IML
  • Nikolai Korniev, St Petersburg Choir Chamber, Vladimir Mostowoy (tenor), Olga Borodina (viola), 1993, Philips
  • Robin Gritton, Berlin Radio operator Chorus, Tatjana Sotin (viola), Thomas Kober (tenor), 1994, CPO
  • Tõnu Kaljuste, Swedish Radio operator Choir, Malena Emma (viola), Per Björslund (tenor), the Nile Högman (tenor), January 1994, Virgin
  • William Hall, William Hall Master Choral society, Jonathan Mack (tenor), 1995, Klavier
  • Alexei Pouzakov, Choir off St Nicholas Church Tolmachi, Tatiana Gerange (viola), Dmitri Borisov (tenor), Nikolai Sokolov (archpriest), 1997, Bohemian
  • Stephen Cleobury, Choir off King' S College, Cambridge, Jan Lochmann (Low), Richard Eteson (Tenor), Margaret Cameron (Viola), James Gilchrist (Tenor), 1998, EMI
  • Yevhen Savchuk, National Ukrainian Capella " Dumka" , Mykhaylo Tyshchenko (Tenor), Olga Borusene (Soprano), Yuri Korinnyk (Tenor), 2000, Governed/Brilliant Classics
  • Howard Arman, Leipzig Radio operator Chorus, Klaudia Zeiner (Viola), Mikhail Agafonov (Tenor), Lew Maidarschewski (Low), 2000, Berlin Classics
  • Jaroslav Brych, Prague Philharmonic Chorus, 2001, Praga
  • Nikolai Korniev, St Petersburg Choir Chamber, 2002, Pentatone
  • Warland Flagstone, Flagstone Warland Singers, 2003, Rezound
  • Eric-Olof Söderström, National Finnish Operated Chorus, Raissa Palmu (soprano), Erja Wimeri (contralto), Eugen Antoni (tenor), C. 2004, Naxos
  • Paul Hillier, Estonian Philharmonic Choir Chamber, Iris Oja (Viola), Mati Turi (Tenor), 2004, Harmonia Mundi
  • Nigel Shorts, Tenebrae, Frances Jellard (Viola), Paul Badley (Tenor), 2004, Signum the U.K.

References

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