Church singing is a beautiful and complex art. The strict discipline of the regent, clear articulation, the ability to read musical texts, extreme attention to the partner and his own voice parts - that’s not all. Singers try to avoid getting used to the service, because the routine of everyday life can weaken reverence for the shrine, which is unacceptable for a believer.
Our life is full of problems and difficulties, the Orthodox faith gives us the necessary spiritual strength, hope, helps us strengthen ourselves internally, and the church choir makes an invaluable contribution to this mission.
Choir of the Church of St. right John of Kronstadt in Hamburg
For more than twelve years, the choir of the parish of St. Righteous John of Kronstadt in Hamburg
has remained at the height of professionalism and inspiration. At the origins of this initiative were Father Sergius, Father Konstantin and Elena Erish, mothers Natalya and Neonila, Peter-François-Nisse, Rusudan Maisuradze, Alexander Plekhanov, Elena Stahl, Tatyana Klein. We talked to some of them about how the history of the parish choir began
Mezzo-soprano Tatyana Klein
Tatyana Klein
Tatiana Klein has been singing in the main choir since joining Stiftstrasse, in recent years together with her daughter Irina. Originally from Volgograd, Tatyana graduated from a music pedagogical school and a pedagogical university there, and from her early youth she dreamed of singing in the Orthodox Church. She has a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice (musicians jokingly call such a deep, low timbre “female bass”). Tatyana’s main job is as a choirmaster in the voluntary society “Smile” in Neuwiedenthal, but every Sunday service she is at her “combat post” - in the large choir of the church on Messehalen.
“All the achievements and successes of our church choir, in my opinion, are the merit of our beloved regent Elena Stahl,” assures Tatyana, “I admire her patience, humility, endurance, tact, love, attention to each participant in the service.”
Orthodox choral singing for singers is far from being a hobby, as is customary in Western Europe; for us it is a way of life and faith.
I think the main thing that gives us the strength to continue the difficult singing activity is deep faith, and only then the love of music, choral art and a huge sense of responsibility.
“Jeder Anfang ist schwer” - “every beginning is difficult,” says the German proverb.
The time of formation of our parish and the parish choir was not easy; there were not enough singers, books, texts, and notes for worship. The choir needed a permanent regent and, fortunately, such a person was found when Elena Stahl, the owner of a soprano, a high, so to speak, “angelic” voice timbre, came to the temple. Anyone who has attended Sunday services will be familiar with this voice leading the main melodic theme.
Contemporary singing
Currently, the church choir stands either on the sole (a raised platform near the pulpit) or on top, a special building that is located on the second floor. From above, the sound becomes better, the sound is more spacious, especially in high stone churches where the acoustics are good.
In modern churches you can most often hear partes singing and everyday life. Sometimes the works of composers are sung, although some abbots believe that such chants should only be sung in a concert hall, but not in a church.
Znamenny singing, oddly enough, can be heard more and more often in modern churches. Priests believe that such singing is stricter and more prayerful. Although it is more difficult and requires perfect pitch and good singing skills.
Antiphons can also be found in our churches. Two choir members take turns singing stichera or beatitudes, or psalms. Canonry is also common, this is how prokeemnas are now performed.
Regent Elena Stahl
Elena Stahl
Elena Stahl was born in Kharkov, graduated from the Kharkov State Conservatory, and by the time she arrived in Hamburg she already had solid experience in choral and teaching work in her homeland. For more than ten years she directed two German choirs in the suburbs of Hamburg. In 2004, in order to be able to constantly attend the Sunday services of the new Orthodox parish, Elena had to refuse to lead these two choirs, and choose a third one with an acceptable work schedule.
Today she is the full-time choirmaster of the evangelical Apostolkirche Harburg, where she conducts the Gospel Choir, whose schedule allows her to simultaneously conduct the regency of the Orthodox choir. Largely thanks to her professional leadership, the current singing lineup was formed.
