Victor Pokrovsky - Musical Work

Musical Work

Much of the following is based upon a study of Pokrovsky's musical work by Maria Junko Matsushima, of the Holy Annunciation Church in Nagoya, Japan.

Victor Pokrovsky was 27 years old when he assumed his duties under Metropolitan Sergius. As with the earlier Russian missionaries, St. Nicholas of Japan and Metr. Sergius himself, he began his work first learning the Japanese language as the grammatical and syllablical differences between Japanese and Slavonic made it difficult to translate and fit words to the musical notes. This was hard work, and in accomplishing this task he was assisted for many years by Father Job Hibi and a seminary student Jacob who later was ordained Father Jacob. He frequently worked until two or three o'clock in the morning.

He worked hard developing the cathedral choir, and in this work he also had the full support of Sergius. He was very strict in his rehearsals, sometimes bringing some of the young women singers to tears, but he did this for the love of the music and a loving integrity of the choir and choir members as a superior singing group. Rehearsals were held twice a week, Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Often Sergius sat in back, listening to their singing, and even chided some lazy choir members.

In time the choir recognized this discipline and personally came to Victor to acknowledge his intent. Victor worked carefully on the timing and the flow of the services. He coordinated tones with the clergy so they and the choir remained in harmony. Yet, during the service he could quickly adjust the choir's pitch to fit the intonation of the clergy when necessary. For Victor, the services were a whole, not a bunch of pieces. In this even, Metropolitan Sergius was careful, often heard coordinating on which Cherubic hymn version Victor would sing that day so that he could decide on his pitch.

The choir's repertory expanded quickly. They sang the music of Tchaikovsky, Smolensky, Strokin, Chesnokov, Arkhangelsky, and Kastalsky. Some years later, thanks to his pupil Tito Kato, Victor's music was published in Osaka. There were some 75 titles, and many of them, for example, Smolensky�?'s Paschal Stichera, and Makarov�?'s The Angel Cried, are still sung in many churches in Japan.

The hard work of these early years came together in the singing at the re-consecration ceremony for the rebuilt Holy Resurrection Cathedral on December 15, 1929. Afterwards Metropolitan Sergius praised him: "Victor Alexandrovich Pokrovsky, a great choir director who has done hard work since 1924. His name will be kept in the history of music in Japan. Our choir are not only good singers but artistic and full of spirit." (Tokyo Holy Resurrection Cathedral and the Earthquake, by Metr. Sergius.)