S. Rachmaninov "All-Night Vigil"
Monumental work for a cappella choir with a soloist, part of the golden fund of the world cultural heritage - the "All-Night Vigil" by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Despite the affiliation and strict adherence to Orthodox traditions of worship, he is known, loved and revered all over the world, always recognizing its highest artistic value.
A man of difficult fate, forced to leave his homeland after the revolution, Sergey Vasilyevich Rakhmaninov loved Russia to the last breath and considered himself Russian. And his character was a reflection of all the best that Orthodoxy can bring up in a person - modesty, humility, compassion. All his life he donated to charity, if not half, then a third of the income for sure. During the First World War, he gave all the earnings from concerts for the needs of the army. After the revolution, when he was already working in America, he regularly sent transfers to Moscow - there is even evidence that once the postman, issuing another remittance, asked: "What kind of Rachmaninov do you have for this? Moscow receive money from him." And during World War II, when he himself was ill incurably, until his death, he managed to send a sum to Russia, which in terms of today's money can be measured as 300 thousand dollars - an invaluable contribution to that Victory.
Many researchers, including the renowned contemporary choir conductor Vladimir Minin, tend to believe that the All-Vigil was born to the composer as a prayer for the fate of the Motherland, which at that time experienced severe trials — the beginning of World War I, the harbinger of revolution, the fall of Autocracy and change the state system.
Previously, he already turned to the genres of sacred music. Back in 1910, he wrote the Divine Liturgy, or the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Subsequently, he admitted that he was not completely satisfied with the way he managed this essay. It did not fully meet the requirements of Russian church music, which is notable for its particular rigor and prayer. And at the end of 1914 - the beginning of 1915, he was taken for the "Vespers".
All-Night Vigil
This is a special ritual worship service in Orthodoxy, performed on the eve of Sundays and holidays by the church calendar. Sometimes they say Vigil Service. It consists of 2 large parts - Vespers, where Old Testament events are remembered, and Matins, where the New Testament time and the coming of Christ are commemorated. Inside the service there are unchangeable chants (it is these parts of Rachmaninov that he included in his work) and mutable ones — these are verses, tropari and other verses dedicated to a specific celebration. The general dynamics of the All-Night Vigil is from darkness to light.
In the tradition of Orthodoxy, service is the alternation of melodious cries of the priest, choral singing and reading of holy books by the reader. Church choirs in Russia have always been strong, with developed voices, it was not uncommon to have bass-profundo - a very low, deep bass, giving the sound richness, basis, depth. Despite the rather wide possibilities of choral groups, and there were whole choral schools (like the Synodal, for example), the clergymen did not welcome excessively emotional music for the ministry. It was believed that the believer should pray, turn the soul to repentance during the service, and not delight the ear with a pleasant motive. Nevertheless, even everyday Orthodox melodies, which are not filled with expression, evoke in the parishioners that particular prayerful state that brings them closer to God.
History of creation
The diaries of Sergey Vasilyevich are perfectly preserved. He writes a lot about his childhood memories, how simple solos of everyday life hit him forever in memory. He always felt the need to harmonize them. And at the end of 1914 he decided to write the "Vespers". The work progressed extremely quickly - in less than 2 weeks everything was written. “I wrote the All-Vigil service at Christmas time and separately from the Gospel of John, chapter 15, stanza 13" There is no more that love ... ", he wrote in his diary. First performed on March 10, 1915, all the charges went to the needs of the wounded.
While working, he talked a lot, consulted with prominent experts of that time - the church composer Alexander Kastalsky and the director of the Synodal College, the composer, paleographer Stepan Smolensky. Both of them are known, rather, to the regents and singers of church choirs, in concert performance their music can be heard much less often than during the service of a medium-sized church. And both of them, thanks to their experience, helped Sergei Vasilyevich to realize his creative plan - to write a work that is sufficiently professional in terms of musical material and suitable for church service, without going beyond the framework of a secular concert sound. And today, among the priests, the "Vigil" of Rakhmaninov is highly appreciated and recognized, not every spiritual work of great composers - Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Chesnokov - has such an acceptance by the clergy.
The rehearsals were held in the hall of the Synodal College, which with its acoustic data completely recreates the magnificent acoustics of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. Sergei Vasilyevich attended rehearsals held by Nikolai Danilin, and once told him: "I didn’t know that I had written such good music!"
Music
Rachmaninov's highest composing skills manifested themselves in the ability to work with authentic melodies, znamenny chant, in creating their own melodies, close to the people, in the same style with them, but not simplified to stylization.
In form, it is close to cantata-oratorial genre - it combines deep drama, characteristic of all works of a spiritual nature, and epic, and scale. Solemn cry "Come, we will bow and we will fall to the cross!" marks the beginning of the All-Vigil Service and belongs to the priest in everyday life. Rakhmaninov, in order to emphasize the importance of this moment (the only composer who did this), passes the cue to the choir. This gives the composition solemnity, and immediately adjusts to the attention of the magnificent action.
The core of the All-Night Vigil - "Virgin Mary, rejoice." This is his semantic climax. Often performed separately in concerts of choral music. The image of the Virgin is especially revered in Orthodoxy, and during the performance of “The Virgin of the Virgin, Rejoice,” Rachmaninoff, many, even not very believers, experience catharsis - the moment of the highest take-off of thoughts and purification, relief, relief from pain and suffering. Given that the work itself is not replete with harmonic and melodic diversity, transparent and rigorous in sound at the beginning, all the dramatic development takes place inside - the theme is given to altas, and sopranos, which traditionally lead the melody, only perform the background function, allowing the emotional tension to accumulate will break out into the most powerful fort in the words "Blessed is the fruit of your womb."
"Vespers vigil "Rachmaninoff today
During the writing of the work, parts of it could well be performed on the Great Feast in a large cathedral. In those days, the church choirs that was under force. But after the revolution, it was this music that was ignored by Rakhmaninov, kept silent by cultural studies and musicologists. She almost never performed more than 70 years in concerts. A church ministry, and even more was not. Throughout the rest of the world, Rakhmaninov’s “Vigil” was performed and was considered the best example of its genre.
After the coup of the 1990s, the Church gradually returns to Russia with its everyday life, the forgotten composers and their compositions are remembered. The same happened with the spiritual music of Rachmaninoff. But now only professional choirs can perform it. Often fragments or all of it performed in music schools. Now many traditions of church performance have been revived thanks to the training choirs and their leaders, who are striving for the closest interpretation of the author. This is important for the preservation of our cultural heritage.
Perhaps a few works can be compared in strength to a person with the "All-Night Vigil" Rachmaninoff. This is a true Russian art, combining all the moments inherent in it - a wide sincerity, inner expression and impulse. Everyone who considers himself a Russian needs to know and love him.
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