The history of the Court Choir and its role in the musical education of Russia

Abashkina Irina Igorevna, music teacher, Lyceum No. 623 named after I.P. Pavlova, St. Petersburg

With the coming to power of Peter I and the founding of the new capital of the Russian state of St. Petersburg in 1703, the center of musical education was transferred from Moscow to the banks of the Neva. In 1713, Peter organized the Court Choir, which included the Sovereign's choristers. The Choir of Sovereign's Choirs was the personal choir of Russian tsars, it participated in various palace ceremonies and was in Moscow at the residence of Russian sovereigns. Peter renames the choir into Court Choirs and moves it to the new capital. Being a great lover of church singing, he pays serious attention to his chapel. As Lokshin writes: “Many singers of the choir, who drew attention to themselves with the quality of their voices, became “noble people”.

After Peter's death, the importance of the Court Choir increased, and on September 21, 1738, Empress Anna Ioannovna issued a decree on the organization in the city of Glukhov of a school to train choristers for the Court Choir. Here is how General-in-Chief Yakov Keith characterized the significance of the school in his report: “to recruit from all over Little Russia from churchmen, also from Cossack and petty-bourgeois children and others, and always keep up to 20 people in that school, choosing to have the best voices, and order their regent to teach Kyiv and partes singing, and who will be taught singing, from those throughout the year send the best to the court of E.I.V. 10 people each, to recruit packs again for that place.

The same school, by decree of Anna Ioannovna in 1740, was organized in St. Petersburg. The decree reads as follows: "From now on, we order for the court chapel to keep at our court from the minor Russian people people trained in musical singing up to twenty people, who, for the pleasure of the court copelli, should be trained on various instruments decent for that copelli."

By the time of accession to the throne of Catherine II, the choir of the Court Choir consisted of about 100 people - 48 adults and 52 boys. Being an Italian fan musical style the empress entrusts the supervision of the chapel to the Italian bandmaster Baldazar Galuppi, and in 1763 Mark Fedorovich Poltoratsky, the head of the school in the city of Glukhov, becomes the director of the chapel. During this period, the choir achieves high singing skills. However, she owes her highest achievements to the work of the remarkable Russian musician, composer and teacher D.S. Bortnyansky - a graduate of the Glukhov school. After studying in Italy, Bortnyansky returned to Russia, and in 1769 was appointed manager of the chapel. Having received the position of head of the chapel, Bortnyansky takes a number of progressive measures that improve the professional qualities of the choir. In particular, he seeks the abolition of the participation of the choir in opera performances, and also takes care of raising the material level of the singers. A large number of reviews of Bortnyansky's contemporaries are known, characterizing him as a wonderful teacher. So, the famous Russian composer Varlamov, a student of Bortnyansky, writes the following about him: “A seventy-year-old old man will take falsetto, and so gently, with such a soul that you stop in surprise.” And S.V. Smolensky characterizes the choir of the chapel under the direction of Bortnyansky in the following way: “The choir ... was trained to sing sonorously, with careful nuances and with excellent pronunciation of words. Scream and pretentious effects were completely expelled from the performance of the chapel, which therefore began to sing smartly and simply ... The chapel became the leader of Russian singing.

In addition to directing the choir of the Court Singing Chapel, Bortnyansky also worked with other choirs. In this regard, the choir of the Land Cadet Corps, the Smolny Institute, the choir of Count A.K. Razumovsky are known.

After the death of D.S. Bortnyansky in 1825, F.P. Lvov became the director of the Court Singing Chapel, who in many respects continued the traditions of teaching choristers laid down by Bortnyansky. The fact that at that time the skill of the singers remained at a fairly high level is evidenced by the reports of the captain of the 2nd rank of the Prussian guards regiment Einbeck, who knew the choral business well, sent by the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III. The Prussian king was delighted with the sound of the chapel choir and wanted to create the choir of the Berlin Protestant Cathedral (Dom-Chor) on its model. In his reports, Einbeck writes that juvenile singers receive a fairly serious education. They are trained not only in music, but also took general education subjects, which allowed them, in case of loss of voice, to go to the civil service or to the military with the rank of officer.

However, over time, this level decreases significantly. Here is what F.P. Lvov writes in his letter to Nicholas I: “There are no sufficient funds for decent training of juvenile singers. Children learn only to sing, without any education.”

In 1836, A.F. Lvov was appointed to the post of director of the chapel. And in 1837 M.I. Glinka became the head of the chapel choir. Despite the rather short period of activity in this post, Glinka is trying to change the existing system of education for the better. In his notes, he writes the following: “I undertook to teach them music, i.e. reading music, and correct intonation, in Russian - to align voices ... When I first appeared to teach with chalk in hand, there were few hunters; most of the big chanters stood at a distance with an air of incredulity, and even some of them grinned. I, not paying attention to it, set to work so diligently and I will say, even deftly, that after several lessons almost all great singers, even those who had private and state lessons, came to my lectures. In 1838 Glinka went to Ukraine to enroll children in the chapel choir. Also during his activity as the head of the choir, instrumental classes were organized in the chapel. However, the situation that had developed by that time in the chapel did not allow Glinka to show his pedagogical ideas to the maximum, which was the reason for his departure from this institution in 1838.

