Chesnokov, Rachmaninoff, and Gretchaninoff
Russian Orthodox liturgical music constitutes a regular component of Chicago Chorale’s repertoire. We sing individual motets, or major works, drawn from the rich body of music composed during and after the very fertile period represented by the New Russian Choral School, roughly 1900-1917. Composers of that school, including Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944), Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), Alexander Gretchaninoff (1864-1956), drew their inspiration from Old Church Slavonic chant and Russian choral folk song, departing from the preceding century and a half of domination by Italian and German models. Led by musicologist Stepan Smolensky, who headed the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing and pioneered the historical study of ancient chant, these composers created an entirely Russian choral style marked by an endless array of dynamic nuances and choral timbres.
This liturgical music, for religious reasons, was not accompanied by instruments, and as such adapts well to the needs of choirs who are on tight budgets. The composers, inspired by Russia’s brilliant choral culture, were very creative at combining various voice types and ranges, heard in lively, resonant acoustics, to create a virtual orchestra of voices. And the repertoire is easily adaptable to non-liturgical performance: extensive liturgies can serve as major works for concert presentation, while the smaller, more intimate motets work well combined with other repertoire in church and concert settings. The harmonic idiom, vocal characteristics, and overall romantic, passionate character of the music are easily accessible to American audiences and choral ensembles.
Some of this music was known outside of Russia before the 1917 revolution, and some was smuggled out afterward. Despite the fact that scores were often inaccurate, with stilted English translations, many choirs performed the small number of pieces that were available, and clamored for more. At the end of the Cold War, a flood of music from Russian libraries became available, and has subsequently been released in the United States in good editions, with easy-to-use transliterations of the Old Slavonic texts, mostly due to the conscientious, painstaking work of Vladimir Morosan and his publishing house, Musica Russica, based in California.
Chorale will perform three short examples of this genre on our Christmas concerts. The first, Spaseniye sodelal (Salvation is Created), by Chesnokov, is a communion hymn, based upon a cantus firmus derived from Kievan chant. Chesnokov composed a cycle of ten such hymns, most of them harmonized settings of traditional chant melodies.
The second, Shestopsalmiye (The Six Psalms), is movement 7 of Rachmaninoff’s Vigil, Opus 37. Though part of a major work intended for performance leading up to any major church feast, its text consists primarily of the words proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men,” in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verse 14.
The third, Nine otpushchayeshi (Lord, Now Lettest Thou), is Gretchaninoff’s setting of the Song of Simeon, a regular element of the Vespers Service. According to the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 25-32, Simeon, a righteous old man, has been seated in the doorway of the Temple awaiting the Messiah. Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to the Temple, and Simeon, though blind, senses his presence and import, and declares himself ready to die. Though quite short, Gretchaninoff’s setting packs a wallop, and is generally considered one of his finest works.
