Sergei Rachmaninov all-night vigil. WITH

S. Rachmaninov " All-night vigil»

A monumental work for an a cappella choir with a soloist, included in the golden fund of the world cultural heritage - “All Night Vigil” by Sergei Rachmaninov. Despite his affiliation with and strict adherence to the Orthodox traditions of worship, he is known, loved and revered throughout the world, invariably recognizing his highest artistic value.

Human difficult fate, forced to leave his homeland after the revolution, Sergei Vasilyevich Rahmaninov Until his last breath he loved Russia and considered himself Russian. And his character was a reflection of all the best that Orthodoxy can cultivate in a person - modesty, humility, compassion. All his life he donated to charity, if not half, then a third of his income. During the First World War, he donated all earnings from concerts to the needs of the army. After the revolution, when he was already working in America, he regularly sent money transfers to Moscow - there is even evidence that one day the postman, issuing another money order, asked: “What kind of Rachmaninov is this? Half of Moscow receives money from him.” And during the Second World War, when he himself was already terminally ill, before his death he managed to send to Russia an amount that, in today’s money, can be measured as 300 thousand dollars - an invaluable contribution to that Victory.

Many researchers, including the famous modern choral conductor Vladimir Minin, are inclined to believe that the “Vespers” was born from the composer as a prayer for the fate of the Motherland, which was going through times at that moment severe tests- the beginning of the First World War, a harbinger of the revolution, the fall of the Autocracy and a change in the state system.

Previously, he had already turned to the genres of sacred music. Back in 1910, he wrote the Divine Liturgy, or Liturgy of John Chrysostom. Subsequently, he admitted that he was not completely satisfied with how he succeeded in this essay. It did not fully meet the requirements of Russian church music, which is particularly strict and prayerful. And at the end of 1914 - beginning of 1915, he began the “All-Night Vigil”.

This is a special ritual service in Orthodoxy, performed on the eve of Sundays and holidays according to the church calendar. Sometimes they say All-night service. It consists of 2 large-scale parts - Vespers, where Old Testament events are remembered, and Matins, where New Testament times and the coming of Christ are remembered. Within the service there are unchangeable chants (it was these parts that Rachmaninov included in his work) and changeable ones - these are stichera, troparia and other verses dedicated to a specific celebration. The general dynamics of the All-Night Vigil are from darkness to light.

In the Orthodox tradition, the service consists of an alternation of melodious exclamations by the priest, choral singing and reading of holy books by the reader. Church choirs in Rus' have always been strong, with developed voices; it was not uncommon to have profundo basses - a very low, deep bass, giving the sound richness, basis, and depth. Despite the fairly wide possibilities choir groups, and there were entire choir schools (like the Synodal, for example), clergy did not welcome overly emotional music for services. It was believed that a believer should pray, turn his soul to repentance during the service, and not delight his ears with a pleasant tune. Nevertheless, even everyday Orthodox melodies that are not full of expression evoke in parishioners that special state of prayer that brings them closer to God.

In form it is close to the cantata-oratorio genre - it also combines the deep drama inherent in all works spiritual nature, and epic, and scale. The solemn cry “Come, let us bow down and fall down to the cross!” marks the beginning of the All-Night Service and in everyday life belongs to the priest. Rachmaninov, 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 draws attention to the majestic action.

The core of the All-Night Vigil is “Rejoice, Virgin Mary.” This is its semantic culmination. Often performed separately in choral music concerts. The image of the Mother of God is especially revered in Orthodoxy, and during the performance of Rachmaninov’s “Hail to the Virgin Mary,” many, even not very believers, experience catharsis - a moment of the highest rise of thoughts and purification, relief, deliverance from pain and suffering. Despite the fact that the work itself is not replete with harmonic and melodic diversity, it is transparent and strict in sound at the beginning, all dramatic development occurs inside - the theme is given to the altos, and the sopranos, who traditionally lead the melody, only perform a background function, allowing the accumulation of emotional tension, which will burst out in the most powerful forte with the words “Blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

"VespersRachmaninov's vigil today

At the time the work was written, parts of it could well have been performed on the Great Feast in a large cathedral. In those days, church choirs could do this. But after the revolution, it was precisely this music in Rachmaninov’s work that was ignored and kept silent by culturologists and musicologists. It was practically not performed in concerts for more than 70 years. And there was no church service at all. Throughout the rest of the world, Rachmaninov’s “Vespers” was performed and was considered the best example of its genre.

After the revolution of the 1990s, the Church and its everyday life gradually returned to Russia, forgotten composers and their works were remembered. The same thing happened with Rachmaninov’s sacred music. But now only professional choirs can perform it. Often fragments or its entirety are performed in music schools. Nowadays, many traditions of church performance have been revived precisely thanks to educational choirs and their leaders, who strive for the closest possible interpretation to the author’s interpretation. This is important for preserving our cultural heritage.

1915 at one of the regular rehearsals Synodal Choir a new score with a blue cover appeared on the consoles. Having opened the notes, we saw the inscription: “S. Rachmaninov. All-night vigil. In memory of Stepan Vasilyevich Smolensky." The score, like all the notes of the Synodal Choir in general, was reproduced by lithographic method and has not yet gone through any publishing house. We were to be the first to perform this piece on the concert stage.

Years earlier, the Synodal Choir (also for the first time) performed another work by Rachmaninov - “Liturgy”, and we knew that then, that is, in 1910, one copy of the lithographed score was missing. The matter was complicated by the fact that the choir received the “Liturgy” as a manuscript and had to respect the interests of the author until the work was published. The culprit of the incident turned out to be a singer of the Synodal Choir. After what happened, none of us could even imagine that a second meeting with the composer would ever take place.

The work evoked a feeling of joy both among the singers and our conductor Nikolai Mikhailovich Danilin, this was felt in his high spirits. Dedication played an important role in this: for the Synodal Choir and the school, the name of S.V. Smolensky was sacred. We started the rehearsal with excitement. Usually, before learning, Danilin played a new piece once, but now he played the piece twice, accompanying the show with short remarks: “Listen again,” or: “It just seems difficult. It’s difficult to perform on the piano, but it’s easy to perform in the choir.” And indeed, Rachmaninov’s “Vespers” did not turn out to be such a difficult work for the Synodal Choir.

Composer in early February, it was performed for the first time on March 10 and received high praise from music critics and listeners: they admired both the music and the performance.

Of the total number of issues of the “Vespers”, three were immediately excluded: 1st, 13th and 14th. Learning began with “Bless, my soul,” a Greek chant and proceeded in numerical order. When studying the 2nd issue, we discovered that something similar had already happened in our practice - we remembered “Bless, my soul” of the Greek chant by A. Kastalsky, and the initial timidity disappeared. The process of learning was well known to us: first we played the numbers on the piano at a tempo and with all the nuances, after which solfegging in at a slow pace(no more than two times) and singing with the text. At this stage, Nikolai Mikhailovich supported the choir almost all the time by playing the piano. In the next phase of the work, the tempo shifted, and the conductor more and more often broke away from the instrument. Finally came the final stage - polishing each number. Some delay occurred when learning the 12th number - “The Great Doxology”, but even here the choir overcame all difficulties due to the fact that the “synodals” were distinguished by their high technique of reading notes from a sheet. Now, remembering the past, after each rehearsal, the boy librarian Sasha Cheptsov collected the notes before the choir dispersed.

