ICBICB

Dossier

Choral Music in BelarusChoral Music in Poland

Volume XXIX, Number 4 – 4th Quarter, 2010ISSN 0896 – 0968

International Choral Bulletin

International Federation for Choral MusicThe International Choral Bulletin is the official journal of the IFCM. It is issued to members four times a year.

Managing EditorMr Andrea AngeliniVia Pascoli 23/g47900 Rimini, ItalyTel: +39-347-2573878 - Fax: +39-2-700425984E-mail: aangelini@ifcm.netSkype: theconductor

Managing Editor EmeritaJutta Tagger

Editorial TeamMichael J. Anderson, Philip Brunelle, Daniel Garavano,Theodora Pavlovitch, Fred Sjöberg, Leon Shiu-wai Tong

Regular CollaboratorsMag. Graham Lack – Consultant Editor

(graham.lack@t-online.de)Dr. Marian E. Dolan - Repertoire

(mdolan@aya.yale.edu)Cristian Grases - World of Children’s and Youth Choirs

(cgrases@gmail.com)Nadine Robin - Advertisement & Events

(nrobin@ifcm.net)Dr. Cara S. Tasher - Composers’ Corner

(ctasher@gmail.com)

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Diana J. Leland, Irene Auerbach (text and linguisticediting and revision)

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German: Anne Stahl (coordination), Dr. Lore Auerbach(linguistic editing and revision)

Spanish: Maria Catalina Prieto (coordination), JuanCasasbellas (linguistic editing and revision)

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Contents

Dossier:Choral Music in BelarusChoral Music in PolandAspects of Choral Education in BelarusSvetlana Gerasimovich

The History of Belarusian Opera Art and theRole of the Chorus in Operas by BelarusianComposersYury Karaev

Belarusian Choral SingingNadezhda Buntsevich

To the Peak of MasteryInessa Bodyako

The Choral World in PolandMarcin Cmiel and Maciej Przerwa

IFCM NewsMeeting of the IFCM Board of Directors,8-10 July 2010, Barcelona, SpainMichael J. Anderson

9th World Symposium on Choral MusicNewsletter

In Memory of Marcel CorneloupAndré Dumont

World Youth Choir Summer SessionBetzabé Juárez Vargas

Choral TechniqueResearching the ScoreTim Sharp

Choral World NewsCantonigròs International Music FestivalAndrea Angelini

“Sounds of June” International ChoralCompetition, Petrinja, CroatiaAndrea Angelini

JuiceBox. from Germany receives the Leipzig ACAPELLA Award 2010Press Release by Janette Riebeck

10th International China Chorus FestivalAndrea Angelini

What A Wonderful World! Corona Children'sChorus Camp 2010Sanna Valvanne

Festival Youth Choirs in Movement showscheerful and fun choral musicPress Release by Sonja Greiner

The World Peace Choir Festival 2010 celebratesits FoundationPress Release by Sarah Lnder

La Fabbrica del CantoTheodora Pavlovitch

XXth Choralies A Cœur Joie FestivalJutta Tagger

World of Children’s and YouthChoirsLet’s Talk Method: PlacementCristian Grases

Composers’ CornerThe Contenance Angloise – Part OneGraham Lack

Choral Music RecordingsCritic’s Pick… Chanticleer and CantusJonathan Slawson

EventsCompiled by Nadine RobinI. Conferences, Workshops & MasterclassesII. Festivals & CompetitionsAdvertisers’ Index

Aspects of Choral Education in BelarusSvetlana Gerasimovich

The History of Belarusian Opera Art and the Role of the Chorus in Operas byBelarusian ComposersYury Karaev

Belarusian Choral SingingNadezhda Buntsevich

To the Peak of MasteryInessa Bodyako

Choral Music in PolandMaciej Przerwa

Choral Music in Belarus

Dossier

Choral Music in Poland

International Krakow Choral Festival, Poland

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Aspects of Choral Education in Belarus

The phenomenon of Belarusian musicalculture represents an extensive stratum of thespiritual life of the Belarusian nation. One ofits important components is the training ofchoral conductors which, at all stages of itsdevelopment, has been closely connectedwith choral singing.

Choral education originated in the 10thcentury, in the Middle Ages. At that time,the first singing schools were establishedwithin Orthodox churches and monasteries,the most famous of which were the schoolsof Polotsk, Turov and Vitebsk. We can lookupon the time when the Grand Principalityof Lithuania was formed on Belarusianterritories, before the Renaissance andBaroque epochs (second half of the 16thcentury to the beginnings of the 17thcentury), as the “golden age of choraleducation. The traditions of WesternEuropean music and musical educationbecame firmly established here as a result ofthe union between the Grand Principality ofLithuania and the Polish Kingdom. Churchsinging was included into “the Seven LiberalArts”, studied at educational establishmentsof various religions, and thus, musicaleducation became an inalienable part offorming an individual of high culture.Choral singers – choristers and precentorsfor serving in churches, and professionalmusicians, again for the church but also forchoirs at royal and noble courts– weretrained in Jesuit educational establishments(the Academy of Vilna, colleges, musicalseminaries) and Orthodox brethren schoolssituated in Vilno, Mogilev, Brest, Grodno,Minsk and other cities. The training ofchoral singers reached a high standard andwas conducted systematically on the basis ofmanuals and methodical guidelines. Eacheducational establishment had a choir thatperformed a large repertoire of religiouscompositions, ranging from monody topolyphony. Singing groups took part in

ICB Dossier

Svetlana GerasimovichChoral Director and Teacher

church services and theatrical performancesat schools which included panegyrical andecclesiastical hymns, vocal dialogues andballet choirs. Major advancements in thesphere of choral education on Belarusianterritories are connected with the activity ofsuch prominent musicians as N. Diletskiyand S. Lauxmin, the authors of treatises onmusic theory “An Idea of Musical Grammar”and “The Theory and Practice of Music”.

