Seattle Bach Choir: Rachmaninoff's 'All-Night Vigil'
$20 ($18 students/seniors)
Anne Lyman, director
Sergei Rachmaninoff – All-Night Vigil, Op. 37
Seattle Bach Choir, under the artistic direction of Dr. Anne Lyman, presents one of the greatest concert works of all time, the All-Night Vigil by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The All-Night Vigil, also sometimes referred to as simply Vespers, is undoubtedly one of the greatest musical achievements of the twentieth century. Rachmaninoff was moved to compose it following a resurgence of interest in Russian sacred music, beginning with a work of the same title by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed 20 years earlier. At the time, the young Rachmaninoff was not a devoted churchgoer, and yet the music contains all the hallmarks of a most fervent believer. Not only is each movement heavily influenced by a wide variety of ancient chants, but the complex harmonies, dense choral textures, and sublime lyricism of the individual lines all bring the singer and the listener directly into the sacred space for which the texts were meant to be sung. It is a spiritually uplifting and transcendent piece of music.
The Seattle Bach Choir is hosting a pre-concert lecture with a wine and cheese reception immediately preceding the concert.