An antique piano will be brought to Podmoklovo for the festival. The play “This, girls, is war” in Krasnogorsk

20.06.2017

On June 25, in the village of Podmoklovo (Moscow region, Serpukhov district), a unique festival of baroque music will be held for the fourth time. outdoors. Such festivals are popular in Europe and are periodically held in St. Petersburg, but for the Moscow region this is a rare event.

Here you can only find individual concerts, which are sometimes given in ancient parks and estate museums, such as, for example, Arkhangelskoye or Kuskovo. Therefore, we can say that the Podmoklovsky festival is the only event of its kind in our entire region.

Father Dionysius, rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which is a treasure of Russian culture, is a musician by training. And his whole family is musical, his wife is also a musician, his daughter is a graduate student at the Moscow Conservatory. It was they who came up with the idea of ​​organizing such a festival in the Serpukhov region.

We are reviving the tradition of music in the open air,” says Father Dionisy. – After all, ancient music did not involve concert performance, it was music for the situation - for nature, for some kind of holiday, music on the water, music for fireworks... Nowadays we hear it most often in the concert hall.

At the festival in Podmoklovo you can really return to the atmosphere of antiquity. Here all the action takes place under open air, the musicians are located in the amphitheater near the temple columns, and the audience can sit comfortably right on the lawn or on benches, or even on bags specially filled with hay.

Father says that the idea of ​​festivals was born precisely from the desire to popularize this temple, because it received serious government funding, but it turns out that its parish life is not so active, simply because it is a village and few people. There are 20-25 people at the service. And this is considered good.

We simply believe that such, I’m not afraid to say, a masterpiece of architecture, a very significant object for Russian culture, should be known and should attract people’s attention. So that when people come here, they can somehow touch the spiritual side through culture. Because the cultural potential of this place is enormous, and this is what helps people who have not yet fully entered church fence, have not quite begun to live a full church life, who are primarily interested in history and culture.

This year the festival is officially supported by the Moscow Conservatory, the core of the faculty of modern and ancient performance. If in past years it was mainly postgraduate students, graduates and students of the conservatory who responded to participate in the festival - the winners international competitions, then this year they will also be joined by teachers and professors of the faculty.

These are world-famous people, people who stood at the origins of modern authentic performance in Russia, says Father Dionisy. - And, first of all, we are very glad that Alexey Borisovich Lyubimov responded. For this area, this is the number one figure in our country. He himself teaches partly in Europe, partly at the Moscow Conservatory. However, he found time to come and play some part of the program.

The program will consist of three blocks. The first block is music for the piano. The second block is ancient music, ensemble music, primarily for flutes, oboes, and harpsichords. This year, one of the surprises for the guests of the festival will be the performance of the Gnessin Baroque ensemble, which includes musicians well-known to the Moscow public in the field of early music. And the third block - ancient dances from the baroque and renaissance dance studio “Time of dance”. For this purpose, a special platform will be built on the territory of the football field.

Father Dionisy said that this year an antique Becker grand piano will be brought to Podmoklovo so that musicians can play it at the festival. Of course it is expensive pleasure, because you need to pay for the rental and transportation of the instrument (after the event the piano will be taken back), but the effort is worth it - this atmospheric detail promises to be the “highlight” of the festival.

The other side of the pleasure that viewers will receive from the sounds of an ancient instrument is the dedicated work that Pyotr Aidu and Alexey Stavitsky do. According to Father Dionisy, these are people who understand the value of ancient instruments and save them as best they can.

The topic of the piano is quite painful for modern times, because now everyone is switching to electronic instruments, and even people who study at music schools get rid of the large pianos that they have at home, as a rule, their grandmothers keep them, says Father Dionisy.

