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Salvation Is Created - Epler

The piece "Salvation is Created" by Pavel Tschesnokoff is based on a chant from the Orthodox church and a verse from Psalms 74. Though it may seem simple, it is actually quite difficult to perform well due to its exposed nature that allows for no flaws. To help students understand and successfully perform the piece, the director should have them sing their own parts to work on elements like breath support, pitch control, and voicing. Providing historical and biblical context about the inspiration and meaning behind the piece can also increase student engagement.

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97 views

Salvation Is Created - Epler

The piece "Salvation is Created" by Pavel Tschesnokoff is based on a chant from the Orthodox church and a verse from Psalms 74. Though it may seem simple, it is actually quite difficult to perform well due to its exposed nature that allows for no flaws. To help students understand and successfully perform the piece, the director should have them sing their own parts to work on elements like breath support, pitch control, and voicing. Providing historical and biblical context about the inspiration and meaning behind the piece can also increase student engagement.

Uploaded by

AdamEpler
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Adam Epler

Salvation is Created

Orchestration/Form

The orchestrator uses many conscious concepts in picking and choosing instruments to replace

the human voice. For example, in first four bars of the piece, only the basses and tenors sing, but

we have many instruments playing and filling in parts. As a conductor, I would emphasize the

timbre of the lower parts, which would bring out the original character of the orchestration.

Also, the arranger prefers the warmer instruments of the ensemble for solos, such as French horn

and tenor saxophone.

The meter should jump out to us as well, originally written in cut time, the band part was

arranged in 4/4 time. Perhaps vocalists like this better due to the allusion resonance inside the

note when looking at a longer length note. When writing for band, however, the orchestrator was

careful to not transition this over, as to not create confusion in an instrumental setting.

The verse is sung three times, followed by praises and the alleluias. Three is a golden number in

Christianity- ex. Father son and holy spirit, on the third day Jesus rose, etc.

History:

Pavel Tschesnokoff was a Russian composer and musician that wrote and lived in the fin

de siècle. While perhaps not as famous as the other great Russian composers, Tschesnokoff had a

place in secular music, writing choral works for his church and choral program at conservatory.

One of his most famous comes from the fifth movement of his 10 Communion Hymns, which is

Salvation is Created.
Adam Epler

The movement gains it’s inspiration from two main sources. One of which is the book of

Psalms in the bible, specially chapter 74. Being perhaps one of the most famous books of the old

testament, it is filled with call to praises, illustrations of the power of god, and classic biblical

stories and characters. Specifically, Tschesnokoff quotes these verses from Psalms,

“How long will the enemy mock you, God? Will the foe revile your name forever?

Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and

destroy them! But God is my King from long ago; he brings salvation on the earth.”

which help us derive the actual text set, which is:

Salvation is made in the midst of the earth, O God. Alleluia.

Additionally, this piece is based off of chant hymnals of the classic orthodox church,

which is very similar to what we call Gregorian Chants, but perhaps more pagan-like.

Rehearsal concepts/thoughts:

Salvation is Created isn’t too complex of a piece when looking at it analytically. A piece

written for church choir, during communion (background music) that puts one annotated bible

verse to text with praise at the end. But somehow, there are challenges in this piece that make it

extremely difficult.

Mozart, for example, is classified by pianists as one of the hardest composers to play. An

untrained eye might look a sonata and laugh at its rudimentary, simple melodies with Alberti
Adam Epler

Bass and scale runs. However, this is the reason that Mozart is so difficult- due to how exposed

and simple it is- there is nowhere to hide in his lack of ambiguity.

This piece, and these types of works in the music world, always come with a tag in conversation

of: this piece is way harder than it looks- only colligate groups should play this! But why is it

hard- because of tuning? Phrasing? Control? I believe that these pieces are exactly what

developing bands should be working on- beautiful music that requires an intense amount of focus

on the player’s part.

Now- we can look at this from the students’ perspective, too. The average band student in middle

school/high school who plays this piece will find it easy and be perplexed by the contradicting

words coming out of their directors that talk the piece up like it’s a Mahler symphony. In other

words, they might not understand the complexity because they don’t know how it feels to play it

at a high level yet.

Since this is a choir piece, I would have my students sing their own parts on solfege, then

learn the voice part which is the inspiration for the part they are playing. Assuming that the band

has a culture in place where this is achievable in a certain amount of time and by some standards,

I would argue that this a necessity in fully understanding the piece. Since it’s a choral work-

what might they gain from singing their part? Breath support, pitch control, timbre matching, and

voicing are qualities that underlie any good ensemble, but might be tricky to address when

worrying about fingerings or reed placement. Since these aspects are what make the piece

“hard”, then why not work on them outside the instrument- where a medium is removed, and

concepts can be taught at a more personal level?

Another technique I would use in teaching this piece is using historic and biblical context

to provide background information about the piece. Especially in a younger audience,


Adam Epler

programmatic music is easier to understand, because there is a story behind it. Richard Strauss’s

Don Juan is going to be more accessible to a group of students than a random Haydn symphony-

due to the literary aspect of the piece.

In terms of the Tschesnokoff, as previously stated, the piece has both historic and biblical

symbolism that could excite the students. Perhaps the history fans will be interested in the USSR

and its implications on the rest of Tschesnokoff’s life, or maybe the religious students will find

the text of Psalms 74 inspiring and meaningful. Perhaps to everyone else, it helps knowing that

this piece had a place in history- and a reason for being composed (to play in church), rather than

another random piece that someone wrote for a commission check. When purpose is added to

something, the more personal it becomes. The real success to achieving a success in teaching of

any piece is having your students get excited about it- and doing these things will sure help.

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