The Vocal Music of Sergei Rachmaninoff

While Rachmaninoff wrote the most works for piano, his choral music displays a deep understanding of vocal arrangement and reverence for the Russian Orthodox church. The All Night Vigil is a choral work with settings of texts typically read or sung at an orthodox All Night Ceremony. It was said to be one of Rachmaninoff’s own favorites, alongside his choral symphony The Bells. Unlike All-Night Vigili, The Bells combines chorus and orchestra, sacred and secular, with text derived from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem of the same name.