Paschal Troparion

THE LIVING TRADITION Toward an American Liturgical Sound: Vladimir Morosan and the “Appalachian” Paschal Troparion Nicholas Sluchevsky Detail from Benja- A few years ago, Vladimir Morosan er of Russian choral music outside min Franklin White, composed an unusual piece of music of Russia. The archival materials he Original Sacred Harp based on the pentatonic scale, a ver- compiled on Orthodox sacred music (1936 Denson revi- sion), showing the sion of the Paschal Troparion in what have now been published electroni- shaped notes used to might be called an “Appalachian” cally as the Orthodox Sacred Music aid singers. style.1 A simple enough story—but Reference Library (orthodoxchoral. as always, there is a backstory. This org). He is also the founder and artis- is a musical story about construct- tic director of Archangel Voices, a vo- ing a new identity. It is the story of cal ensemble that produces albums of the evolution of a unique American Orthodox liturgical music in English. sound for the Russian Orthodox lit- Morosan serves as consultant to the urgy. Finally, it is a story of potential: Department of Liturgical Music of is this a piece of music that will lead the Orthodox Church in America and us on a new journey, toward a new sits on the board of advisors of the discovery? Patriarch Tikhon Russian-American Music Institute (PaTRAM). 1 The piece may be The Man heard at http://www. musicarussica.com/ The Story sheet_music_pieces/ Vladimir Morosan is a composer, cho- omp-vm001. Ama- ral conductor, and musicologist. Af- Morosan has long had an interest in teur performances ter undertaking pioneering research “Appalachian” music, a typical Amer- of the music by local in Europe and the Soviet Union, he ican fusion of Anglo-Celtic ballads, parish choirs from North America and wrote Choral Performance in Pre-Rev- hymns, the blues, and more. The first Russia may also be olutionary Russia (1986) and founded recordings of this music were made found on YouTube. Musica Russica, the largest publish- in the 1920s, although its origins go 38 much further back. As the Library of common people engaged in com- © 2021 The Wheel. Congress notes, the very term “Ap- mon activities. Prior to the advent of May be distributed for palachian music” is artificial. It was mass media, folk music writ large- noncommercial use. www.wheeljournal.com coined by a group of scholars and ly served an important function: it ethnomusicologists in the early part communicated news and connected of the twentieth century, but with no people with their culture. It became trace of self-identification by the pre- an integral element in binding people sumed carriers of the tradition. Still, to an ever-evolving identity formed the term has been widely accepted in around what people did rather than musicology. what they thought. Appalachian music is quintessentially American, This musical tradition gave birth to reflecting the multiple sources and country music and to bluegrass. It influences from which it derives: the also led to a revival of folk music in music of a melting pot country, a the 1960s. The stylistic range of mu- country of immigrants. sicians that have drawn on Appala- chian music includes country stars In the following conversation with like Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Morosan, a reference is made to Earl Scruggs, but also Bruce Spring- Sacred Harp and shape note sing- steen, Bob Dylan, and Statler Broth- ing. These form a crucial part of the ers. Even the Grateful Dead were musical tradition of the Blue Ridge heavily influenced by these tradi- Mountains, primarily in the western tions: “Cumberland Blues” comes to Carolinas. The nineteenth-centu- mind. ry songbook The Sacred Harp used a form of music notation in which the We must bear in mind that Appala- notes were represented by triangles, chian music is folk music; in a word, squares, and other shapes. This sys- it is “people’s music,” music of the tem, which has since been used in hundreds of hymnals, reflects the efforts of itinerant choir and music Vladimir Morosan. teachers in rural areas of the Blue Ridge Mountains to develop a ba- sic and intuitive music notation that could be taught quickly to church choirs with no musical training. The music itself is always in four-part harmony and sung a cappella (despite the name “Sacred Harp,” there are no instruments). It is distinguished by a performance style in which singers stand in a square formation facing the song leader in the center. The fo- cus is on sonic exchange between the voice groups, somewhat like antiph- 2 See “Shaped-Note onal singing.2 Singing,” Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Conversation with Vladimir Morosan Carolina, https:// www.blueridgemu- sicnc.com/listen-and- With such a rich tradition, where learn/music-styles/ and how did you make this con- shaped-note-singing. The Wheel 24| Winter 2021 39 nection to Orthodox sacred music In the published edition of Christ Is by way of Christ Is Risen? Where Risen, I gave an account of how it did the inspiration derive from and came into existence, and discussed its how did it evolve into what you dedication to Father Jon Braun: composed? Father Jon Braun’s journey from I have to start out by recounting the the Campus Crusade for Christ well-known story of the Appalachian to the priesthood in the Ortho- Spring ballet by Aaron Copland, dox Church has been marked by arguably his most famous and iden- the quest for suitable music in tifiable piece. The fact is that when he worship. This missionary-mind- composed this piece, it was entitled ed pastor would exhort church “A Ballet for Martha” [choreographer musicians: “Give us music we Martha Graham). The name “Appala- can pray to!” with the added chian” was added later, by others. implication that some styles of music might be better suited for Without even remotely comparing Orthodox worship in America myself to Aaron Copland, I have to than others. When the present say that the “Appalachian” label was setting of the Paschal Troparion given to my Christ Is Risen entirely by took shape in this composer’s others, and I find it quite humorous mind, based on a pentatonic that it’s officially labeled that way on scale reminiscent of Appalachian Russian websites, when, in fact, it is folk songs and incorporating the entirely my own composition. open sonorities of shape-note singing, Father Jon immediately Did you research any of the digi- came to mind as the perfect re- tized collections of this tradition cipient of the dedication. Indeed, (such as the Archive of Folk Song in a stylistic blending of musical the Library of Congress, created by elements that are recognizably Robert Winslow Gordon in 1928), “national” and at the same time and did this in any way influence exhibit tangible “folk” elements some of your thinking regarding resonates in people’s hearts in a OSMRLthe Orthodox Sacred Music manner that is entirely appropri- Reference Library? ate (and traditional) for Ortho- dox Christian worship. I am not in any way an ethnomusi- cologist, and I did not consult any What personal experiences did you collections at the Library of Con- have with Appalachian music, with gress or elsewhere, though of course the Grand Ole Opry, with country I know of their existence. Moreover, and bluegrass music? Were you able I consider myself primarily a choral to attend any of the festivals such conductor and musicologist with a as Newport Folk Festival? Have specialty in Russian Orthodox sacred you ever been to Warren Hellman’’s music rather than a composer—as in ‘Hardly Strictly Bluegrass’ festival someone who “lives to compose.” in San Francisco? My compositional output is very modest, consisting primarily of Or- I am fond of saying “I’ve never met thodox hymns for various services, a folk music I didn’t like.” This in- many of them composed on an “as cludes American folk genres such needed” basis. as bluegrass and Old-Time music, 40 Sacred Harp hymnody, Russian and composition? In your own flights of © 2021 The Wheel. Ukrainian folk singing, and African fancy, what direction do you think May be distributed for folk music. I’ve heard my share of our sacred music will take? Is there noncommercial use. www.wheeljournal.com bluegrass bands, but never attend- room, is there a will, to compose an ed any of the famous events you entirely new, uniquely American mentioned. style of liturgical music? We already have your work, as well as the two My acquaintance with Sacred Harp settings for of the Divine Liturgy and shape note singing dates back to of Saint. John Chrysostom by Kurt my graduate school days at the Uni- Sander and Benedict Sheehan. versity of Illinois in the mid-1970s. The University of Illinois Chamber This is a very fruitful territory that Choir I was a member of took a pro- I would love to unpack some more. gram consisting entirely of American Here my inspiration has long been choral music on tour in connection Father Sergei Glagolev, the “vener- with the Bicentennial of the Declara- able elder” of American Orthodox tion of Independence in 1976. church composers. Highly aware of the intonations and cadences of the Going back in history, are there mu- English language, musically aware sicians of the folk tradition that you of traditions that preceded him, able particularly respect and whose music to synthesize a multitude of diverse you enjoy? musical styles and ethnic traditions, he has been able to point the way to a I have great love for latter-day Russian future generation.

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