2 Russian choral composers

[Theophilus Lazarich]

Hello everyone,

I'm a complete newcomer to this site, and would first like to state my amazement at the wealth of knowledge for rare and obscure romantic composers and their music. It seems that almost every part of romantic era music has been touched upon by at least one member of this wonderful site!

That said, I wanted to ask about about two Russian composers, who don't seem to have very much information about them on the English-speaking internet. Their names are Aleksandr Dmitriyevich Sheremetev and Fyodor Alexeyevich Ivanov. Both seemed to have specialized in vocal (liturgical) music, yet there only appears to be 1 piece for each composer to be found on the internet. Ivanov's piece seems to have 2 performances, while Sheremetev's has several, which I will link here. It's possible that you'll have already heard these pieces before, as they seem to appear relatively often when searching for Russian liturgical music. My main question is, does anybody here know of recordings of other pieces by these composers? I haven't been able to find anything other than the aforementioned pieces on the English-speaking internet, so any information would be greatly appreciated.

Ivanonv:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjxq65QPW_Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrz15QJk164

Sheremetev:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po2jkIW0tWs

Also, in case anyone is interested, here are a couple of biographies about the composers, translated from Russian through Google translate. I'll provide links to the original articles.

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From Wikipedia (in Russian): https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B2,_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80_%D0%94%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87

Count Alexander Dmitrievich Sheremetev ( February 27, 1859 , St. Petersburg - May 18, 1931 , Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois ) - Russian philanthropist and amateur musician from the Sheremetev clan, creator of a private orchestra, head of the Court Singing Chapel , retinue of His Majesty General major The owner of the estates of Ostankino , Ulyanka , Voronovo and Sheremetev yard

The son of Count Dmitry Sheremetev from a late marriage with his second wife, Alexandra Melnikova. The single-brother of Count S. D. Sheremetev , grandson of Count N. P. Sheremetev, and singer Praskovya Zhemchugova .

He graduated from the Page Corps (1881), from where he was issued a cornet in the Cavalry Guard Regiment . In the years 1884-1889 - retired. In 1889-1894, he was adjutant to the commander-in-chief of the troops of the guard and the St. Petersburg military district , in 1894 - chief of the court, from 1899 - officer for special assignments under the Ministry of War. Adjutant Outhouse (1902). Major General Svita (1909) . The head of the aviation and automotive teams at the 6th Army (1915). Dismissed due to illness (04/14/1917).
The performance in the house
A.D. Sheremetev, 1894.

He studied music from Theodore Leshetitsky (piano), Ivan Melnikov (vocal), Vasily Vurma (cornet-a-piston). In 1882 he founded a private orchestra, which in 1898 began to give "folk" (public) symphony concerts. In 1908, he donated 20,000 rubles for the establishment of the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov scholarship at the St. Petersburg Conservatory .

In 1910–1916, he headed the St. Petersburg Musical-Historical Society , whose concerts constituted a notable addition to the musical life of the Russian capital: the society's orchestra, in particular, introduced the public to works by composers such as Jan Sibelius and Richard Strauss , and on December 21, 1913 ( January 3, 1914 ), on the initiative of Sheremetev, the Russian premiere of Richard Wagner 's opera Parsifal was presented with the invited Félia Litwin from Paris in the party Kundry.

On the initiative of Sheremetev, memorial plaques to Alexander Dargomyzhsky , Mily Balakirev , Alexander Serov and Modest Mussorgsky were installed in St. Petersburg, and an all-Russian fundraising was held for a monument to Tchaikovsky. In 1901–1917, he was the head of the Court Singing Chapel.

In 1892-1894 - the first chairman of the Russian Fire Society. In 1892 he participated in the device of the All-Russian Fire Exhibition. Published magazine "Fire."

After 1918, the count lived for 10 years at his dacha in the village of Tyurishevya , now independent Finland. By old age, the count moved to Paris.

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From The Orthodox Encyclopedia (Православная Енциклопедия): http://www.pravenc.ru/text/200493.html

Fedor Alekseevich (middle of the 50s of the XIX century, Zadonsky, Voronezh Gubernia, 04/24/1920, Moscow), regent, choral conductor, landlord spiritual choir. chapel, composer, singing teacher. Thanks to the extraordinary music. at the age of 9, he was accepted into the church choir of Zadonsk mon-re. Studying in Zadonsk DM, wrote several. spiritual music compositions included in the singing. practice mon-ri. At the age of 16 he became regent of the monastery choir. In 1870 he entered the Voronezh DS, in 5 years he managed a church choir known throughout the diocese. In 1876, Archbishop was invited to Warsaw. Leonty (Lebedinsky ; later Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna) to the post of regent of the bishop's choir. In this capacity he achieved great success in a short time, participating in numerous spiritual and secular concerts. At the same time led singing lessons in 3 wives. gymnasiums, husband The gymnasium, moreover, conducted a military orchestra at the Junker School. When he was busy, he graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory with a gold medal in 1880 and in the same year passed the exam in the Court Singing Chapel for the title of regent of the 1st category.