One of the first rehearsals for adult singers was performed by high school students Synodal School who in the recent past sang here as children. This “connection” of quite competent musicians, albeit with extremely mediocre voices, was temporary (for only two rehearsals), but brought certain benefits.

Traditionally, almost no one was ever allowed to attend the Synodal Choir’s rehearsals. An exception was made, for example, for authors whose works were being prepared for the first performance (I remember the visit of A. T. Grechaninov and M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov). This was the case with the Vespers. Once our boss, the prosecutor of the Moscow Synodal Office F.P. Stepanov, visited a choir class, having spent no more than ten minutes in the hall. But one day during a rehearsal, the glass door suddenly swung open and a man of unusually tall stature walked into the hall with a slow, confident gait; He walked through the middle aisle to the first rows of seats, sat down and, opening exactly the same score as ours, began to listen. The conductor did not stop the choir, but everyone guessed that it was S.V. Rachmaninov. From that day on, Sergei Vasilyevich always showed up at the beginning of the rehearsal; He sat down in the same place, carefully followed the performance, turned over the pages at the same time as everyone else and... remained silent. Only once did his wife come instead of Rachmaninov, listened to the entire performance, and read a book during the break.

During intermissions, Rachmaninov and Danilin went to the regency room, located next to the hall, and there they both smoked; their voices did not reach us. But at one of the last rehearsals, Rachmaninov spoke, and we heard a thick, low bass that reminded us of the voices of our octavists. Number 2 was in operation at that time. Sergei Vasilyevich asked to sing the solo part not to all the violas, as was prepared, but only to the first, then he suggested that the second try. It must be said that soloing was not accepted in the Synodal Choir, solo places were performed either by the entire party, or part of it - by the panel (four to five singers), and in in this case The solo was prepared by the entire alto part, especially since the number allowed such a combination. Rachmaninov was not satisfied with this, and he, as it became known, recommended a soloist for the 2nd number Bolshoi Theater O. R. Pavlova, owner of a wonderful mezzo-soprano. (I note that for the 5th number - “Now You Let Go” the artist of the Zimin Theater S.P. Yudin had already been invited.) When F.P. Stepanov found out about this, he offered to perform “Vespers” with the help of the Bolshoi Theater. At concerts, violas sang the solo part.

One such incident occurred during one of the rehearsals. In one of the numbers, Rachmaninov persistently sought a different performance compared to what Danilin proposed. He was clearly looking for new shades in sound, and Nikolai Mikhailovich fulfilled the author’s wishes. It soon became noticeable that Danilin was tired of such experimentation, he frowned, turned to Rachmaninov, said: “Okay, Sergei Vasilyevich, we will take it into account,” and closed the lid of the piano, this meant the end of the rehearsal. The composer and the conductor went to different doors.

We decided that because of this incident, rehearsals for the “Vespers” would stop altogether. But what was our joy when the next day we saw the same score again and, as before, Rachmaninov entered the hall. This time Danilin stopped the choir and, turning to face the hall, said: “Hello, Sergei Vasilyevich!” - to which the latter replied: “Hello.” The incident was apparently over, and everyone felt relieved.

Preparations for the concerts took place in an atmosphere of great creative enthusiasm. In general, I must say that the Synodal Choir always sang with great enthusiasm, especially under the direction of N. M. Danilin. The character of the performance was never dull, colorless or dull; on the contrary, it was always cheerful and joyful. So it was with the “Vespers”. We went to all the concerts confident of success. Despite the existing rule that prohibited applause during the performance of sacred music, after the final chord of the “Vespers” the audience began to applaud vigorously and only Rachmaninov appeared on the empty stage, and Sergei Vasilyevich returned backstage, holding a sprig of white lilac in his hand.

Five concerts took place during the month - all five in Great hall Russian noble assembly. Yudin sang with the choir only in the first two concerts; starting from the third, the first panel of tenors was the soloist, where N.K. Scriabin, the owner of a remarkable voice, stood out among the singers.

Once the “All-Night Vigil” was performed by the Synodal Choir at the end of 1916 in the concert hall of the Synodal School, in the same hall where all the rehearsals took place. This hall, built in the early 90s of the last century, was famous for its excellent acoustics and constantly attracted chamber music performers. Despite the fact that the hall is relatively small (600 seats with choirs), singing in it even with in full force the listeners found it easy and pleasant. That day, S.V. Rachmaninov and F.I. Shalyapin came to the school for a concert; among the invited persons was N.D. Kashkin.

Chaliapin was a big surprise for us. I was struck by the artist’s appearance, his tall height, white hair and amazing, seemingly natural, plasticity of movements. At the entrance to the hall, Rachmaninov introduced the guest to A.D. Kastalsky. The latter was noticeably worried, and a blush appeared on his face - an unusual phenomenon for our director. Chaliapin expressed pleasure at the acquaintance and said that he had “heard a lot” about Kastalsky. When the guests entered the hall, they were greeted by a smiling N.M. Danilin. After shaking hands with Rachmaninov and Chaliapin as an old acquaintance, and perhaps a friend, he returned to the stage to lead the last performance of the composer’s brilliant creation. Nikolai Mikhailovich prepared the first six issues for this occasion.

At the end of the singing, no one left the hall. Rachmaninov, Chaliapin, Kastalsky, Danilin, Kashkin and other guests talked for a long time about something. Everyone was waiting for the “response” performance of the famous artist. However, the expectations were in vain. Fyodor Ivanovich limited himself to gathering the boys around him, who sat on the floor at his feet, and began to talk about a schoolboy who unsuccessfully answered the teacher’s questions, while Chaliapin conveyed the dialogue in lively intonations. I don’t remember the content of the story, but I remembered the “control” of the voice and its exceptional velvety quality forever. During the story, Chaliapin was serious, the guests smiled, and the guys laughed sincerely. And here I saw for the first time how wonderfully Rachmaninov smiled. He looked at Chaliapin with an admiring glance, somehow from the bottom up. Until that moment, we had always seen him stern, withdrawn, and “unsmiling.”

Years. In the 1960s, I met former artist and inspector of the Bolshoi Theater choir Nikolai Ivanovich Ozerov. In his youth, this man was involved in copying notes for the Synodal Choir. It was he who copied the “Vespers” from the author’s manuscript for lithography. From him I learned that at one of the concerts he was introduced to Rachmaninov as a copyist of his “Vespers”, and in his presence the composer spoke flatteringly about the choir. “I did not expect,” said Rachmaninov, “that I wrote such a work.” There could not have been a more flattering assessment of the singing of the Synodal Choir.