In 1861, Lvov was replaced by Bakhmetev as director of the Court Singing Chapel; his activities did not have any serious significance for the development of this institution. On the contrary, under Bakhmetev, instrumental classes were closed in the chapel. During this period, the chapel gradually loses its former status as an advanced educational institution, as its significance weakens in front of the actively reviving Synodal Choir and School in Moscow. Only with the arrival of Count S.D. Sheremetev, and for the position of the wonderful musician M.A. Balakirev, the manager of the chapel, this situation changes somewhat. Important transformations in the educational process of the chapel were also associated with the activities of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, whom Balakirev invites as an assistant manager of the chapel. Here is how Rimsky-Korsakov characterizes the state of education in the choir at the time of his arrival: “Illiterate ... boys downtrodden and ill-mannered, somehow taught the violin, cello or piano, when they fell from their voices, for the most part, they suffered a sad fate ... They turned out to be scribes, servants, provincial singers, and in the best cases, ignorant regents or petty officials ... The whole system of educational work, both in the instrumental class and in the regency specialty, established by the author of God Save the Tsar, was no good. It was necessary to redo everything, or, better to say, to create a new one.” Thus, the instrumental class is being reformed in the chapel, an orchestral class is being created, and new program regent training. Chapel leaders, along with special subjects, focus on raising the general level of students.

However, in 1893 Rimsky-Korsakov left the chapel, and after him, in 1895, M.A. Balakirev also left the chapel. The position of Balakirev is taken over by the composer A.S. Arensky, who did not leave any serious trace in the activities of this institution. In 1901, SV Smolensky came to the chapel at the personal insistence of Emperor Nicholas I. But his views on church singing, actively developed in the Synodal choir and school, did not meet with support within the walls of the Court Singing Chapel. And, as Gardner writes: “His energy and his views on church singing, so clearly revealed in the stylistic direction of the Moscow Synodal Choir and Synodal School crashed against the solid, established and dominant musical tradition of the Court Singing Chapel with its equalization of church singing to pan-European music.

Two years later, Smolensky resigned. However, despite major changes in the leadership of the chapel, it remained the largest educational institution in Russia until the revolution, and its choir is also one of the best. In 1917, the Court Singing Chapel lost its status as a spiritual institution, and in 1922 it was renamed the State Academic Chapel named after M.I. Glinka.

The State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg is a concert organization in St. Petersburg, which includes the oldest professional choir in Russia (founded in the 15th century) and Symphony Orchestra. Has its own concert hall.

The Singing Chapel of St. Petersburg is the oldest Russian professional choir. Founded in 1479 in Moscow as a male choir of the so-called. sovereign choristers deacons to participate in the services of the Assumption Cathedral and in the "worldly amusements" of the royal court. In 1701 he was reorganized into the court choir (men and boys), in 1703 he was transferred to St. Petersburg. In 1717 he traveled with Peter I to Poland, Germany, Holland, France, where he first introduced Russian choral singing to foreign listeners.

In 1763 the choir was renamed into the Imperial Court Singing Chapel (100 people in the choir). Since 1742, many singers have been regular members of the choir in Italian operas, and since the middle of the 18th century. also performers of solo parts in the first Russian operas in the court theater. Since 1774, the choir has given concerts at the St. Petersburg Music Club, and in 1802-50 participates in all concerts of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society (cantatas and oratorios by Russian and foreign composers, most of which were performed in Russia for the first time, and some in the world, incl. Beethoven's Solemn Mass, 1824). In 1850-82, the concert activity of the chapel took place mainly in the hall of the Concert Society at the chapel.

Being the center of Russian choral culture, the chapel influenced not only the formation of the traditions of choral performance in Russia, but also the style of choral writing without accompaniment (a cappella). Prominent Russian and Western contemporary musicians (V. V. Stasov, A. N. Serov, A. Adan, G. Berlioz, F. Liszt, R. Schumann, etc.) noted harmony, an exceptional ensemble, virtuoso technique, impeccable possession the finest gradations of choral sound and magnificent voices (especially bass octavists).

The chapel was headed by musical figures and composers: M. P. Poltoratsky (1763-1795), D. S. Bortnyansky (1796-1825), F. P. Lvov (1825-36), A. F. Lvov (1837-61), N. I. Bakhmetev (1861-83), M. A. Balakirev (1883-94), A. S. Arensky (1895-1901), S. V. Smolensky (1901-03) and others. was M. I. Glinka.

Since 1816, the directors of the chapel were granted the right to publish, edit, and authorize for performance the sacred choral works of Russian composers. In 1846-1917, state-run full-time and part-time conducting (regency) classes existed at the chapel; from 1858, instrumental classes were opened in various orchestral specialties, which prepared (according to the programs of the conservatory) soloists and artists of the orchestra of the highest qualification.

Classes reached a special development under N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (assistant manager in 1883-94), who in 1885 created a symphony orchestra from the students of the chapel, performing under the baton of the most prominent conductors. The teachers of the instrumental-choir classes were famous conductors, composers, and performing musicians.

In 1905-17, the activities of the chapel were limited mainly to church and cult events. After the October Revolution of 1917, the choir's repertoire included the best examples of world choral classics, works by Soviet composers, folk songs. In 1918 the chapel was transformed into the People's Choir Academy, since 1922 - the State Academic Chapel (since 1954 - named after M. I. Glinka). In 1920 the choir was replenished female voices and became mixed.

In 1922, a choir school and a daytime choir technical school (since 1925, an evening choir school for adults) were organized at the chapel. In 1945, on the basis of the choir school, the Choir School was established at the choir (since 1954 - named after M. I. Glinka). In 1955 the Choral School became an independent organization.

The chapel team conducts a great concert work. Her repertoire includes classical and modern unaccompanied choirs, programs from the works of domestic composers, folk songs (Russian, Ukrainian, etc.), as well as major works of the cantata-oratorio genre, many of which were performed by the chapel in the USSR for the first time. Among them: "Alexander Nevsky", "Guardian of the World", "Toast" by Prokofiev; “Song of the Forests”, “The Sun Shines Over Our Homeland” by Shostakovich; "On the Kulikovo Field", "The Legend of the Battle for the Russian Land" by Shaporin, "The Twelve" by Salmanov, "Virineya" by Slonimsky, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" by Prigogine and many other works by Soviet and foreign composers.

Court Chapel- the first professional musical institution in Russia.

