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An Analysis of Sergei Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil “Now Let Thy Servant

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An Analysis of Sergei Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil “Now Let Thy Servant An Analysis of Sergei Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil “Now Let Thy Servant Depart” Lance Morrow Lance Morrow is music director at Salem United Methodist Church and an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Music at Austin Peay State University, both in Clarksville, TN. He holds choral music and conducting degrees from the University of North Alabama and Austin Peay State University [email protected] Introduction the Saturday-evening service preceding major feast days n the years just prior to 1915, Sergei Rachmaninov and includes Vespers (or Great Compline, depending on toured the United States, Austria, and Poland. He the occasion), Matins, and the First Hour. Originally, the I returned to Russia just before the enforcement All-Night Vigil stretched throughout the night, hence its of traveling restrictions due to the Great War. In only title; however, most modern parishes simply use the Nunc two weeks in early 1915 (almost thirty years before his Dimittis, from the Vespers service, as one of the last read- death), he completed his All-Night Vigil, now considered ings before lying down to sleep. a masterpiece of choral literature. This was the last of a Also called the “Canticle of Simeon,” the Nunc Dimittis few sacred settings in a small body of choral works, and [Now Let Thy Servant Depart] originates in Luke 2:29–32 Rachmaninov dedicated it to the memory of Stepan Vasi- of the New Testament. This prayer to “depart in peace” lyevich Smolensky, the respected church music historian, correlates with a tranquil death—a serene decline—an idea who had introduced him to Orthodox sacred music. musically represented in this movement. Table 1 shows In the Russian Orthodox tradition, the All-Night Vigil is the prayer, in Church Slavonic, along with its translation. CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 1 25 An Analysis of Sergei Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil The Orthodox Church set forth strict Table 1 rules requiring certain movements to de- Text and Translation rive from ancient chants.1 Setting the Nunc Dimittis requires composers to base the Ныне отпущаеши раба Твоего Now let Thy servant depart in peace, melody on Kievan chant, a simplifi ed Ukrai- владыко, по глаголу Твоему, с миром according to Thy word, O Master, nian variant of Znamenny chant. This article Яко видеста очи мои спасение Твоё For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation explores Rachmaninov’s methods for creat- еже еси уготовал Which Thou hast prepared ing a powerful, multi-voiced structure on the basis of these melodic phrases. пред лицем всех людей before the face of all peoples, The composer evokes the sense of de- Свет во откровение языков A light of revelation for the nations scent associated with the prayer in a tight и славу людей Твоих Израиля and the glory of Thy people Israel. fabric woven from a handful of devices— melodic and harmonic—that, based on the Weill Music Institute Stephanie Berger Carnegie Hall Choral Institute and Young People’s Chorus of New York City™ Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director and Founder present Transient Glory® Symposium February 15–18, 2012 Conduct new works. Meet the composers. Be part of the future of choral music. Application Deadline: October 1, 2011 | carnegiehall.org/ChoralInstitute | ypc.org | 212-903-9625 26 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 1 “Now Let Thy Servant Depart” interval of a third, interact to reinforce the phrase, “Ныне отпущаеши раба Твоего imitate this theme in polyphony. At measures ♭ movement’s pitch center of B . Rachmaninov владыко” [Now let Thy servant depart in 21 and 22, “пред лицем всех людей, [before remarked after completing the All-Night Vigil: peace] against a choral backdrop of tenors the face of all peoples], all voices align homo- “My favorite number in the work…is the and altos on an augmented version of the syllabically. The soloist is absent in this unique fi fth canticle, ‘Lord, now lettest Thou Thy same text. The second melodic phrase, “по section, which will be discussed in detail later servant depart in peace’ [Luke 2:29]. I should глаголу Твоему, с миром” [according to in this article. like this sung at my funeral.”2 Thy word, O Master], found in measures The melody-dominant homophony 7 through 10, begins one tone higher than of the A material returns at measure 24, the previous phrase and its accompanying as the soprano voices deliver “Свет во Form via Texture material that also begins higher in pitch. As откровение языков” [a light of revelation for Set for unaccompanied SATB chorus the A material continues in measure 11, the the nations]. The soloist re-enters in measure and tenor soloist, this