In this flow, the largest instruments suffer the most, that is, pianos. They are often thrown away. You can often come across an advertisement - I will give away a piano or grand piano for pickup. Free, as long as they take it away. Peter Aidu and Alexey Stavitsky collect such instruments, restore them and then give them further concert life. This is actually a lot of dedicated work, heroic work, because storing such a number of large instruments is very problematic. At the moment they are being kicked out of the factory in Moscow where they stored it all, they are now urgently looking for a place where they could transport it all. But I’m sure that in 50 years everyone will come to their senses and begin to appreciate it all, look for it, restore it. But I’m afraid that 90 percent will already be burned or thrown into the trash.

Father Dionysius himself is a pianist, which is probably why he is even more sensitive to the topic of pianos. However, we will not hear works performed by him at the upcoming festival. He says that he has lost a little practice, and to perform at events of this level, you need to train every day.

Of course, organizing such a large-scale event requires huge financial costs. The project budget was 250 thousand rubles; to date, the entire amount has already been collected through a crowdfunding platform. Father Dionysius says that a lot of people responded to the announced national gathering.

In addition to this, the Orthodox Initiative Foundation also helps us, for which we are also very grateful; it has been supporting us in this for many years. The foundation supports not only this initiative, but also the youth movement organized at two churches, the rector of which is Father Dionysius - here in Podmoklovo and in Pushchino. Young people actively help in preparing festivals and other events.

The district helps us a lot. Without the help of the head of the culture department of the Serpukhov district administration, Olga Anatolyevna Sidorkina, the festival would have had a completely different level. The sound system, tents, and stage are all provided by the district. And we are very grateful to them for their help. They also help us individuals who found out about this unexpectedly, called us and offered their help.

The first festival in Podmoklovo was prepared in just a week and attracted 200 guests.

We just decided and got together, my daughter invited all her musician friends to take part in it via Facebook, they responded, and suddenly quite a lot of people came to us. Last year at two different festivals, and here not only baroque, but also classical and folk festivals, a total of about a thousand people visited. This year Podmoklovo is also expecting many guests.

Now the most the main problem- not so much to organize all this purely physically, but to ensure that the weather is good. Because it will be very sad if the rain washes away such enormous titanic work,” the priest admits. “But we really hope that the Lord will help us in this sense.”

Daria Roshchenya

Priest from Podmoklovo:

We will have baroque music
in the "Roman" ruins

How an 18th-century temple overgrown with birches became the center of cultural life

On Sunday, June 25, a classical music festival will be held in the village of Podmoklovo. In the open air in front of the unique 18th-century Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, stars of the performing arts will play baroque music. Why bring a piano to a rural church, what forces conservatory teachers to play music in the fresh air, and what does classical music have to do with Orthodoxy? The rector of the temple tells Pravmir correspondent Daria Roshchene about this Archpriest Dionisy Kryukov.

Stone apostles stand like worshipers

A hundred kilometers from Moscow, on the high bank of the Oka River, there is a temple. A white rotunda with a green dome, decorated with sixteen figures of the apostles, towers over the village of Podmoklovo. About three hundred people live in the village, and the same number come from Moscow for the summer. Here nightingales sing, lilacs and hydrangeas bloom magnificently, and unmown meadows are covered with forget-me-nots and dandelions. The ruins of the old castle do not particularly attract anyone, even though they remember a lot. But every now and then new groups of tourists get out of the buses that park near the walls of the temple. They come on excursions to the abbot and get some fresh air.

About thirty years ago, overgrown with weeds and young birch trees, with rare sculptures on the arcade, the temple more closely resembled an old beggar with a gap-toothed smile than an architectural solution bold for the time of Peter the Great. At the end of perestroika, the authorities took up restoration, restored the temple in rough form and soon handed it over to the Church, although there were few parishioners - the fingers of one hand would suffice.

It's cool in the temple. It is large on the outside and compact on the inside. The walls are without paintings; they will still be restored. On both sides of the entrance there are original sculptures from those that were not destroyed by vandals. Stone apostles stand like parishioners. I find the abbot immediately. There is no hiding in a round temple. He smiles in greeting and says: “Are we going on air?” And here we go. From the open gallery, blown by all the winds, there is a stunning view of the Trans-Oka expanses.

