Alexander Kastalsky (1856-1926)

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KASTALSKY, Aleksandr Dmitriyevich (b. 16 [28] November 1856, Moscow; d. 17 December 1926, Moscow) — studied theory and composition at the Moscow Conservatory under Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, and Gubert. From 1887 and for most of his career, Kastalsky was closely connected with the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing, initially as a teacher of piano and conducting, from 1891 as assistant conductor (to Vasily Orlov), from 1900 as one of the precentors (of the left choir), and from 1910 as director of the School. From 1918 to 1926, when the Bolsheviks made it impossible for the Synodal School to continue its existence, he tried to salvage it in the form of the “People’s Choral Academy,” which eventually was absorbed into the Moscow Conservatory. Besides being active in church music, Kastalsky throughout his life worked in the field of musical ethnography, studying the characteristics of the Russian folk song, making arrangements of folk songs, and using elements of the latter in his compositions. As a composer, Kastalsky is a seminal figure, who was recognized by his contemporaries as having created a new direction in Russian church music. His followers included Pavel Chesnokov, Alexandre Gretchaninoff, Aleksandr Nikolsky, Viktor Kalinnikov, Constantine Shvedoff, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, among others. In Kastalsky’s sacred works, melodies and individual chant formulas of znamenny and other chants are combined with techniques of counter-voice polyphony, drawn from the Russian choral folk song. The skillful use of these peculiarly Russian elements give Kastalsky’s works a marked national flavor, while the use of church chants link them to ancient traditions of the church-musical aesthetic. Kastalsky’s published sacred works and arrangements number approximately 175 (many published numbers contain several separate titles); there are also a number of unpublished works, primarily comprising arrangements of various pattern melodies (podobnï). Kastalsky also edited the Obikhod Sinodal’novo khora [The Common Book of the Synodal Choir] in 1914. To make the performance of hymns in the so-called “common” chants more meaningful, he compiled the Prakticheskoye rukovodstvo k vïrazitel’nomu peniyu stikhir pri pomoshchi razlichnïkh garmonizatsiy [A practical manual for the expressive singing of stichera with the help of various harmonizations], which selectively applies major and minor harmony in accordance with the meaning and mood of a given liturgical texts.
A107_search Alexander Kastalsky Alexander Kastalsky: The Marriage Service and Sacred Works

Alexander Kastalsky

Domestik Municipal Choir of Ekaterinburg

Valery Kopanev

Domestik

A107

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E003_search Alexander Kastalsky Kastalsky (1856-1926): Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and Chants of the Russian Orthodox Church

Alexander Kastalsky

The Bolshoi Theatre Children's Choir

Andrey Zaboronok

Collins Classics

E003

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Ks-dl_search Alexander Kastalsky Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Liturgiya Sv. Ioanna Zlatousta

Alexander Kastalsky

Women's/Treble

Church Slavonic

10

58

Ks-DL

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Ks-req-cover-1_search Alexander Kastalsky Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes (Requiem)
Vechnaya Pamyiat geroyam

Alexander Kastalsky

Mixed

Church Slavonic

65

Ks-Req

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Ks011_search Alexander Kastalsky God is with us
S nami Bog

Alexander Kastalsky

Znamenny Chant

SSATTB

Church Slavonic

Ks011

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Ks011mc_search Alexander Kastalsky God is with us
S nami Bog

Alexander Kastalsky

Znamenny Chant

TTBB

Church Slavonic

Ks011mc

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Sheet_music_piece_cover_ks123_search Alexander Kastalsky Great Doxology, The (No. 2)
Velikoye slavosloviye

Alexander Kastalsky

Znamenny Chant

SATB (div)

Church Slavonic

Ks123

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Ks127(wc)_search Alexander Kastalsky In Thy Kingdom (No. 3 from Liturgy)
Vo Tsarstvii Tvoyem

Alexander Kastalsky

SSAA

Church Slavonic

Ks127(wc)

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Ks133(wc)_search Alexander Kastalsky It Is Truly Fitting (No. 8 from Liturgy)
Dostoyno yest'

Alexander Kastalsky

SSAA

Church Slavonic

Ks133(wc)

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Ks112-cover-for-web_search Alexander Kastalsky Lord, Now Lettest Thou, No. 1b
Nïne otpushchayeshï

Alexander Kastalsky

satb

Church Slavonic

Ks112

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Hnp030_search Alexander Kastalsky Lord, Now Lettest Thou (Nunc dimittis) No. 1

Alexander Kastalsky

SATB

English

HNP030

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Ks111_search Alexander Kastalsky Lord, Now Lettest Thou (Nunc dimittis) No. 1
Nïne otpushchayeshï

Alexander Kastalsky

SATB, B solo

Church Slavonic

Ks111

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Hnp019_search Alexander Kastalsky Only Begotten Son

Alexander Kastalsky

SATB

English

HNP019

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Ks126(wc)_search Alexander Kastalsky Only Begotten Son (No. 2 from Liturgy)
Yedinorodnïy Sïne

Alexander Kastalsky

SSAA

Church Slavonic

Ks126(wc)

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