Sergey Rachmaninov – Всенощное бдение / All-night vigil/Vespers
Всенощное бдение
1. Аминь. Приидите, поклонимся Цареви нашему Богу
2. Благослови, душе моя, Господа
3. Блажен муж
4. Свете тихий
5. Ныне отпущаеши раба Твоего, Владыко
6. Богородице Дево, радуйся
7. Слава в вышних Богу
8. Хвалите имя Господне
9. Благословен еси, Господи
10. Воскресение Христово видевше
11. Величит душа Моя Господа
12. Слава в вышних Богу
13. Днесь спасение миру бысть
14. Воскрес из гроба и узы растерзал
15. Взбранной воеводе победительная
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All-night Vigil, Op. 37 (1915)
VESPERS
1. Amen, Come, let us worship God, our King [3.27]
2. Bless the Lord, O my soul (Greek chant)* [6.08]
3. Blessed is the man [6.32]
4. Gladsome Light (Kievan Chant) [4.03]
5. Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace (Kievan chant) [3.52]
6. Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos [3.52]
MATINS
7. Glory to God in the highest (Znamenny chant) [3.19]
8. Praise the name of the Lord (Znamenny chant) [2.45]
9. Blessed art Thou, O Lord** (Znamenny chant) [7.21]
10. Having beheld the resurrection of Christ [3.50]
11. My soul magnifies the Lord [10.34]
12. Glory to God in the highest (Znamenny chant) [9.19]
13. Today salvation has come to the world (Znamenny chant) [2.13]
14. Thou didst arise from the tomb and burst in bonds (Znamenny chant) [3.59]
15. To Thee, the victorious Leader of triumphant hosts (Greek Chant) [1.25]
Julia Scozzafava, mezzo-soprano*
Frank Fleschner, tenor**
Phoenix Chorale — Kansas City Chorale
CHARLES BRUFFY
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The All-Night Vigil (Russian: Всенощное бдение, Vsenoshchnoe bdenie), Opus 37, is an a cappella choral composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff, written and premiered in 1915. It consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninoff’s finest achievement and « the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church ». It was one of Rachmaninoff’s two favorite compositions along with The Bells, and the composer requested that one of its movements (the fifth) be sung at his funeral. The title of the work is often translated as simply Vespers, which is both literally and conceptually incorrect as applied to the entire work: only the first six of its fifteen movements set texts from the Russian Orthodox canonical hour of Vespers.
Rachmaninoff composed the All-Night Vigil in less than two weeks in January and February 1915. The first performance was given in Moscow on March 10 of that year, partly to benefit the Russian war effort. Nikolai Danilin conducted the all-male Moscow Synodal Choir at the premiere. It was received warmly by critics and audiences alike, and was so successful that it was performed five more times within a month. However the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the rise of the Soviet Union led to a ban on performances of all religious music, and on 22 July 1918 the Synodal Choir was replaced by a nonreligious « People’s Choir Academy ». It has been written that « no composition represents the end of an era so clearly as this liturgical work »
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