The
music scores on this web site are specially created engravings of works
contained in the Ledkovsky family music library. This collection was gathered
over the course of more than 100 years by the eminent church musicians
Boris
M. Ledkovsky and Alexander B. Ledkovsky.
For more than fifty years, father and son directed
the Synod Cathedral Choir of New York
using
the music from this library to beautify the divine services for the glory
of the holy Orthodox Church. It is a vast collection of scores, many handwritten,
that includes original manuscripts and antique publications, gathered and
almost miraculously preserved over the course of two lifetimes, during
a century fraught with war and migration.
With the advent of technology enabling
"desktop publishing" of sheet music, Alexander Ledkovsky began the enormous
task of engraving the contents of this library, with the goal of providing
clear and clean copy to his singers, to improve their ability to perform
accurately. He soon realized that his project was too much work not to
share, and decided to found the very first on-line resource for Russian
Orthodox music by publishing his scores on this site. Hoping to help choirs
in addition to his own improve, he devoted great energy and many personal
resources to this project during most of the last decade of his life. He
also trained and collaborated with his daughter, Elizabeth A. Ledkovsky,
who continues his work of engraving scores for use by the Synod choir as
well as church musicians worldwide.
The series
of Troparia/Kontakia, (Sunday Eight Tone Cycle, Triodion Cycle, Pentecostarion
Cycle, and Menaion) was created to improve performance, since formerly
these hymns were sung mostly from un-notated text with occasional sub-par
results. The Menaion section continues to be expanded, with ongoing editorial
assistance from Reader Isaac Lambertsen, Lector of the Synod Cathedral,
Peter Fekula, Choirmaster at the Cathedral, and other occasional contributors.
The library
also includes major works from the Divine Services of the Russian Orthodox
Church, including compositions of some of Russia’s most renowned liturgical
composers. Finally, in one of Alexander Ledkovsky's most painstaking efforts,
the complete choral portions of most of the Church's major feast days,
as well as many Lenten services, are available, as downloadable booklets.
These publications include detailed instructions for the order of the services,
based on the Typikon usage practiced at the Synod Cathedral.
While the web site is available in
Russian and English, the music scores are in Church Slavonic (utilizing
old Russian orthography), since Synod Cathedral services are conducted
exclusively in that language.
Printing
and xerographic reproduction of this material for use in a church setting
is unrestricted. Use of this material for any commercial venture, including
the posting of this material on other web sites, is strictly prohibited.
Exceptions are granted by express written permission only. All rights
reserved.
Technical
Information
All music scores
are presented in Abode Acrobat "*.pdf" format. Therefore
you need to have Adobe
Acrobat Reader installed on your computer in order to access the
music scores. All scores are formatted for an 8 1/2 x 11 paper size and
are designed for two-sided printing with a "binding offset" intended for
a spiral binding system. This means that odd numbered (right) pages have
a larger left than right margin, while even numbered (left) pages have
a comparable larger right than left margin. If you print multiple page
documents on individual sheets of paper, you will see a left/right margin
shift of the music score between odd and even pages.
Best printing
results are achieved by using a Laser Printer with good quality 24 lb.
paper. Paper of less weight will cause "print through" (you can see a shadow
of other side!). Ink Jet printers will also work properly, if heavier paper
can be used in your model, although print quality may be reduced somewhat.
Please note:
To produce
a printed copy that matches the original document's design, "Fit to
page", in the print dialog window of Acrobat Reader, must be
unchecked, otherwise the document will be scaled down to "fit" within the
"printable area" of your specific printer, i.e. it will be smaller than
designed.
Copyright © 2005
by Elizabeth A. Ledkovsky Last update:
22-July-2009 Webmaster:
Elizabeth
A. Ledkovsky
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