"Capellia of court choristers" or "Court Chapel" the choir began to be called during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. This is a cast from the name of vocal and instrumental groups that served at European courts. Somewhat later, in the year under Catherine II, the name "Court Singing Chapel" was assigned to it.

Under Catherine II, Italian composers were invited to Russia to direct the Italian opera - Giuseppe Sarti and Baltacer Galuppi, who also began to compose works of sacred music for Orthodox Church to Slavic texts in Italian style. Teaching "Italian" singing has taken a strong position in the Singing Chapel. The skill of court choristers, combining the traditional church and Italian manner of singing, delighted many, especially foreigners.

In the future, with the history of the Court Singing Chapel, which largely determined it creative destiny, the activity of Dmitry Bortnyansky is connected. Leading the Capella for years, he was able to create a choir that became the glory and pride of the national musical culture.

The high traditions of the Singing Chapel, founded by Bortnyansky, were subsequently successfully continued by A.F. Lvov , MI Glinka , who worked for several years as a bandmaster of the choir and choirmaster G.Ya.Lomakin .

Under N.I. Bakhmetev, the creation of the Court Singing Chapel was essentially completed, which included a large choir that participated in church services, open concerts and opera performances music school, regency courses, an orchestra and a small concert hall.

In the year it was renamed into the Petrograd Choir Academy, and in the year - into the Leningrad State Academic Capella (later - named after Glinka).

Leaders

• Bortnyansky Dmitry Stepanovich (1796 - 1825)
• Lvov Fedor Petrovich (1826 - 1836)
• Lvov Alexey Fedorovich (1837 - 1861)

Belonged to Vice Admiral Zmaevich. Under him, near the river bank, there was a wooden Comedian's house, which stood for only a few years. For Zmaevich, two adobe buildings were also erected here. After Zmaevich, this land was owned by the English merchant D. Garner, who lived in a wooden house on a stone basement.

In the 1730s, Empress Anna Ioannovna gave the territory to the life physician H. Paulsen. Under the doctor, there was a wooden two-story manor house, regular garden and apothecary garden. An individual pier went out to Mie, while the river embankments had not yet been fully equipped. One-story outbuildings overlooked Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street. In 1747, the future architect G. H. Paulsen was born in this estate. In the 1760s, he worked as a student of the architect Yuri Matveyevich Felten, with whom he was probably related (Felten was married to Anna Paulsen).

On May 15, 1773, the architect Yu. M. Felten bought the site from the widow and son Paulsen. Instead of a wooden house, in 1777 he built here a three-story stone mansion with outbuildings framing the court-court-doner. The main facade of the building was equipped with a portico-loggia. The Felten family lived here until 1784, when the architect, who became the director of the Academy of Arts, moved to a service academic apartment. He sold his mansion for 500,000 rubles.

The next owners of the estate were the Neplyuevs, the Naryshkins, and the Norwegian businessman F. Bukh. AT early XIX century, the site was purchased by the treasury. Local historians have different opinions about the time of purchase of the site by the treasury. In the book " Palace Square"The historian Buzinov calls the time of the change of ownership in 1808, while the local historian B. M. Kirikov in the book "Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street" - 1810. G. Zuev in the book "The Moika River Flows" calls 1806 the time of buying a mansion to the treasury, and 1808 - the time of its transfer by Alexander I for the needs of the Court Singing Chapel. In any case, immediately after this, work began on the reconstruction of the building under the guidance of the architect L. Ruska... In the 1830s, L. I. Charlemagne added a concert hall to the main building. the outbuildings were built on in 1834 according to the project of P. L. Villers.By that time, the site was also built up with stone buildings on the side of Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street.The yard occupied a vast garden.

From 1796 until his death in 1825, the choir was led by Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky. He lived nearby, in house number 9 on Millionnaya Street. In the same years Colonel Andrey Fedorovich Petrov served as a chorister in the chapel. He was married to Ksenia Grigorievna, whom he left as a widow when she was 26 years old. This was the beginning of the story of one of the patrons of St. Petersburg, Saint Xenia the Blessed.

After Bortnyansky, Fyodor Petrovich Lvov (cousin of the architect N.A. Lvov) managed the Court Choir. In 1837 he was replaced by his son Alexei Fedorovich Lvov, the author of the music for the anthem "God Save the Tsar". In 1837-1839, the composer M. I. Glinka served as bandmaster here. At that time, he lived here in one of the wings on the Moika side. Later, the leaders and teachers in the chapel were M. A. Balakirev, A. K. Lyadov, A. S. Arensky and N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

In 1887-1889, the entire complex of buildings of the chapel was reconstructed. Architects N. V. Sultanov, V. A. Shreter, L. N. Benois presented their projects for this work. The project of the latter was adopted, which retained the U-shaped facade of the main building. According to the Benois project, a fence was installed in front of the main entrance, the royal pavilion was attached to the concert hall, and the decoration of the facades was changed. Their artistic design was carried out by the sculptor I.P. Dylev and the locksmith E.A. Veberg. In the central part of the facade there are commemorative plaques with the names of musicians whose activities were associated with the chapel. An organ from the Dutch Church was placed in the concert hall. The inner territory of the site was built up with residential buildings. The architect recalled:

"The courtyard facades of the side wings, in my opinion, came out well, while the facade of the concert hall is somewhat sparse. The parapets turned out to be some kind of academic program. The royal pavilion is not bad, but complicated. Inside, especially the vestibule and stairs, they were a success. I think that they , as well as a round foyer - from my successful finishes" [Cit. according to: 2, p. 156].

At the same time, Benois built house number 11 on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street. The choristers and teachers of the chapel lived in it. Among them was the assistant manager Sergei Mikhailovich Lyapunov (composer, conductor, biographer of M. A. Balakireva). In 1889-1893, the composer Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov, who then acted as assistant manager of the chapel, lived here. The family of Nikolai Andreevich the composer celebrated a housewarming party in apartment No. 66 on the third floor in the fall of 1889. A. K. Glazunov, A. K. Lyadov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, V. V. Stasov often visited him.

