Deacon Sergiy Trubachov (1919-1995)

TRUBACHOV, Deacon Sergiy Zosimovich (b. 26 March 1919, village of Podosinovtse, Arkhangelsk District; d. 25 October 1995, Sergiev Posad) — the son of a priest, he received his musical training at the Gnesin Institute (specializing in music theory) and subsequently at the Moscow Conservatory (operatic and symphonic conducting). In 1961 he joined the faculty of the Gnesin Institute, where he taught orchestral conducting and in 1967 was appointed head of the conducting department. During that time he authored a number of articles pertaining to the technique, theory, and history of conducting. As a known Christian believer and the son of an “enemy of the people” (his father was shot by the Communists in 1938), his career advancement was limited, and so he took early retirement in 1980.

Upon his return to Sergiev Posad, he established close creative ties with the Choirs of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery and the Moscow Theological Seminary and their director, Archimandrite Matfey (Mormyl’). No longer constrained by the ideopolitical restrictions that came with a secular music career, he proceeded to compose a great many sacred choral compositions and chant arrangements, which were integrated into the repertoire of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Choir and many other church choirs in Russia. He actively contributed to the music publishing activity of the Moscow Patriarchate in the 1980s, which included the publication of his compositions and articles in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. In addition, he was active the in the publication of the writings of New-martyr Priest Pavel Florensky (1882-1937), who was his father-in-law.

Desiring to follow in his father’s footsteps as a clergyman, he was ordained as a deacon in the Russian Orthodox Church on 20 August 1995, shortly before his death.

In 2007, the Moscow Publishing House “Life-Bearing Spring” published Deacon Sergiy Trubachov’s Polnoye sobraniye bogosluzhebnïh pesnopeniy [The Complete Collected Liturgical Hymns], in two volumes.