Russian Sacred Music of the Late Nineteenth Century: Differences and Similarities of the Moscow and St
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Russian Sacred Music of the Late Nineteenth Century: Differences and Similarities of the Moscow and St. Petersburg Schools in Theory and Practice in an Age of Reform. Nataliia Kornetova BEd, Voronezh State Pedagogical University A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2017 School of Music ii Abstract The history of music in the Russian Orthodox Church is a long and complex one that evolved alongside the cultural, political, and social developments of the church since the Christianisation of ancient Rus'1 in the tenth century. Similar to many aspects of Russian cultural life, church music underwent a development that is now seen not only in the context of changes within the country, but also through foreign influences since the seventeenth century. Following the strongly Western flavour of the work of D. S. Bortnyansky, as composer and church-music authority of the eighteenth century, and the censorship of N. I. Bakhmetev of church music during the 1860s and 70s, possibilities emerged, in a climate of debate, for the revitalisation and reform of Russian church music. During the mid to later stages of the nineteenth century, church music was also affected by the intellectual climate in which the pros and cons of integration with Western culture were hotly debated. In particular, the reformist agenda settled on composers, inspired by the thinking of S. V. Smolensky, centred in Moscow. From this arose competing ideologies (paralleled in many rivalries between the two capitals) amongst composers grouped, on the one hand, in Moscow (such as S. V. Smolensky, A. D. Kastal'sky, S. I. Taneyev, M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, A. T. Grechaninov, and P. G. Chesnokov) and, on the other, St. Petersburg (such as P. I. Tchaikovsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, and A. A. Arkhangel'sky). As in any process around reform, the debate about church music at the end of the nineteenth century reveals differences in doctrine and practice. The current thesis contends, through an examination of selected representative works of Russian church music from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (prior to 1917), that the theory-practice gap was more significant than is usually recognised, and, moreover, has this phenomenon is not as well understood as it deserved to be. Early chapters review the current state of knowledge in the field (chapter 1) and develop a context for understanding the motivations and actions of the reformists (chapter 2), as well as documenting and discussing the specific nature of and problems inherent in the reforms (chapter 3). In chapter 4, a range of representative works of composers from both the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools of late-nineteenth-century Russian sacred music are examined from a range of parameters (textual, textural, intervallic, and compositional) showing that claims about differences are overstated. The conclusion provides a synthesis of the contextual and critical chapters and 1. This term refers to a federation of East Slavics tribes. Its territory stretched from Baltic Sea to Black Sea and covered territories of current Eastern Europe that includes Belarus, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia Russia, and Ukraine. iii provides explanations for the discrepancy in theory and practice based on a range of causes, from the purely pragmatic to the ideological and the political. iv Declaration by author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my research higher degree candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the policy and procedures of The University of Queensland, the thesis be made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 unless a period of embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis. v Publications during candidature No publications. Publications included in this thesis No publications included. vi Contributions by others to the thesis No contributions by others. Statement of parts of the thesis submitted to qualify for the award of another degree None. vii Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank the staff and librarians of the University of Queesnaland Architecture and Music Library for providing prompt advice on books and periodical literature. I thank Sarah Evans from Research Information Services for continuous assistance with finding books in libraries overseas. I also thank staff members of the School of Music. I would also like to express appreciation to the School of Music’s Research and RHD Administrative Officer, Elizabeth Farrington, for her assistance and support throughout my PhD course. I would like to express sincere appreciation and thanks to my principal advisor, Dr. Simon Perry, for his tremendous mentoring and encouragement in progress with my research. I express my gratitude to Dr. Perry for insightful comments and advice that helped to widen my research from various perspectives. I would like to thank my associate advisor Dr. Denis Collins for valuable comments, especially on the Russian contrapuntalist S. I. Taneyev. I am grateful to our friend, Lynne Anderson, for her support along the way. Last but not least, I would like to thank my dear husband for supporting me emotionally throughout writing of this thesis and in my life in general. viii Keywords church music, Russian Orthodox, history and criticism, analysis Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classifications (ANZSRC) ANZSRC code: 190409 Musicology and Ethnomusicology, 100% Fields of Research (FoR) Classification FoR code: 1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing, 100% ix Table of Contents Abstract ii Declaration by author iv Publications during candidature v Contributions by others to the thesis vi Acknowledgements vii Keywords viii List of Tables xi List of Musical Examples xii List of Abbreviations xiv Note on Translation and Transliteration 1 Introduction 3 Chapter 1—Review of Literature 11 1.1. Russian sacred music: history and historiography 11 1.2. Changes in research directions after 1917 20 1.3. Research of Russian sacred music in the post-Soviet era 26 1.4. Research of Russian sacred music in Western scholarly literature 30 Chapter 2—Preconditions for Reform of Russian Sacred Music in the Later Nineteenth Century 34 2.1. Cultural and political context: The relationship of church and state 34 2.2. Historical overview of Russian church music and nineteenth-century historiographical awareness 38 2.3. Nineteenth-century views on Russian sacred music and the reform agenda 57 Chapter 3—Late-Nineteenth-Century Russian Sacred Music, Composers, and Reforms 62 3.1. Late-nineteenth-century composers of sacred music in the reformist context 62 3.2. Smolensky, Kastal'sky, Taneyev, and Grechaninov 67 3.3. Purported differences between the two Russian schools of sacred music: Evaluating the objectives and claims of the reformist composers 77 Chapter 4—Critical Discussion of Selected Repertoire of the Moscow and St. Petersburg Schools 86 4.1. Critical discussion of selected repertoire of the Moscow school 91 4.1.1. Text setting 94 x 4.1.2. Intervallic content 98 4.1.3. Use of 7th chords and other dissonances 100 4.1.4. Functional progressions 107 4.1.5. Stability and completeness of musical phrases in the selected compositions of Moscow composers 109 4.1.6. Texture and sonority 117 4.2. Critical discussion of selected repertoire of the St. Petersburg school 122 4.2.1. Text setting 123 4.2.2. Intervallic content 127 4.2.3. Use of 7th chords and other dissonances 130 4.2.4. Stability and completeness of musical phrases in the selected compositions of St. Petersburg composers 133 4.2.5. Texture and sonority 136 4.3. Summary of findings 139 Conclusion 145 Bibliography 156 1. Music 156 2. Literature 159 xi List of Tables Table 2.1. Revised periodisation of Russian sacred music development 41 Table 3.1. Well-known composers of secular music and less well-known sacred 63 music Table 3.2. Selection from the group of lesser-known composers of sacred music 65 Table 3.3. Summary of the objectives and features of the Moscow and St. Petersburg schools 84 Table 4.1. Summary information for selected pieces of Bozhestvennaya Liturgiya 89 Table 4.2. Summary information for selected pieces of Vsenoshchnoye Bdeniye 90 Table 4.3. Summary of comparative analysis of stylistic features relevant to the reformist agenda in the repertoire of the Moscow school 92 Table 4.4. Yavorsky’s categorisation of stable and unstable progressions 112 Table 4.5. The overall ranges of the settings of Kheruvimskaya pesn' 118 Table 4.6. The overall ranges of the St. Petersburg compositions 138 Table 4.7. Summary of the musical features practically implemented in the sacred compositions of the two schools: Moscow and St.