The decisive moment in the success of the Synodal Choir in learning and performing the “Vespers” should be considered the participation of such a conductor as Danilin. At rehearsals, Nikolai Mikhailovich was not known for his verbosity, limiting himself to brief but convincing remarks. Before an important speech, he sometimes gave memorable parting words. So, on the eve of the funeral liturgy for A.N. Scriabin, he told the choir: “Remember who we are burying and who will be present.” In a small church in B. Nikolo-Peskovsky Lane, the Synodal Choir sang in full, having difficulty fitting into the choir, which created even greater tension. The singing was wonderful. I noticed that Danilin was especially inspired, which was apparently caused by the general situation. Then new, sometimes unexpected nuances and new interpretation options were born.

A feature of the Synodal Choir’s singing was monolithicity, and this was especially noticeable during the performance of Rachmaninov’s “Vespers”. My older brother, who attended one of the concerts dedicated to the performance of “Vespers,” said: “And I looked at you all the time, and it seemed to me that you were the only one singing for all the violas.”

While working on the “Vespers”, Nikolai Mikhailovich remained himself - brief, specific, and this obliged the singers to be precise in fulfilling the conductor’s requirements. Danilin’s individual explanations helped the choir more clearly express the character of each number. In “Six Psalms” he pointed to the imitation of bell ringing. In “Now You Let Go,” he noted that this number is a lullaby. When analyzing “The Mounted Voivode,” Danilin explained that trumpets can be heard here.

The score of the “Vespers” was replete with all sorts of author’s instructions; Nikolai Mikhailovich introduced many of his own nuances and beautifully colored the work. So, at the beginning of the 2nd number, on the word “amen” Nikolai Mikhailovich made a crescendo, and this small addition had a special effect on the choir, which immediately found itself at the mercy of the conductor. When we, inspired by the performance, approached the final chord, which sounded not on piano, but on mezzo-forte and even forte, we were always sorry to part with the music.

"All Night Vigil"- creative outcome mature period. Created in 1915, it was first performed by the synodal choir on March 10, and was so successful that it was performed 4 more times within a month.

“I composed the all-night vigil very quickly... in two weeks. The impulse to write came after
listening to the performance of my Liturgy, which, by the way, I don’t like. For in it the problem of Russian church music is solved unsatisfactorily. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the melodies of the Octoechos; I have always felt that a special, individual style is needed to process them, and, it seems to me, I found it in the Vespers.”

There are 15 numbers in the cycle, ten of them require the use of an everyday tune, which, in fact, is what Rachmaninov did, although in a rather original way. Let's say right away that although Rachmaninov indicates 10 numbers, in fact in three more numbers you can easily hear the melodies about which he is silent.

Compared to Tchaikovsky's WB (1882), Rachmaninov approached the task more freely, without adhering to the framework too strictly. He reduced the number of numbers, leaving only the unchanged ones, although he added the first chant, “Come, let us worship,” which in the evening service is generally customary to be performed only by the clergy (clergy + altar servers). The borrowing of themes in 4 cases out of 10 coincided with Tchaikovsky, but if in Ch they were inviolable, that is, in essence, there was a harmonization of the melody, then Rachmaninov freely masters the style of ancient chants. The basis of his style is clearly embodied here, namely, the desire to reunite primordial folk-national elements with modern ones.

In ancient Russian church music, strict restrictions (monophony, narrow range, system of eight voices) were compensated by the exceptional wealth of variant melodic development. Rachmaninov was subject to this influence, which can be seen in his tendency towards free variation, strophicity, breaking classical patterns (remember the 3rd concerto at this point).

But it would be a mistake to assume that Rachmaninov here was guided exclusively by ancient Russian monody: the features of the choral polyphonic culture of the 17th and 18th centuries are also reflected here. In particular, this is expressed in the opposition of small choral groups or parts to the entire choral mass, alternating various timbre-homogeneous or mixed combinations. Also here there are developed connections with the song folk - the subvocal polyphonic texture that dominates the score. In this case, imitative polyphony is completely absent.

The composer’s attitude towards borrowed material is careful and free. The main task here is to preserve the intonation basis of the original source. The exact preservation of the melody is found in Nos. 5, 13, but basically Rachmaninov resorted to such a means as transposition in individual sections of the whole, based on various musical needs. Thus, in Nos. 9 and 12, such movements are intended to convey figurative contrasts, as in the episode “Early Early,” characterizing the myrrh-bearing women, or in the bass rendition of the chant “Sit at the right hand of the Father.” Transposition is also used to create end-to-end dynamic development of a large musical form, as in the completion of No. 9 and No. 12, where pitch shifts are carried out at different intervals from a major second to an octave.

He allowed himself greater freedom in other chants.

In the original numbers, he adhered to the stylistic norms of Znamenny monody - a narrow range, smooth step-by-step movement, symmetry of the pattern, chanting motifs, diatonicity, variability.

Regarding the form, varied couplets predominate here in Nos. 1, 3, 13-15. Its variety - the “verse-chorus” form - is found in numbers 2, 3, 8, 11. Three-part numbers can be distinguished - 4 and 5. In the 9th number, a ronda-shaped form is superimposed on the variant verse, which, in general, is dictated text of the chant. In No. 12, with a long variant development of the main melodic line, the outlines of a three-part form clearly appear (the middle section “For Every Day” is tonally unstable, the reprise “Az reh: Lord, have mercy on me” returns to the sphere of the main tonality)

The archaic melody determined the harmony and texture of the same type (sparse two-tones, chords with omitted or doubled tones, parallelisms, including perfect fifths, fourths, sevenths or even chords, the colorfulness of the chord instead of its functional meaning).

In the fusion of epic, lyricism and drama as a form of art, Rachmaninov focuses on the epic. The epic principle here appears on the basis of legendary historical themes, manifests itself in the pictorial style, in multifaceted choral drama, in similarities and echoes with Russian operatic genre classics, as well as with the genres of oratorio, spiritual drama or mystery.

The general composition is based on the structure of the service: the first part is Vespers - numbers 1-6, the second - Matins - numbers 7-15. The central numbers are Nos. 2 and 9, in which the epic narrative is based on historical and legendary themes.

Vespers are chants of a more lyrical nature, with obvious connections with folk song. Epico-dramatic center - No. 2, dedicated to the initial moment of biblical legends - the creation of the world. The means of embodiment here was picturesqueness. The composition here is special, two-plane, with a solo viola in the foreground and a terzetto of high voices in the background.

No. 5 receives dynamic development - by the way, the composer’s favorite number, which he said that he would like this number to be performed at his funeral. Here the solo part dominates from beginning to end. The end is quite symbolic - like reconciliation with death, again dictated by the text (the prayer of Simeon the God-Receiver, who was predicted that he would not die until he saw Christ, an example text to make it clear - “so, now you are releasing your servant, Master, as You said, since my eyes have already seen Your Salvation” - in general, this is from the Gospel of Luke).

Matins is already distinguished by the scale of its forms, the prevalence of the epic folk principle, and the more complex structure of the numbers. Of course, this also comes from the meaning of this part of the service, because Matins is already the world after the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Center - No. 9, the story of the miracle of the Resurrection. It exhibits plot features and signs of spiritual action. The Znamenny chant here receives a bright contrasting imagery: the refrain is sung by the choir, the choruses are a tenor solo, and the female group is highlighted in the chorus “Zelo early”. Here the composer masterfully made a pedal: the choir sings with closed mouth. The final section acquires almost symphonic tension - the melody begins in the male group “almost in a whisper” and develops to a full-voiced forte throughout the entire range.