Another interesting period in thedevelopment of choral education was thesecond half of the 18th century. This era sawthe intensive growth of the music culture ofthe aristocracy, characterized byperformances of large-scale works and a greatdiversity of repertoire. Peasant theatresbecame widespread. Wealthy patrons of thearts like the Radzivill, the Sapieha and theZoricz families would order theestablishment of opera and ballet groupsand various orchestras within their theatres,and would also open theatrical and musicalschools which, in contrast to church schools,trained actors and musicians for performingsecular music. Such schools were founded inNesvizh, Grodno, and Slutsk. Theircurriculum included choral lessons,

instrumental tuition and studies of theoryand composition. Students took part intheatrical performances as choristers.

The turn from the 19th to the 20thcentury was marked by active developmentof choral education. The incorporation ofBelarusian territories into the RussianEmpire and the beginning of thedemocratization of public and concertmusical activity entailed substantial changesin choral education. Alongside universalsinging training, realized in all general andspecialized musical educationalestablishments, the professional training ofchoral conductors was initiated. The teachersof church singing for “ordinary” schools,grammar schools and other educationalestablishments, and precentors of amateurand church choirs, were trained at secularcolleges (five for teachers at secondaryschools, three for future teachers in highereducation) and clerical educationalestablishments (eleven specialized schools,four seminaries), as well as in summercourses for teachers and precentors.

The process of training choir singers andteachers of religious singing was stronglyinfluenced by the popular education reform,aimed at strengthening the religious, moraland patriotic education of youth, as well asby Russian methodological techniques andsinging traditions.

The training of precentors was orientedtowards the development of musical abilitiesand skills that students would need in theirfuture profession, and the formation of anactive and conscious attitude to their futurevocation: the study of elementary theory ofmusic, harmony and of methods of primaryvocal and choral education; the mastery of acertain range of religious chants; oraltraining for “vocal” purposes, the formationof choral and conducting skills; learning toplay musical instruments – all these wereintegral parts of choral singers’ training.

A picture of N. Diletskiy’s book “An Idea of MusicalGrammar”

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Choral conductors’ education was basedon the principle of an inseparableconnection with choral practice. Students’choral singing was represented by variedchoral groups: homogeneous – female (infemale church-run schools and grammarschools), children’s (in schools run by localparishes and “exemplary” schools – theschools in which student teachers did theirteaching practice under supervision, whichwere thus particularly good and advancedschools), male (at theological seminaries andspecialized schools), and mixed – at teachers’and precentors’ courses. Students’ choirsperformed regularly. Important participantsin Sunday church services, choirs alsoengaged in many other types of performingactivity, taking part in concerts held to markanniversaries, patronal feasts, visits of high-ranking personalities and associated schoolevents, and literary and musical evenings.The repertoire of students’ choirs wasformed as a direct outcome of performingpractice and included religious music, worksby Russian and foreign composers, and folksongs. On the basis of choral performingpractice, it became possible to single outgeneral principles of the dramatic structureof choral performances (programmes werearranged according to topical, chronological,stylistic or genre subjects) and main criteriafor evaluating the level of performing skills.

After the triumph of the Great OctoberSocialist Revolution, the establishment ofthe forms and methods of choral conductors’education in Belarus became closelyconnected to the formation of Soviet art as awhole. For the first time ever, the children ofworkers and peasants got free access toeducational establishments, and the statebecame responsible for managing theeducational system. Music schools, technicalsecondary schools, conservatories wereopened in various provinces of Belarus. Theprocess of training choral conductors there

was characterized by a combination ofteaching, performing and general education.These establishments had their own choralgroups whose repertoire included quitedifficult 4- to 8-part compositions.

A lot of interesting aspects of musicaleducation in Belarus are connected to theactivity of such prominent conductors as N.Malko and M. Antsev. Their ideas on thecontents of lessons in conducting, on thecorrelation between performing andpedagogical training in the process ofeducating choral conductors, had a positiveeffect on music pedagogics in Belarus.

A significant role in the training ofnational music professionals was played bythe State Conservatory (founded in 1932)which has a special department of choralconducting.

At different times, the department washeaded by famous performers andconductors, among them I. Bari, I. Gitgartzand V. Rovdo. The entire activity of thedepartment was closely linked to Belarusianchoral performance and the development ofchoral amateur activity. Many conservatorystudents combined lessons with engagementin professional choral groups. This was notonly authorized, but even encouraged,because it favored the consolidation oftheoretical knowledge through practice. Tothis end, the students of all years were alsoexpected to conduct the choir of theconservatory. A special feature of thedepartment of choral conducting at theBelarusian State Conservatory was the closeconnection of choral class activity with otherspecialized disciplines, among themsolfeggio, harmony, choral score-reading,musical and choral literature and piano.

Every new period in the social, economicand cultural life of society posed newcorresponding challenges, including those inthe sphere of musical education. Themodern system of choral conductors’

...Aspects of Choral Education in Belarus

education represents a chain of interactinglinks: primary – secondary – higher –postgraduate. Primary conductors’ trainingperforms the double function of providinggeneral musical education to the younggeneration as well as supplying a professionalorientation to the most talented children,cultivating primary professional knowledgeand skills in them. Educationalestablishments at this level include musicschools for children, choral schools andschools of art. In the Republic, therefunction a number of specialized schools forgifted children offering a 12-year period ofstudy that encompasses the primary andsecondary stages of musical education.Primary education is characterized bydifferent study plans and the creation ofadvanced systems of assessment.

Specialized secondary choral conductors’education is the stage of professional self-determination of a creative individual; it isalso the time for acquiring professionalknowledge and skills. In Belarus, thefoundations for this level of development areprovided by the choral departments ofspecialized musical schools and colleges thatfunction according to standardized studyplans and curricula. Their 10-point gradingsystem is the most precise way to determinethe level of students’ competence.