– Are there many parishioners?

- I would like more...

Instead of a concert I went to listen to the choir

“I was lucky to be born into a family of believers,” says Father Dionysius. – My grandmother worked in the diocesan administration in Alma-Ata, where in the sixties and seventies two significant figures for the Russian Orthodox Church served: Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) of Alma-Ata, who baptized me, and Archimandrite Isaac (Vinogradov).

My father knew the service from childhood, read in the choir, and loved to sing. But in his youth, when he entered the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, he left the faith. Became a mathematician. I returned to church life when I was five years old. And the story of his return demonstrates how great the role of culture is in the process of churching.

My father came to Pushchino with his family. Our town is small, and he began to miss good concerts. It is clear that in the 70s there was no developed cultural life in the academic town, so my father decided to just watch how they sang in the surrounding churches. The closest and only one was in Serpukhov, the Church of Elijah the Prophet, which never closed. The year was 1975.

My father came to listen to the choir, but, as he later said, he was amazed at the faces. “Wow, they sing so well,” he recalled, “at the same time, their singing was something more than a means to earn money, than just creativity. These were people inspired by prayer.” He said to himself: “I want that too,” and asked to go to the choir.

My father still has a wonderful baritone voice, so they hired him quickly, and his childhood experience helped. At first I went for the sake of creativity, but now with some intention of returning to the Church. Probably, he himself did not expect that everything would spin up so quickly and by the year ninety he would be ready to go to a monastery. This is doubly surprising, because all this time my father was engaged in modeling the processes of consciousness, an area at the intersection of physiology and mathematics. He used mathematical language to describe the processes occurring in the brain. And then suddenly a monastery. With the blessing of the abbot of the St. Danilov Monastery, he continues his scientific research even now.

They lured me to church only with gingerbread

– Having returned to the Church, did your father bring you back too?

– His means of education were gentle. Without any stick, only with carrots, he tried to lure me into church: sometimes with sweets, sometimes with a promise to go to a cafe after the service. To a young man, who had just emerged from childhood, was impressed by this. However, I also had my youthful boom, my departure and my conscious return to God.

In one conflict situation, I saw that my father did not use force, but resigned himself to me. Having the right to insist on his own, he gave in and even asked for forgiveness. It was a revelation. I suddenly had a strong desire to sing in church, like him, to serve God and gain this freedom of spirit.

I was told musical life. True, I began to study music late, at the age of ten, for a professional career this is close to disaster. But I entered the music school, then the Gnesin Academy, where I met my wife. And our family turned out to be musical: one daughter is a graduate student at the Moscow Conservatory, and the second is in her second year there, the third is an icon painter, but the fourth decided to devote her life to folklore...

Tension between faith and reason

- How did you become a priest?

– During the perestroika years, when life began to crush and crush everyone under itself, I began to sing in the choir. And he was getting closer and closer to the Church. At some point I suddenly realized that I was already on the threshold of the priesthood. This is what happened: yesterday I was a pianist, and today I am a priest without any education. I had to study at the seminary in absentia.

The nineties were difficult years. There were few priests, and there was an urgent need to plug the holes, well, at least with someone. I was assigned to the parish in Pushchino. It was mine hometown, a center for academic research. This partly contributed to my activities, but still, I to a young musician, it was difficult. I clearly discovered the notorious conflict between the intelligentsia and Orthodoxy.

There are now more conscious parishioners in the city than in the village. And they fast there more strictly, oddly enough, and pray longer

– How did the conflict manifest itself?

– It is obvious that there is a certain tension between faith and reason. We often use a common thesis: reason is one thing, faith is another. Reason speaks about how the world works, faith - why it works this way. This is the apologetic ABC.

