Stepan Vasil'evich Smolensky (Russian: Сте́пан Васи́льевич Смоле́нский; 15 October 1848 – 1 August 1909) was a choir director and scholar of ancient Russian chant.
Smolensky was a graduate of the Faculties of Jurisprudence and Philology of Kazan University; during his studies, he had also taken private lessons on violin and piano.[1] From the early 1870s he made a study of ancient church chant, publishing several books on znamenny chant and a catalogue of the musical manuscripts held in the library of the Solovetsky Monastery.[1]
In 1889 he settled in Moscow, becoming professor of history and theory of church music at the Conservatory after the death of Dmitri Razumovsky.[1] Simultaneously he became director of the Synod choir and the Moscow Synodal School, succeeding Vasily Sergeevich Orlov:[2] his success in these posts resulted in his being appointed director of the Saint Petersburg Court Capella on 6/19 May 1901,[1] a post he held until 1903.[3]
References edit
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- Dunlop, Carolyn C (2000). The Russian Court Chapel Choir 1796-1917. Harwood Academic Publishers.
- Morosan, Vladimir (1994). Choral Performance in Pre-Revolutionary Russia. Musica Russica. ISBN 0-9629460-2-8
- Zvereva, Svetlana (2003). Alexander Kastalsky: His Life and Music. Ashgate. ISBN 0-7546-0975-8