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The Sacred Spirit of Russia
Notes from the pre-concert lectures by Dr. Vladimir Morosan
The notes in the program contain some general information about the Orthodox
Divine Liturgy and about the historical roots of the music. The pre-concert notes
that follow contain a few words specifically about each of the composers and their
pieces that will be heard in Conspirare’s performance.
The program begins with that best-loved of Russian composers—Peter Ilyich
Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), said to be the most-often programmed classical
composer of all time. Not everyone realizes, however, that in addition to his greatly
popular symphonic and operatic works, Tchaikovsky played a crucial role as a
trend-setter for a great flowering of sacred choral composition that occurred in
Russia at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th centuries. He composed two
seminal sacred choral works—the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, from which the
opening pieces, “Come, let us worship” and “Holy God,” on this program are taken,
and, five years later—the All-Night Vigil. In the Liturgy Tchaikovsky gave free rein to
his creative imagination, composing brand new music to the sacred texts of the
Divine Liturgy, a move that initially got him in trouble with the censors of the
Russian Imperial Chapel, but which ultimately resulted in the downfall of censorship
in the realm of choral music. In writing his Vigil, Tchaikovsky became the first major
Russian composer of modern times to make use of the national treasure-trove of
chant melodies, many of them centuries old. These two works, composed in 1878
and 1882, respectively, inspired dozens of Russian composers who followed him 1)
to turn their creative attention to writing sacred choral music for the Russian
Orthodox Church and, 2) to find new ways of clothing the age-old legacy of chant
into beautiful new garments of harmony and counterpoint.
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A vivid orchestrator with a flair for rich and brilliant colors, Tchaikovsky wrote
choral works that were equally rich in texture and sonority. But Tchaikovsky’s
works are surpassed in choral color by the works of his student at the Moscow
Conservatory, Alexander Kastalsky (1856–1926), who is represented by four works
on the program. Tchaikovsky certainly paved the way for a renewed interest in
sacred choral music, but it was Kastalsky who, in the late 1890s was hailed as the
founder of an entirely new style of Russian Orthodox choral composition.
Kastalsky’s achievement lay in the fact that he was an astute observer of Russian
village folk singing, and he recognized the vast variety of colors and textures of
sound that human voices could produce when singing as an ensemble—something
that the Russian people had done over a period of a thousand years. Kastalsky’s
choral works are like intricate and variegated tapestries, woven together out of
numerous strands of polyphonic voices. Making extensive use of actual chants and
chant-like melodies, they are intimately tied with the rhythms and inflections of the
sacred texts.
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Nowhere are these attributes more vividly demonstrated than in the “Great
Doxology,” the second piece on the program. Encompassing every possible
movement of the praying human heart, from exaltation to the deepest humility,
Kastalsky’s music sometimes soars towards the heavens, while at other times
murmurs in supplicatory intimacy. The Great Doxology is final major hymn from the
Orthodox morning office, which precedes the Divine Liturgy, and as it culminates
the prayerful movement towards enlightenment that occurs throughout the Matins
service, it prepares the faithful to enter into the timeless reality of the Divine
Liturgy.
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The Divine Liturgy begins with three hymns called “antiphons.” The composer
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859–1935) composed his Liturgy very much in the same
style of free composition as Tchaikovsky. In the opening psalm he beautifully
captures an air of reverent fear and trembling, a hushed sense of awe, which are
called forth by the words “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless
His holy name.”
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Alexander Gretchanínoff (1864–1956), in contrast to Ippolitov-Ivanov’s more
intimate style, was a painter of large canvases, a composer who strove to lend a
symphonic sweep to choral music, even sacred choral music for the church. Four of
his works appear on the program. In the first, “Only-begotten Son,” he masterfully
expresses the mystery of the Incarnation and Christ’s triumph over death. Using
contrasts of choral color and texture, alternating stark unisons with lush harmonies,
and motivic development, Gretchanínoff offers a fascinating early-20th century
interpretation of a sacred Christological text that dates back to as early as the 4th
century.
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The Orthodox Liturgy is not only an entrance, if only for a brief time, into heavenly
angelic worship, but it is also interpreted as a recollection of the earthly life of
Christ. Whereas “Only begotten Son” spoke of the incarnation of Jesus Christ as the
Son of God, the next hymn, “The Beatitudes,” presents the words of Jesus’s eloquent
Sermon on the Mount. Vladimir Martynov (b. 1946), the most recent composer on
tonight’s program, employs techniques that might be described as “minimalist”—
two soloists in alternation singing the words on a pentatonic melody, while the choir
sustains seemingly eternal, scarcely changing chords—thus evoking an atmosphere
of timelessness and heavenly angelic worship.