On the front facade of the Court Singing Chapel in 1892, a memorial plaque with the names of famous musicians. In the 1890s, the premises of house No. 11 were occupied by the editorial offices of the magazines "Architect" and "Builder's Week". At the beginning of the 20th century, civil engineers V. V. Chaplin, B. F. Guslisty, architect-artist A. S. Pronin were the caretakers of the houses of the chapel. They all lived in house number 11 on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street.

In February 1918, the former Court Singing Chapel passed into the hands of the new Soviet government. Instead of the usual 3-4 performances a year, then she gave about 50 concerts. The concert hall of the chapel was often used for literary evenings. In the 1920s, V. Mayakovsky, S. Yesenin, K. Chukovsky, O. Mandelstam and others read their works here. Mandelstam performed in the hall of the Leningrad Choir Chapel after returning from exile in March 1933.

During the blockade of Leningrad, the building of the chapel was badly damaged by bombing. During the restoration of the building in 1947, the royal pavilion was dismantled.

Shortly before death in post-war years Alexander Nikolaevich Vertinsky spoke here. Chapel leaders in Soviet period were M. G. Klimov, A. V. Sveshnikov, G. A. Dmirievsky. Since 1974, it has been headed by V. A. Chernushenko.

The courtyards between house number 11 on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street and house number 20 on the Moika Embankment have long served as a walking route. In 1999-2000, according to the program "Yards of the Capella", according to the project of K. A. Sharlygina and A. B. Petrov, a complete reconstruction of the courtyard territory was carried out. The pedestrian zone received artistic design, the royal pavilion was recreated. A summer cafe is open in the courtyard from the street side.

The Moika River flows... From the Fontanka to Nevsky Prospekt Zuev Georgy Ivanovich

Imperial Court Singing Chapel

One of the longest through sections between the Moika and Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street with four walk-through courtyards leads to the bend of the old reservoir to the Pevchesky Bridge. At this point, the bed of the Mya River was located at the most significant distance from the street, which later received the name Bolshaya Konyushennaya.

The history of this site turned out to be quite complex and interesting. In its form, the land allotment was not an exception from a number of subsequent plots located in the interval from former square Guards headquarters to Nevsky Prospekt. It turned out to be not only wedge-shaped, but also very narrow. At its narrowest end, the site faces the current Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street. Its history begins in the 20s of the 18th century. Initially, on the site, by decree of Peter I, two small adobe buildings were erected for the commander of a detachment of warships of the Baltic Fleet, Vice Admiral Zmaevich, a little later, English businessman D. Garner, who arrived at the invitation of the Russian Tsar, settled here in a wooden house on a stone semi-basement.

Empress Anna Ioannovna, the niece of Peter I, who was enthroned by the Supreme Privy Council, in the 1730s singled out this land plot for the construction of a manor house to his beloved German head doctor Christian Paulsen. The two-story wooden house of the court surgeon was built in the depths of the apothecary garden and the main courtyard, laid out by gardeners, overlooking the personal pier of the royal Aesculapius on the Mie River, the embankments of which at that time were not yet properly equipped. They were then only reinforced with wooden shields. Behind the mansion, a garden with a kitchen garden was arranged and one-story outbuildings were erected near the border with Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street.

After the death of the head physician Christian Paulsen, plots of land “by a measure from the face along the Mya river 31 sazhens and arshins”, along with dilapidated buildings from the widow and son of the late court physician, on May 15, 1773, were acquired by the famous metropolitan architect Yuri Matveyevich Felten, representative early classicism and one of the students of the master of metropolitan architecture, Bartholomew Varfolomeevich Rastrelli, the court architect of three Russian empresses.

Yu.M. Felten

The creative biography of the new owner of the acquired estate, as well as his talented student architect H.-G. Paulsen (son of the head physician Anna Ioannovna), is closely connected with the construction of the Central District of the Northern capital. Having acquired a plot on the Moika, Yuri Matveyevich, according to his own project, instead of an old wooden dilapidated building, erected in 1777 a beautiful three-story stone house with two representative outbuildings. The buildings then favorably differed in their own way. appearance from the surrounding buildings. The object of admiration and envy of the neighbors was the front yard of the manor house of the talented architect, framed by the majestic building of the owner's residential mansion and elegant facades of the side wings.

In Yu.M.'s own house Felten lived happily for about twelve years. These years were the heyday of the talent of the famous architect.

The Academy of Arts appointed Yury Matveyevich responsible for the "architectural project for the equestrian statue of Peter the Great." He is also entrusted with the design and architectural supervision of the construction of the New Hermitage, the organization of work on the decoration of the Neva embankment, the construction of the Lombard building on the Field of Mars, later rebuilt by architect V.P. Stasov near the Pavlovsky barracks. The architect Felten was responsible for the manufacture and installation of the famous fence of the Summer Garden. In 1776, he also had to complete the building of the Academy of Arts, the director of which the architect was appointed in 1784. In connection with this new professional activity Yuri Matveyevich had to move to a comfortable director's apartment - a government apartment on Vasilevsky Island, and in August 1784 to sell his mansion on the Moika for five hundred thousand rubles. True, in 1806 the treasury bought the land from the new owners along with its beautiful buildings.

Moika Embankment, 20. Building of the Court Singing Chapel

The last owner of this site was the Norwegian businessman F. Buch, who founded a solid enterprise in the Russian capital - a factory of gold and silver products.

By decree of Alexander I, the purchased site with all the buildings located on it in 1808 was transferred to the Court Singing Chapel. The necessary funds were allocated for the work on adapting the acquired buildings to accommodate a singing court institution, which is one of the five main centers of musical culture in Russia.