Tertiary education (for studentscontinuing their training beyond the age ofcompulsory schooling) is the period ofprofessional establishment of a person and ofthe achievement of mastery in the sphere ofchoral art. This stage of education isprovided for by the Academy of Music (up to1992 the Belarusian State Conservatory), theUniversity of Culture and the PedagogicalUniversity, which are notable for their wideand varied approaches to the contents ofstudies at choral conducting departments.Among the important features of modernchoral conductors’ training are

The Belarusian State Conservatory named afterLunacharsky, since 1992 Belarusian Academy of Music

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diversification, the retention of traditionsand the continuity of the educationalprocess.

An integral quality of the process ofchoral performers’ training is the unity oftheory and practice – the choral class beingone of the major parts of study activity.Students’ choirs functioning at alleducational establishments actively engage ina variety of concerts and other activities thatserve to extend their experience.

Nowadays, domestic choral conductingeducation faces the challenge of preservingand developing the national music culture:the artistic works of folklore and thenational composing school; performingtraditions manifested in a range of methodsof transmitting the performer’s message; andvocal choral techniques, established in theRepublic.

Educational establishments solve this taskin a number of ways: examples of folkloreand works by Belarusians are included intothe repertoire of students’ choirs and intospecialization and singing curricula – theyare exploited according to the currentsinging tradition; and students’ groups takepart in artistic presentations of the Union ofBelarusian Composers.

Another challenge of the present day isthe integration of the educational systeminto the European community. There are anumber of extensive ways in which this isachieved:• students and choirs take part ininternational festivals, competitions andcreative projects;

• educational establishments inviteprominent professionals from the sphere ofchoral singing to deliver lectures on theissues of Western European choral singing;

• international contests, seminars, scientificand methodological conferences,workshops are put on by educationalestablishments.

An important aim of all the ramificationsof the educational system remains theenhancement of the professional training ofchoral art experts. An active application ofmodern computer technologies in class,turning the monologue of lectures into adialogue, the arrangement of new forms ofstudents’ out-of-class activities, theimplementation of role play and problem-oriented methods into the educationalprocess, the involvement of talented youngpeople into scientific research activity,graduates’ internship in amateur andprofessional choral groups – these are theleading means by which the efficiency ofstudies is increased.

The proficiency level of graduates at allstages is fairly high. Students’ choral groups

are frequently to be found as participantsand winners of domestic and internationalchoral festivals and contests. Singing groupsplay a leading role in the organization ofchoral festivals at local and nationwide level.

Svetlana Gerasimovich is associate professor atthe chair of choral conducting of the BelarusianState Academy of Music, artistic director andconductor of the children’s ‘model’ choir“Ranitsa” at Secondary School No.145 ofMinsk, a multiple prize winner of nationaland international contests and recognized as“the Teacher of the Year” (Belarus, 2003) forher accomplishments in developing the creativeabilities of children.Email: egormakcim@mail.ru •

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In the eighteenth century the developmentof music education and professionalismcaused the appearance of numerous privatemusic theaters on the territory of present-day Belarus, which invited conductors,composers, teachers and performers to workthere. In the first instance, researchersattribute this period of musical andtheatrical flourishing to the fact that thearistocracy started to take more interest inmusical and theatrical genres which requireda considerable amount of financing.

The opera “Agatka” by J. D. Goland(1746-1827) is considered to be the firstnational Belarusian opera created by aprofessional composer. It was staged on 17September 1784 in Nesvizh in honor of thearrival of the king of the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth, Stanislav August. Theopera was a great success and was stagedseveral times in Warsaw (1785, 1788, 1791,1799, 1820), Lvov (1796-1799), Lublin(1786), Krakov (1815) and Poznan (1826).The music of the opera displays the mainfeatures of J. D. Goland’s style as a followerof the Viennese and Berlin schools. At thesame time the melodic patterns of the musicperformed by the lyric characters andemployed for dancing were also influencedby Slavic folklore.

Unfortunately, numerous opera scores byfamous composers who worked on theterritory of Belarus in the 18th and 19thcenturies disappeared without trace, or onlytheir fragments have been preserved. Theseinclude the operas “The changedphilosopher” by M. K. Oginsky (staged in1771), “Ill-gotten gains never prosper” by J.D. Goland (1780-1782), “Voit of the Villagein Alba”, also by J. D. Goland (staged in1785-1786) and “The Competition of

The distinguishing features of the nationaloperas of this period are their use of thepeople's liberation as subject matter andtheir tense dramatic plots, closely connectedwith the events of World War II. It is alsoworth mentioning that the choral episodesthat supply the background for the actionhave an everyday (genre) nature, which addsa certain national coloring to the operas.Composers often use quotations frompopular songs and dances, various types ofpopular lyric and stylized war songs. Thenational and historic foundation of operaticworks of that period contributed to theestablishment of the chorus as one of themain acting characters.

The modern period of the developmentof operatic art is connected to the flourishingof composers’ activity and starts in the1970s. During the first half of the 20thcentury the national school of composingwas developing under the strong influence ofthe Russian school (both in stylistic andartistic aspects). Only by the middle of the1970s did the impact of postmodernism andthe active synchronization of the nationalmusical and theatrical process with theEuropean one enable the artistic system ofcontemporary opera art to renew itself.

The beginning of this most recent phaseof the development of Belarusian operatic artis often linked to the staging of the opera“Giordano Bruno” by S. Cortes (1977),which touched upon the burning problemsof modern society and its outlook on theworld. The author’s original interpretation ofGiordano Bruno’s life shaped to fit the genreof “philosophic and journalistic action withoratorical features and traits ofhagiographical drama” raised much interestfrom audiences as well as from musicalspecialists. The dominating role of thechorus consists in building plotlines, in vividstructural and compositional orientation,

Musicians” and “Village Girl” by S.Moniuschko. Moreover, it is difficult tostudy the manuscripts of those works whichhave come down to us because many of themcurrently are held in musical archives beyondthe borders of the modern Republic ofBelarus. In the first instance this refers to theworks of S. Moniuschko: “RecruitConscription” (staged on 10 October 1841)and “Miraculous Water” (staged in the 1840sin Vilnius). The fragments of these works arecurrently kept by the Warsaw MusicalSociety.