In the distant 90s, along with the revival of Orthodoxy, oriental cults, esotericism, extrasensory perception, palmistry, and what not were popular. Do not forget that the intelligentsia interprets the concept of spirituality quite broadly, so any limitation of oneself, and especially one area, was perceived by them with a minus sign.

The problem was this: faith is difficult to feel, even more difficult to prove. And when a person began to become a church member, it seemed to him that not only was nothing happening to him, but no one was giving any guarantees. Actually, this is where the conflict mainly manifested itself.

Now, when I simultaneously serve in the academic town and in the rural church in Podmoklovo, I see that something is changing. There are now more conscious parishioners in the city than in the village. And they fast there more strictly, oddly enough, and pray longer. And in the countryside, unfortunately, there is a feeling that all this is not only neglected, but frankly alien to people.

– Having received an appointment to the parish in Pushchino, did you feel resistance from the local intelligentsia?

– No, I didn’t feel it, it was felt more by my predecessor, the then elderly Archimandrite Iakov, who had just begun construction of the temple in Pushchino.

Vladika Jacob was a simple man. It was difficult for him to find a common language with the local intelligentsia. He was simply not accepted. He loved nature and loved to mow. Got cows and goats. In the middle of an academic town, such a free approach to nature seemed quite strange to many.

We ourselves discovered communication as a form of churching

When I replaced him, my father, by that time already Hieromonk Feofan, helped me in my development as a priest and rector. “Don’t change anything, over time everything will fall into place,” said the father. Gradually a parish took shape and a Sunday school appeared. We talked a lot with young people, discussed Scripture over tea, art films. Now this is already a familiar educational form in the parish, but at the time when I became rector, there was nowhere to learn this. We ourselves discovered communication as a form of churching. And everything we did was built on pure enthusiasm.

– It turns out there weren’t any difficulties after all?

- But why? They were just of a different kind. I had to continue building the temple. Historically, there was no temple in Academy City. There was only a church at the estate in the village of Pushchino, and in the city itself, which was very young, we had to build a church with our own hands, with the diligence and grace of God. And we built very beautiful temple designed by Viktor Varlamov. It doesn't look like a new building at all. We had the opportunity to invite significant masters of contemporary church art to decorate it: Alexander Sokolov, Alexander Chashkin, Alexander Lavdansky, Igor Samolygo and others.

When I realized that the construction work was nearing completion, experience had accumulated, and I still had a creative itch to take part in a cultural program, I began to dream of a temple in Podmoklov and joyfully accepted the blessing of Bishop Juvenaly. The parish here was sparsely populated, and virtually no restoration work was carried out.

Our priest brother doesn't really understand the culture

– What attracted you to the temple?

- Architecture. Same outstanding monument, which stands apart in national culture costs. Like any Pushchino resident, I knew from childhood about the round temple overgrown with birch and elder trees. At that time, Father Victor served here, with whom we were on good friendly terms. I visited him often.

In general, this architecture cannot leave indifferent those for whom it is an integral part of the internal structure.

But our priest brother is not very versed in the intricacies of culture. I say this with regret. I am convinced that priests need to be seriously educated.

I remember once they brought me old books, which one priest was ready to piously put into the oven. Well, what to do when a book has neither beginning nor end, neither read it nor adapt it to worship. I looked, and something stopped me from disposing of them. I discovered that their style was suspiciously beautiful and archaic. While studying the temple, I suddenly realized that the books brought to me were from the seventeenth century. You see, we don’t have any icons from the 17th century left, but I won’t say anything about books at all. But for many priests, these unique monuments of Russian culture are waste material.

I became so fascinated by books, so deeply immersed in their history, that I wrote a work on early printed books and the psychology of the reader of that time: “The Book is Like a Shrine.” Books were what shaped people's lives.

Serve just enough so that the Gifts do not freeze

– But not every priest will ask for a temple overgrown with forest. Recovery requires effort and money. It's easier to take a good arrival...

