The pre-revolutionary five-year period in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s creative activities was marked by the appearance of a number of works that the composer himself appreciated very much. These are the choral symphony The Bells (1913) and the choral compositions Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (1910) and All-Night Vigil (1915). These spiritual masterpieces by Sergei Rachmaninoff are full of passion and represent the pinnacle of a new genre in the Russian church music, which originated from the works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Taneyev, Alexander Gretchaninov, Alexander Kastalsky, and from the creative activities of Stepan Smolensky and the Moscow Synodal Choir.
Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil belongs to those national cultural phenomena that, having absorbed the life-giving juices of the native land, grow like a mighty tree and, in their turn, become its personification. Written at a time of heightened interest in ancient Russian music that gripped Russian society in the early 20th century, the All-Night Vigil amazes the audience with the depth of its penetration into primordial Russian musical traditions. The composer uses the motifs of ancient Russian chants and creates his own melodies whose style and fidelity to tradition make them practically indistinguishable from genuine medieval compositions. The masterful command of the choral texture, the in-depth insight into the nature of temple singing, and the true immersion into the elements of the ancient Russian melodic music make Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil one the greatest masterpieces of the Russian sacred music.
