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RACHMANINOV_Chris_Hill – Bogoroditse Devo ‘Rejoice, O Virgen’ (No.6 from the ‘All Night Vigil’ – 1915) – 7 CELLOS

Other Identification:
This song is from ‘The All Night Vigil’ written for choir ‘a cappella’ that Sergei Rachmaninov composed in January/February 1915, in full hostilities of World War I. He composed the All-Night Vigil in less than two weeks of high inspiration, and there are 15 musical numbers in all. The first performance was given soon after in Moscow on 10th March, 1915, this in part to help benefit the Russian war effort.

It is regarded as a musical masterpiece of one of the greatest Russian composers Sergei Rachmaninov (Rachmaninoff), and it was one his own favourite compositions. Its endless melody lines, very natural and smooth, simple and beautiful harmony, and expressive form give pleasure to both singers and listeners.

It has also been labelled as “the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church”. 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”. Even so, these were real marvels taking into account that the composer had stopped attending church services himself!

This classic work is very popular among mixed choirs all over the world and now with the arrangement for cellos you have possibility to perform it with seven cellos or larger cello ensembles – thanks to CHRIS HILL!

Movements or sections:
Bogoroditse Devo (English: ‘Rejoice, O Virgen’) is placed as movement number 6, and its lyrics are:

Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee;
blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Instrumentation: FOR A SEPTET OF SEVEN CELLOS
Arranged by Chris Hill

This music is in 3 PDFs:
[1 – General Score
[2 – Cellos 1 to 3
[3 – Cellos 4 to 7

Approximate difficulty:
The cello parts are basically only of MEDIUM difficulty

Dedicatee of this presentation (if applicable):
David Johnstone is extremely grateful to conductor, cellist and arranger CHRIS HILL for permission to include and share some of his work in the Johnstone-Music web site.

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