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
And all mankind
Znamenny Chant
TTBB
In pub. Gesänge der heiligen und güttlichen Liturgie nach byzantinisch-slawischem ritus. Für einfachen vierstimmigen Chor zusammengestellt von Johann von Gardner, Krefeld-Traar, Germany: Verlag St. Andreas, 1954.
Gd045
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Cherubic Hymn. No. 1
Staro-Simonov Monastery Melody
Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim
Izhe Kheruvimy
S(div)AT(div)B
In pub. Dukhovno-muzykal'nye proizvedeniia I. A. Gardnera: partitura dlia smeshannogo khora, New York, USA: Russian Orthodox Theological Fund, 1963. Also, in ser. Tserkovno-khorovaia biblioteka: partitury dlia tserkovnogo khora, No. 5, Salzburg, Austria: Луч, [n. d.].
Composition dated 1943.
8
Gd025
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Cherubic Hymn. No. 2
Sofroniev Melody
Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim
Izhe Kheruvimy
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
In pub. Dukhovno-muzykal'nye proizvedeniia I. A. Gardnera: partitura dlia smeshannogo khora, New York, USA: Russian Orthodox Theological Fund, 1963. Also, in ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 221, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1978. Also, in ser. Tserkovno-khorovaia biblioteka: partitury dlia tserkovnogo khora, No. 28, Salzburg, Austria: Луч, [n. d.].
Composition dated 1952.
Gd026
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Praise the Name of the Lord
Abbr. Kievan Chant
Polyeleios
S(div)A(div)TB(div)
In ser. Tserkovno-khorovaia biblioteka: partitury dlia tserkovnogo khora, No. 8, Salzburg, Austria: Луч, 1953.
Composition dated 1951.
Gd006
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Praise the Name of the Lord
Serbian Chant
Polyeleios
TTBB
Unpublished in composer's lifetime.
From I. G. Drobot's personal collection. Manuscript dated 1961. First published in vol.: I. A. Gardner, Sobranie dukhovnykh sochinenii, San Francisco: Russky Pastyr’; Moscow: Zhivonosnyi istochnik, 2008.
Gd007
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Praise the Name of the Lord. No. 2
Serbian Chant
Polyeleios
S(div)AT(div)B(div)
Unpublished in composer's lifetime.
From I. G. Drobot's personal collection. Manuscript dated 1960. First published in vol.: I. A. Gardner, Sobranie dukhovnykh sochinenii, San Francisco: Russky Pastyr’; Moscow: Zhivonosnyi istochnik, 2008.
Gd008
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Before Thy Cross
Kievan Chant
Trisagion Hymn for feasts of the Cross
S(div)AT(div)B
In ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 88, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1965.
Composition dated 1953.
3
Gd021
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LBS 157 - Gardner
Who is this King of Glory
For the consecration of a church
S(div)AT(div)B
In ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 176, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1972. Аlso, in ser. Tserkovno-khorovaia biblioteka: partitury dlia tserkovnogo khora, No. 34, Salzburg, Austria: Луч, [n. d.].
Composition dated 1953.
2
Gd106
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LBS 157 - Gardner
A mercy of peace. No. 1(a)
Kievan Chant
Anaphora
SAT(div)B(div)
In ser. Notnaia biblioteka pravoslavnogo khristianina, No. 170, Berkeley, CA: The Orthodox Press, 1972.
Composition dated 1952.
4
Gd030
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LBS 157 - Gardner
A mercy of peace. (No. 1b)
Kievan Chant
Anaphora
TTBB
In pub. Gesänge der heiligen und güttlichen Liturgie nach byzantinisch-slawischem ritus. Für einfachen vierstimmigen Chor zusammengestellt von Johann von Gardner, Krefeld-Traar, Germany: Verlag St. Andreas, 1954.
Gd031
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LBS 157 - Gardner