Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture
This 1888 overture is named for the Svetlïy prazdnik or "Bright holiday", as Easter is known in Russia. An avowed atheist, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that he wanted to capture "the transition from the solemnity and mystery of the evening of Passion Saturday to the unbridled pagan-religious celebrations of Easter Sunday morning". The piece paints vividly the explosion of light and colour at the end of a long, hard Russian winter.
Religious and pagan themes are entwined at the very heart of the work: Rimsky-Korsakov borrowed themes from the Obikhod, a collection of Orthodox chants that since 1848 had been a mandatory part of the liturgy for every church in Russia. These austere motifs shine through the wild textures of the orchestra, no more so than at 8’35 when a solo tenor trombone ("a piena voce") evokes the chanting of a priest.
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