Vocalise was composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943), a Russian composer, concert pianist and conductor. Rachmaninoff's musical compositions often have lyrical melodies and a lush Romantic sound. He composed approximately 100 musical works such as piano concertos, sonatas and character pieces, as well as symphonies, operas, choral music, solo vocal music, instrumental pieces and chamber music.

Rachmaninoff composed Vocalise in 1912 (he later revised it in 1915), and it is the fourteenth song in his 14 Songs Op. 34. Although Vocalise has no text, the other thirteen songs in this collection were set to poems written by some of Russia 's most famous Romantic poets such as Pushkin, Polonsky and Korinfsky. Rachmaninoff wrote most of these songs to feature the unique abilities of specific Russian singers, and Vocalise was written with the singer Nezhdanova in mind. [1]