A new phase of the development of theart of national opera is connected with theopening in 1938 of the State Theater forOpera and Ballet of the Belarusian SovietSocialist Republic. Numerous stagings offoreign operatic masterpieces as well as ofBelarusian national operas took place therefrom 1938 to 1940: “Mikhas' Padgorny” byE. K. Tsikotsky, “In the Woods of Palesse”by A. V. Bogatyryov and “The Flower ofHappiness” by A. E. Turenkov are amongthese.

During World War II the staff of thetheatre were evacuated from Minsk, and thebuilding of the theater was seriouslydamaged. The opening of the reconstructedtheater was marked by the première of one ofthe best national operas, “Kastus'Kalinouski” by D. A. Lukas. The pre-warrepertoire was fully restored only by the year1949. Operas staged in the late 1940s and1950s represented the very best ofBelarusian opera theatre. Among them wereoperas by E. K. Tsikotsky and A. E. Turenkovas well as works by A. V. Bogatyryov:“Nadezhda Durova” (1947), Yu. V.Semeniako: “Thorny Rose” (1960), “Whenthe leaves fall” (1968), “Star Venus” (1970)and “Your Spring” (1962) by E. A. Glebovand “Song about Fate” by V. G. Muliavin.

The History of Belarusian Opera Art

Yury KaraevHistory of Music Student,

Choral Conducting Diploma

And the Role of the Chorus in Operas by Belarusian Composers

which is expressed in the function of unitingand framing of certain episodes, as well aspermeating the opera as a whole. The factshould also be highlighted that the text ofthe chorus’s part is symbolic, which isdisplayed through metaphorical perspectivesin the text that allow us to perceive theaction beyond the boundaries of time andplace.

Other operatic works of S. Cortes include“Mother Courage” (1980) and “Visit of aLady” (1989). In both, the importance of thepart of the chorus part in building basicplotlines of the operas, defining the time andplace of action, cannot be underestimated.The introduction of the chorus contributesto the vivid representation of theculminating phases of the opera. With thehelp of choral sonority the composermanages to produce cinematographic effectsof “stopframe”, “montage” and “dissolveview”, using choral scenes to highlight suchinherent traits of the parable genre asallusiveness, semantic duality, and also theintroduction of character-commentators.

Other composers, too, enlist the help ofthe chorus to supply similar dramaturgicdevices, for example Yu. V. Semeniako in“New Land” (1978), D. B. Smolsky in“Ancient Legend” (1978) and “FranciskSkoryna” (1988), V. E. Soltan in “KingStach's Wild Hunt” (1988) and “Lady

Yadviga” (1990) and E. A. Glebov in “Masterand Margarita” (1992). Thus it can be statedthat one of the distinguishing features of thestyle of the Belarusian national musicaltheatre is the exceptional importance of theopera chorus. The most recent “big” nationalopera was composed comparatively long ago.In 1992 the Belarusian National Theater ofOpera and Ballet decided to stage the opera“The Prince of Novogrudok” by A. V.Bondarenko. The plot tells us about historicevents during the formation of the GreatLithuanian Principality in the middle of the13th century. The historic foundation andvivid spiritual and religious coloring of theplot determined the genre of this opera, inwhich choral scenes are undoubtedly thedominant part of the musical anddramaturgic action as a whole. This can beproved by the way opera specialists categorize“The Prince of Novogrudok”: “opera-oratory”, “epic choral opera”, “historicaldrama”, “choral opera”.

In the operas by Belarusian composerschoral scenes often play the main role in thedevelopment of the musical and dramaturgicaction, but in this context “The Prince ofNovogrudok” is almost unique. Large-scalechoral scenes draw up the Christian andpagan plotlines of the opera, and it’s the epicaspect represented by the chorus that

performs the unifying function within theopera. The choral part, as well as dialoguesand ensembles, allows the immediate actionof the opera to develop, and the chorus is anactive participant in this, taking part in theaction and commenting on it on behalf ofthe author; the voice of the chorus has bothgeneral and subjective meaning. The chorussympathizes with the characters and “risesabove” the action, generalizing what is goingon on-stage from the point of view ofmodern time and history.

The opera “The Prince of Novogrudok”was not only a landmark in the history ofnational opera art, but also embraced thetendency of returning to a spiritual andChristian outlook in musical and theatricalgenres. Religious music, which wasprohibited during the Soviet period(1917–1980s), again began to penetrate intosecular genres such as cantata, oratory,symphony with chorus and opera. This isprobably connected to the fact that suchworks embrace numerous topics and ideaswhich are highly significant to the composersand lie at the core of their spiritual andcreative activity.

Yury Karaev is a postgraduate student of MusicHistory Department at the Belarusian StateAcademy of Music. He graduated from theBelarusian State Academy of Music with aqualification in choral conducting. Yury teacheschoral conducting at the Minsk music collegenamed after M. Glinka and at the BelarusianState Academy of Music and is always at thecentre of choral events in Belarus, both asperformer of tenor parts and organizer ofrepublic-wide events; he undertakes research inthe spheres of history and theory of opera art,opera and choral dramaturgy.Email: karaev@tut.by •

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S. A. Cortes A. V. Bondarenko

10 ballet staging of the stage cantata “CarminaBurana” by C. Orff. Starting from 1993, thechoir was led by Nina Lomanovich. Itsmembership has been renewed significantlyby graduates from the Belarusian StateAcademy of Music, many of which alreadyunderwent practical training in the theaterduring their studies. Concert performancesby the choir also are a success – both acapella and with orchestra. A good choice ofrepertoire, including complex choral pieces,concert performances of operas which arenot in the theater’s repertoire - all thesefactors contribute to the constantimprovement of an already highlyprofessional choir. The large size of the group(it consists of 70 singers) doesn’t prevent thechoir from enjoying a well-blended soundand perfect rhythmic ensemble, and itcontributes to colorful timbre. It alsoenables it to perform in a large diversity ofsize of combinations of choral and ensemblegroups, as required by various opera scores.

