Letter to A.F. Lvov

Dear Sir! Alexey Fedorovich! Please accept my heartfelt gratitude for the delivery of your books of your proposals: experience in your presence and further experiments have proven that studying them is quite convenient, as it gives the correct course to each voice according to the tune already known. My brothers fully understood this and are diligently taking up their work, the obvious goal of which is to give the entire Divine service the proper correctness and harmony and thereby increase its splendor. There has always been a noticeable deficiency, which you have now filled so satisfactorily! According to church customs, all voices were assigned the same note: making the necessary deviations for harmony was left to the discretion of each singer, and each did according to his ability and knowledge - some are good, others are bad. The latter, due to lack of knowledge and taste, happened much more often than the former. Now the right path is indicated for each voice! This is a service, the full value of which, the full importance of which can be understood especially in monasteries, where Divine services are performed with the greatest care. Is it not surprising that I and my entire brotherhood are filled with gratitude for the work performed by Your Excellency. Invoking the blessing of Heaven upon you, with feelings of perfect respect and devotion, I have the honor to be Your Excellency Archimandrite Ignatius 1849, November 25th. Printed from the autograph stored in the OR RNL (F. 446 (A.F. Lvov). Op. 1. Item 47). On the sheet there is a note from A.F. Lvov: “I ask Osip Mikhailovich to find an opportunity to deliver the attached answer to Archimandrite Ignatius. There must be someone from Serg here.” Alexey Fedorovich Lvov (1798–1870) – violinist, composer, conductor. For 24 years he was director of the Court Choir (1837–1861). Author of the music for the hymn “God Save the Tsar” (1833). A.F. Lvov was engaged in extensive activities in the field of church singing. He transcribed sacred musical compositions that were sung in court churches throughout the year. He was engaged in the harmonization of ancient church chants (Znamenny, Kiev, Greek). Having become the rector of the Sergius Hermitage in 1833, Archimandrite Ignatius took care of the restoration of deanery and statutory harmonious worship, paying a lot of attention to church choral singing. He attracted composers Rev. to organize, train and improve the musical culture of the choir. Petra Turchaninova, M. I. Glinka, A. F. Lvova. In this letter to St. Ignatius thanks the latter for the 4-voice harmonization of the circle of church chants. Preparation of the text, publication and notes by A. M. Firewood for anyone. You might be interested in: