Rachmaninov Vespers (All Night Vigil) Vocal Score
Vocal Scores for Rachmaninov (All-Night Vigil)
The All-Night Vigil (also known, more commonly in English-speaking countries, as the Vespers) is notable as one of two liturgical settings (the other being the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom) by Sergei Rachmaninov.
The most popular vocal scores for Rachmaninov is shown below.
Rehearsal recordings to help learn your voice part (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) are described below.
Full Video Version to hear the work in full is also below
The Boosey & Hawkes edition of Rachmaninov's Vespers (All-night Vigil)
Catalogue Number: BH9441
ISBN: 9780962946066
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The All-Night Vigil (also known, more commonly in English-speaking countries, as the Vespers) is notable as one of two liturgical settings (the other being the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom) by a composer who had stopped attending church services. As required by the Russian Orthodox Church, Rachmaninoff based ten of the fifteen sections on chant. However, the five original sections (numbers 1, 3, 6, 10, & 11) were so heavily influenced by chant that the composer called them "conscious counterfeits".
The Vigil includes three styles of chant: znamenny (in numbers 8, 9, 12, 13 & 14), a more recitational 'Greek' style (numbers 2 & 15), and 'Kiev' chant - the Ukrainian adaptation of znamenny style (numbers 4 & 5). Before writing, Rachmaninoff had studied ancient chant under Stepan Smolensky, to whom he dedicated the piece. It is written for a four-part choir, complete with basso profondo. However, in many parts there is three, five, six, or eight-part harmony; at one point in the seventh movement, the choir is divided into eleven parts. Movements 4 and 9 each contain a brief tenor solo, while movements 2 and 5 feature lengthy solos for alto and tenor, respectively. The fifth movement Nunc dimittis (Nyne otpushchayeshi) has gained notoriety for its ending, in which the low basses must negotiate a descending scale that ends with a low B flat (the third B flat below middle C). When Rachmaninoff initially played this passage through to Kastalsky and Danilin in preparation for the first performance, Rachmaninoff recalled that:
Danilin shook his head, saying, "Now where on earth are we to find such basses? They are as rare as asparagus at Christmas!" Nevertheless, he did find them. I knew the voices of my countrymen...
For further information of Rachmaninov's Vespers, please click here to visit the Wikipedia website
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If you wish to have a CD of the Vespers (All-Night Vigil) to hear the whole work please click here and please do click on the video below to listen right away if you wish