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Two processions of the clergy occur in the Orthodox Divine Liturgy; the first is the
Little Entrance with the Gospel, which symbolizes Christ’s first appearance in the
world as an adult teacher and the beginning of his earthly ministry. In Russian
cathedrals, this is a glorious moment, when the clergy assembled in the center of the
church—the bishop, surrounded by a multitude of priests, deacons, and altar
servers clergy, all in resplendent vestments—resonantly begin singing the Hymn of
the Entrance, “Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ,” while the choirs
and people interject, “Save us, O Son of God, who art risen from the dead.” As the
clergy slowly process into the Altar area, representing the Holy of Holies—the
throne-room of the King—the singing climaxes with a joyful “Alleluia.” The
composer Pavel Chesnokóv (1877–1944), who was a prominent church choirmaster
as well as a prolific choral composer, skillfully captures this moment in his
composition.
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Every Divine Liturgy commemorates a given feast or theme. The commemoration
chosen for this concert is the feast of the Nativity of Christ, and it is reflected by two
hymns proper to Christmas, the Troparion and the Kontakion. The great Russian
composer of the latter 20th century, Georgy Sviridov (1915–1998), could not openly
write sacred choral music during the Soviet era, but he is known to have spent much
time privately exploring and pondering the sacred texts. Thus, to his “Troparion of
Christmas,” written to a simple formulaic chord pattern similar to those used in
Russian churches, he imparts a thoughtful level of interpretation, building the choral
texture toward a climax on the final phrase, “O Lord, glory to Thee!”
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In the Kontakion of Christmas, Alexander Kastalsky employs a centuries-old
Znamenny Chant cantus firmus, which he surrounds with contrasting and colorful
harmonic textures, similar to those heard earlier in the Great Doxology. (The term
“znamenny” is derived from the word “znamia,” meaning sign or neume, and refers
to liturgical chant melodies that were written down in chant books using notation,
as opposed to those transmitted via oral tradition). In arranging this chant melody
polyphonically, Kastalsky employs musical text painting, using high voices when the
text speaks of angels singing with the shepherds, and a male chorus texture
speaking of the Wise Men, who are accompanied by the Star of Bethlehem—a gently
floating soprano descant melody.
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The feast of Christmas was one of the occasions in the early Christian Church when
newly illumined catechumens were received into the church through Baptism. For
this reason, the Liturgy program in this concert features the hymn “As many as have
been baptized into Christ,” a stately processional, which replaces “Holy God,” the
hymn customarily sung at this point. Once again, we hear how Kastalsky takes a
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Znamenny Chant and writes a set of “choral variations” on it, each time changing not
the melodic theme itself, but the choral “orchestration” surrounding it. In an actual
church service this hymn would be followed by some responsorial psalmody, the
appointed readings from Holy Scripture, and some intercessory litanies.
With the Litany, the teaching portion of the Divine Liturgy—“the Liturgy of the
Word”—draws to a close. In the early centuries of the Church, catechumens,
inquirers, and visitors would have been dismissed at this point, and only the
baptized faithful would continue to participate in the worship service.
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The Cherubic Hymn, one of the musically most important hymns of the Divine
Liturgy, begins the Eucharistic portion of the service, the “Liturgy of the Faithful.”
During this hymn, a clergy prepare to make the solemn Great Entrance, carrying
aloft the offerings of bread and wine that will later be consecrated to be the Body
and Blood of Christ. The procession occurs midway through the hymn, after which
the mystical and other-worldly character of the music changes to a triumphal
march, as if accompanying a conquering hero of ancient times: “…that we may
receive the King of All, invisibly upborne by the Angelic Host. Alleluia!” Once again,
we hear how Pavel Chesnokóv succeeds in musically evoking the solemn and
mystical atmosphere of this moment in the Liturgy.
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We have already spoken of Gretchaninoff’s tendency to push the envelope of
tradition, as he sought out new forms of musical expression for the Liturgy. In his
setting of the Nicene Creed, which in Russian churches is typically sung by the entire
congregation to a few simple chords, he employs an unprecedented new style:
assigning the words of the creed to a solo alto part, while the choir simply sustains
the words “I believe” underneath. In this way, Gretchanínoff invites the worshippers
to participate in the confession of faith in an extraordinary new way—rather than
getting caught up in attempts to express the text emotionally or to paint it musically,
as so many other composers had done before him, he invites the hearer simply to
focus on contemplating the depth and meaning of the words.
