Rachmaninov’s love of the music and rituals of the Orthodox Church were distilled in his masterpiece All-Night Vigil (Vespers); Daniel Jaff\u00e9 finds the best recording <\/p>
World War I<\/a> had been raging for less than a year when Rachmaninov<\/a>\u2019s All-Night Vigil<\/i> was premiered on 23 March 1915 (or 10 March, according to the pre-Revolutionary Russian calendar).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The all-male voice Moscow Synodal Choir, presenting a charity concert in aid of the war wounded, had been given special permission to perform the work in Moscow\u2019s Great Hall of the Noble Assembly.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> With nationalist feelings running high and the public\u2019s appetite for Orthodox Church music growing, Rachmaninov\u2019s a cappella<\/i> masterpiece was a hit; within a month, the choir gave four further performances. As Rachmaninov confessed some years afterwards, the Synodal Choir\u2019s performance \u2018gave me an hour of the happiest satisfaction\u2026 the magnificent Synodical singers produced any effect I had imagined, and even surpassed at times the ideal tone-picture I had had in my mind when composing this work.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Rachmaninov had loved Orthodox Church music since his visits, aged about ten, to the churches of St Petersburg accompanying his devout maternal grandmother. As he later recalled, he often made his way beneath the gallery to relish \u2018singing of unrivalled beauty\u2019 by the cathedral choirs. <\/span><\/p>\n While a student at the Moscow Conservatory, he composed a choral concerto which was noticed by Stepan Smolensky, the formidable scholar of ancient znamenny<\/i> chant and Orthodox Church traditions. As director of the Synodal School, Smolensky was already instigating a glorious renaissance in Orthodox music, largely fulfilled by such pupils of his as Alexander Grechaninov, Pavel Chesnokov and Alexander Kastalsky.<\/span><\/p>\n Recognising Rachmaninov\u2019s talent, Smolensky encouraged him to write further liturgical works, one suggestion being the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom; Rachmaninov eventually composed this in close consultation with Kastalsky, completing it the year after Smolensky\u2019s death in 1909. <\/span><\/p>\n During the winter of 1914-15, following Russia\u2019s disastrous Battle of Tannenberg, Rachmaninov was filled with a desire to create a work true to the spirit of the Orthodox services he fondly remembered. A recent performance of his Liturgy had left him dismayed by the work\u2019s apparent inadequacy, and he now wished to write something more authentically Russian, using \u2018the magnificent melodies\u2019 he recalled from childhood. <\/span><\/p>\n Kastalsky, told of his latest ambition, promptly sent Rachmaninov the Obikhod<\/i>, the collection of venerable chants used by the Russian Orthodox Church. In all, ten of Rachmaninov\u2019s 15 movements are based on ancient chants from that collection, the remainder (movements 1, 3, 6, 10 and 11) being based on melodies of his own invention \u2013 \u2018a conscious counterfeit of the ritual\u2019, as he himself described them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
What inspired Rachmaninov to compose his All-Night Vigil<\/em>?<\/h2>\n
A guide to Rachmaninov\u2019s All-Night Vigil<\/i> <\/span><\/h2>\n