In 1971, a festival in Helsinki commissioned three compositions for three different liturgical occasions. Namely a Lutheran, a Roman Catholic and an Orthodox. The 'orthodox' assignment fell to Einojuhani Rautavaara. This involved a vigil (a liturgical night watch), comparable to Rachmaninov's Vespers op.37. The performance of Rautavaara's test was scheduled for August 29, 1971. This was both a Sunday
… and the feast day for John the Baptist. Hence, for this occasion, the standard text of the vigil was combined with references to the story of John. Furthermore, Rautavaara was inspired by a childhood memory. As a ten-year-old boy - on the eve of WWII - he took a boat trip to a fog-surrounded monastery on an island, while the bronze sound of the bells rang out towards him. Then he distinguished the monks with their beards and the icons of the saints and the angels. Impressions that found their way to his first piano cycle, Icons, and thus also to the Vigilia of 1971. (HJ)more