Alexander Kastalsky (1856-1926)

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number approximately 175 (many published numbers contain several separate titles); there are also a number of unpublished works, primarily comprising arrangements of various pattern melodies (podobnï).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

Alexander Kastalsky

Domestik Municipal Choir of Ekaterinburg

Valery Kopanev

Domestik

A107

MP3 Price: $9.99
E003_search Alexander Kastalsky Kastalsky (1856-1926): Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and Chants of the Russian Orthodox Church

Alexander Kastalsky

The Bolshoi Theatre Children's Choir

Andrey Zaboronok

Collins Classics

E003

MP3 Price: $9.99
Ks-dl_search Alexander Kastalsky Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Liturgiya Sv. Ioanna Zlatousta

Alexander Kastalsky

Women's/Treble

Church Slavonic

10

58

Ks-DL

Price: $9.95
Ks-req-cover-1_search Alexander Kastalsky Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes (Requiem)
Vechnaya Pamyiat geroyam

Alexander Kastalsky

Mixed

Church Slavonic

65

Ks-Req

Price: $19.95
Ks011_search Alexander Kastalsky God is with us
S nami Bog

Alexander Kastalsky

Znamenny Chant

SSATTB

Church Slavonic

Ks011

Print Price: $2.50
Ks011mc_search Alexander Kastalsky God is with us
S nami Bog

Alexander Kastalsky

Znamenny Chant

TTBB

Church Slavonic

Ks011mc

Print Price: $2.50
Sheet_music_piece_cover_ks123_search Alexander Kastalsky Great Doxology, The (No. 2)
Velikoye slavosloviye

Alexander Kastalsky

Znamenny Chant

SATB (div)

Church Slavonic

Ks123

Print Price: $3.70
Ks127(wc)_search Alexander Kastalsky In Thy Kingdom (No. 3 from Liturgy)
Vo Tsarstvii Tvoyem

Alexander Kastalsky

SSAA

Church Slavonic

Ks127(wc)

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

Alexander Kastalsky

SSAA

Church Slavonic

Ks133(wc)

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

Alexander Kastalsky

satb

Church Slavonic

Ks112

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

Alexander Kastalsky

SATB

English

HNP030

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

Alexander Kastalsky

SATB, B solo

Church Slavonic

Ks111

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Hnp019_search Alexander Kastalsky Only Begotten Son

Alexander Kastalsky

SATB

English

HNP019

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

Alexander Kastalsky

SSAA

Church Slavonic

Ks126(wc)

Print Price: $2.50
Track

Christ is Risen

Alexander Kastalsky

God Is With Us (3 Classic CDs in mp3 format)

Choirs of the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Monastery and Moscow Theological Academy

Get the Sheet Music for this track: Ks156 Ks156_thumb
Track

Great Litany

Alexander Kastalsky

God Is With Us (3 Classic CDs in mp3 format)

Choirs of the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Monastery and Moscow Theological Academy

Track

Dogmatik, 7th tone

Alexander Kastalsky

God Is With Us (3 Classic CDs in mp3 format)

Choirs of the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Monastery and Moscow Theological Academy

Track

Great Doxology

Alexander Kastalsky

O, Land of Russia (2 CDs)

Male Choir of the Moscow Representation

Track

We Hymn Thee

Alexander Kastalsky

Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church (2 CD set)

Choir of the Church of "Joy of All Sorrowful" Icon - Moscow

Get the Sheet Music for this track: Ks013 Ks013_thumb
Track

Lord, Now lettest Thou

Alexander Kastalsky

God Is With Us (3 Classic CDs in mp3 format)

Choirs of the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Monastery and Moscow Theological Academy

Track

Praise the name of the Lord

Alexander Kastalsky

God Is With Us (3 Classic CDs in mp3 format)

Choirs of the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Monastery and Moscow Theological Academy

Get the Sheet Music for this track: Ks118 Ks118_thumb
Track

Troparion for the Nativity of Christ

Alexander Kastalsky

Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church (2 CD set)

Choir of the Church of "Joy of All Sorrowful" Icon - Moscow

Get the Sheet Music for this track: Ks007 Ks007_thumb
Track

Kontakion for the Nativity of Christ

Alexander Kastalsky

Hymns of the Russian Orthodox Church (2 CD set)

Choir of the Church of "Joy of All Sorrowful" Icon - Moscow

Get the Sheet Music for this track: Ks008 Ks008_thumb
Track

Paschal Verses

Alexander Kastalsky

Holy Russia: Hymns of Great Lent and Pascha (2 CDs)

Church Choir of "Joy of All the Sorrowful"