The Latin word "chapel" (in translation - chapel) in the Middle Ages in Europe usually referred to a small chapel at the temple. It housed a choir that sang without music accompaniment, which then gave rise to the definition of “singing a cappella” among professional musicians from European countries. By the way, in the 18th century, this term was used in notes, concert programs and on posters to refer to musicians who served at the imperial courts.

The origin of the Court Singing Chapel comes from the original Russian choir, which existed in the second half of the 15th century. Then the wonderful choir was officially called the "Tsar's Singing Deacons". He sang during festive and special services, performed at secular feasts. The choir always accompanied Tsar Ivan the Terrible during his military campaigns.

By order of Tsar Peter I in 1713, the Choir of Sovereign Singers was transferred from Moscow to the new capital. Together with the military orchestra, the singers regularly participated in official state celebrations, performing the so-called choral "welcome" cants in honor of Peter's victories and other important Russian events of those years. This choral genre was born in the northern capital during the reign of Peter the Great. In the repertoire of the Choir of Sovereign Singers, in addition to "welcome" and "laudatory" ("canonical") chants, unique religious, love, comic and even satirical chants appeared. The melodies of Russian folk songs were clearly heard in the music of such works. Emperor Peter I himself repeatedly performed as part of his favorite sovereign choir, performing bass parts in full accordance with the musical score. piece of music. In 1717, the Choir of the Tsar's Russian Chapel traveled with the retinue of Peter the Great to Poland, Germany, Holland and France, conquering foreign connoisseurs of singing with their art.

The emperor constantly took care of replenishing the choir with new “best” singing voices and obliged his subjects to attend concerts of the Choir Choir in the house of Privy Councilor Bassevich.

The successors of Peter I continued the work of their predecessor in the selection for the Imperial Court Choir (later for Court chapel) talented singers, among whom were often representatives of various class categories, including even officers of the imperial guard.

The choir received the official name "Imperial Court Singing Chapel" in 1763 on the basis of the decree of Empress Catherine II. Gradually, the activities of the Choir Choir expanded and went beyond the repertoire of the court institution. Her performances became available to a wider audience, and she herself firmly entered the list of famous centers of Russian musical culture.

The first leader and choirmaster of the court choir D.S. Bortnyansky

A significant contribution to the development of domestic professional choral art was made by the talented Russian composer and master of choral singing a cappella, choirmaster Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky (1751–1825). He headed the Singing Chapel for 30 years. Dmitry Stepanovich became practically the first Russian professional composer who wrote many works of many-voiced concertos for singing a cappella, the author of remarkable domestic operas, chamber and instrumental works. His amazing melody "How glorious is our Lord" for many years was caused by the famous chimes of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

D.S. Bortnyansky, as the head of the Court Singing Chapel, on his own initiative, organized under it a special department for the training of church regents and specialist consultants who edit works of church music. He successfully established the work of the Court Church Choir.

Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky was regularly present at all services in the Cathedral of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace. And every time, under the vaults of this temple, the voices of his wards sounded brilliantly - court choristers, deeply revering and respecting their master.

It was they, his pupils, who, at the request of Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, came on September 28, 1825 to him at Millionnaya Street at house No. To the sound of the choir that performed last will composer, Dmitry Stepanovich quietly passed away.

On the new plot acquired in 1808 for the Court Singing Chapel, the mansion built earlier by the architect Yu.M. Felten. The architect F.I. Ruska.

L.N. Benoit

In 1822, the architect of the gofintendant's office L.I. Charlemagne developed an original project for the reconstruction of the buildings of the Singing Chapel at 20 Moika Embankment. At the same time, according to his project, a spacious concert hall decorated with pilasters, stucco medallions and picturesque panels was added to the three-story mansion. In it, court choristers now arranged for the general metropolitan public charity concerts which are very popular with the residents of the city.

In 1834 the architect P.L. Villers built on the stone side wings of the Choir Chapel with additional floors. However, the most significant changes in the appearance and internal structure of the premises of the Imperial Court Singing Chapel at 20 Moika Embankment occurred in the second half of the 19th century. In 1887-1889 this was done by the architect Leonty Nikolaevich Benois.

The construction was one of the first major works of the future famous St. Petersburg architect and leading professor of the Academy of Arts. He managed to almost re-create the complex of buildings of the Court Chapel, erected according to his project in the style of Louis XVI, and at the same time almost completely change the decoration of its interiors. The architect practically did not change the volume of the main building, but at the same time he successfully erected an elegant cast-iron grate separating the front courdoner of the chapel from the street and, with the help of the sculptor I.K. Dyleva originally decorated the building with exquisite relief thematic compositions of children playing music. On the front facade of the Court Choir in 1892, memorial plaques with the names of famous musicians were reinforced.

The inner territory of the Singing Chapel from the Moika to Bolshaya Konyushennaya L.N. Benois built up residential buildings and put in perfect order the appearance of through passages and courtyards.

The best voices from all the provinces of the Russian Empire were selected for the choir of the Court Choir. He has always been famous for the beauty and harmony of his sound, causing admiration of compatriots and foreigners. The singers entered the chapel in childhood. They lived here, receiving a classical musical education and good general training. In the 21st century, an extensive overhaul of the entire complex was completed, and the “end-to-end” courtyards of the Singing Chapel from the Moika to Bolshaya Konyushennaya were again brought into exemplary order. Today, all the buildings here look great.

As before, the narrow western border of the site of the Court Singing Chapel closes the four-story house No. 11 on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street, decorated with flashy rustication, so characteristic of L.N. Benoit. The rustication is modestly complemented by figured architraves and embossed garlands. The house in the 1890s was intended for the apartments of choristers and teachers of the chapel. Composer, pianist, conductor and biographer M.A. Balakireva - S.M. Lyapunov. Sergei Mikhailovich in his piano work and performing arts developed the virtuoso style of M.A. Balakirev. Since 1910, he was a professor at the St. Petersburg, and then the Petrograd Conservatory.

