Orthodox Sacred Music Reference Library
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Kompaneisky, Nikolai
KOMPANEISKY, Nikolai Ivanovich (b. 1848, Priyutino, nr. Taganrog; d. 17 [30] March 1910, St. Petersburg) — studied at the Nikolayevsk Cavalry School; took lessons in cello and music theory, studied vocal technique with the outstanding opera singer Osip Petrov. Was friends with the leading composers of the nascent Russian nationalist school, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Modest Musorgsky, Alexander Serov and others, under whose influence he wrote two operas on national themes: Taras Bulba and May Night (which he subsequently burned); his other secular works — a symphony, romances — have not survived either. With the rise in the 1890s of the «New Direction» in Russian Orthodox sacred music, K. began to compose arrangements of church chants and write extensively as a musical critic and publicist (in such magazines as Russkaia muzykal'naia gazeta, Muzyka i penie, et al.) on topics related to church singing. Together with Archpriest Mikhail Lisitsyn, Semyon Panchenko, and Nikolai Cherepnin, K. comprised the St. Petersburg contingent of the New Direction.
Kompaneisky was an advocate of an unadulterated “Old Russian” style in church composition. The guiding principle of his chant arrangements was not so much the “harmonization” of church melodies, in which the top voice is underpinned with subordinate parts that lack independent interest, but rather the contrapuntal combination of characteristic melodic elements — “chantlets” (povevki) that comprise a given church chant. His works possess a churchly quality, are expressive, and display a close correlation between music and text; and while at times they may lack technical polish, this was a fact that the composer himself unapologetically admitted. Among the techniques one frequently encounters in his arrangements are elements (such as voice leading and unison cadences) consciously borrowed from Russian folk song. In his works K. attempted to introduce what he referred to as a purely Russian, vocal-choral “symphony,” based on counter-voice heterophony, applied to church music. He successfully fought for the uncensored publication of sacred choral works against the claims of the supervisory council of the Moscow Synodal Choir School; after initial difficulties in obtaining permission to publish his works, most of them (over 50) were published by P. Jurgenson. His major sacred works include the Theotokia Dogmatika in znamenny chant (1900–1903) and the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, based on Bulgarian chants (1906).
74 results found
[Resurrectional] Heirmoi in Tone 1
S.Op. 37
Znamenny Chant
Tvoia pobeditel'naia desnitsa
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
PJu #33115 n.d.
First printed edition
13
Km064
[Resurrectional] Heirmoi in Tone 7
S.Op. 38
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
PJu #33116 n.d.
First printed edition
14
Km065
[Resurrectional] Heirmoi in Tone 8
S.Op. 39
Znamenny Chant
Kolesnitse gonitelia Faraona
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
PJu #33117 n.d.
First printed edition
14
Km066
Irmosy na Rozhdestvo Khristovo
Heirmoi for the Nativity of Christ
S.Op. 36
Znamenny Chant
Khristos razhdaetsia
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
PJu #33114 n.d.
First printed edition
16
Km063
The Heirmoi of Pascha
S.Op. 16
Russian Greek Chant
Voskreseniia den'
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
PJu #30992 1903
First printed edition
14
Km017
Iz kanona molebnago ko presv. Bogoroditse
From the supplicatory kanon to the Most Holy Theotokos
S.Op. 9
PJu #29150 1903
First printed edition
Defective original
7
Km009-010
1
Turn not away the streams of my tears
S. Op. 9a
Troparion at the 9th Ode
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
1
Km009
Cherubic Hymn
N.O.N.
Izhe kheruvimy
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
n.p., n.d.
First printed edition
Defective original
6
Km071
Cherubic Hymn
S.Op. 21
Izhe kheruvimy
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
PJu #30997 1903
First printed edition
Defective original
7
Km022
Cherubic Hymn
S.Op. 29
Georgian Chant
Izhe kheruvimy
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
PJu #33119 n.d.
First printed edition
7
Km056
Cherubic Hymn
S.Op. 22
Great Russian Melody
Izhe kheruvimy
S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)
PJu #30998 1903
First printed edition
7
Km023