This is the piece the great composer Sergei Rachmaninoff wanted to be performed at his deathbed.
One must only listen to Rachmaninoff's choral masterpiece "All-Night Vigil" to understand why.
Members of the Dartmouth and Hanover communities are given that chance this Sunday when Senior Fellow Steven Fox '00 conducts both professional and student singers in a performance of this masterwork of Russian Romantic music.
The piece for unaccompanied choir will be performed by 40 singers from Dartmouth's own Modern Madrigals and members of AmorArtis, a professional group from New York City.
The music itself is characterized by an intense and celestial chant-like quality derived from Rachmaninoff's unique style of writing for eight and sometimes 12 different voice parts at certain points in the piece.
Much of the music is written not in a major or minor key, but in modes that are reminiscent of medieval or early Renaissance music. The style of the piece is difficult to classify, Fox said.
When asked to describe it, Fox smiled and shook his head, saying he found the music to be from "another atmosphere," and not like many of Rachmaninoff's other works.
"It's unlike anything I have ever conducted and unlike anything I've ever played. It's not an earthly work."
At times, Rachmaninoff divides the chorus with the men singing strongly and forcefully and the women singing in a light and ethereal manner.
"He'll often put the second altos and first tenors in unison with each other to create a very specific and rare color," Fox said.
The piece contains 15 different movements, each of which is essentially a prayer from the propers of the Russian Orthodox service that Rachmaninoff has set to music.
"The prayers that Rachmaninoff chose for the piece were probably the ones that held the most personal meaning to him," Fox said, noting that the music itself is considered to be overly secular by some Russian Orthodox clergymen.
According to Fox, "Some find that in this piece, Rachmaninoff has at times sacrificed the lucidity of the religious texts for musical expression."
The "All Night Vigil" is a Russian Orthodox service that precedes the reading of the liturgy on Sundays and feast days.
However, he stresses the fact that this is not an Orthodox service, but a liturgical concert. The piece is played only rarely at actual church services -- in fact, the piece only lasts for about 70 minutes.
Fox's inspiration for conducting the piece came in the form of listening to much of the music being performed in St. Petersburg on the Russian Foreign Study Program his junior year.
"I thought it would be magical to bring that repertoire so rarely performed in the United States to Dartmouth."
The concert is the first of two performances by Fox in the "Russian Romantics" concert series as part of his fellowship.
The performance of Rachmaninoff's "All Night Vigil" will take place this Sunday, February 27, at 4:00 p.m. in Rollins Chapel. Admission is free, although seats must be reserved. There will be a pre-concert panel discussion at 1:00 p.m. in Faulkner Recital Hall.
