Pavel Tchesnokov

Biography

Pavel Grigorievich Tchesnokov (24 October 1877, Voskresensk, Zvenigorod uyezd, Moscow Governorate – 14 March 1944, Moscow) was a Russian Empire and Soviet composer, choral conductor and teacher.

Tchesnokov (the name is also transliterated Tschesnokoff, Chesnokov, Tchesnokoff, and Chesnokoff) was born near Moscow. While attending the Moscow Conservatory, he received extensive training in both instrumental and vocal music including nine years of solfege, and seven years training for both the piano and violin. His studies in composition included four years of harmony, counterpoint, and form. During his years at the school, he had the opportunity to study with prominent Russian composers like Sergei Taneyev and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, who greatly influence his style of liturgy-driven, choral composition.

At an early age, Chesnokov gained recognition as a great conductor and choirmaster while leading many groups including the Russian Choral Society Choir. This reputation earned him a position on staff at the Moscow Conservatory where great composers and music scholars like Tchaikovsky shared their skills and musical insight. There he founded a choral conducting program, which he taught from 1920 until his death.

By the age of 30, Chesnokov had completed nearly four hundred sacred choral works, but his proliferation of church music came to a standstill at the time of the Russian revolution. Under communist rule, no one was permitted to produce any form of sacred art. So in response, he composed an additional hundred secular works, and conducted secular choirs like the Moscow Academy Choir and the Bolshoi Theatre Choir. In the Soviet era religion was often under oppression, and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, whose last choirmaster had been Chesnokov, was destroyed. This disturbed him so deeply that he stopped writing music altogether.

Today, Chesnokov is most known for his piece Salvation is Created as well as works such as Do Not Reject Me in Old Age (solo for basso profondo). His anthem O Lord God has served as the signature benedictory of Luther College's Nordic Choir (Decorah, Iowa, USA) since 1948.

Works for Winds

Adaptable Music

Salvation Is Created (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (1912/2016)

All Wind Works

Chorale and Folk Tune (tr. Meretta) (1912/1949)
Russian Litany (tr. Holcombe) (1979)
Salvation Is Created (arr. Brown) (1912/2016)
Salvation Is Created (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (1912/2016)
Salvation Is Created (arr. Davis) (1912)
Salvation Is Created (arr. Houseknecht) (1957/2011)
Salvation Is Created (arr. Lancaster) (1912/1957/)
Salvation is Created (arr. Pilato) (1912/2010)
Salvation Is Created (arr. Rosenberg) (1912/2017)
Salvation Is Created (arr. Stotter) (1912)

Resources

Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. 2002. Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Volume 4. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 370.
Pavel Chesnokov, Wikipedia