“The Great Doxology” is the second semantic and compositional center of Matins, where, despite the lack of plot, the chant takes on a program-picture character with an abundance of contrasts and a wealth of imagery. The whole is formed from program images-pictures with variant modifications of the main melodic grain. The most characteristic features here are bell sounds, which were more or less evident before, and contrapuntal juxtapositions. The code sets a full-voiced tutti.

The last three numbers essentially serve as the finale of the cycle. Their theme is the same - the glorification of the Creator, and in the finale - the Mother of God. No. 13 seems to return us to the atmosphere of Vespers, since it is distinguished by its lyrical fullness. No. 14 is closer in spirit to Matins, and the last number is a jubilant ending.

Tonal dramaturgy: the first part of the cycle is between D minor and F major, the second is E flat major and C minor, the last three numbers are from A minor to C major - in the end we come to the initial tonality.

The All-Night Vigil is a cycle permeated with a truly symphonic development of images and themes. Using archaic melody, Rachmaninov enriched it with dynamic development, content, harmony, which, however, does not contradict the melody itself and only creates a new flavor for it. The history of the work was sad: due to the revolution and further ideological change, the work was forgotten for a long time (until 1982). Music did not take root in church services because of its enormous complexity and extensiveness of individual numbers. However, VB had a significant influence on Russian art (and not spiritual, but secular) in the person of Stravinsky, Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, Sviridov, Butsko, Gavrilin, etc.

Parsing by numbers:

1. “Come, let us worship” - original .
2. “Bless, my soul” - Greek chant
3. “Blessed is the man” - everyone says it’s original, but it’s based on everyday life.
4. “Quiet Light” - Kiev chant.
5. “Now you let go” - Kiev chant.
6. “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice” - original .
7. “Shestopsalmiye” (“Little Doxology”) - everyone writes that it is original, but the “Great Doxology”, with which they are clearly of the same breed, is still designated as a Znamenny chant.
8. “Praise the Name of the Lord” - Znamenny chant.
9. “Blessed are you, O Lord” - Znamenny chant.
10. “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” - original .
11. “My soul magnifies the Lord” - original .
12. “Great Doxology” - znamenny chant.
13. Troparion “Today is salvation” - Znamenny chant.
14. Troparion “Risen from the grave” - Znamenny chant.
15. “To the chosen governor” - Greek chant.

Rachmaninov's choral works are a most valuable contribution to Russian music from the oldest professional tradition. It was they who gave the spiritual and choral creativity of composers of the turn of the century (in its best examples) the significance of an organic part of Russian musical classics. The choral heritage of music a sarella by Tchaikovsky, Kastalsky, Lyadov, Grechaninov, Chesnokov and most of all Rachmaninov served to strengthen the national foundations of Russian artistic culture in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The historical weight of what has been achieved is revealed in the reflections of ancient Russian imagery and stylistics of Russian music in subsequent decades right up to our time, moreover, in the sphere of secular rather than sacred choral art. Rachmaninov's Old Russian intonation and bell-like sound can be heard in Stravinsky's "Symphony of Psalms", in Sviridov's choral works, in the works of Butsko, Sidelnikov, Gavrilin.

Rachmaninov’s “All-Night Vigil” belongs to the pinnacle of art and ranks among the outstanding works of classics in the field of religious music, filled with deep life content and humanity. The concept of the Rachmaninov cycle contains a special aspect emphasized by the author. The chant “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will to men” sounds twice! The proclamation of peace and unity of people in the name of the common good expressed the composer’s cherished thought about the importance of this brotherhood at all times, especially in the context of the raging First World War. Humanistic pathos and remarkable artistic merits form a noble alloy of the highest “standard” in Rachmaninov’s score and give the “All-Night Vigil” the significance of the largest masterpiece of Russian and world artistic culture.

“All-Night Vigil” by S. V. Rachmaninov was first performed in the Moscow concert of the Synodal Choir, held under the direction of N. M. Danilin on March 10, 1915 in the Great Hall Noble Assembly(now - Hall of Columns House of Unions). Despite big success, the concert fate of the composition turned out to be difficult. In the next few years, literally only a few executions took place. This was explained by various circumstances: the tightening of specific requirements of church authorities for concerts of sacred music (even a special circular “On the procedure for organizing spiritual concerts” was issued), the events of the world war and revolution, the general ideological orientation of the entire process of building Soviet musical culture. After the performance of “All-Night Vigil” in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in 1926, the concert life of the work was interrupted for sixty years. Only in 1982 it was performed in concerts of the Leningrad Academic Choir named after M. I. Glinka under the direction of its artistic director V. A. Chernushenko. Starting from the late sixties, recordings began to appear made by the State Academic Russian Choir (dir. A.V. Sveshnikov), the Leningrad Chapel (dir. V.A. Chernushenko), and the State Chamber Choir of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR (dir. V.K. Polyansky ).

Choral works a sarrella, which belong to the field of religious art, do not occupy a prominent place in the work of Russian classical composers. Until relatively recently, Rachmaninov’s sacred music was also viewed from this angle. Meanwhile, this part of the composer’s heritage is connected with the historically deep layers of Russian musical culture. Old Russian singing art, together with folklore, was, according to Rachmaninov, the most important source and support of Russian musical culture as a whole, the concentration historical memory people, their artistic sense and aesthetic consciousness. Hence their wide national significance. Whether it’s a folk tune or a medieval church melody, the fruit of an anonymous or author’s creativity of the distant past - in both cases these monuments of art, let’s use the metaphor of V. Ya. Bryusov: “were accepted and sharpened by the ocean people's soul and retain obvious traces of its waves.” It is no coincidence that “paired” groups of works associated with folk music and with the musical tradition of the Russian Middle Ages. In the 1890s, these were four-hand arrangements of folk songs (Op. 11) and the Choral Concerto “In Prayers to the Never-Sleeping Virgin Mary.” In the 1910s - the pearl of Rachmaninov’s songwriting “Vocalise”, and, on the other hand, “Liturgy of John Chrysostom” and “All-Night Vigil”. In the foreign period - “Three Russian songs for choir and orchestra” and the figurative and thematic sphere of ancient “Znamenny” singing in the Third Symphony, in “Symphonic Dances”.

Rachmaninov’s inclination towards sacred music was strengthened by the influence of major authorities - the medievalist scholar S.V. Smolensky (director of the Synodal School), who taught a course on the history of Russian church music at the Moscow Conservatory, the famous composer and conductor of the Synodal Choir A.D. Kastalsky, the author of outstanding works on folk songwriting. Undoubtedly, the choral religious works of this master themselves had a decisive influence on Rachmaninov. “From Kastalsky’s art,” emphasized B.V. Asafiev, “grew Rachmaninoff’s magnificent cyclic choral compositions (“Liturgy” and, especially, “Vespers”)... a melodious polyphonic style was born, in which the rich melodic heritage of the past gave new magnificent shoots.” . Rachmaninov turned to Kastalsky for advice while working on the “Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.” The regularity of the appearance of this score is confirmed, in particular, by the confession of its author: “I have been thinking about “Liturgy” for a long time and have been striving for it for a long time.” Rachmaninov could have said the same words about his “Vespers” - it is known that the idea for this work arose in him already in the early 1900s. No less important were the impressions of childhood - from northern Russian nature, from ancient Novgorod with its cathedrals, icons and frescoes, bell ringing, and church singing. And the family environment of his childhood Novgorod years (in the house of grandmother S.A. Butakova), where the original traditions of Russian life and their high spirituality were preserved, nourished the composer’s artistic nature, his self-awareness as a Russian person, formed in him a “sense of Russia” in the indissoluble unity of the aesthetic and ethical principles.

These creative aspirations of Rachmaninoff were in the general flow of Russian artistic life at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The rapid rise of democratic, liberation sentiments brought forward foreground in art not only the theme of the Revolution, but also the theme of Russia with its historical destiny and cultural contribution to the treasury of humanity. Russian art of this time widely developed the problem of the national: in socio-historical and historical-everyday aspects, philosophical (ethico-religious, mythological), folk-epic. Of course, artists were attracted not only by the past, but also by the modern, the problem of the future of the Motherland. Significant was the influx of that special interest, that special attractive force that the monuments of Russian artistic antiquity aroused among poets, musicians, and painters. Her images flow into the works of Blok and Balmont, Yesenin and Gorodetsky in a wide stream. Folklore here is intertwined with religious and mythological, pagan motifs with Christian, folk songs with schismatic lyrics, the “voices” of Russian bells flow into the poets’ poetic stanzas, sometimes alarming, sometimes festive, making heaven and earth, air and forest sound like bells. (from Yesenin: “Trinity morning, morning canon, In the grove of birch trees there is a white chime”). Abundant and brightest material also provides art. In the uniquely original work of Vrubel, who strove for a “national note” (from a letter to his sister) in his epic and fairy-tale canvases, in the paintings of Kyiv cathedrals and in icon paintings. Shrouded in a special “atmosphere-mood” Slavic historical paintings Roerich (the cycle “The Beginning of Rus'. The Slavs”), imbued with a deep patriotic feeling, carrying within them the call to “study the ancient times,” “get to know and love Rus',” “help the people again find beauty in their difficult life.” In the historical paintings of Ryabushkin and S. Ivanov, shining with bright colors, in the folk-genre paintings of Malyavin and Kustodiev. In the lyrical images of Nesterov’s “Monastic Rus'”, in the images architectural monuments Ancient Rus' by Roerich. Exhibitions of masterpieces of Russian icon painting in the early 1910s were a genuine event of an all-Russian and even all-European scale. A highly poetic feeling manifested itself everywhere national theme, a sense of national self-affirmation and self-knowledge.

Appealing through images of beauty to the distant past of the Fatherland was a kind of “entry” into a “forgotten, but dear world” and posed a socially significant problem: “Are we worthy of our heritage?” (lines from the poem “Pskov Forest” by I. Bunin). Russian literature noted how characteristic phenomenon time, the growth in the consciousness of the Russian intelligentsia of the “feeling of Russia,” that is, “the feeling of connection with the past, distant, common, always expanding our soul, our personal existence, reminiscent of our involvement in this common.” All this served as a powerful stimulus for the renewal of socio-historical public consciousness, the enrichment of Russian art of the beginning of the century in the general ideological and proper artistic relations. Alexander Blok described this process of renewal “from within” in the article “The Fate of Apollo Grigoriev” as a “new Russian revival.”

It found expression in music as well. The range of phenomena here is very wide. In the center is “The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh” by Rimsky-Korsakov - a work of legendary historical and at the same time ethical and philosophical, stylistically based on the cultural, historical, artistic layer of folk and professional art of medieval Rus'. The flow of Russian musical archaism that spilled out into the “Slavic-Scythian” works of Stravinsky and Prokofiev was also characteristic.

The “New Russian Revival” also included in its orbit the genres of choral sacred music a sarrella, which belong to the most ancient area of ​​Russian professional musical culture. In forms methodological art it occupied a dominant position for several centuries. How polyphonic creativity - from the middle of the 17th century to early XIX century - was represented by partes compositions and the classicist choral compositions that replaced them by the 18th century masters Berezovsky, Vedel, Bortnyansky. They were the pinnacle in the historical evolution of Russian choral culture of the pre-Glinka era. After that, with the flourishing of classical Russian music, cult musical art in Russia faded into the background. Composers who were completely focused on sacred music revealed a limited artistic horizon, often an artisanal approach to creative tasks. Dependence on church authorities and on established “rules” for composing spiritual chants had a negative impact. The greatest classical masters only sporadically and not all of them (Glinka, Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov) created “arrangements” (harmonizations) of everyday tunes - usually on duty, "working in the Court Singing Chapel. What stood out mainly was the work of Tchaikovsky, who set his with the goal of overcoming the cliches of spiritual choral writing and which in the second half of the century created a major artistic merit work - “The Liturgy of John Chrysostom” and the much more modest score of the “All-Night Vigil”. The composer deliberately did not go beyond the boundaries of the so-called “ strict style", only occasionally retreating from him. What is significant, he did not seek to rely on the style of ancient Russian art, did not use the language folk song(the latter is felt in Rimsky-Korsakov’s spiritual compositions). At the same time, orientation towards this style can be found in the genres of secular music - operatic and instrumental compositions by Mussorgsky (“Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina”, the finale of “Pictures at an Exhibition”), Rimsky-Korsakov (“Pskov Woman”, “Sadko”, "Saltan" and "Kitezh" musical picture"Holy holiday"). There are examples of turning to everyday themes in Tchaikovsky (the backstage chorus in The Queen of Spades), Taneyev (cantata John of Damascus) and Arensky (Second Quartet).

Lecture 5. Part 2

In the 1890s, choral religious music again entered a period of growth and reached significant heights with Kastalsky, Grechaninov, Lyadov, Chesnokov, and especially with Rachmaninov. The activities of these masters (minus the St. Petersburger Lyadov), together with the performing arts of outstanding choral groups, conductors, and music scientists, concentrated in Moscow, constituted the so-called “Moscow school” of choral sacred music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Representatives of this artistic direction sought to update the choral genre with the traditions of the past by deepening and strengthening the folklore principle in this area. The biggest phenomenon here was Rachmaninov’s “All-Night Vigil.”

When turning to this score, the performer and scholar inevitably face the question of the composer’s interpretation of the traditional genre of ancient religious music and its musical basis- Znamenny singing. Rachmaninov’s approach was determined, on the one hand, by the desire for completeness and freedom of aesthetic, artistic and philosophical understanding of the monument, on the other hand, by preserving its main features stylistic originality. For the composer, not only the actual musical properties of the borrowed material of Znamenny singing were important, but also its musical and poetic integrity, poetic figurative content, associative and metaphorically interpreted connections with the real world (visible, audible, tangible), but also with the illusory world, absorbing various mythological ideas, ethical and religious concepts. Moreover, there are parallels and echoes with other types of medieval religious art (icon, fresco).

