The Phoenix Chorale and Kansas City Chorale, led by Charles Bruffy, are Grammy Award-winning ensembles, with their recordings earning multiple nominations and wins.
Notable Performances
The All-night Vigil was premiered on March 10, 1915, by the Moscow Synodal Choir under the direction of Nikolai Danilin, a friend and former classmate of Rachmaninoff's.
Compositional Technique
The work is scored for chorus a cappella, reflecting the ancient Christian prohibition against musical instruments in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Compositional Technique
To create a 'Russian' sound in sacred choral music, composers like Rachmaninoff used ancient unison chants such as Znamenny, Kievan, and Grechesky, or invented their own chant-like melodies.
Composition History
Rachmaninoff dedicated his All-night Vigil to Stepan Smolensky, a musicologist and scholar of ancient chant who had been his teacher and unsuccessfully tried to recruit him into church music.
Composer Biography
Rachmaninoff reportedly wished for the hymn 'Nïne otpushchayeshi' (Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart) from the Vigil to be sung at his funeral, though this request could not be fulfilled.
Historical Context
Serge Rachmaninoff's All-night Vigil, Op. 37, is considered the crowning achievement of the 'Golden Age' of Russian Orthodox sacred choral music, a period from the 1880s until 1917.