During its 70-year history the StateAcademic Choir (Capella) of the Republicof Belarus named after G. Schirma(www.philharmonic.by) has changed itscreative path several times. It was founded in1939 as an amateur choir which sangBelarusian folk songs collected and arrangedby folklorist and chorus master GrigorySchirma. Having obtained the status of astate choir, the group enlarged its repertoire.Alongside its purely vocal activities, it startedto use a choreographic ensemble andinstrumental accompaniment. Today thechoir still consists exclusively of choralsingers, but it successfully performs with thebest orchestras of the world. The repertoireof the group includes not only secular choralclassics, but also religious works of differentepoques and modern works by Belarusiancomposers. In the last decade the singershave mastered the opera genre, participatingin opera performances in other countries;such performances have included “Aida”, “La

Traviata” and “Nabucco” by G. Verdi,“Tosca” and “Sister Angelica” by G. Puccini,“The Sleepwalker” by V. Bellini, “Fidelio” byL. van Beethoven and “The Mastersingers ofNuremberg” and the “Ring Cycle” by R.Wagner. Since 1987, the choir has beendirected by a representative of the St.Petersburg choral school, Liudmila Efimova.The group’s manner of performing ischaracterized by using “large strokes of thepaint brush” and vivid contrasts in order tounderline the structure of the pieces theyperform.

The Academic Choir of the BelarusianNational State Television and RadioCompany(www.tvr.by/rus/musiccol.asp?pr=choir)was created in 1931 and during the pre-warera it worked exclusively on air. From the1960s to the 1980s its primary task was tocontinuously add to the audio archives withrecordings of Belarusian academic music andarrangements of folksongs. However, in the1990s this group also started touring. Formore than 40 years the choir was led by thefamous Victor Rovdo; since 2008, after hisdeath, it has been headed by Olga Yanum, agraduate of the Belarusian State Academy ofMusic specializing in choral conducting andsinging. Nowadays the choir is involved in anew creative search, turning to the mostrecent Belarusian scores. Nevertheless, takinginto consideration the kaleidoscopic natureof the repertoire of the choir, the group’sperformances of religious music of differentdenominations remain their uneclipsedachievement.

Belarusian professional choral art is highlydeveloped. There are seven large choralgroups in the country which are financed bythe state. All of them frequently performabroad, each time praised and getting newoffers for concert touring and creativecooperation, winning prizes at prestigiousforeign festivals and competitions.

Each of these choirs has its own character,its original sound and its own favorite piecesof repertoire. In fact, such specialization isnot a matter of principle for the choralgroups – rather, it has been brought about bythe concert and theatrical institutions towhich they are affiliated. At the same time,each choir strives to widen its genre and, asmuch as possible, its stylistic palette.Therefore there is a tendency which can beconsidered common for all of them:universality of performance and the ability tointerpret professionally works of differentgenres and styles. The classics of the 19thcentury are still the most popular pieces intheir programmes.

The chorus of the National AcademicBolshoi Theatre of Opera and Ballet of theRepublic of Belarus (www.belarusopera.by)specializes, naturally, in theatrical repertoire,which embraces about 30 works with well-developed choral parts. They include suchrecognized choral operas as “Prince Igor” byA. Borodin, “Boris Godunov” and“Khovanschina” by M. Musorgsky,“Nabucco” and “Aida” by G. Verdi and a

DossierBelarusian Choral Singing

Nadezhda BuntsevichMusicologist

The chorus of the National Academic Bolshoi Theatreof Opera and Ballet of the Republic of Belarus

The Academic Choir of the Belarusian National StateTelevision and Radio Company

Belarusian folk songs are within therepertoire of most choral groups in thecountry, but the National Academic FolkChoir named after G. Tsitovich(http://belhor.org/), founded in 1952, reallyspecializes in this sphere. This group wascreated by the famous folklorist and chorusmaster G. Tsitovich (the 100th anniversaryof his birth was celebrated recently). As farback as in the pre-war period he headed anamateur village chorus which sang in a folkmanner – using the so-called “open” sound, akind of singing in which vowels are sung asthey sound in speech, in contrast to therounded, reduced sound of academicallytrained voices. This group, for the most part,became the creative laboratory for thefurther development of the country’s choralfolk singing which, as time went by, began toprogress not only spontaneously, but also inan organized and professional manner. G.Tsitovich also prepared his successor:Mikhail Drinevsky became the chorus-master straight after graduating from theBelarusian State Conservatory. Nowadays,many members of the choir are graduates ofthe Belarusian State University of Cultureand Arts, where students study folk singing.Apart from the choir, the group includes achoreographic company as well as anorchestral company in which folkinstruments are present. This makes possiblenot only the performance of separate pieces,but also of complete theatrical compositions.