It is interesting to know how appointments to leading positions in the chapel sometimes took place in the middle of the 19th century.

The success of Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka's opera "Ivan Susanin" brought fame to its author. The family of Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich liked the opera, and he, unexpectedly for the composer, made him a rather flattering offer. Having met Mikhail Ivanovich backstage Bolshoi Theater during the performance of his opera in December 1836, the tsar suggested to him: “Glinka, I have a request for you and I hope that you will not refuse me. My choirboys are known all over Europe and are therefore worth your attention." M.I. Glinka was appointed to the Court Chapel, but not the leader, since his title of titular adviser did not correspond to such a high dignitary position. The tsar then appointed the adjutant wing A.F. Lvov.

Prince A.F. Lviv

After the death of D.Ya. Bortnyansky The court chapel was directed by Fedor Petrovich Lvov, cousin of the famous metropolitan architect N.A. Lvov. In 1837, his son Alexei Fedorovich Lvov, known as the author of the music for the Russian anthem "God Save the Tsar", took over the post of manager of the Court Choir.

His merits in the development of the Russian national art and culture. A talented violinist and a skilled composer, the author of many remarkable theoretical works, he founded the St. Petersburg Concert Society in 1850 and superbly directed the Court Choir. His name appears on a memorial plaque mounted on the main facade of the Chapel building.

Long before joining the Singing Chapel, M.I. Glinka developed a cool relationship with this musically gifted person. Knowing this, the court dignitaries hid the name of the true contender for the post of manager of the chapel (A.F. Lvov), and when meeting with famous composers, they mysteriously hinted to them about the possibility of occupying this place with a close friend of M.I. Glinka Count Mikhail Yuryevich Vielgorsky - an extraordinary person in every respect.

According to his son-in-law, V.A. Sollogub, “Mikhail Yurievich was a personality of versatile talents and hobbies: a philosopher, critic, linguist, physician, theologian and hermeticist, an honorary member of all Masonic lodges, the soul of all societies, a family man, an epicurean, a courtier, a dignitary, an artist, a musician, a comrade, a judge, a person is a model of sincere tender feelings and the most playful mind, a living encyclopedia and a source of deep knowledge.

M.I. Glinka

Rumor about the appointment of M.Yu. Vielgorsky reached Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. In his notes, the composer noted that he was very pleased with the good news. He believed that the director would not interfere in his affairs, and even informed his mother that "he was entrusted with the musical part in the Singing Corps."

However, his hopes suddenly crumbled to dust when Glinka learned that by decree of Nicholas I, the director of the chapel was "highly commanded" to appoint the adjutant wing A.F. Lvov. The titular adviser M.I. Glinka was entrusted with the "musical part", and his salary was put on a par with the inspector of the chapel, the official Belikov. However, going back was no longer possible. “Fate played a trick on me,” Mikhail Ivanovich wrote to his mother after the official royal decree of January 1, 1837, which approved the composer as head of the musical part of the Court Choir.

In the early spring of 1837, Glinka, his wife and mother-in-law moved to a state-owned apartment in one of the buildings of the chapel on the Moika side. The composer seriously engaged in choristers, seeking from them a high culture of performance and instilling in them musical knowledge. And in two years he achieved tangible results. He specially traveled several times to Ukraine, famous for good voices, for a set of chorister boys.

The most difficult situation and strife in the family - the betrayal of the wife and the constant intrigues of the mother-in-law, forced M.I. Glinka to break off the hated marriage and in 1839 to submit a letter of resignation from the chapel.

Mikhail Ivanovich was forced to this decision by the situation in the chapel and strained relations with A.F. Lvov, as well as the dissatisfaction of Nicholas I with the shortcomings in the work of the music service. Claims, of course, were expressed to the manager, and he brought them to M.I. Glinka: “The Sovereign Emperor deigned to be completely dissatisfied with the singing that was on this date ... during the morning service, and commanded the highest to make a strict remark about that to anyone ... I ask your honor, having called the manager to him, make him a stern remark from me and announce what will happen If something similar happens in the future, then I will find it necessary to take strict measures. The atmosphere in the chapel not only irritated, but also interfered with composer's work M.I. Glinka.

ON THE. Rimsky-Korsakov

After his departure, the leaders and teachers of the Court Singing Chapel were composers M.A. Balakirev, A.K. Lyadov, A.S. Arensky and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.

In the spring of 1883, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov began work in the Imperial Court Singing Chapel. M.A. wrote to him about the offer to work in it back in 1881. Balakirev: “I am waiting for your answer about the chapel. In any case, I refuse this business, and therefore it will be a pity if you refuse too, because the matter will fall into strange and probably ignorant hands, and you, in addition to artistic considerations, will miss a solid settlement. Your maritime bandmaster under the current conditions seems to me to be very fragile ... ”Balakirev was about to leave the chapel, but it happened differently. Balakirev was appointed manager of the Court Singing Chapel, and Rimsky-Korsakov was his musical assistant.

By 1881, the Court Choir Choir had become a respected and respected musical organization - a kind of center musical art high level. The chapel systematically performed in concerts of the Philharmonic and Concert Society. The famous French composer Hector Berlioz sincerely admired the performances of the choir of the Court Chapel and put the skill of the choristers above the level of performance of the singers of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

Absorbed by activities in the classes of the chapel, Rimsky-Korsakov admitted that he weakened his composing activity, but he wanted to develop an optimal teaching system here, useful to the chapel and gifted students. He managed to write and even publish a textbook, one copy of which Nikolai Andreevich presented to P.I. Tchaikovsky, with a request to express an opinion about him.

