Alexander Kastalsky
Alexander Kastalsky was a Russian and Soviet composer, choral conductor, folklorist, and musicologist. He was born in Moscow on November 28, 1856, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory, where Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Taneyev taught him theoretical subjects and composition.
From 1887, Kastalsky taught at the Synodal School; he became its director in 1910. He served as regent of the Synodal Choir from 1901 to 1910 and toured Europe with Fyodor Stepanov in 1911. From 1922, he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. His opera Clara Milich, based on Turgenev’s work of the same name, premiered at Zimin’s Opera Theatre in 1916.
Sacred music formed the largest part of Kastalsky’s output. In his choral arrangements, he developed musical ideas from Russian Orthodox chant, treating its melodies as material for thematic development and shaping the vocal parts around melodic movement. His works include the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom for women’s choir, The Paschal Service, and the cantata In Memory of 1812. Many of his sacred compositions survive in several versions, reflecting performance practice.
Kastalsky also researched the harmony of Russian folk song and argued that its musical system had principles of its own. He sought to incorporate his ideas into teaching through a course on Russian harmony based on folk and national traditions. Early in the 20th century, 73 of his sacred choral works appeared in a publisher’s catalogue; later researchers identified 136 sacred musical compositions and arrangements. He died in Moscow on December 17, 1926.