Due to historical reasons, the Russian system of education faces a situation when none of the musical institutions of higher education has a specialized course in Western church music, which would doubtless be useful for organists and students of other departments interested in old music. Moreover, there is no academic literature in this sphere of knowledge in the Russian language.
A Course in Western Church Music, or the School of Sacred Music, was launched by “The Art of Goodness” Charitable Foundation in February 2009. The Course presupposes two and a half years of extramural interactive studies comprising 5 academic sessions, 4 of which combine lectures and practical classes and the 5th is the examination session.
During the gaps between the sessions the students are able to continue studying using the materials online, which not only consolidate the theoretical knowledge gained during the session, but also allow developing the necessary practical skills.
The Course involves practical classes of organ improvisation and liturgical accompaniment, tonal and modal harmony, church singing and an insight into the repertoire of the Catholic Church in the Russian language, Gregorian singing and semiological studies, and many others. Theoretical classes embrace the areas of the history and development of the Gregorian chant, the history of the organ and organ performance, monastic musical traditions, the history of the Church, Latin, organ music in the context of liturgical practice and the liturgics of the Roman-Catholic Church.
The teachers of the Course are prominent musicians and scholars from Italy (Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Rome), France (Dijon Conservatoire), Germany (High School of Church Music, Tübingen), Poland (Krakow Academy of Music, the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, Warsaw) and Russia (The Gnesins’ Academy, Moscow, and The High Theological Seminary, St.-Petersburg).
The graduates will be able to use the knowledge gained at the Course in their pedagogical and concert activity. The best students enjoy concessionary terms of åntering a faculty of church music in Western universities.
An electronic library of Western church music is being created and a data portal has been launched in the Internet (www.musicasacra.ru) as a part of the Corse. The initiative's particular contribution into the development of musical education in Russia is the translation of materials and textbooks which have never been published in Russian before.
We would like to invite members of the International Club of the Friends of Organ in Russia to support the students of the School of Sacred Music coming from a number of Russian parishes. Individual students can be taken under patronage, or item in the list of expenses could be sponsored. For more information please refer to the Club of Friends area of this site.