Pyotr Ilyich, despite the harshness of his review, highly appreciated the pedagogical qualities of Rimsky-Korsakov. The textbook of Nikolai Andreevich was subsequently reprinted many times in Russia and in European countries. The composer's pedagogical activity ultimately brought him great satisfaction. His students became famous composers and teachers. This is primarily A.K. Glazunov, A.K. Lyadov, N.A. Sokolov, A.S. Arensky and M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov (on his "Practical textbook of harmony" and today students are studying).

In the autumn of 1889, in the residential building of the chapel on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street, 11, in apartment No. 66, the family of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, then assistant manager of the choir. In a large comfortable state-owned apartment on the third floor with a balcony, composers A.K. Lyadov, A.K. Glazunov, P.I. Tchaikovsky and music and art critic V.V. Stasov.

The 25th anniversary of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. The friends decided to celebrate the anniversary with a performance of his First Symphony. On December 19, 1865, on the day of the anniversary, the "singing" hall of the chapel was decorated with tropical plants. Balakirev himself ordered a jubilee gift: a silver inkpot, sometimes gilded, with a clock on a massive marble pedestal in the form of a well in the Russian style, mounted on a silver stand depicting the score of his works and musical instruments.

At the celebration in the Noble Assembly, Nikolai Andreevich was presented with the address "Golden Leaf" in the form of an ancient scroll with a text written in Slavic script.

At the end of the 90s of the 19th century, the chapel house (No. 11) on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street housed the editorial offices of two magazines, "Architect" and "Construction Week".

The magazine "Architect" began to be published in 1872. Its editor in 1893-1898 was civil engineer M.F. Geissler, who took part in the creation of the complex of the Court Singing Chapel under the direction of L.N. Benois, and later became his original commandant.

In February 1918, the former Court Singing Chapel on the Moika Embankment "came under the jurisdiction of the Soviet people." The Izvestia newspaper then enthusiastically wrote “about the significant expansion of her current concert activity. Instead of 3-4 performances a year in the old days, in 1918-1919, about 50 concerts took place in the chapel. In 1937, at the Choir School, the chapels organized a wonderful boys' choir, which won concert performances huge popularity not only in our country but also abroad.

Literary evenings were regularly held in the Concert Hall of the Chapel. In the 1920s, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergei Yesenin, Korney Chukovsky, Osip Mandelstam and others read their works here.

When planning trips around the country, Vladimir Mayakovsky did not forget Leningrad, which gave him the great joy of communicating with many representatives of Russian culture. He met with students of Leningrad University, and at an evening in the Academic Chapel, the poet had a rather ridiculous situation.

Writer D.S. Babkin, recalling this, wrote: “Usually Mayakovsky spoke alone, but then Korney Chukovsky took the floor before reading it. While Chukovsky was speaking from the pulpit on the stage of the Chapel, Mayakovsky was preparing for his performance behind the scenes. He paced from corner to corner along the backstage area and muttered poetry. Fascinated by this, he did not notice that an hour had already passed, and meanwhile introduction Chukovsky, for which he was given 15–20 minutes, was still going on. Chukovsky sprinkled his speech with anecdotes, told how he met the young Mayakovsky in Kuokkalo, about the life of the eccentric inhabitants of this village, about how Repin's wife Nordman-Severova prepared dinners for her husband from various herbs. He did not want to criticize the poet. He even tried to patronize Mayakovsky, but he was well aware that he was one of those whom even the most arrogant people are afraid to patronize. He continued to talk all sorts of nonsense from the podium until one of the ladies shouted out to him from the audience: “Read the “Fly-Tsokotukha”!” Hearing this, Mayakovsky turned gloomy and handed the speaker a note: “Roots, round off,” but he, without reading the text , automatically put it aside and nonchalantly continued his "jolly" stories about hay soups and poor Ilya Efimovich Repin, who daily eats similar plant foods. Having finally lost patience, Mayakovsky, measuring the stage with his gigantic steps, went up to the podium, on which Korney Chukovsky was carelessly orating, turned it around with a sharp movement and, to loud laughter and applause from the audience, rolled the podium together with the speaker backstage, where he barked loudly in his bass: ! Enough chatting!”, and rolled out the pulpit freed from the author of “Moydodyr” back onto the Capella stage. The frightened administrator, announcing the performance of Vladimir Mayakovsky, assured fans of the “novel in verse” - “The Fly-Sokotuha” that a special creative evening would be organized for the poet Chukovsky in the Chapel.

On the same evening, Vladimir Mayakovsky read his new poem “Good!” to those gathered in the old concert hall of the former Court Choir.

In March 1933, the poet Osip Mandelstam arbitrarily returned from exile to Leningrad, having given his last two public performances in his native city: the first - in the Press House on the Fontanka, 7, and the second - in the hall of the Leningrad Choir Chapel on the Moika, 20.

The concert hall of the Leningrad Choir Chapel was filled to capacity. Young people crowded in the doors, crowded in the aisles. Witnesses of the last creative evening The poet was subsequently recalled in Leningrad: “He stood with his head thrown back, stretching out all over, as if a whirlwind that had flown in would now tear him off the ground. And some young people in civilian clothes with a military bearing and an unkind look darted around the hall, periodically talking to each other.

Mandelstam enthusiastically recited poems about Armenia, about his creative youth in St. Petersburg and the friends of that wonderful period of his life. One of the young men suddenly approached the ramp and, smiling ironically, handed a note to the platform. Osip Emilievich, interrupting his speech, unfolded the message and read it. Hundreds of spectator eyes from the audience saw how Mandelstam turned pale. He was invited to speak about Soviet poetry. However, after a certain period of silence, Mandelstam, in the dead silence that arose in the concert hall, suddenly straightened up and boldly stepped to the edge of the stage. In the hall, with its amazing sound acoustics, the voice of the disgraced poet sounded clearly: “What are you waiting for? What's the answer? I am a friend of my friends! I am a contemporary of Akhmatova!”