“We usually sing the All-Night Vigil with a small group of three or four people,” said Elena, “in the annual circle of church services, something is constantly changing, so it is difficult for a new person to fit into a well-coordinated ensemble. In my experience, choristers need to master the full annual liturgical cycle for about three years. It is not enough for church choristers to be able to sing well and read musical texts fluently from sight; they also require a certain singing skill and an internal prayerful attitude.
It seems to me that everyone who sings in the choir, voluntarily and involuntarily, comprehends the divine service, which mysteriously acts on the souls of people, as if from within, and thus the deep meaning of the service taking place in the church is gracefully revealed to them.
In recent years, the composition of our choir has increased. Today more than twenty people sing with us. The eldest is a celebrity, People's Artist of Russia, magnificent bass Anatoly Safiulin, the youngest are Irina and Ekaterina, both 23 years old. The Saturday or small choir is supervised by Daria Vorrat, a student at the University of Hamburg and the correspondence choir school at the Moscow Theological Academy, violinist, and future musicologist. Sometimes she is replaced by Tatyana Klein. The choir of an Orthodox church is conventionally divided into two - Sunday large and Saturday small, “right” and “left”. Both of them are a single entity with common goals, objectives and leadership. We are very friendly with each other, we organize common events like picnics at the dacha, a master class on baking pies, family outings with barbecues, and the like.
Justin Timberlake
Source: Legion-Media
Justin was born into a family where all members adhered to Baptist traditions. The singer's grandfather was a priest in the church, and his father was a conductor in a religious choir. Noticing that the child sang well, the parents decided to send him to a religious vocal group at the temple.
Timberlake, like many other world stars, began his real music career with the children's show “The Mickey Mouse Club.” It was here that he met Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling and future girlfriend Britney Spears. In 1995, Justin became the lead singer of the popular group 'N Sync.
Bass Anatoly Safiulin
Anatoly Safiulin
Anatoly Safiulin grew up in an Orthodox family. He became a professional singer in the eighties, when he began singing in the choirs of two cathedrals in the center of Moscow. In the nineties, at the height of his singing career, he received high recognition and praise from the British Princess Diana, who first heard his soulful performance of Mozart's Requiem on tour in London.
At the beginning of the 2000s, the singer and vocal teacher moved to Germany with his family. A graduate of the Moscow Gnessin Academy of Music, People's Artist of Russia, ex-soloist of the capital's Philharmonic, he immediately set a high standard for the choir, voiced it in a unified performing style, and provided the voices for many singers.
Anatoly Alexandrovich lives in Hamburg not far from the church, sings in the parish choir, and sometimes, by invitation, takes part in solo and philharmonic concerts.
Thanks to his vocal lessons, the choir has a special unity, or so-called compactness of sound, which was noted by respected music experts from St. Petersburg who came to Hamburg.
In 2007, the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, then still chairman of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, performed the Great Consecration of the temple and also praised the unity and beauty of the sound of the choir of the Church of the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt.
People's Artist of Russia Anatoly Safiulin says:
— At the time of the transfer of the temple on Messehalen to the Orthodox community in December 2004, Father Sergius invited me to help the choir. I happily agreed and stayed that way. It so happened that for the next ten years, in any weather, my wife Margarita Konopleva and I traveled five hours a day from Travemünde to Hamburg and back to services and rehearsals. Two years ago Margarita went to the Lord. For some time after this, it seemed to me that I would no longer be able to sing or teach... Very slowly, gradually, the feeling of the fullness of life returned to me. My beloved wife was with me for forty years; she was a truly extraordinary woman, comprehensively gifted, beautiful, kind, smart, talented. A certified choral conductor, after graduating from the Gnessin Music Academy, she worked for several years in the music department of the USSR Ministry of Culture, personally knew many celebrities from music, we were friends with many of them... For many years, Margarita hosted the popular television program “Creativity of the Young” on Central Television, which many still remember. Thanks to her excellent musical education and experience, she had a great influence on people not only as an authoritative expert in the field of music, but also as a wonderful storyteller, charming, and most interesting conversationalist. Rita was always happy to help people, found an approach to any character, many are grateful to her.