In the score of the All-Night Vigil, the main musical and historical stylistic layer clearly appears - the ancient Russian monody itself. In addition, certain features of the choral polyphony are reflected XVII-XVIII cultures centuries: these are the textural features of the choral concert a sarella - partesque and classicist. This refers to the opposition of small choral groups or parts to the entire choral mass, the antiphonal alternation of various timbre-homogeneous or mixed combinations. It is relatively rare in Rachmaninov’s score to feature a continuous chordal four-voice - a choral texture typical of church music. music of the XIX century (the so-called “constant polyphony” - the term of V.V. Protopopov). But connections with folk song are extremely developed here. The contact between folklore and everyday intonation spheres is very characteristic of Rachmaninov’s music. This synthesis arose in her unintentionally and therefore so naturally and convincingly. The folk song style appears especially clearly in the subvocal polyphonic texture that dominates the score. But imitative methods of presentation are rarely used; the forms of fugue, fugato, and canon are completely absent. Quite often the composer uses contrasting polyphony, a simultaneous combination of different melodies. The score always shows concern for the word, its clear, distinct sound - this was an indispensable requirement when composing church music. Finally, in his “liturgical” cycles, Rachmaninov freely uses the means of composition, the stylistics of opera, oratorio, and symphonic genres. From the above it is clear that “All-Night Vigil” was created as a work that belongs simultaneously to church and secular musical culture - in the depth and scope of its humanistic content, in the versatility and completeness of its aesthetic appearance, in the rigor and freedom of musical writing.

All the mentioned components appear in a cohesive, artistically balanced whole, under the sign of Rachmaninov’s original individuality. The composer’s work was by no means reduced to a simple “arrangement” (that is, harmonization) of znamenny melodies, but was a composition based on borrowed (plus his own) thematics. However, the basis was still a conscious orientation to the style of ancient Znamenny singing. In ten cases out of fifteen, the composer turned to primary sources, in five cases he introduced his own themes. “In my Vespers, everything that fit the second occasion was deliberately imitated into everyday life.” Rachmaninov briefly called this a “counterfeit” style.” The fundamental result was to achieve stylistic correspondence of his own material to ancient Russian melodic music. Rachmaninov completely avoided the “museum” approach, dead stylization, because he interpreted the medieval singing art as a living artistic reality, and felt it as a language “intelligible” to the new time. But he avoided mixing “ultra-modern” means into it, introducing the imprint of “modernity”. The basis of the figurative and musical unity of this cycle is the unity of two intonational flows - ancient Russian musical art and classical Russian music.

A careful but also free attitude towards borrowed material is clearly manifested in the composer’s approach to the melodies of chants. The main thing for Rachmaninov was to preserve the intonation basis of the original source. Specific solutions had flexibility and constant artistic expediency. Almost exact preservation of the melodic contour of the melody is found in the chants “Now you let go” and “Today is salvation.” The most common case in Rachmaninov’s cycle is a pitch change (transposition) in individual sections of the whole. The composer proceeded from various artistic considerations. In No. 14 “Risen from the Grave” he strives for a timbral refreshment of the theme and occasionally transfers it from sopranos to basses (volumes 12-15), to tenors (volumes 24-26). In large chants - “Blessed is the Lord” (No. 9), “Great Doxology” (No. 12) - similar movements are aimed at conveying figurative contrasts. Such are, for example, the episodes characterizing the images of the myrrh-bearing women (“Zelo Rano” - No. 9), the bass singing of the chant “Sit at the right hand” in No. 12 and in the same place - moments of bell sound recording. Transposition is especially widely used to create end-to-end dynamic development of a large musical form. Examples of this can be found in the final section of the ninth hymn (“Glory to the Father and the Son”), and many times in the “Great Doxology,” where pitch shifts are carried out at different intervals, from an ascending major second to leaps of an octave in the ascending and descending directions.

The composer allowed himself greater freedom in handling the original source in the chants “Quiet Light” (No. 4) and “Praise the Name of the Lord” (No. 8). In the first, he seems to “extract” from the znamenny melody its intonation “framework” - a quart chant and creates a swinging effect. The general intonation structure of the melody is preserved throughout the entire work, imparting harmony and completeness to the whole. The melody of Rachmaninov's version compares favorably with the Znamenny theme, which is somewhat vague in design, and, in comparison with the original source, has rhythmic elasticity and a clear dismemberment of the overall melodic line.

In his own themes, Rachmaninov adhered to the stylistic norms of Znamenny monody. The thematic nature of the chants “Blessed is the man”, “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary”, “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ”, “My soul magnifies the Lord” is characterized by a narrow range of melody, kept within the third, fourth, fifth, smooth progressive movement, symmetry of the pattern, motifs - singing, diatonicity, variable modal relationships, rhythmic calm and regularity. The original author's themes are stylistically indistinguishable from the borrowed ones.

The composition of the chants of Rachmaninov's cycle reflects an important feature of Znamenny chant - its construction according to musical and verbal lines in which melodic (singing) and textual logic interact. The basis here is the absence of strict repetitions and uniform internal divisions - the principle of continuous variability, that is, variation, the equicomplexity of lines (their different lengths), free non-periodic rhythmic development, and the absence of rigid metric division are dominant. It is characteristic that in most chants (on his own and borrowed themes) the composer does not indicate meters at all, and often, even when putting them down, he changes the metric many times (for example, No. 2, 6). In the chant “Spinning, Let’s Worship” we find very interesting example using the “dimensionless” principle, constructing a whole from extremely extended lines (only their boundaries are marked by bar lines - “caesuras”), containing a different number of quarter durations - as if “counting” quarter units: 28, 40, 48, 35.

The Old Russian “pedigree” of the genre itself is expressed by Rachmaninov in the use of a system of special musical expressive means, marked by the presence of an “archaic” flavor. It arises as a result of the composer’s immersion in the figurative world of mythology, biblical (Old Testament) and evangelical legend, unique in its sublime, strict poetry. It's about about the appearance of the score on the pages - especially in chants related to the theme sacred history, - “antique” harmonious colors and “archaic” textural means. These include meager two-tones, chords with omitted or, conversely, doubled tones (the doubling of thirds is especially colorful), various parallelisms, including those formed on the basis of perfect fifths, fourths, sevenths, even chords that are polyphonic in composition, often more colorful-phonic than functional significance. The deliberate condensation of the musical fabric, especially in the lower “floor” of the score, or, on the contrary, its emphasized sparseness, in turn, enhances the atmosphere of the severity of the internal structure of the musical monument recreated by the composer.

Rachmaninov's approach to the interpretation of the original source is reflected in the interpretation of the All-Night Vigil as both a liturgical and concert cycle. It is known that its composition is not strictly fixed; it includes the most important chants, obligatory and “optional,” which is due to the peculiarities of the church calendar. Composers who turn to the All-Night Vigil cycle have a certain freedom of choice, the ability to create cycles that are different in composition, form and musical dramaturgy. You can be convinced of this by comparing at least the all-night vigils of Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, and Chesnokov - they primarily differ in the composition of the chants.

In the fusion of epic, lyricism and drama (as a type of art), Rachmaninov focuses on the epic beginning. It appears on the basis of legendary and historical themes, manifests itself in the pictorial composition of the numbers that make up the cycle, in the multifaceted choral dramaturgy and imagery of chants, and finally, in similarities and echoes with Russian opera. classics of the 19th century century (especially with its folk-epic branch), with the genres of oratorio, spiritual drama or mystery. The dominant significance of the epic is already expressed in Rachmaninov’s decision to open his cycle with an inviting, oratorical prologue-appeal “Come, let us bow,” which is absent, for example, in the cycles of Tchaikovsky, Grechaninov, Chesnokov. The composer needed such a prologue as an epic beginning. The first number of “All-Night Vigil” is to a certain extent analogous to the grandiose choral introductions in the operas of Glinka and Borodin, it serves as a majestic “portal” that opens up a broad perspective of the entire composition - an exploration of chants-pictures and narratives, chants-contemplations and reflections.

In conclusion, it should be said that while maintaining the logic of the liturgical “action” and its general composition, Rachmaninov built the cycle in his own way, supplementing the whole not only with the introduction “Come, let us worship”, but also with the “Six Psalms” and a “pair” of numbers on the same melodic material - chant “Risen from the grave” (No. 14), which is, as it were, a variant of the previous number “Today is salvation”. This is how various arched connections arose in Rachmaninov’s cycle. They act on the basis of the use of one primary source (“Glory in the highest” - in No. 7 and 12), on the basis of similar content (the magnification of the Mother of God - in No. 3, 11). An important role is also played by the natural construction of the tonal plan, in which parallel relationships of tonalities predominate. The first six numbers are bordered by D minor and F major, the next five by E flat major and C minor, the last three are united by a movement from A minor to C major. Throughout the entire cycle, C major is outlined as the initial and final tonal support: a dominant-tonic connection is formed between the end of the first and the beginning of the second, between the last two numbers of the cycle. In Rachmaninov's work, the laws of the liturgical and the actual musical composition, in which its dual content and artistic and stylistic basis is clearly manifested.

Thus, in the score under consideration we actually encounter Rachmaninov’s original composition “on themes from everyday life,” in the spirit of ancient church music and in the genre of the all-night vigil.

Name: Rachmaninoff - Excerpts from Vespers “All Night Vigil”, Op. 37; poem "Bells", Op. 35
Original name: Rachmaninov - Les Vigiles nocturnes Op. 37, Les Cloches Op. 35
Year: 2012
Genre: Classical music concert

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninow
Chorus: Ural Symphonic Choir
Artistic director: Vera Davydova
Orchestra: Ural State Academic philharmonic orchestra(Ural Philharmonic Orchestra)
Conductor: Dmitri Liss
TV director: Frédéric Le Clair
Released: France, ARTE
Language: Russian

Performers:
Pavel Baransky - baritone,
Stanislav Leontiev - tenor,
Yana Ivanilova - soprano.

I posted information about the French music festival “Crazy Days of Nantes-2012” - “Holy Rus': from Rimsky-Korsakov to Shostakovich” in the topic “Verdi - opera “Aida” (Giuseppe Verdi-Aida-Opernhaus Zürich) Zurich Opera - 2006 (HDTVRip )"
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Sergei Rachmaninov. "All-Night Vigil", Op. 37
Vespers, Op. 37

Op. 37. “All-night vigil” for mixed choir without accompaniment. 1915. In memory of S. V. Smolensky.

“Come, let us worship”
“Bless, my soul” (Greek chant)
"Blessed is the man"
“Quiet Light” (Kyiv chant)
“Now you let us go” (Kyiv chant)
"Virgin Mother of God, rejoice"
Six Psalms - (Originally “Small Doxology”)
"Praise the name of the Lord"
“Blessed art thou, O Lord” (Znamenny chant) - (The material was later used in the III part of “Symphonic Dances”)
“Having seen the Resurrection of Christ”
“My soul magnifies the Lord”
Great Doxology
Troparion “Today is salvation” (Znamenny chant)
Troparion “Risen from the grave” (Znamenny chant)
“To the chosen governor” (Greek chant)

- “From the Gospel of John” (chapter XV, verse 13) for voice and piano. 1915.

History of creation

With the outbreak of the First World War, all the plans of Rachmaninov, already a European-recognized composer who was in the prime of his talent, changed. Foreign tours stopped, and trips around the country sharply decreased. He also composes little: he begins work on the Fourth Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, but postpones it; conceives a ballet, but also leaves it in several sketches. Events taking place in the world, anxiety for the fate of his homeland prompt him to turn to the roots of Russian musical culture - ancient church tunes, znamenny singing. Inspired by the deepest and most poetic part of the New Testament, he creates a vocal composition "From the Gospel of John" and then turns to church life. At the end of the first year of the war, not without the influence of the most prominent figures of the “revival movement” in church singing, the composer A. Kastalsky and the paleographer, director of the Synodal School S. Smolensky, who taught a course on the history of Russian church music at the Moscow Conservatory, Rachmaninov wrote the All-Night Vigil, op. 37, completed by him in early 1915.

While working on this composition, Smolensky died, and Rachmaninov dedicated the completed score to his memory. In this work, the composer proceeded from canonical traditions and relied on znamenny melodies that had come into church use. But his work was by no means limited to their harmonization. Focusing on the style of ancient Znamenny singing, Rachmaninov created his own original themes. “In my Vespers, everything that fit the second occasion (my own original tunes - L.M.) was consciously imitated into everyday life,” the composer wrote. At the same time, his music does not bear the features of stylization, museum aridity or artificiality. It lives and breathes as a deeply modern work. This is due to the peculiarities creative personality Rachmaninov, who always gravitated towards ancient Russian melodies, using their intonations in works of various genres from piano miniatures to symphonic canvases. “In the fusion of epic, lyricism and drama (as a type of art), Rachmaninov focuses on the epic beginning,” writes musicologist A. Kandinsky. - It appears on the basis of legendary-historical themes, manifests itself in the pictorial composition of the numbers that make up the cycle and the multifaceted choral dramaturgy and imagery of chants, finally, in similarities and echoes with the Russian opera classics of the 19th century (especially with its folk-epic branch), with genres of oratorio, spiritual drama or mystery. The dominant significance of the epic is already expressed in Rachmaninov’s decision to open his cycle with an inviting oratorical prologue-address “Come, let us bow,” which is absent, for example, in the cycles of Tchaikovsky, Grechaninov, and Chesnokov. The composer needed such a prologue as an epic beginning.”

The first performance of the All-Night Vigil took place on March 10 (23) in Moscow by the Synodal Choir under the direction of N. Danilin. The impression was huge. The famous critic Florestan (V. Derzhanovsky) wrote: “Perhaps never before has Rachmaninov come so close to the people, their style, their soul, as in this work. Or maybe it is this work that speaks of the expansion of his creative flight, of his capture of new areas of the spirit and, therefore, of the true evolution of his strong talent.” In the following months the work was repeated several times with constant success. However, after the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia, which fought against all religious manifestations, the All-Night Vigil was banned for a long time. Only at the end of the 20th century did this wonderful music take its rightful place in concert life.

