Smolensky, Stepan

SMOLENSKY, Stepan Vasil’yevich (b. 8 [20] October 1848, Kazan’; d. 20 July [2 August] 1909, Vasil’sursk) — trained as a lawyer and a teacher of history, studied music on his own; directed a church choir in Kazan and studied ancient chant with the Old Ritualists. From 1889 through 1901 served as Director of the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing and professor of the Moscow Conservatory in Russian church singing. In 1901–03 was Director of the Imperial Court Chapel in St. Petersburg. In 1907 founded the Precentors’ School in St. Petersburg — the ﬁrst institution in Russia for preparing choral conductors with open admissions. Author of numerous monographs and articles in the history and theory of Russian church singing. Was responsible for assembling a vast collection of ancient Russian musical manuscripts (now at the State Historical Museum in Moscow). As a composer of sacred music, Smolensky composed relatively little: a Memorial Service for male chorus, “Litanies” and the “Paschal Stichera” in znamenny chant, “Khvalite imia Gospodne” [“Praise the name of the Lord”] and “Kto Bog velii?” [“Who is so great a God?”] (all published privately); he also compiled a number of simple arrangements of common hymns for male chorus. Of much greater signiﬁcance is Smolensky’s influence on performance and compositional activity in the ﬁeld of Russian church music. The reforms he carried out at the Moscow Synodal School established the Synodal Choir on the highest artistic level and stimulated a number of composers to write works for the church, using ancient chants and indigineously Russian musical elements (e.g., counter-voice polyphony, a variable texture, modal harmony). Smolensky’s followers — Alexander Kastalsky, Alexander Grechaninov, Pavel Chesnokov, Alexander Nikolsky, and others — created an entirely new direction in Russian church music at the turn of the 20th c.

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Title: Budi imia Gospodne

Title (translated): Blessed be the name of the Lord

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Liturgical designation: Dismissal sentence

Voicing: S(div)AT(div)B

Publication data: n.p. no # 1904

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 2

Cat. no.: Sm008

Title: Ekteniia malaia

Title (translated): The Little Litany

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Arrangement of: [Znamenny Chant]

Text incipit (translated): Gospodi, pomilui

Voicing: S(div)AT(div)B

Publication data: n.p. no # 1904

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 1

Cat. no.: Sm004

Title: Ekteniia velikaia

Title (translated): The Great Litany

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Arrangement of: [Znamenny Chant]

Text incipit (translated): Gospodi, pomilui

Voicing: S(div)AT(div)B

Publication data: n.p. no # 1904

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 2

Cat. no.: Sm003

Title: Glavneishiia pesnopeniia Bozhestvennoi Liturgii, Molebnogo peniia, Pannikhidy i Vsenoshchnago bdeniia, perelozhennyia dlia khora muzhskikh golosov St. V. Smolenskim. Vypusk I. Pesnopeniia Bozhestvennoi Liturgii

Title (translated): The Main Hymns of Divine Liturgy, the Prayer Service, the Memorial Service, and the All-Night Vigil, arranged for a choir of men's voices by S. V. Smolenskii. Volume 1. Hymns of the Divine Liturgy

Voicing: TTBB

Publication data: St. Petersburg: Prilozhenie k zhurnalu "TSerkovnyie vedomosti, izdavaemyie pri Sviateishem Sinode", 1893

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 49

Cat. no.: Sm020-Sb

Voicing: TTBB

Publication data: St. Petersburg: Prilozhenie k zhurnalu "TSerkovnyie vedomosti, izdavaemyie pri Sviateishem Sinode", 1893

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 34

Cat. no.: Sm021-Sb

Voicing: TTBB

Publication data: St. Petersburg: Prilozhenie k zhurnalu "TSerkovnyie vedomosti, izdavaemyie pri Sviateishem Sinode", 1893

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 148

Cat. no.: Sm022-Sb

Title: Khvalite imia Gospodne

Title (translated): Praise the name of the Lord

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Arrangement of: Ancient Chant

