Orthodox Sacred Music Reference Library
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Gardner, Ivan
GARDNER, Ivan Alekseevich (1898-1984), known in the West as Johann von Gardner, was a unique and multi-faceted Russian musician and scholar, whose entire life, in one way or another, centered around Orthodox church music, Gardner was compelled to leave his homeland in 1920, living thereafter in Serbia (Yugoslavia), the Holy Land, Austria, and Germany. A portion of his life was lived under the name Philip, as a monk and later a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Towards the end of World War II, he left the priesthood, and devoted his life to Orthodox church music as a choirmaster, composer, scholar, and publicist. As a researcher and author, he single-handedly carried the torch of scholarship in the field of Russian Orthodox liturgical music, at a time his compatriots in the Soviet Union were prevented from doing so by the Communist regime. He authored a major two-volume history of Russian church singing (the first part of which is available in English translation) as well as several hundred articles and monographs. In his writings he sought to continue, through historical investigation and scholarly argument, the movement initiated at the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing—the attempt to return Russian liturgical music to its traditional Orthodox roots from which it had strayed in the 18th and 19th centuries under Western European influence.
Although Gardner’s contribution to this process as a composer is less known, he wrote over 100 sacred liturgical choral works, almost all of them based on authentic Znamenny, Demestvenny, Kievan and other chants. In his compositions he was in every respect a follower of the best traditions of the “New Direction” in Russian sacred choral composition—established by composers such as Kastalsky, Gretchaninoff, Chesnokov, Rachmaninoff, and others—using the full coloristic resources of the mixed choir in a rich palette of “choral orchestration.” Like many of the works of the Moscow School, Gardner’s compositionas and chant arrangements for the most part lay outside the capabilities of Russian émigré choirs, and thus remained unsung until recently. A fresh consideration of his works reveals Gardner to be an important composer whose creative legacy merits being incorporated into the mainstream corpus of the Orthodox sacred choral repertoire.
111 results found
He is worthy
Moscow Melody
At an ordination
SATB
In ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 41, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1959. Also, in ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 55, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1962.
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Gd058
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Alleluia in the 8 Tones
Kievan Chant
SATB
In pub. Dukhovno-muzykal'nye proizvedeniia I. A. Gardnera. Alliluiia (liturgiinoe), 8-mi glassov. Kievskogo raspeva. Partitura dlia a) smeshannogo khora i b) odnorodnogo khora, Jordanville, New York, USA: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1966.
Compositions dated 1952.
5
Gd022
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Alleluia in the 8 Tones
Kievan Chant
TTBB
In pub. Dukhovno-muzykal'nye proizvedeniia I. A. Gardnera. Alliluiia (liturgiinoe), 8-mi glassov. Kievskogo raspeva. Partitura dlia a) smeshannogo khora i b) odnorodnogo khora, Jordanville, New York, USA: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1966.
Compositions dated 1959.
5
Gd023
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Antiphons for Palm Sunday
Carpatho-Rusyn melody
I love the Lord, because He has heard
Vozliubikh, iako uslyshista Gospod'
SATB
Autograph from the composer's archive
Composition dated 1951.
2
Gd095
Blagoslovi, dushe moia, Gospoda
Bless the Lord, O my soul
Serbian Chant
First Antiphon
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
In ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 80, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1964.
Composition dated 1962.
4
Gd014
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Blessed are they whom Thou hast chosen
Old Chant
Communion Hymn for the Departed
SA(div)TB(div)
In ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 112, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1967.
Composition dated 1964.
3
Gd048
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LBS 157 - Gardner
The Beatitudes
In Thy Kingdom
Vo Tsarstvii Tvoem
TTBB
In pub. Blazhenny. 3-i antifon Liturgii, dlia odnorodnogo khora. Muzyka I. A Gardnera, Chevetogne, Belgium: Editions de Chevetogne, 1964.
3
Gd015
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Rich men have turned poor
Greek Chant
Ps. 33:10
SATB
In ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 41, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1959. Also, in ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 55, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1962.
2
Gd004
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Rejoice, O Virgin
Tone 4, Znamenny Chant
Exaposteilarion of Pascha
S(div)AT(div)B
Unpublished in composer's lifetime.
Printed edition
Manuscript dated 1955. First published in vol.: I. A. Gardner, Sobranie dukhovnykh sochinenii, San Francisco: Russky Pastyr’; Moscow: Zhivonosnyi istochnik, 2008.
Gd003
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LBS 157 - Gardner