Music

The All-Night Vigil is a two-part composition consisting of Vespers (No. 2-6) and Matins (No. 7-15), preceded by a prologue. The chants are based on genuine themes of Everyday Life, harsh, ascetic Znamenny chants, which the composer enriched with all modern means. The use of the choir is rich and varied: Rachmaninov resorts to dividing parts, singing with his mouth closed, and creating unique timbre effects. The overall calm, epic tone is combined with a wealth of colors - lyrical, gentle melodies, loud exclamations, and bell-like tints.

No. 1, “Come Let Us Worship,” begins with two quiet chords calling out “Amen.” This is a majestic choral portal that opens the composition. In No. 3, “Blessed is the Man,” the intonations of a lullaby are heard. Its echoes spread further, in “The Quiet Light of the Holy Glory of the Immortal Heavenly Father” and “Now You Release Your Servant, O Master, According to Your Word” of the Kiev chant, and in the latter they are manifested only in quiet chords accompanying the singing of the tenor soloist. Both of these numbers are distinguished by the finest sound recording. The part ends with the calm and gentle prayer “Virgin Mother of God, Hail, Gracious Mary, the Lord is with Thee.” “Six Psalms” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men” opens the second part of the All-Night Vigil. No. 8, “Praise the name of the Lord,” Znamenny chant, is based on the juxtaposition of the procession theme in the lower voices and the imitation of the silvery bell ringing in the upper ones. No. 9 - “Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me by thy justification,” based on the Znamenny chant, is one of the semantic centers of the work. This story about the miracle of the Resurrection is presented in solemn tones with colossal tension and fullness of sound. The chordal choral refrain “Blessed are you” creates the effect of the presence of the community, its involvement in what is happening. No. 11, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in my Savior,” is a monumental hymn to the Mother of God, marked by truly symphonic development. The next number, “Great Doxology” of the Znamenny chant “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will to men,” is the second compositional center of Matins, a monumental choral fresco. The last three numbers are troparia “Today salvation has come to the world, we sing to Him who rose from the tomb and found the Chief of life” and “You rose from the tomb and tore the bonds of hell” (both Znamenny chants) and “To the chosen victorious governor, as having been delivered from the evil, let us sing thanks to Ti Rabi Yours, Mother of God” - the finale of the grandiose cycle. You can hear echoes of the Second and Third Symphonies and the Third Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in it.

Sergei Rachmaninov. Poem "Bells", Op. 35
The Bells, Op. 35

Poem for soloists (soprano, tenor, baritone), choir and orchestra. 1913. Words by E. Poe translated by K. D. Balmont. Dedication: "To my friend Willem Mengelberg and his Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam."

Allegro ma non tanto ("Do you hear the sleigh rushing in a row...")
Lento (“Do you hear the holy call for the wedding...”)
Presto ("Do you hear the alarm wailing...")
Lento lugubre ("The funeral bell is heard...")

History of creation

1912 turned out to be a very eventful year for Rachmaninoff. He, one of the most popular musicians in Russia, performs at numerous evenings and spends the season brilliantly symphony concerts Moscow Philharmonic Society, conducts The Queen of Spades at the Bolshoi Theater and, of course, composes a lot. New romances appear, including the famous Vocalise. In the fall, his operas Francesca da Rimini and Stingy Knight", V People's House"Aleko" is placed.

At the end of the year, due to deteriorating health, Rachmaninov abandoned the planned concerts and left with his family abroad - first to Switzerland and then to Rome. There he received an unsigned letter in which he proposed to write music for a poem American poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) “The Bells” (1849) translated by K. Balmont. As it turned out later, this letter was sent by the young cellist M. Danilova. Rachmaninov was interested in the poem. From an early age, fascinated by bell ringing and having depicted it more than once in his works, he began composing, defining its genre as a vocal-symphonic poem.

Soon he has to leave Rome: the children fall ill, and the family moves to Berlin, and then to Russia, to his wife’s estate Ivanovka. There the composer finishes the poem, in four parts of which the entire life path of a person is shown from a bright youth full of joyful hopes to death. At the same time, the symbolism, so significant in Poe and Balmont, fades into the background. According to one of the researchers of Rachmaninov’s work, the images of the poem “have acquired Russian “flesh” and “blood”, while retaining their generalized philosophical and poetic meaning.”

"The Bells", defined as a poem for soloists, chorus and symphony orchestra, were first performed on November 30 (December 13), 1913 in St. Petersburg by the choir, soloists and orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater under the direction of the author. On February 8 (21), 1914, the Moscow premiere took place, in which soloists and the choir of the Bolshoi Theater took part. The success in both capitals was enormous, although the critics were divided. Some found that the composer “began to look for new moods, a new manner of expressing his thoughts.” "The Bells" was later dedicated: "To my friend Willem Mengelberg and his Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam."

Music

“Bells” belongs to the outstanding Russian musical works on the eve of the First World War. This poem, like Scriabin’s “Prometheus,” reflected the anxious, tense mood of the beginning of the century. As Academician Asafiev wrote, the music of “The Bells” is determined by “the merging of the anxious stages in Rachmaninov’s feelings... with his intuitive comprehension of the deep anxieties in the depths of Russian society.” The four parts of the poem are united by a common nocturnal coloring, colorfulness, and most importantly - a leitmotif, intonationally close to the Old Russian verses and the medieval sequence Dies Irae.

The 1st part paints an image of serene youth, a picture of a winter sleigh ride with the silvery ringing of bells. Everything is subordinated to the rapid rhythm of running. Subtle orchestration with harp harmonics and the gentle sound of celestas, which are replaced by inviting fanfares of trumpets and trombones, create a fantastic flavor. The tenor’s exclamation “Hear!” is taken up by the chorus. In the middle section, the coloring becomes darker, the orchestral colors thicken, the choir performs an archaic melody with its closed mouth - as if everything is plunging into oblivion, and a magical sleep, the numbness of a dream, arises. But rapid running is restored again. The 2nd part is permeated with wedding bells. Her mood is determined by the lines heard by the choir: “You hear the holy, golden call for the wedding.” They are a kind of refrain that appears repeatedly throughout the movement, in which tender lyrics are combined with solemnity and anxious anticipation. The solo soprano intones a wide, smooth, Rachmaninoff-like generous melody. This is the lyrical center of the work. The 3rd movement is similar to a symphonic scherzo, full of tragedy. If in the 1st part a silvery ringing was heard, and in the 2nd - a golden one, then here the “copper” ringing of the alarm bell dominates, an ominous hum, an image of a raging, all-consuming flame appears (“And meanwhile the fire is insane”). This is the triumph of evil forces, an apocalyptic picture of a general catastrophe. The finale is a mournful epilogue to life's journey. The funeral bell hums monotonously. The “funeral word” of the baritone soloist is echoed by the choir in short psalmodic phrases. Solos English horn, a chorale from Tchaikovsky’s “Queen of Spades” sounds. Gradually, the baritone's monologue becomes more and more dramatized, interrupted by sobs. The middle section is filled with horror. It seems that someone black is rocking the funeral bell more and more. One can hear a mockery of everything that was dear - the archaic melody of the first movement sounds distorted, broken, the image of a magical dream is desecrated. The coda of the poem is peaceful. The expressive melody of the strings seems to rise up.

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