Pavel Chesnokov: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

2019 marks exactly 142 years since the birth of the great Russian composer, conductor, theorist of academic liturgical music - Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov. For many years, in temples, churches and chapels throughout Russia, choirs and choirs have been performing chants in his arrangements. The theoretical written heritage of Pavel Grigorievich is also invaluable, namely, a large-scale work called "The Choir and Its Management", which includes all the nuances that a novice conductor needs to know when working with an academic church choir.

The biography of Pavel Chesnokov is a bizarre combination of ups and downs, successes and black streaks in life, and the composer himself is an example of courage, courage and selfless devotion to his homeland and its centuries-old culture. The conductor devoted his entire conscious creative life to the study of Russian Orthodox church hymns, the preservation of the found material, the restoration of various types and versions of this or that work, as well as the creation of his own choral and solo arrangements, which have already become classics in the repertoire.any academic choir related to the performance of spiritual chants.

Biography

Pavel Chesnokov was born on October 12, 1877 in the Zvenigorod district of the Moscow province, in the family of a hereditary rural regent. From childhood, Pasha was attracted by his father's profession - Grigory Chesnokov conducted the church choir, compiled song books, and worked with musical spiritual works. Little Pasha grew up in an atmosphere of church music and prayers, sometimes trying to compose chants or perform parts in some spiritual chants during church services.

Until the age of seven, the boy already knew the entire course of the service by heart and had extensive experience in singing, which allowed him to enter the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing.

The teachers who taught Pavel Chesnokov were the famous conductors V. S. Orlov and S. V. Smolensky, who immediately noticed the boy’s unique ear for music, as well as an innate talent for studying, performing and creating academic church music.

Training

During his studies at the Synodal School, Pavel showed himself to be a diligent and diligent student. The young man devoted all his strength to the educational and creative process, not only studying the theoretical foundations of church singing, but also doing the basics of composition, vocals, conducting and regency work. Teachers noted the amazing tenacity with which the young student studied all aspects of the chosen profession.

Early years

The biography of Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov has retained quite a bit of information about the period of his life after graduation.

In 1895, the young regent graduated with honors from the Synodal School and received an honorary diploma and a first-class gold medal, giving him the right to teach and work in churches throughout Russia.

With incredible zeal, Pavel gets to work, trying to combine the activities of the conductor, conductor and teacher.

Immediately after graduation, he gets a job as a regent in several large cathedrals in Moscow, takes hours as a choral teacher in gymnasiums and women's institutes, leads several choirs, and also finds free time to play music.

The young master is interested in the very structure of spiritual chanting and the principles of its construction, so he spends a lot of time with Professor of the Moscow Conservatory S. I. Taneev, understanding the intricacies of polyphony and experimenting with various techniques for extracting sound in solo works and works for choral execution.

Teaching career

After several years of living at such a frantic pace, Pavel Chesnokov realizes that he is mentally prepared for great responsibility, and begins to actively teach. His first place of work was his native Moscow Synodal School, where Chesnokov taught the theory of academic music for ten years, as well as the basics of managing the choir. Along with this serious workPavel Grigorievich takes over the leadership of the Synodal Choir, a few years later agreeing to take the post of conductor in the Russian Choral Society Chapel.

Despite the monstrous workload and lack of time, Pavel Chesnokov performs his work responsibly in all his posts. Under his strict guidance, vocal groups became stronger, reached a fundamentally different level of performance. One of the oldest regents of Moscow, Nikolai Danilov, noted that the groups that were lucky enough to work under the leadership of Pavel Grigorievich were so popular that many singers were willing to pay weekly for the right to work in them.

Soon a short biography of Pavel Chesnokov was published in the magazine "Choral and Regency Affairs", in which, in addition to describing the life of the master, an excellent description of the composer as a person and musician deeply devoted to his faith, Motherland and his own work was given.

Creative activity

The period of popularity of the composer Chesnokov falls on the beginning of the last century. Pavel Grigorievich is called the "maestro of choral singing", "the recognized author of sacred music", but Chesnokov himself sees this as an additional incentive for an even more serious work schedule.

The master decides to undertake several tours around Russia, so that in each city along the way he not only gives concerts of academic music and conducts church choirs, but also tries to give at least a few lessons or help with advice to smallprovincial academic and spiritual groups.

At the same time, the conductor actively participates in the work of various regent symposiums and congresses of composers of sacred and classical music.

In 1917, the honored conductor of the Russian Empire, a brilliant musician and conductor, entered the Moscow Conservatory. According to the composer himself, his knowledge of the cause, to which he is devoted with all his heart, was imperfect and needed serious additions.

Having filled in the gaps, Chesnokov graduated from the conservatory with an honorary diploma and a silver medal, which was personally presented to him by M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, who became a close friend of the composer and supported him for many years.

Difficult years

1918 will begin to fill sad pages in the biography of Pavel Grigoryevich Chesnokov. The socialist revolution threw off the "yoke of tsarism" and abandoned almost all the traditions inherent in tsarist Russia, with the ban on religious beliefs, the closure of churches and the dissolution of church groups, Chesnokov's career as a composer began to decline.

The master himself inextricably linked his life and creative concept with the Orthodox faith, and now, deprived of the opportunity to create and work in the usual way, he was forced to change his life without betraying his principles.

At first, the conductor continues to work, at his own risk organizing concerts of academic music and taking part in divine services, somehow collecting choirs from the singers who remained in Moscow,however, over time, more and more people close to Pavel Grigorievich moved to other countries, leaving him alone with his heavy burden. In 1919, the composer's brother, Alexander Chesnokov, emigrated to Paris, but the conductor himself refused to leave his homeland with him, remaining true to his religious beliefs and a devoted patriot of the country.

Writing a book

In 1920, the composer's longtime friend and mentor, M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, invited the master to the post of professor of the department of choral music, thereby saving Chesnokov from starvation. Pavel Grigorievich finds consolation in working on his first and, unfortunately, the only book "Chorus and its management", which contains a huge amount of fundamental information, which is entirely based on the practical experience of Chesnokov himself.

The book came out with a delay of almost four years - the Soviet authorities still considered the composer an "enemy of the people" and a "religious element", so they deliberately delayed the publication of the book.

In addition to teaching at the conservatory, Pavel Grigoryevich actively worked with groups of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR.

Beliefs

Until his death during World War II, Pavel Chesnokov remained a devoted patriot of his homeland and a true Orthodox Christian. He considered the main thing in this life to be human dignity, the ability to correctly and honestly live the time measured by fate, having done as many good deeds as possible. In the memory of people, the composer believed,one must remain virtuous, or not at all.

Death

The biography of Pavel Chesnokov ended in the spring of 1944. The composer died in poverty and hunger, in a city where martial law was introduced. Despite the gravity of the situation, a funeral service was held over him, and the conductor was buried according to Orthodox custom. Chesnokov's grave is located at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

Academic work

The works of Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov are called by many authoritative critics and connoisseurs of academic church music as brilliant and put on a par with the works of such recognized masters of sacred music as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky or Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov. During his creative life, Pavel Grigorievich created about five hundred works in the genres of academic and sacred music. Despite the fact that the composer devoted himself to sacred music, he also has many works of a secular nature. Chesnokov was a great lover and connoisseur of ancient Russian culture. Therefore, he carefully preserved and restored classical folk romances, wrote his own arrangements for folk songs and ballads.