Since 1881, at the invitation of the famous merchant-music lover V.M. Rukavishnikov I., ruled in N.Novgorod his famous chapel, taught the church singing of boys, later. become regents in Nizhny Novgorod churches and singing teachers in urban schools. In parallel, he taught singing at the Nizhny Novgorod Mariinsky Institute. From 1886 he lived in Moscow, for 3 years was a regent of the former. The Spiritual Choir of the Russian Choir Society, which was called the "Theological Singing Chapel of F. A. Ivanov". In 1890, he held classes in spiritual singing with a choir of students of the Moscow University, and he also taught singing at the Alexandrovsky Institute, the Yermolo-Mariinsky School, and the 5th gymnasium. He was the head and teacher of church singing of private Moscow choirs V.N. Postnikov, M.N. Ozeretskovsky, S.V. Vasilyev, N.P. Bystrov, V.S. Galichnikov. He managed the choirs of workers at the factory of S. I. Prokhorov and employees of the Kazan Railway.

In 1901 he was invited as a regent to N. S. Perlov's choir, and from 1907 became its owner. Spiritual singing in Moscow, the chapel was widely known as the exemplary and most numerous (160; according to other sources, 200 singers - approximately equal numbers of boys and men). Chapel participated in worship in the Kazan Cathedral on the Red Square. and in 14 parish and home churches in Moscow, and also gave concerts. The degree of importance for I. of this work can be judged by the demands made on young singers, in which discipline and honest service were put in the first place.

I. paid special attention to juvenile choristers. In the chapel there was a school with the teaching of general subjects, which was administered by the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. When she worked the piano and violin classes, she was taught how to play folk instruments - a balalaika and a mandolin, there was a children's "Great Russian" (i.e., consisting of folk instruments) orchestra (36 children). In their free time, children were taught lathe craft and sawing on wood. The boys, to-rye ceased to sing because of the mutation of the voice, were credited to the funds of I. in the accounting classes of Choral Society. Upon graduation, certificates were issued, commendable sheets. There was a hostel for children, the content of which, however, was seriously criticized. School b-ka totaled more than 1 thousand titles of books and musical editions. The educational work was well-placed: visiting theaters, a circus, and organizing holidays. "Tipping" money for children was recorded in a special book and issued at the request of parents.

In Moscow, with the chapel, Perlova I. gave more than 20 concerts in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, the Noble Assembly, the Exchange Hall, etc .; the chapel also went on tour to N. Novgorod and Tula (1913). In the Moscow Manege, I. repeatedly ruled a joint choir of 1,000 people.

The programs of spiritual concerts of I. had an educational character and were compiled by him in the context of the requirements of the epoch from the works of classics and composers of the time — N. M. Kalashnikov , V. P. Titova , B. Galuppi , D. S. Bortnyansky , M. I. Glinka prot. Peter Turchaninov , A. F. Lvov , F. A. Bagretsov , G. F. Lvovsky , A. A. Arkhangelsky , P. I. Tchaikovsky , N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov , A. D. Kastalsky , A. T Grechaninov , prot. Dimitri Allemanov , V.S. Kalinnikov , N.I. Kompaneysky , S.V. Rakhmaninov , from his own works. In the concert of the choir I. at the III All-Russian Congress of Choral Figures in Moscow (1910), the history of church singing in Russia from the Old Rus was presented with explanations from DI Zarin . the chants (the Mother of God dogmatic unison, "On the Babylonian cross" of the demestvenny chant - 2-voice, "On the verb in the middle of it" of the demestvenny chant - 3-voice (end of the XVI century), "Yako tamo questions" - 4-voice ( XVII century.), "Heavens with dignity and have fun" - Titov's 12-voice concert) to the works of the beginning. XX century. I. also included in the concerts of church music of Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks, Georgians, Armenians, Western Europe. Catholic and Lutheran. spiritual music (compositions by J. Haydn, I. S. Bach, K. K. Kurpinski) and others (Ethnographic concert on March 13, 1911 in Moscow).

Active and purposeful, I. enjoyed prestige among his contemporaries. In 1909, in celebration of the 35th anniversary of his Regency activities, Prot. Dimitri Allemanov, on behalf of the Supervisory Board of the Synodal School, read the congratulatory address to the hero of the day. About the professional skills of I. allow you to judge the reviews in the periodicals.

Of the 200 spiritual and secular writings of I. most remained unpublished. Among the spiritual works of concert programs are known "Glory to God in the highest" with contrasting alternations of forte and piano, "Our Father" (for mixed choir and tenor solo), according to the reviewers, written with regard to the tastes of "eminent merchants" Our Lord "," The Legend of Alexander the Blessed's Death, "found I. and transcribed by him for the choir. Secular compositions for mixed choir and piano ("In the Forest", "On the Hunt", "Railway", "In Russia" - a large medley of Russian (11) and Little Russian (3) folk songs; ed.: Choir for Smes voices with piano accompaniment. M., b. g.) are generally distinguished by their own ingenuity, tartness of harmonic sound combinations and spectacular choral sound.