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The confession of faith is followed in the Liturgy directly by the Anaphora or Canon
of the Eucharist: after the initial dialog between the deacon, priest, and choir, the
celebrant reads a series of Eucharistic prayers, composed by St. John Chrysostom in
the 4th century, giving thanks to God for all and on behalf of all. For this, the most
sacred and solemn portion of the Liturgy Conspirare sings the Western-world
premiere of a setting by Alexander Kastalsky, again, a polyphonic arrangement of an
ancient Znamenny Chant. There is a simplicity of melodic design, an epic quality in
the chant cantus firmus, which takes its contour from the text. Kastalsky takes this
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chant theme and on the words “Hosanna in the highest” fashions it into a series of
polyphonic imitations, one of the first examples in Russian church music where the
chant is treated in this fashion. In two other passages, in the best tradition of
anonymous chant composers, Kastalsky includes two marvelous melismas of more
than 30 notes on the words “undivided” and “in the highest”—recalling an ancient
musical device to approximate angelic glossolalia—those sounds which, in the
words of St. Paul, “no ear has ever heard.”
Following the “Holy, holy, holy” and “Hosanna in the highest” the celebrant
pronounces the Words of Institution and calls upon the Holy Spirit to come and
transform the offerings of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, as the
hymn “We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee” is sung. The traditional
practice of the Russian Orthodox Church is not to include these sacred words in
concert performances on a stage, and out of respect for this tradition, Conspirare
will not include them in this concert. The choir will simply sing two “Amen’s” and
proceed directly to “We praise Thee,” a continuation of the Znamenny Chant setting
by Kastalsky. Once again, the composer uses a chant motive in imitation to fashion a
passage of great beauty and tender prayerful entreaty on the words “and we pray
unto Thee, O our God.”
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As the Eucharistic prayers continue, the celebrant prays for the whole Church—for
prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints—and especially for the ever-Virgin Mary, who is
given a special place of honor in the Orthodox Church as “Theotokos”—the “one
who gave birth to God.” On the feast of Christmas, the customary Hymn to the
Mother of God is replaced by a special festal proper, in this instance, a poetic
composition by St. John of Damascus, the great Syrian hymnographer of the late 7thearly 8th century. “It would be safer for us,” says the poet, “to remain silent in holy
fear.” “But,” he continues, as we might paraphrase him today, “help us to go out on a
limb, Holy Mother, and to compose intricately woven songs of praise out of our love
for you.” These amazing words are an example of an Orthodox hymnographer
reflecting poetically upon the very act of composing sacred hymnody, affirming the
Church’s belief that all beauty and inspiration ultimately comes from above,
destined through human cooperation (synergia) to be sent back to its Source. The
musical setting of this hymn is a simple unison Znamenny Chant, which offers a
small taste of how all church singing sounded throughout the first 600 years or so of
Christianity in the Slavic lands.
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The Holy Gifts have been prepared for Communion, and the faithful prepare for
participation in the Sacrament by praying the Lord’s Prayer. Once again, like the
Creed, this prayer is typically sung in Russian churches by the entire congregation
using a simple chordal recitative. But, as already seen earlier, when Alexander
Gretchanínoff sets a sacred text to music, things are likely to break precedent: in his
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Liturgy No. 2, composed in the year 1902, Gretchanínoff imparts to the text of the
Lord’s Prayer a scale and proportion that had never been encountered to that point.
Since there were no pre-existing melodies for the Lord’s Prayer, he invents chantlike motives and themes and then proceeds to develop them, while building rich and
contrasting harmonic textures.
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The Communion Hymn or Communion Verse is a short phrase, usually from the
psalms, that is sung while the clergy partake of Holy Communion in the altar
sanctuary. Chesnokóv has taken this short text, the first verse from Psalm 148 and,
using techniques of thematic development and imitative polyphony, fashioned an
extended choral piece of a few minutes’ duration. This is one rather unusual
instance in Russian Orthodox music when the words aren’t said simultaneously or
homorhythmically; in writing a brief fugato in the middle portion of the piece,
Chesnokóv borrows a device used by the great polyphonic masters of the West, from
Josquin and Palestrina to Bach and Handel.