May her memory be blessed.
Britney Spears
Source: @britneyspears
Britney started her music career early, but before that she sang in a Baptist church for several years. Thanks to her parents, who noticed her daughter’s talent, Spears got into the choir, and then into the popular children’s show “The Mickey Mouse Club.”
A few years later, the singer’s mother handed over a cassette with her songs to lawyer Larry Rudolph, who helped the girl appear on the big stage and sign a contract with the successful company Jive Records.
Tenor Alexander Plekhanov
Alexander Plekhanov
Alexander Plekhanov was born and studied in Nizhny Novgorod, worked in Khabarovsk and Moscow. A physics engineer by profession, he worked at the Moscow Research Institute for the Soviet space industry until the nineties. The timbre of his voice is tenor.
—
“I was baptized in early childhood,” Alexander recalls, “but only in 1991 did I consciously come to confession for the first time in my life. After becoming a church member, he taught physics at the Moscow Theological Gymnasium at the Epiphany Cathedral in Kitay-Gorod.
Since 2002 I have been living in Hamburg with my family. Upon arrival, he sang in the parish choir of St. Procopy of Ustyug Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. I accidentally learned about the newly created new parish of John of Kronstadt from my diplomatic acquaintances at the Russian consulate and immediately went there.
Once, at the very beginning of the history of our parish, I had to sing the Liturgy alone, solely by ear and associative memory. Father Paisius was serving then; I remember it was on Ascension, before Trinity. At that time, the “newborn”, still small parish of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt performed its services on Stiftstrasse, in the rented premises of the gymnasium of the evangelical kindergarten. All the singers who could sing church services, there were several of them, worked in parallel in other places and were not able to regularly come to services. It was a difficult time, but with God’s help, the choir and I withstood this test.
From time to time I had to replace the regent, but I did not consider it possible for myself to be one on a permanent basis. I think the “imperial rank,” as the rank of church reader is also called, is already enough for me. (The so-called “imperial” rank allows its owner, like an emperor, to legally be in the altar - a sacred place in an Orthodox church).
In 2006, Archbishop Feofan of Berlin and Germany performed the church rite of appointing me as a church reader, and this is a great honor and joy for me.
Archpriest Sergius Baburin, rector of the Church of St. John of Kronstadt
Archpriest Sergius Baburin
—What does a choir mean for the Orthodox Church? First of all, this is what distinguishes our worship from the West. Preserving the ancient Christian tradition, we praise God only with a living voice, that miraculous instrument that the Lord himself created and gave to us. The liturgical exclamation “Yours from Yours” means: “Lord, we sacrifice to You with what You have given us.” This deep religious thought finds its expression in liturgical singing.
For me personally, church singing means a lot; I grew up with it and through it I absorbed the life of the Church. After graduating from music school, it somehow didn’t work out for me in the future with musical instruments, but I always really liked singing, and then studying the art of singing.
From the age of three I regularly attended services, often asking permission to stand next to the singers, and from the age of twelve I was already singing in one of the academic choirs of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra. The seminarians persuaded the oldest regent of the Academy, Mark Kharitonovich Trofimchuk, to leave me in the choir as a “son of the regiment.” Then they “kicked me out” from the choir - due to a mutation in the vocal cords, saying that if I wanted to continue singing, I needed to take a break until the loss of my voice was completed.
At the age of seventeen, I joined the choir of the Elias Church, the only parish church in Zagorsk, (now the city of Sergiev Posad, Moscow Region, author's note), where I received my first salary in my life. At the same time, he studied at the Abramtsevo Art School, combining his studies with singing in the choir. By that time, church services had already become an important part of my life; I could not find a place for myself if for some reason I was not at church services on weekends.
