The Composer prefaces his music by quoting two passages from the Bible. One is from Psalm LXVIII, beginning, 'Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered...' and the other, from the 16th Chapter of Mark, describes Mary Magdalene and the others coming to the sepulchre of Jesus, finding the stone rolled away, and hearing the wonderful tidings from the angel: 'He is risen!'
The Composer explained in his Autobiography that in this Overture he combined 'reminiscences of the ancient prophecy and of the gospel narrative: also a general picture of the Easter service with its 'pagan merry-making.' (He was, of course, speaking of the Russian fashion of celebrating the feast.)
'This legendary and heathen side of the holiday', he goes on, 'this transition from the gloomy and mysterious evening of Passion Saturday to the unbridled, pagan-religious merry-making on the morn of Easter Sunday, is what I was anxious to reproduce in my Overture.'