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After the Communion Verse has been sung in the Liturgy, there is a period of some
duration before the priest comes out to offer Communion to the faithful. This time,
when no liturgical action is taking place, has traditionally been filled in Russian
church practice by “sacred concertos,” relatively extended choral pieces on texts
that usually but not always have some connection to the feast or event being
celebrated. Conspirare’s program features several such “sacred concertos.”
Georgy Sviridov, as mentioned earlier, was a far-ranging student of Orthodox sacred
texts, even though he had to pursue this interest secretly during Soviet times. His
“Having Beheld a Wondrous Birth” is a very obscure text, not set to music by any
composers before or after him. Undoubtedly he selected it because it captures the
very essence of the feast of Christmas: a miraculous birth—the Most High God being
born as a humble human—and in contemplating this wonder, we are transported
from earth to heaven, singing “Alleluia.”
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This piece was not included in all concert performances.
The Russian émigré composer Andrei Ilyashenko (1884–1954) fashioned a sacred
concerto from the text of the Hymn to the Mother of God, heard earlier. This
composer showed great promise and originality in some sacred pieces published
before the Russian Revolution of 1917. Like many of his predecessors and
contemporaries, Ilyashenko invented chant-like motives and used them to build
choral textures of rich and varied colors. He then emigrated and lived out his life as
a piano teacher, mostly in Brussels, Belgium, in relative obscurity, without the
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opportunity to publish his works or hear them performed. Tonight’s performance of
his sacred concerto, composed in 1922, is an American, and more than likely, a
world premiere.
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“Now the Powers of Heaven” is a Eucharistic processional hymn (cherubikon) taken
from Alexandre Gretchaninoff’s monumental cycle Passion Week, composed in 191112. The text of this hymn is from the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts, which is
sung on certain days of Great Lent and Holy Week. As in other examples on the
program, the composer exceeds all precedent, writing massive textures for double
choir in a late-Romantic outburst of opulence. It is unlikely that this work was ever
intended to be sung during an actual service, but increasingly, one hundred years
after its composition, Gretchaninoff’s Passion Week is being revived on concert
stages throughout the world.
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As mentioned earlier, Pavel Chesnokóv was not only a composer, but also a
renowned choral conductor and pedagogue. In his pioneering treatise on choral
conducting, The Choir and How to Direct It, Chesnokóv described the voice of the
bass octavists or basso profundo as being “so commonly known that we need not
expand upon it further.” Yet, even in Russia, good bass octavists were relatively rare,
and in the entire Russian choral literature there is only one sacred concerto written
expressly for basso profundo solo and choir. As it turns out, bassi profundi are also
found in America, though they are also rare. And since we have one here as a
member of Conspirare, the program offers the rare opportunity to hear some of the
lowest notes of which the human voice is capable.
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This piece was not included in all concert performances.
The section of sacred concertos closes with “Praise the Name of the Lord” from
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s (1873-1943) monumental All-Night Vigil, without doubt one
of the best known sacred choral works to come out of Russia, composed in 1915,
and now being performed extensively throughout the world. The use of hymns from
the All-Night Vigil as sacred concertos during the Liturgy is not entirely
unprecedented, and certainly, Rachmaninoff’s magnificent Znamenny Chant
arrangement, which contrasts the heavenly and earthly realms through the layering
of the voices in the choir, is a fitting close for this period of the faithful’s anticipation
of Holy Communion.
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While the build-up and preparation for Holy Communion in the Orthodox Divine
Liturgy is considerable and lengthy, the Conclusion of the Liturgy is relatively brief,
consisting of just a few hymns of thanksgiving, customarily sung to simple chants.
Sergei Rachmaninoff, in his setting of the Liturgy, dated 1910, freely composed like
Tchaikovsky’s, chose instead to give this text a much more profound and thoughtful
treatment. He lingers thematically and meditates harmonically on the words
“Mystery” (tayna) and “Truth” (Pravda)—inviting the worshipper to make a
spiritual connection between the Sacrament that had just taken place and its
ongoing translation into real life as one goes forth from the church.
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The ending of Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy, a double-chorus blaze of glory on the phrase
“Blessed be the Name of the Lord, henceforth and forevermore,” is used to wrap up
this concert rendition of the Liturgy as well. It is followed by a brief prayer,
“Preserve, O Lord, for Many Years,” by Gretchaninoff, invoking God’s blessings on all
mankind—this nation, the faithful, and members of the congregation (as well as the
audience).
—Copyright © 2013, by Vladimir Morosan
Courtesy of www.musicarussica.com
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