Hospodi Pomilui

"Hospodi Pomilui" (Russian: Господи помилуй), sometimes transliterated "Gospodi Pomilui," is a Russian devotional hymn by G.V. Lvovsky (1830–1894). Popularized in the United States by the Don Cossack Chorus in the 1930s, it was part of the repertoire of the Virginia Glee Club in the 1930s and early 1940s under Harry Rogers Pratt.

The earliest known American edition was published in English for SATB choir in 1916 by the Aeolian Choir of Brooklyn. Pratt performed it with the Glee Club beginning with his first concert, the Hospital Benefit Concert (1934), and the group also perfomed it in their New York City Tour (1936) as well as at the earliest Concert on the Lawn (1936).

The work was popular enough that the crowd at some performances called for it by name, as a review of the 1936 Concert on the Lawn noted:

In the interlude (while Mr. Pratt sounded pitch) cries and shouts for "Hospodi" were heard. Finally the mob ruled and "Hospodi Pomilui" got under way. We didn't know quite what it was either, but when the final rendition was done (we say final for a few "beer soured notes" first held sway) we knew that we had heard some first-class singing. If you've never heard "Hospodi," a Russian anthem, get "Pratt's Boys" to sing it.

Glee Club performances

• Hospital Benefit Concert (1934)
• Concert at Sweet Briar (1934)
• Concert at St. Catherine's (1934)
• Annual Concert (1935)
• 50th Anniversary Concert (1936)
• Concert at Barnard College (1936)
• New York City Tour (1936)
• Concert at the Plaza Hotel (1936)
• Concert at Richmond Women's Club (1936)
• Concert on the Lawn (1936)
• Concert at Norfolk (1937)
• Concert at Washington DC (1937)
• Easter Week Concert (1937)
• Concert at Norfolk (1937)
• Glee Club 1938-1939 season
• Concert at the Plaza Hotel (1940)
• Concert at Madison College (1941)
• Concert at Hollins College (1941)
• Finals Concert (2018)