Recently the choral group’s repertoire hasbeen enriched by academic a cappella worksand arrangements of original songs. But thetop achievement of the group is thereconstruction of the ritual of the Belarusianwedding which was made on the basis of truefolksongs in collaboration with folk musicspecialist Zinaida Mozheiko and composerVyacheslav Kuznetsov. Folk choirs are amongthe most popular Belarusian groups abroad.Annually this group makes more than 70guest performances, touring over Europe, aswell as Turkey, Canada, China and othercountries.The Belarusian State Chamber Choir

(www.philharmonic.by) was founded in1988 as the result of a so-called “creativecompetition” between two amateur groups,but its rival didn’t lose out either: today it’sanother philharmonic group – the vocalensemble “Camerata”. Whereas the prioritiesof the organizer and first director of theChamber Choir, Igor Matiukhov, layprimarily with very early music on the onehand and and very recent works on the other,Natalia Mikhailova, who became the head ofthe group in 2000, strives to further widenits stylistic and genre palette. Brilliantlyperforming religious works, the choir evensings jazz pieces, with other repertoireranging from staged concert performances,including some involving other groups andinvited soloists, right to opera scenes byBelarusian composers.The Musical Capella “Sonorus”

(http://sonorus.by) started in 1992, whenin Molodechno, a town not far from Minsk,a regional chamber choir of the same nameappeared, consisting of graduates andteachers of the Molodechno musical collegeas well as of leaders of independent choirs.The initiative of the organizer and directorAlexey Schut allowed the new group to makea rapid and successful career. “Sonorus”,which appeared at the dawn of Belarusianstatehood (Belarus, previously part of the

USSR, became independent in 1991),aspires to renew the best traditions ofmusical capellas, which were wide-spread inthe 18th century, when the Belarusian landswere part of the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth. Today the capella includesa choir, soloists and an orchestra, whichallows it to include large-scale vocal andsymphonic pieces in its repertoire. The groupoften goes on tour all over Belarus,performing its educational functions. Worksof Belarusian composers of different periodsare a significant part of its repertoire. Latelythe choir has also frequently taken part inevents where music alternates with literarycontributions, and even in musicalperformances based on works of musical andpoetic classics, fairytale operas and ballets.Last but not least, two years ago the groupcame to stage the chamber opera “The LittlePrince”, which was written at its request bythe Belarusian composer Andrey Mdivani.The Chorus of the State Academic

Musical Theater (www.musicaltheatre.by)doesn’t usually perform outside the StateAcademy, except in gala concerts.Nevertheless its work in performances andparticularly in musicals arouses admiration.The members of the choir, mainly younggraduates of the Belarusian State Academy ofMusic, learned to move so delightfully thattheir agility sometimes reaches the standardof professional dancers. The management ofthe theater, which has recently changed, hasnot refused to continue staging musicalcomedies, classical operettas and musicals,but also begun to lay emphasis on thesingers’ concert activity, including in theacademic sphere. This tendency also appliesto the theatre chorus lead by SvetlanaPetrova.

One of the paradoxes of Belarusianculture is its sharp discrepancy betweensupply and demand. The level of professionalchoral singing is very high, but the interest ofthe public for it has dropped dramatically.

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The National Academic Folk Choir named afterG. Tsitovich

12 appear, competitions are held – more oftenof religious music. But the opportunities fordisplaying the best amateur groups,especially abroad, are still limited.

Nadezhda Burtsevich is a music specialist, amember of the Belarusian Union of Composers,senior teacher of the Belarusian State Academyof Music, Head of the Deparment of Music andMusical Theater, member of the editorialboard of the newspaper “Culture”, laureate ofthe national prize “For spiritual revival”(1999) and holder of a diploma of theCommission of the Republic of Belarus on

UNESCO Affairs (2004). She is a graduate ofthe Belarusian State Conservatory (1985) andundertook postgraduate studies there (1996).She has worked on the musical editorial boardof Belarusian Radio (1994-2002) andcooperated with Belarusian TV and theeditorial boards of natonal newspapers andmagazines. The author has about ten scripts fordocumentaries to her name as well as morethan a thousand radio and TV programs, aboutthree thousand publications.Email: n-bun@tut.by •

During Soviet times choral lessons were acompulsory part of general secondaryeducation, and amateur choral groups wereregularly financed. The educational reformled to a reduction not only of singinglessons, but also of all subjects in thehumanities. Apart from that, new financialcircumstances led to the dissolution ofnumerous amateur groups, although manyprofessional groups were able to survive.Today amateur choral singing, having gonethrough a range of difficulties, is beginningto recover. Orthodox and Catholic choruses

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...Belarusian Choral Singing

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Are you fond of fame?- Of course, I am an artist indeed. My sphere is

the concert hall, stage, audience.

Victor Victorovich Rovdo (1921 – 2007)was a People’s Artist of the USSR. He beganthe Belarusian phase of his creative work inAugust 1956 after he had graduated fromclasses led by the People’s Artist of theRepublic of Lithuania K. Kavyatskas atVilnus music conservatory and had finishedpostgraduate studies under the direction ofthe People’s Artist of the USSR ProfessorSveshnikov at the Moscow State conservatorynamed after P. I. Tchaikovsky. For over fourdecades he was the immortal leader of twochoirs – the students’ choir of the BelarusianState Academy of Music and the choir ofBelarusian radio and television. He was atrue leader of the Belarusian school of choralconducting and a “patriarch” of nationalchoral art.

His short biography will show how theamazing sequence and purposefulness of oneman’s life can present an epoch of choralcelebration to the whole country.

Victor’s father priest Vladimir Rovdo settleddown with his family in Smorgon which waspart of Poland from 1920 to 1939. TheOrthodox Church in Smorgon was destroyedduring the war 1917–1918, so FatherVladimir equipped one of the rooms of hishouse as a domestic church¹. In the other roomFather’s Vladimir’s second son was born inNovember 1921. He was called Victor in honorof the holy martyr Victor. As a result of this,Victor Vladimirovich often said that he “wasborn in a temple”. In 1926 a primary schoolteacher in Smorgon discovered the boy’sextraordinary abilities for music, and inautumn 1929, together with his older brotherAnatoly, Victor Rovdo entered Vilnius seminary.The Vilnius phase² (1929-1951) in thebiography of Victor Rovdo is connected withstudying Latin, Greek, German, Polish andBelarusian, learning mathematics, physics,chemistry, natural science, logic, rhetoric and,of course, training in vocal skills, how to be agood precentor and learning music-theoreticalsubjects. In autumn 1936, when Victor Rovdowas almost 15 years old, the rector of theseminary presented him with a tuning-fork andappointed him the precentor of the seminary

