SAN FRANCISCO: August 10, 2009 
A Collection of the Works of the Eminent Emigre Historian of Liturgical Music and Composer Ivan Gardner is Published 

A collection of the works of Ivan Alexeevich Gardner, the historian of Russian liturgical music and composer of the Russian emigration, has been published through the joint efforts of the publishers Zhivonosniy Istochnik [Life-bearing Wellspring] in Moscow and Russkiy Pastyr [Russian Pastor] of San Francisco. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Gardner’s death. 

This new publication was prepared for choirs, choir directors and all those interested in Russian spiritual music, and contains eight sections: “Songs of Vespers and Matins,” “Songs of Divine Liturgy,” “Songs of Hierarchal Services,”  “Songs of the Oktoikhon,” “Songs of the Minea,” “Songs of the Lenten Triodion and Passion Week,” “Songs of the Paschal Triodion,” and a section which includes Se, chto dobro (Psalm 132), Kto est’ Sei Tsar’ Slavy (sung during the consecration of a church) and a sample of psalm singing.  

The book includes articles on the life and work of Gardner written by the renowned musicologist SG Zvereva, Gardner’s own “On the Matter of Arranging Church Songs for the Choir,” and also notes on his compositions by a scholar on his work, IG Drobot (Paris). The art director for this book is Michael Perekrestov. This first joint publication of his notes contains a foreword by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion: 

“The reestablishment of unity within the Local Russian Orthodox Church in May of 2007 opened the path to constructive work between the two parts of the Russian Church—in the Fatherland and abroad. This collection of the spiritual music of Ivan Gardner is being published by Zhivonosniy Istochnik [Life-bearing Wellspring] in Moscow and Russkiy Pastyr [Russian Pastor] of San Francisco and is a visible fruit of the ecclesiastical unity we have achieved. 

Ivan Gardner grew up in pre-Revolutionary Moscow, a city with an ancient, patriarchal form of church life. With regard to Russian liturgical singing and cycle of services, he saw and heard the best in Russia of that age. Everything he absorbed in Moscow in his youth he preserved staunchly during his years in the diaspora. His main work, “The Liturgical Singing of the Russian Orthodox Church,” his multitude of articles (over 500), his recollections and his compositions permit present-day ecclesiastical Rus to continue the process of restoring the legacy of church singing trampled during the godless years. Gardner can confidently be called the “bridge” uniting the traditions of pre-Revolutionary Russia and the renascent Orthodox Rus’ of today. 

As a hieromonk in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, I was assigned the obedience of serving in the type shop together with Metropolitan Laurus of blessed memory, where we typeset Gardner’s book Bogosluzhebnoje penije Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Tserkvi [The Liturgical Singing of the Russian Orthodox Church]. I met Gardner only once, in 1982, in Munich. During this meeting, I eagerly listened to the venerable expert I so esteemed reminisce and comment on the present state of Russian liturgical singing.  

I am very happy to welcome the publication of this collection of the compositions of Ivan Gardner and call God’s blessing upon all those who labor in the manifestation of this book. 

† HILARION
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York,
President of the Synod of Bishops of the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia” 

In Russia, the book may be purchased from Zhivonosviy Istochnik (Moscow, Solnechnaya Street 2), and in North America from Russkiy Pastyr, 475 26th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA. Cost: $25 including shipping and handling; checks should be made out to RUSSKIY PASTYR.