Archimandrite Feofan Aleksandrov (1785-1852)

FEOFAN, Archimandrite (in the world, Fyodor Aleksandrov, b. 1785-86, Village of Gorodishche, d. 23 October [4 November] 1852, Kaliazinsky Makariyevo-Troitsky Monastery) — studied at the Trinity–St. Sergius Theological Seminary, from which was transferred to the Vifansky Seminary, in 1807 was appointed precentor of the chorus of the Trinity–St. Sergius Lavra. From 1812 to 1832 occupied a number of academic and administrative posts in St. Petersburg , Yaroslavl, and Kazan, while continuing his musical activities as a choir director and composer of church music. In 1832 was transferred to Moscow as dean of the Donskoy Monastery and a member of the Moscow Synodal Chancery. Feofan composed a great number of sacred works, most of which remained unpublished and are now lost. (Twenty-ﬁve of them were published in the early 20th c. by various publishers in St. Petersburg). Some of them, composed in the so-called “monastic” style, have the character of chants, but Feofan also composed in a free style. Despite the modesty of his compositional technique, many of Feofan’s works, e.g., “Milost mira” [“A mercy of peace”], “TRANSLITERATED TITLE” [“The Paschal Hours”], and “Velikoye slavosloviye” [“The Great Doxology”], have become standards in the repertoire of Russian church choirs.