Pavel (Paul) Grigorievich Tchesnokov (Russian: Павел Григорьевич Чесноков) (1877–1944), also transliterated Tschesnokoff, was a Russian composer, conductor and teacher. He composed over five hundred choral works, over four hundred of which are sacred. Today, he is most known for his piece Salvation is Created. 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... A conductor conducting at a ceremony A conductors score and batons Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Life

Pavel Tchesnokov was born in the Government of Vladimir, near Moscow on October 24, 1877 and died on March 14, 1944. Tchesnokov was known throughout Russia as a composer, teacher, and choral instructor. While attending the Moscow Conservatory^[1], he received extensive training in both instrumental and vocal music including nine years of solfege, and seven years training for both the piano and violin. His studies in composition included four years of harmony, counterpoint, and form. During his years at the school, Tchesnokov had the opportunity to study with prominent Russian composers like Sergei Taneyev^[2] , and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov^[3] , who greatly influence his style of liturgy driven, choral composition. For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ... The Moscow Conservatory (Московская Государственная Консерватория им. П.И.Чайковского) is a prominent music school in Russia. ... Sergey I. Taneev. ... Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (November 19, 1859 – January 28, 1935) was a Russian composer, conductor and teacher. ...

At an early age, Pavel Tchesnokov gained recognition as a great conductor and choirmaster while leading many groups including the Russian Choral Society Choir. This reputation earned him a position on staff at the Moscow Conservatory where great composers and music scholars like Tchaikovsky shared their skills and musical insight. There he founded a choral conducting program, which he taught from 1920 until his death. The Moscow Conservatory (Московская Государственная Консерватория им. П.И.Чайковского) is a prominent music school in Russia. ... Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский, sometimes transliterated as Piotr, Anglicised as Peter Ilich), (May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893 (N.S.); April 25, 1840 – October 25, 1893 (O.S.)) was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. ...

By age thirty, Tchesnokov had completed nearly four hundred sacred choral works but his proliferation of church music came to a standstill at the time of the Russian revolution. Under communist rule, no one was permitted to produce any form of sacred art.^[4] So in response, Tchesnokov composed an additional one hundred secular works, and conducted secular choirs like the Moscow Academy Choir and the Bol’shoy Theatre Choir. With Stalin as dictator of the U.S.S.R., many of the religious persuasion suffered for his effort to enforce a universal doctrine of atheism. In this pursuit, Christ the Savior Cathedral,^[5] whose last choirmaster had been Tchesnokov, was destroyed. This bothered Tchesnokov so much that he stopped writing music all together. Russian Revolution can refer to: Russian Revolution (1905), a series of strikes against Tsar Nicholas II Russian Revolution (1917) February Revolution, resulting in the abdication of Nicholas II of Russia October Revolution, the Bolshevik seizure of power Third Russian Revolution, the failed anarchist revolution against the Bolsheviks and the White... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Soviet redirects here. ...

Notes

1. ^ The Moscow Conservatory was the center of Russian music. It was a great contributor to the distribution of Western as well as nationalistic ideals and styles of music throughout all of Eastern Europe. It was the 'Juilliard' of Russia (Bakst 1966).
2. ^ Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (b. Nov. 25, 1856 – d. Jun. 19, 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist who studied composition with Tchaikovsky at the Moscow Conservatory from 1866-75. In 1880, he succeeded Tchaikovsky as professor of instrumentation, and later in 1885-89 served as Director of the Moscow Conservatory. As a theorist, he opposed the nationalist leanings of the Kuchka, or the Russian Five which included Balakireff, Cui, Mussorgsky, Borodin, and Rimsky-Korsakoff (Thompson 1975).
3. ^ Mikhail Mikailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (b. Nov. 19, 1859 – d. Jan. 28, 1935) was a Russian composer who studied with Rimsky-Korsakoff. His music is in the tradition of the Russian national school. After the Revolution he became the director of the Moscow Conservatory, and in 1925 he was appointed conductor of the Moscow Opera. As a Russian nationalist, he supported the ideas of the Russian revolution (Thompson 1975).
4. ^ “… every science, every philosophy, every art ceases to enjoy freedom of growth” under communist rule. Artists were expected to create the new music and culture of the proletarian society. Following Karl Marx, the communist state of Russia called religion “opium for the people.” Consequently, the Soviet leaders were all militant atheists, determined to uproot religion from Russian society. All religions were suppressed and the power of the Old Russian Orthodox Church destroyed. Along the same lines, works of any religious nature were banned completely (Leonard 1956).
5. ^ The church was demolished in 1933 in order to free the land for the construction of a House of Soviets - a massive skyscraper intended to house various government authorities and promote the Soviet regime. The building was to be topped with a 100-meter-tall aluminum statue of the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. However, due to numerous technical difficulties the building was never actually constructed and the site was instead devoted to the creation of an outdoor swimming pool, which occupied the area till the early 90s, when government officials began to seriously consider a project to rebuild the church as it had been in Ton's day. It was reconstructed in the early 1990’s (Moscow Hotels, JSC 2001-2007).

Some notable works

• Corpus
• Salvation is Created (1912)
• O Lord God
• Now We Sing the Praise

References

• Bakst, James. A History of Russian-Soviet Music. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1966.
• deAlbuquerque, Joan. Salvation Is Created, Pavel Tschesnokoff (1877-1944). Vol. IV, in Teaching Music through Performance in Band, by Larry Blocher, Eugene M Corporon, Ray Cramer, Tim Lautzenheiser, Edward S. Lisk and Richard Miles, 370-374. Chicago, IL: GIA Publications, Inc., 1997-2002.
• Leonard, Richard Anthony. A History of Russian Music. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1956.
• Moscow Hotels, JSC. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 2001-2007. http://www.moscow-taxi.com/churches/cathedral-of-christ-savior.html (accessed April 8, 2008).
• Thompson, Oscar. The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. Tenth Edition. Edited by Bruce Bohle. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975.

External links

• Salvation is Created at ChoralWiki