movement exhibits soloist begins one tone higher yet again with 29 on “и славу людей Твоих Израиля” changes in texture to delineate its formal the phrase, “Яко видеста очи мои спасение [and the glory of Thy people Israel], fi nishing sections, which occur according to divisions Твоё” [for mine eyes have seen Thy salva- three bars from the end. Formally, the last of clause and phrase in the text. Each such tion]. Soprano voices join at measure 11, three measures function as a codetta; the paraphrasing the fi rst melodic phrase to bass voice undertakes its infamous descent grammatical unit bears a unique melody, with ♭ the same cadential fi gure acting each time as function countermelodically against the so- into the depths, reaching a low B to end punctuation. Broadly, the piece’s form is ABA, loist. This opening A section extends gently the movement. In contrast to the opening with the text of lines four and fi ve (see Table upward with each entrance of a new melody. section, the return of the A material pres- 1) set to B material. The bass voice begins the B material in ents an overall descent, through the use of Two measures into the opening material, measure 17 on “еже еси уготовал” [which downward shifts in the accompanying voice the tenor soloist begins the fi rst melodic thou hast prepared]. All other choral voices parts and a deepening expansion of texture. Cadential Figure As mentioned, the melodies discussed fi nd their origins in Kiev chant. As a characteristic of Kiev style, each melodic statement ends with the same cadential fi gure, which func- tions as a phrasal or sectional conclusion. This fi gure occurs seven times throughout the movement (Figure 1). This is the central fi gure and an important structural component in the piece: it ends musical phrases or sub-sections, and it generates related musical material. This linear fi gure spans a descending melodic third, which this analy- sis will show to be a structural interval in the piece. Melodi- ♭ cally, the fi gure proceeds to B , the movement’s pitch center. In ♭ ♭ short, the descent from D to B that ends the source melodies in the piece infl uences motion at several other levels as well. Notice the cadential fi gure, al- CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 1 27 An Analysis of Sergei Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil the first unstressed syllables undertake a stepwise alto, begins journey further downward each time from ♭ on B , while the planted notes (Figure 4). the second When these voices reappear at the re- alto follows turn of the A material in measure 24, they in parallel gradually accumulate the participation of the thirds. The six other choral parts in a collective, motivic tenor part descent beginning in measure 28 to the end ♭ ♭ beit disguised, in several non-melodic voices begins on D and descends by a third to B (Figure 5). (Figure 2). (Figure 3). In the contrasting textures of the B sec- In every bar through measure 16, these tion, this motif only sparsely appears, until it voices of the chorus support the solo returns to undergird the climax in measure Accompanying Voices: melody in permutations of this motif. For 22, which will be examined in detail later in “Lying Down” Motif example, in measures 14 and 15, the tenor this essay. ♭ ♭ Examining this piece’s melodies has G and alto B act as anchors, while the revealed that their shared cadential fi gure supplies several organizing components that recur in various guises. Often they ap- pear in the similarly unifi ed accompanying material where these recurrences are found, producing a general shape of descent and ♭ reinforcing a B pitch center. One also sees the structural importance of the third at the very outset of the accompanying material. All harmonizing parts in the A material are generated from a single motif: a descend- ing slur over two quarter notes in which the fi rst note is stressed. This pervades the music with a sense of downward reaching, even as the fi rst section’s tessitura gently rises. At the piece’s opening, all three entering voices participate simultaneously in this “lying down” motif. The most prominent of these, 28 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 1 “Now Let Thy Servant Depart” CCallall ForFor PPapersapers ACDAs Research and Publications Committee is inviting research papers to be presented at the National Symposium on American Choral Music, June 29–30, 2012, Washington, DC. This event is intended to showcase the American Choral Music website hosted by the Library of Congress. The 2012 symposium will also focus on the current search for an American musical style by choral composers. ACDA invites interested scholars to present proposals for paper presentations at the symposium. Those proposals (2–3 pages) should address American choral music at the turn of the twentieth century (the subject of the LOC website) or the choral works of American composers writing at the turn of the twenty-fi rst century.
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