chorus for weekday divine services. This is whenthe activity of the young conductor Rovdobegan. At the end of the 1930s small vocalgroups were especially popular in Vilnius. Someseminary students together with Victororganized a vocal ensemble that oftenperformed during church and secularcelebrations³. In the autumn of 1938 someseminary students received an invitation fromGrigory Romanovich Shirma to jooin hischorus in which progressive Belarusian youngpeople came together, Belarusian folk songs weresung and the Belarusian language was spoken.As early as June 1940, after the beginning ofthe SecondWorldWar, Victor Rovdo, amongother graduates, received the graduationcertificate of Vilnius Divinity School, aninstitution which was not recognized by theSoviet government. The mother of the futureconductor, Stefanida Rovdo, badly wanted herchildren to be doctors4, so during the war, in1942 and 1943, Victor Rovdo, together with agroup of other enthusiasts, attended lectures at aclandestine medical school. They succeeded in

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To the Peak of Mastery

Inessa BodyakoAssociate Professor,

National Music Academy of Bielorussia

A choir of amateurs (Victor Rovdo is in the middle ofthe first row)

Victor Victorovich Rovdo with his family

Victor Victorovich Rovdo (1921 – 2007)

14 Conservatory named after Tchaikovsky (fromMarch 1954). In Belarus professor V. Rovdoshowed his intense creative vitality for the firsttime when working as a choirmaster with theState Choir of the BSSR (1956-1965). FromSeptember 1965 V. V. Rovdo was alreadyworking as chief conductor and artistic directorof the choir of Belarusian radio and television.In August 1990 V. V. Rovdo was awarded thehonorary title “Academic” for majorachievements in the development of the art ofchoral music, and in September of that year hewas awarded the honorary title “People’s Artistof the USSR”. Starting in 1956, the activepedagogical work of Victor Rovdo at theBelarusian State Academy of Music worked inthree different ‘threads’ (for 50 years!): headingthe Department of Choral Conducting, leadingstudent choirs and teaching choral conducting.Over the years of work with student choirs(from 1961) more than 800 chorus masterswent through his school, his pupils now leadchurch and professional choral groups, sing andteach music and singing to children.

V. Rovdo considered AlexanderSveshnikov to have been his chief teacher, anoutstanding choral conductor in the Russianchoral tradition, the greatest interpreter ofRussian folk songs, and one of the last“Synodals” – members of the MoscowSynodal Choirhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Synodal_Choir

This man gave him a “start in life”. In 1972V. Rovdo organized the arrival of A. V.Sveshnikov in Minsk. The chief choirmasterof the National Opera House of the Republicof Belarus N. I. Lomanovich describes thatmeeting: “Alexander Vasil’evich Sveshnikov wasquite old and worked with us sitting on a chair. Ieven have a photo of him. Then we sang aconcert. Sveshnikov conducted some musicalpieces.We were affected by the attitude of VictorVladimirovich, maestro-musician, to his teacher– deep respect and absolute worship”.

For Maestro Rovdo the concept of“exemplary tone quality” was connected firstof all to the intensity and depth of sonoritywhich was typical for choirs under thedirection of A. V. Sveshnikov. The prideand joy of any choir – in the opinion of V. V.Rovdo – are the basses, “Russian”, manlyand high-souled, full and mellow, with theobligatory presence of octavists. The lightand powerful sound of tenors was combinedwith the chesty and intensive tone quality ofthe altos. These two sections, like Romeoand Juliet, had to complement and enricheach other. The singing tone of the sopranoswas to be mild, even, without the flickeringsilveriness which usually accompanies thesound of the top line of a choir. Theblending and merging into one chord of allchoral voices should make the impression ofa perfectly tuned instrument – an instrumentthat happened to consist of voices.

Rovdo as a conductor had colossal powerof influence on his choirs. He possessed asort of magnetism, the strongest energyemanating from a conductor, from his wholefigure, from his face, the movements ofhands and fingers. The musicians hardlynoticed that their conductor’s gestures werereserved and restrained, even laconic,because choirs were an instrument which heplayed every day.

His teacher A. V. Sveshnikov passed on toVictor Vladimirovich Rovdo the need forspecial attention and a solicitous attitude tothe word in choral scores. On the one hand,he aimed to place semantic key points in thepoetic text correctly, to put main words first,to estimate the rate of “relevant” and“irrelevant” syllables for singing, to assureclear word intelligibility for each element ofverbal “clue”. On the other hand, the final“reading” of a verbal text was carried out

concealing these lessons from the Gestapo forquite a long time, but eventually the secreteducational institution was discovered andstudents were surrounded by their enemies.Victor escaped by the skin of his teeth, hiddenbehind a bath-tub full of formalin in the cellarwhere the dissecting room was. After the warended the question “What should I do?” cameup seriously for Victor. He didn’t want to giveup his hobbies, so in summer 1945 he enteredboth the medical faculty of Vilnius Universityand Vilnius conservatory. He managed to geteverywhere in time because of having amotorcycle. From 1946 he led a choir at theMonastery of the Sacred Spirit which consistedof conservatory students such as singers andcomposers of choral music. Many choristerscame from priesthood families. This took placeat an incredibly difficult time for religiousdenominations in the USSR. Somebody made adenunciation to the conservatoryadministration that Rovdo together with someother students had taken part in an Eastervigil. The day after Easter the leader of thechoir, non-Komsomol (!) Rovdo, was dismissedfrom the conservatory by the decision of theadministration. One year later Victor Rovdowas reinstated in the fifth course with abrilliant character reference from his place ofemployment (leading the choir of the officer’swives at the military airbase outside Vilnius),and after he had successfully passed his finalexamination at the Lithuanian StateConservatory, in late autumn 1951 he arrivedin Moscow to take up a postgraduatestudentship at the Moscow State Conservatory.In Moscow from 1951 to 1956, during thesepostgraduate studies, Victor Rovdo worked as aconcertmaster (from March 1952), then aschoirmaster (from December 1954) of the StateAcademic Russian Choir of the USSR, and alsoas chorus master of a boys’ choir at the Moscowsong-school (from March 1952) as well as achorus master at the opera studio of the Moscow

