# Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (Rachmaninoff)

Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 31 (Russian: Литургия Иоанна Златоуста), is a 1910 musical work by Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of his two major unaccompanied choral works (the other being his All-Night Vigil). The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is the primary worship service of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

## History

Rachmaninoff composed the work in July, 1910 at his summer estate Ivanovka, following his American tour of 1909. Writing to his friend Nikita Morozov, Rachmaninoff said of the work, "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."
The work premiered November 25, 1910 in Moscow. Russian Orthodox ecclesiastical authorities strongly objected to the work's "spirit of modernism" and refused to sanction it for use during church services. Rachmaninoff did nothing to promote the work himself, and it soon fell into obscurity.
A portion of the Liturgy was given in concert performance in New York on January 24, 1914, by the male choir of the Russian Cathedral of St. Nicholas, conducted by Ivan Gorokhov.
A new edition, reconstructed from surviving part books at an Orthodox monastery in the U.S. and microfilm at the U.S. Library of Congress, was published by Anthony Antolini in 1988. This reconstruction was the subject of a PBS documentary entitled "Rediscovering Rachmaninoff", produced by KTEH television in San Jose, California.

## Movements

The Liturgy consists of twenty movements for unaccompanied mixed choir. Three contain solo passages: Movement 2 (Blagoslovi, dushe moia, Ghospoda/Bless the Lord, O my soul) for alto, Movement 10 (Veruiu/The Nicene Creed) for Bass, and Movement 12 (Tebie poiem/To Thee we sing), for treble or soprano. Two (Movements 14 and 19) are scored for double choir.
The twenty movements are these:
| | Church Slavonic | Transliterated | English |
| 1 | Великая ектения | Velikaya ekteniya | The Great Litany |
| 2 | Благослови, душе моя, Господа | Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Gospoda | The First Antiphon: Bless the Lord, О My Soul |
| 3 | Слава отцу - единородный Сыне | Slava otsu - edinorodnyy Syne | The Second Antiphon: Glory Be to the Father - Only-Begotten Son |
| 4 | Во царствие Твоем | Vo tsarstvie Tvoem | The Third Antiphon: In Your Kingdom |
| 5 | Приидите, поклонимся | Priidite, poklonimsya | The Little Entrance: Come, Let Us Worship |
| 6 | Господи, спаси благочестивыя | Gospodi, spasi blagochestivyya | Trisagion: Lord, We Pray That You May Be Merciful |
| 7 | Сугубая ектения | Sugubaya ekteniya | The Augmented Litany |
| 8 | Херувимская песнь | Kherubimskaya pesn' | Cherubic Hymn |
| 9 | Просительная ектения | Prositel'naya ekteniya | The Litany of Supplication |
| 10 | Символ веры: верую | Simvol very: veruyu | Credo |
| 11 | Милость мира | Milost' mira | The Eucharistic Prayer: A Mercy Of Peace |
| 12 | Тебе поем | Tebe poem | We Praise Thee |
| 13 | Достойно есть | Dostoyno est' | Hymn to the Mother of God: It Is Truly Meet |
| 14 | Отче наш | Otche nash | The Lord's Prayer: Our Father |
| 15 | Един свят | Edin svyat | One Is Holy |
| 16 | Хвалите Господа с небес | Khvalite Gospoda s nebes | Communion Hymn: Praise the Lord From The Heavens |
| 17 | Благословен граду - Видихом свет | Blagosloven gradu - Vidikhom svet | Blessed Is He - We Have Seen the Light |
| 18 | Да исполнятся уста наша | Da ispolnyatsya usta nasha | Hymn Of Praise: Let Our Mouths Be Filled |
| 19 | Буди имя Господне | Budi imya Gospodne | Blessed Be the Name of the Lord |
| 20 | Отпущение | Otpushchenie | Dismissal |

## Recordings

| Year | Conductor | Choir | Soloists | Label |
| 1978 | Mikhil Milkov | Chorus of Bulgarian Radio | Emilia Maximova (soprano) Veselina Zorova (contralto) Yordan Vidov (tenor) Vassil Stoytsov (tenor) Ivan Petrov (bass) | EMI Classics |
| 1982 | Karl Linke | Johannes-Damascenus-Chor für ostkirchliche Liturgie, Essen | P. Ludwig Pichler, SJ (Priest) Erwin Lohneisen (Deacon) Lucian Lamka (Lector) | Christophorus Records |
| 1988 | Vladimir Minin | Moscow Chamber Choir | | Мелодия (Melodiya) |
| 1993 | Nikolai Korniev | St. Petersburg Chamber Choir | | Philips |
| 1993 | Valery Polyansky | Russian State Symphony Cappella Choir | | Claves |
| 1994 | Matthew Best | Corydon Singers | Peter Scorer (Deacon) | Hyperion |
| 1996 | Anthony Antolini | Rachmaninoff Festival Choir | Father Andre Papkov (Bass) Anthony Antolini (Tenor) | |
| 1996 | Charles Bruffy | Kansas City Chorale | Father Andre Papkov (Protodeacon) David Adams (Celebrant) Pamela Williamson (Soprano) | Nimbus Records |
| 2002 | Olga Stupneva | The Rozhdestvo Choir of Solo Singers of St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society | Irina Mihalkina Zoe Tsererina Stanislav Leontiev (tenor) Vitaly Zolatorev Leonid Gladkov | IMLab |
| 2004 | Stephen Cleobury | Choir of King's College, Cambridge | Peter Scorer (Deacon) Tobias Sims | EMI Classics |
| 2006 | Kaspars Putniņš | Flemish Radio Choir | | Glossa Music |
| 2010 | Sigvards Kļava | Latvijas Radio koris (Latvian Radio Choir) | Kārlis Rūtentāls (tenor, Celebrant priest) Gundrars Dziļums (bass, Deacon) | Ondine |
| 2011 | Vladislav Chernushenko | St. Petersburg State Capella Choir | Ekatarina Savatskaya (soprano), Egor Semenkov (tenor, Priest), Oleg Radchenko (baritone), Vladimir Miller (basso profundo, Deacon) | IMLab |
| 2015 | Nicolas Fink | Rundfunkchor Berlin | | Clarus |
| 2022 | Kaspars Putniņš | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir | | BIS Records |