When I was drafted into the army in Transcarpathia, I was assigned to be an artist in a sports company.
In our unit, a vocal trio was formed with which we went on furlough to Transcarpathian monasteries (by the way, all members of this trio became priests).
Returning home, he prepared to study at the theological seminary and sang in the choir of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra.
From that moment my life began under the wing of the great regent of the Russian Church - Father Matthew (Mormyl), who gave me the necessary characteristics and recommendations for entering the seminary. Father Matthew strictly ensured that we all sang meaningfully. For example, during a pause he could unexpectedly ask the singers what exactly they had just sung; he demanded absolute concentration on the service. He taught me to let the service pass through my soul, because under no circumstances should I automatically sing in church. And although I have rather modest singing talents, nevertheless, my whole life from early childhood has been connected with church choral singing.
And
to this day I have a clear feeling that the choir is the soul of Orthodox worship, the main thing in it.
When I found myself here in Hamburg in the role of rector, I suffered most of all from choral discord. There were also services when I alone served and sang. I had to quickly change books, sing in different voices for the priest, for the deacon, for the choir. It was hard, I remember, then I lost my voice and realized that everything needed to be radically changed, it was impossible to continue like this.
We invited a contract professional, Gnesinka graduate Viktor Kabanov, who stayed with us for exactly the year we agreed on. Singers began to arrive. During this time, Elena Stahl appeared in the choir, who was able to undergo intensive training for the full course for regents in just three months. Now she is our wonderful regent, who has won the universal love of both singers and parishioners.
Typically, musicians who sing professionally are very sensitive to both the falseness of others and criticism of themselves, so it can be difficult for singers in the choir to communicate with each other. There is even a special spiritual phenomenon - choir temptations. Fortunately, our choir is almost devoid of this; it is a friendly group in which a family atmosphere reigns.
Our singers work at the behest of their hearts and on a fundamentally non-commercial basis.
Today I no longer have to delve into choir management. It is happiness when we, priests, are surrounded by completely understanding, responsible and competent people.
Our choir is alive, it attracts, educates, there is a continuity of generations in it, which is why there is also a children’s choir at the church. Simultaneously with the birth of Tchaikovsky's house, a talented and bright youth rock group Fly arose, which has existed for about two years. On Saturdays, a wonderful folk choir sings, accommodating everyone. Its own choir is formed in a wooden church on Altona.
Professional choir singers are constantly working on new repertoire, striving to perform complex, interesting works, from complex polyphony to znamenny chants. For example, during Great Lent we hear many beautiful examples of Znamenny chant in our church.
It happens that some parishioners say to me displeasedly: “The church choir sings too well, too loudly, and interferes with prayer!” Maybe for some this is true. In this case, I can’t suggest anything else other than buying earplugs for mental prayer.
The most significant services for me are perhaps those that were held first in our church. In 2004, during the transfer of the temple, when a lot of people were invited to the solemn service; With the help of our respected Anatoly Aleksandrovich Safiulin, for the first time, a large academic choir began to sound coherently and powerfully.
This service clearly showed what kind of choir should be in the new church, and the high standard is worthily maintained by our vocal workers.
In 2013, the Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition was once again held in Hamburg. The ceremonial closing of the musical festival took place in the largest cathedral of Hamburg - Michaeliskirche, where the Russian-German Monteverdi Choir and the choir of the parish of St. Righteous John of Kronstadt performed as honorary guests of the festival with the program “Quo vadis?” (“Where are you coming?”).
I remember a gospel image that fits the story of our choir. When a woman gives birth to a child, she suffers grief, but then she forgets everything and rejoices that a new person has come into the world. So we no longer remember all the difficulties, rejoicing that today we have such a wonderful parish choir. A low bow to the singers who give us a part of their sensitive soul at every service.
Material prepared by Olga Vilman
