Dormition is a feast mixed with joy and sadness. Although the Church mourns the death of the Virgin Mary, it also celebrates her as the first fruits of mankind’s salvation: as the Troparion of the feast relates, she was translated from life here on earth to life with her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in heaven. The program opens with three settings of the festal Troparion: the first version is a Byzantine Chant setting, sung by the Boston Byzantine Choir, Charles Marge, director, on their CD First Fruits; the second is a Church Slavonic setting to znamenny chant, arranged by the Russian composer Alexander Kastalsky, sung by the Ural Choir, Vladislav Novik, conductor, on a CD that is out of print; and the third setting is sung in Greek by the Dormition of the Theotokos Church Choir of Greensboro, North Carolina, Kevin Lawrence, conductor, on their CD entitled “Prepare the Feast” (CD I-76).

The festal stichera at Lord, I have cried, “O marvellous wonder,” sung to a special pattern melody (avtomelon or samopodoben) that also serves as a model for many other hymns, are heard in three different versions: first, a version in English, sung by the Choir of SS Peter and Paul Church from Ben Lomond, California, Alice Hughes and Anne Schopp, directors, on a CD entitled Rejoice, O Virgin; then, in Church Slavonic, sung by the Russian “Drevnerussky Rospel” Choir, Anatoly Grindenko, conductor; and third,, a Byzantine Chant setting by Iakovos Protopsalis, sung by the Greek Byzantine Choir, Lycourgos Angelopoulos, director. The two latter CDs are out of print.

The Doxastichon or “Glory” verse at Lord, I have cried is a musical “tour de force” in honor of the Falling Asleep of the Mother of God. Instead of being sung in one designated Tone or Mode, this lengthy verse is sung in ALL EIGHT Tones in succession. It is sung by the Schola Cantorum of St Peter, J. Michael Thompson, conductor, on a CD that is out of print.

The Kontakion of the feast is sung in Slavonic to a melody of the Kievan Monastery of the Caves by the Akathist Male Chamber Choir, Andrei Maliutin, conductor. The text reads:

Neither the tomb, nor death, could hold the Theotokos,
who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.
For being the Mother of Life,
she was translated to life by the One Who dwelt in her virginal womb.

The program closes with the festal Hymn to the Theotokos from Liturgy by the late 20th-century Russian composer Deacon Sergius Trubachov, sung by the Ural Choir. The text reads as follows:
 

The Angels, as they looked upon the Dormition of the Virgin, were struck with wonder,
seeing how the Virgin went up from earth to heaven.

Heirmos: The limits of nature are overcome in you, O Pure Virgin:

for birthgiving remains virginal, and life is united to death;
a virgin after childbearing and alive after death,
you ever save your inheritance, O Theotokos.

Everyone at OCN wishes you a blessed feast of the Dormition!