Liturgical designation: Polyeleion

Text source: Ps. 134[135]:1,21; 135[136]:1,26

Voicing: S(div)AT(div)B

Publication data: n.p. no # 1904

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 4

Cat. no.: Sm002

Title: Ottsa i Syna

Title (translated): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Arrangement of: [Znamenny Chant]

Liturgical designation: Response after the Peace

Voicing: S(div)AT(div)B

Publication data: n.p. no # 1904

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 1

Cat. no.: Sm007

Title: Panikhida na temy iz drevnikh rospevov, dlia khora muzhskikh golosov

Title (translated): Memorial Service on melodies of early chants for Male Chorus

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Voicing: TTBB

Publication data: St. Petersburg: Energiia, 1905

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 17

Cat. no.: Sm009-Sm017

Titles in collection: 9 Click [+] to expand

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No. in collection: 1

Title: [No. 1] - Velikaia ekteniia

Title (translated): The Great Litany

No. of pages: 1

Cat. no.: Sm009

No. in collection: 2

Title: [No. 2] - Alliluia

Title (translated): Alleluia

No. of pages: 1

Cat. no.: Sm010

No. in collection: 3

Title: [No. 3] - Tropari

Title (translated): Troparia

No. of pages: 7

Cat. no.: Sm011

No. in collection: 4

Title: [No. 4] - Irmos, Pesn' 3-ia

Title (translated): Heirmos of the Third Ode

No. of pages: 2

Cat. no.: Sm012

No. in collection: 5

Title: [No. 5] - Irmos, Pesn' 6-ia

Title (translated): Heirmos of the Sixth Ode

No. of pages: 1

Cat. no.: Sm013

No. in collection: 6

Title: [No. 6] - Kondak

Title (translated): Kontakion

No. of pages: 1

Cat. no.: Sm014

No. in collection: 7

Title: [No. 7] - Pripev na 9-i pesni; Irmos, Pesn' 9-ia

Title (translated): Refrain and Heirmos of the Ninth Ode

No. of pages: 2

Cat. no.: Sm015

No. in collection: 8

Title: [No. 8] - Tropari

Title (translated): [Concluding] Troparia

No. of pages: 3

Cat. no.: Sm016

No. in collection: 9

Title: [No. 9] - Vechnaia pamiat'

Title (translated): Memory eternal

No. of pages: 1

Cat. no.: Sm017

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Title: Prositel'naia ekteniia

Title (translated): The Litany of Supplication

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Arrangement of: [Znamenny Chant]

Text incipit (translated): Podai, Gospodi

Voicing: S(div)AT(div)B

Publication data: n.p. no # 1904

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 2

Cat. no.: Sm006

Title: Stikhiry Sv. Paskhi

Title (translated): The Paschal Stikhera

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Arrangement of: [Znamenny Chant]

Text incipit (translated): Da voskresnet Bog

Voicing: S(div)AT(div)B(div)

Publication data: n.p. no # 1904

Description of source: First printed edition

Remarks: defective original

No. of pages: 16

Cat. no.: Sm001

Title: Sugubaia ekteniia

Title (translated): The Augmented Litany

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Arrangement of: [Znamenny Chant]

Text incipit (translated): Gospodi, pomilui

Voicing: S(div)AT(div)B

Publication data: n.p. no # 1904

Description of source: First printed edition

No. of pages: 2

Cat. no.: Sm005

Title: Velikii prokimen na Rozhdestvo Khristovo, Paskhu, i Troitsyn Den'

Title (translated): Great Prokeimenon [at Vespers] for the Nativity of Christ, Pascha, and Pentecost

Opus no.: N.O.N.

Text incipit (translated): Kto Bog velii

Voicing: S(div)A(div)T(div)B(div)

Publication data: Kh.R.D. no. 2 (1909)

Description of source: First printed edition

Remarks: defective original

No. of pages: 4

Cat. no.: Sm018

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Smolensky, Stepan

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