Rachmaninov & Reger @ 150
Our next performance – of two major choral works for unaccompanied choir – commemorates the 150th anniversaries, to within a few days of the actual dates, of the births of composers Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov (1 April 1873 – 28 March 1943) and Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 1873 – 11 May 1916).
Rachmaninov – Liturgy of St John Chrysostom
Saint John Chrysostom was archbishop of Constantinople from 398 to 404 AD. Known for his preaching and public speaking, his asceticism, his denunciation of the abuse of authority by both church and political leaders, his ‘Divine Liturgy’ became the primary worship service of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Besides numerous traditional chants of several schools, the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom has been set by many composers of the 19th to 21st centuries. The setting by Sergei Rachmaninov, his Op n.31, is one of his two major unaccompanied choral works. He composed the work in July 1910 at his summer estate Ivanovka, writing to a friend: “I have been thinking about the Liturgy for a long time and for a long time I strove to write it. I started to work on it somehow by chance and then suddenly became fascinated with it. And then I finished it very quickly. Not for a long time have I written anything with such pleasure”.
Rachmaninov’s original liturgical setting premiered in 1910 in Moscow. However, Russian Orthodox authorities rejected the work’s “spirit of modernism” and did not sanction its further use in church services. Rachmaninov did not promote the work himself, and in the choral repertoire it was soon eclipsed by his All Night Vigil. The full liturgical service is extremely long and includes many repetitive litanies. In the context of a concert performance these are usually omitted, and although we will include some of the exclamations of the Deacon and the Priest the performance will consist mainly of the movements for choir written by Rachmaninov.
Reger – Acht Geistliche Gesänge
Reger composed the motets forming Acht geistliche Gesänge (Eight Sacred Songs), Op. 138, in Meiningen in 1914, at the beginning of World War I. Inspired by Bach’s motets, he had previously composed “extended a cappella choral settings” such as Geistliche Gesänge, Op. 110 with challenging double fugues. In contrast, he composed the eight motets featured in our performance as a master of “new simplicity”, and setting the words of both known and unknown poets.
Reger had wanted to publish the motets only after World War I had ended, but he did not finish checking his publisher’s proofs – they were found next to his bed when he died in a hotel in Leipzig in 1916 – lending additional poignancy to the opening words of the first motet: ‘Der Mensch lebt und bestehet nur eine kleine Zeit’ [A man can live and flourish for but a little time]. The work was thus first published posthumously in Berlin later that year, 1916.
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Do join us when we perform on Thursday 30th March 2023 in St. Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico, SW1V 2AD.
Doors open at 6.15pm with refreshments available – the performance starts at 7pm.
Buy tickets online: www.ticketsource.co.uk/st-gabriels-concerts £18, concessions U30 and unwaged, £10 (booking fees apply).
On the door tickets: £20, concessions U30 and unwaged, £10.
Click here to download the full concert print programme.