Diocesan Life The Resurrection of “Passion Week” by Fr. Daniel Skvir Holy Week 2014 took on a special cultural as well as spiritual significance for Fr. Daniel and Tamara Skvir of Transfiguration Chapel in Princeton. More than a decade ago, Matushka Tamara was entrusted with a special piece of music by her uncle, conductor and musicologist Igor Buketoff, and told that the music was “the next step beyond Rachmaninoff’s Vespers.” It had been created in the early 1920’s by Maximilan Steinberg, the student and then successor of Nicholas RimskyKorsakoff as chair of the composition department of the St. Petersburg / Leningrad Conservatory. Of Jewish origin, Steinberg evidently embraced Orthodoxy to marry Rimsky-Korsakoff’s daughter. The piece was published quietly in Paris in the late 20’s, and then all but forgotten, with no chance of it ever being performed in the Soviet Union. In the mid 50’s, Maestro Buketoff, founder of the International Contemporary Music Exchange, was given a copy of the work by Steinberg’s student, Dmitri Shostakovich, at a meeting in Philadelphia. It rested in obscurity, unperformed and known by only a handful of scholars. Buketoff’s instructions were “treasure it, and get it performed.” (He died in 2001.)
expectations to the point that programs became a scarce commodity in Seattle. Dr. Vladimir Morosan introduced the concert with an excellent presentation explaining the historical significance of Steinberg and the piece in relationship to the early 20th century religious renaissance in Russia, and the spiritual nature of the eleven individual hymns, all chosen from the various familiar services of Orthodox Holy Week. Throughout the pieces, various familiar strains of Kievan, Znamenny, and Bulgarian chants were briefly recognizable within Steinberg’s more modern and dramatic musical augmentations.
Summer/Fall 2014
The music was warmly received by both audiences as well as in the local and national press. One reviewer described it as “a profound confession of faith... involving complex harmonies, beautiful dissonance which flirts lightly and then The piece is intricate, requiring a highly trained resolves, producing L-R: Dmitry Kabalevsky, choir to tackle, so it took some time for the right a vivid, energetic yet Igor Buketoff, and Dmitry Shostakovich circumstances to evolve. In 2012, Professor Alex melodious sound.” Lingas, founder and conductor of Capella Romana, spent a research semester at Princeton University, The presentation was highlighted nationally faithfully attending services at the Orthodox Chapel. through an interview with conductor Lingas on After one Vespers service, the Skvirs mentioned many local NPR stations. Brett Campbell, the the piece and asked if Capella Romana might be music critic of the Wall Street Journal, offered that interested. Professor Lingas spent a long evening “the entire Passion Week, which lasted about an studying the piece and doing some preliminary hour, proved unexpectedly gentle, sometimes even research on Steinberg, returning to Sunday Liturgy lush, occasionally delicate, graced by intermittent with great excitement at the prospect of bringing dissonances and touches of counterpoint.” This Steinberg’s Passion Week to light and life. After critic mentioned that the piece deserved the attention a year of additional research, including a trip to of secular choirs as well as sacred Orthodox Church Saint Petersburg where he discovered Steinberg’s liturgical settings. original manuscript, Lingas and Capella Romana performed the world premier of Passion Week in An integral part of the premiere performance Portland and Seattle on April 11-12, the weekend of Steinberg’s Passion Week was the preparation of Palm Sunday. of a new printed edition, prepared by Vladimir Morosan and Musica Russica. A compact disk of The 26 voice Capella Romana (a minimum Passion Week will be recorded this summer, and for the demands of the music according to Lingas) should be available soon thereafter, thanks to the sang in two Roman Catholic cathedral settings, support of a generous benefactor. Page 23 both with excellent acoustics. Attendance exceeded
