Stepan Smolensky
Russian music scholar (1848–1909)
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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]
The 1915 choral composition All-Night Vigil, by Sergei Rachmaninoff, was dedicated to Smolensky.