Who Was Pavel Chesnokov?

Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944)

In the music world, there are composers who go down in history as "choral specialists"--musicians whose creative life as composers and performers centers around the choral art. Their names are not always as well-known as those of symphonic and operatic composers, but in their ability to tap the expressive potential of the human voice and in their power to move audiences both emotionally and spiritually, they are without equal. The great choral master Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944) is certainly one such composer.

All of Chesnokov's life revolved around choral music. He was the most prolific Russian choral composer of his generation, with more than 400 sacred and over 100 secular works to his credit. He was a distinguished choral conductor, whose career spanned over 40 years, both as a church choirmaster and as the head of some of the leading secular choirs in Russia. He was a pioneering teacher and pedagogue--one of the founders of the choral conducting department at the Moscow Conservatory. And he was the author of a ground-breaking treatise on the "art and science" of choral conducting: The Choir and How to Direct It: A Handbook for Choral Conductors.

Many of Chesnokov's choral works have become program standards, both in his native Russia and in the United States, among them: "Salvation Is Created," "Let Thy Good Spirit," "All of Creation Rejoices" (a.k.a., "O Lord God"), and "The Eternal Council." Next to Rachmaninoff, his are among the most frequently recorded choral works in Russia and elswhere.

Russia's age-old choral culture, which was grounded in the worship and liturgy of the Orthodox Church, was dealt a severe blow in 1917 by the coming to power of atheistic Communism. As one of the leading church musicians of his time, Chesnokov was caught in the middle. He was told in no uncertain terms that if he wished to retain his teaching post at the Conservatory, he would have to sever his involvement with church music. And despite his outward compliance, he was still considered "ideologically suspect": the publication of his book on choral conducting, completed in 1930, was stonewalled for ten years. When a small press run was finally published in 1940, it sold out within a couple of hours.

From Chesnokov's archival papers and correspondence we learn that in writing The Choir and How to Direct It, he was trying to preserve for future generations of conductors the great sacred choral legacy of his nation, which was in danger of being destroyed. In the bleak days of Stalinism in the mid-1930s he expressed the hope that, if his book was not going to be published in Russia, it would at least see the light of day in English translation, in America. At the time, his wish did not come to fruition. But now, with the publication of John C. Rommereim's translation by Musica Russica, some 75 years later, the composer's desire stands fulfilled. English-speaking choral musicians throughout the world can read, first-hand, the insights and advice of Pavel Chesnokov, one of the greatest choral musicians of the twentieth century.

--Vladimir Morosan
October, 2010

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