O.E. Mandelstam

His phrases dissolved in a deafening flurry, a storm of applause from the audience. Mandelstam was irresistibly drawn to Leningrad, his native city called and constantly attracted him to itself.

However, when in the early 1930s the poet wanted to return to Leningrad, the categorical refusal of his request came not from the authorities (they prudently evaded answering), but from a fellow writer. The secretary of the Union of Writers, the poet Nikolai Tikhonov, refused to give the Mandelstam spouses a room in the House of Writers, and then the poet’s wife, who came to see him with a second request for housing and a residence permit for the homeless Osip Emilievich, said: “Mandelstam will not live in Leningrad!”

In the post-war years, shortly before his death, Alexander Vertinsky performed in the Concert Hall of the choir with great success.

His so-called (by the author himself) "songs" were in fact wonderful miniature plot short stories in verse, set to music. They clearly showed the civic position of A.N. Vertinsky, who did not hide the continuity of his work with the songs of Beranger. His songs are also ironic, eccentric, mocking and sad.

A. Vertinsky

Few of the emigrants then had the courage to return to Russia. Returned those who were unable to continue to live in a foreign land. A.N. Vertinsky managed to return. Arriving in Leningrad, with his characteristic charm, he performed in the Concert Hall of the Singing Chapel with the last, as it turned out, dying concert. The chapel hall was packed, and the people of Leningrad once again heard their favorite "bard" Alexander Vertinsky. How many foreign cities the singer saw during the years of emigration, but Petersburg - Petrograd, where he repeatedly visited until 1917 and performed with success, Alexander Nikolayevich always remembered and sang about him in different countries, captivating enthusiastic listeners with nostalgic-sounding lines:

Brought a random rumor

Lovely, unnecessary words:

Summer Garden, Fontanka and Neva...

You, stray words, where?

And so he returned and here again, and in front of him are the real Summer Garden, the Fontanka and the Neva. How long had he been waiting for this meeting!

The concert began, and wonderful songs, unique micro-plays by Alexander Nikolayevich, his solo performances with dramatic, lyrical and even comic plots sounded in the chapel. Sounds:

And when the birches fall asleep

And the fields subside to sleep, -

Oh, how sweet, how it hurts through tears

At least look at your native country!

Wandering around the world, Vertinsky stubbornly sought permission to return to his homeland, and he received it. The motherland forgave the fugitive, and at the end of the Great Patriotic War he returned to Russia.

Today, the St. Petersburg State Academic Chapel named after M.I. Glinka with its audiences, classrooms and the famous Concert Hall still remains a unique singing group, continuing the long tradition of the Court Singing Chapel.

Here it is appropriate to talk about Xenia the Blessed, since indirectly (through her husband) her fate is connected with the chapel.

In the middle of the 18th century, Colonel of the Russian army Andrey Fedorovich Petrov, a passionate lover of choral singing and the leading soloist of the capital's "singing corps", was famous for his wonderful voice among the choir singers. After retiring, he married the girl Xenia Grigorievna, nee Grigorieva. The young happily lived in their own house on the Petrograd side. True, the family happiness of the spouses did not last long - Andrei Fedorovich suddenly dies, leaving the 26-year-old widow Ksenia Grigoryevna in deep grief.

From this tragic moment begins the history of St. Petersburg Xenia the Blessed, a metropolitan saint who lived in the 18th - early 19th centuries and is considered one of the patronesses of the city of Petrov. She lived as a widow for 45 years, devoting herself and her life to serving God, wandering all these years as a homeless wanderer and earnestly praying for people.

After the unexpected death of her wife, Ksenia gave away all the property acquired in her marriage to Andrei Fedorovich to poor people, and presented the mansion on the Petrograd side to her friend.

Putting on the clothes of her late husband, she began to wander, assuring everyone that she was not Xenia at all, but Andrei Fedorovich, who turned into her after his death. She was recognized as insane with the gift of foresight sent down by the Lord God. The clothes of the spouse soon turned into rags. Wandering around the capital, Xenia found temporary shelter, prayed, predicted their fate to the townsfolk. Parents were always happy if Ksenia kissed their children, usually after that their offspring were lucky. Merchants literally begged her to take something from them as a gift, later trade in their shops and stores noticeably revived, and profits grew before our eyes. For the same reason, the St. Petersburg cab drivers begged Xenia to drive at least a few meters in their carriages, because they knew that she brought happiness to people.

Chapel of St. Xenia of Petersburg at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery

Xenia never asked for alms. In her detachment from the real world, she felt happy and brought this happiness to others.

She is believed to have died at the age of 71, towards the end of the first decade of the 19th century. She was buried at the capital's Smolensk cemetery, not far from the Church of the Smolensk Mother of God, in the construction of which, according to legend, she took part. On Xenia's tombstone it was written: “She was called by the name Andrey Fedorovich. Who knew me, let him remember my soul for the salvation of his soul.

Xenia's grave began to attract many pilgrims. In the middle of the 19th century, a small stone chapel was built over the place of her burial, later replaced by a new, more representative one, built in the Russian-Byzantine style according to the project of the architect A. Vseslavin and consecrated in 1902. It was closed in 1940 "as a gathering place for 'superstitious elements'". At the same time, it was tightly packed with boards, but at the same time they could not close the road to it for those who, with tears, left notes with requests to Xenia “to help in troubles” near its walls.

In 1947, the chapel of Xenia the Blessed was reopened, and in 1960 a sculpture workshop was placed in it. In 1985, the chapel was finally returned to the believers and major repair and restoration work was carried out in it.

In 1988, Xenia of Petersburg was canonized, but even earlier, in 1977, she was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. Xenia the Blessed, along with Alexander Nevsky and John of Kronstadt, is considered the heavenly patroness of our long-suffering city.

And today, at the old St. Petersburg Smolensk cemetery near the chapel-tomb of Xenia the Blessed, you will always see people who come to her grave to ask for help and intercession.

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