Dossier

...To the Peak of Mastery

V. ovdo is conducting the USSR State AcademicRussian chorus in Zagorsk, 1953

As a memento for Vitya Rovdo as a sign of deep attach-ment and friendship" - A. Sveshnikov, 4 February 1964

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entirely according to a performing super-task– to open a deep sense of the content, tomove the listeners deeply.

In 1968 the choir of the Belarusian StateConservatory, which was to be led by thesame professor for 45 years, took part for thefirst time in student holiday courses called“Gaudeamus” in Vilnius. According to thecommittee of “Gaudeamus” leaders thestudents’ chorus from Minsk took part inseven similar holidays which took placealternately in Vilnius, Riga, Tartu andTallinn (1968, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1981,1984 and 1987). Victor had to conduct acombined choir of five thousand, performingone or two pieces together. With such a hugechoir it is very difficult to have all singersenter together, and no other conductorcould do it as well as Rovdo did. Theinspector of chorus of Belarusian radio andtelevision A. Androsov (till 2008)remembered in his interview what a hugeimpression Victor Rovdo’s conductingtechnique made on the participants of asinging holiday in Tallinn in July, 1985: “Healways appeared in a white jacket and showedoff before the public, as the madcap-hooligan.And then suddenly a finger would wave and allthe people sang, as one. In rehearsal they evenasked him to repeat this feat, because it seemedunbelievable that a choir of five thousand couldenter on just the movement of a finger”. Aprofessor at the Lithuanian Academy ofMusic and Theater, P. Gilis, one of theregular organizers of singing holidays inLithuania, shares his impression: “What can Itell about Victor Vladimirovich as theconductor on these holidays? He was so talentedthat he never had problems in communicatingwith big or small choirs. His gestures werealways absolutely clear. His requirements of thechoirs were always very high. He was neversatisfied with the level reached, always set a

super-task, sometimes not quite feasible. Theconductor’s choral achievement in a hall is oftenimpossible to repeat out of doors, on a singingfield. But it is possible to aspire to it, of course.Professor Rovdo did aspire to it, and thereforehe wasn’t always satisfied. Professor Kavyatskascalmed him down: “Everything will be fine!”And the work was indeed performed reallyperfectly. Both at rehearsal and in a concertProfessor Rovdo always proved himself to be aperformer of the highest rank.”

The students’ concert choir of theBelarusian State Academy of Music (it wasrenamed in 1992) under the direction of V.Rovdo achieved powerful successes. In June1995 this choral group won the Grand Prizeat the first international choir festival inChisinau (Moldova) in the category “Choirsfrom musical high schools in Europe andCIS”. In March 1997 the choir was awardedtwo cups and three gold diplomas at thesecond international choral competition inDarmstadt (Germany), where it also receivedthe highest award – the “Oskar”. In May1997 the concert choir of the BelarusianState Academy of Music received the grandprize at the sixteenth international festival ofchurch music in Hajnovka (Poland). Theson of a priest, former seminary student,surgeon, musician, People’s Artist of theUSSR, professor, academician of the SlavicInternational Academy, artistic director ofthe choirs of Belarusian radio and televisionand the Belarusian Academy of Music,excellent art critic, winner of two stateawards and last but not least the belovedhusband of the opera diva Sofia Voevodskaya, in her time a star on the stages of Vilniusand Minsk, and apart from all that aninteresting conversationalist with no lessinteresting a life story, was the Teacher of ourlife.

In the American bibliographicencyclopedia “Who’s Who in Classical Music

2002” we find that photography was a hobbyof Professor Rovdo’s. Many of the photos inthis article come from V. Rovdo’s personalarchive.

Associate professor Inessa Bodyako is theartistic director of students’ choirs and teacheschoral conducting and the history of Russianchoral music at the Belarusian State Academyof Music. She was chorus master of theAcademic Chorus of the national television andradio broadcasting company of the Republic ofBelarus and founder and conductor of thechamber choir “Cantemus” becoming the prize-winner of international choral competitions inItaly (Arezzo, Gorizia), Spain (Tolosa), Poland(Hajnovka) and Belarus (Minsk). Inessa hasserved on the juries of many national andinternational competitions, has given masterclasses in Germany, France, was responsible fora great number of choral projects in Belarusincluding the Open Conductors’ competitionnamed after V. Rovdo, Choral pages of thetwentieth century, and the female chorus“Charouniya lilei”.Email: inesminsk@tut.by

This article is based on an interview with Professor V.Rovdo for periodicals in the Republic of Belarus and onthe graduation library-research paper “In memoriam ofMaestro Victor Rovdo” by one of the professor’s lastpupils, Olga Korzh. Her professional work is connectedwith the temple of the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky inMinsk.

1Now the Church of the Transfiguration stands in the placeof the former house of priest V. P. Rovdo.2From 1920 to 1939 Vilnius was under Polish occupation;it was called officially Vilno.3The brother of Gennady Tsitovich, Alexander Tsitovich,directed this group. At the beginning of the 1940s he wasarrested because of being falsely denunciated and died inprison.4The older brother of Victor Rovdo, Anatoly Vladimirovich,arrived in Krakow after the war, completed his course at themedical faculty of the Jagellonian University and stayed inPoland, working as a doctor. He died in Poland in 2008.

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V. V. Rovdo conducting a “Singing Holiday”