– My friends supported me. They promised to help. Then there were more and more people ready to work on the restoration of the temple every day. Finally, in 2009, the temple came into state program restoration. I really didn’t have a period of vegetating on a pile of stones, like many priests who pray for a long time that the Lord would send them someone to help them. In this sense, I am spoiled by how well everything turned out. People appeared on their own.

My predecessor, Father Victor, did not have it easy. The temple was restored in rough form at the end of the Soviet period, although not at the highest level.

Restorers then actually saved the temple: they collected the broken five sculptures that vandals had thrown from the gallery. They even planned to open a sculpture museum here. But in 1992 the temple was handed over to believers. It was unheated, and Father Victor once confessed to me: “In winter, my task was to serve just enough so that the Gifts would not freeze.”

– Do I understand correctly: you had an inner conviction that a church half an hour’s drive from Serpukhov, where there are dozens, if not hundreds of large and small churches along the road, in a village in which there is almost no one left, needed to be taken care of? In the sense that it is able to attract people and a full-fledged parish can arise here?

- Yes exactly. To be honest, the local population is meager, but they go to church. If there are ten people in winter, we are happy.

I don’t know whether it was just interest that motivated me, or whether it was an incentive for my own development. Perhaps the genes of a researcher have awakened in me. As a musician, I like everything related to art and culture, and as a scientist, it’s interesting to immerse myself in studying things. I was increasingly fascinated by this masterpiece of the early Peter the Great era with an ensemble of the first Russian sculptures created from local material by Ivan Zimin and his comrades. In general, one can begin the countdown of Russian round sculpture from this temple.

The temple began to be built in 1714 by Prince Grigory Fedorovich Dolgorukov, former ambassador in Poland. He built it at intervals of twenty years. He was his business card. The tradition of building temples as a presentation of the owner has been known since the late Middle Ages.

So, the temple in Podmoklovo was a typical demonstration of the era by the customer of his capabilities, his cultural orientation, taste, and political weight in the state. By the way, this topic has also become the subject of my scientific research: how the individuality of the customer is manifested through architecture. In a word, a lot has started to work out for me. Moreover, I was not alone in my zeal.

How the apostles rehabilitated foreign languages

– Surely there are many legends around such a temple?

– There are many legends, but even more truth. A colleague from the Serpukhov Historical and Art Museum, Andrei Pilipenko, helped me study it. He revealed, for example, that the sculptures stand according to a certain program. There are twelve apostles and four evangelists (two apostles - Matthew and John - are repeated). And the apostles are still in pre-Petrine time, under Alexei Mikhailovich, were the image of the intelligentsia.

- Where is the connection here?

– In the classical Russian Middle Ages, foreign languages ​​were treated as demonic pursuits. We still use the etymology of that time when we call the inhabitants of Germany Germans, that is, dumb. And even earlier they said “he babbles like a Latvian.” But in the era of Alexei Mikhailovich, the attitude towards foreign languages ​​changed to a more attentive one. Perhaps because the former territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had already been conquered. And where there is Polish, there is Latin, and it is not far from European languages.

To rehabilitate foreign language classes, we paid attention to the apostles who received the gift of speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost. In fact, the temple in Podmoklovo represents the miracle of Pentecost. The apostles in the gallery stand in an order that corresponds to the text of the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, which describes how the apostles gathered in the Upper Room of Zion and the Holy Spirit descended on them. They began to speak in unknown tongues and went to preach. Sixteen figures on the arcade indicate the direction of movement of the apostles in all directions of the earth.

Moreover, they are mentioned in pairs in the text. And they stand on the temple in accordance with the text, in pairs, with each pair forming the diameter of a circle. “...Where two are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” The middle of the diameter is the center of the temple. In other words, this temple was an image of the apostolic preaching.

In Peter's time, foreign languages ​​became a symbol of the era of enlightenment. Moreover, in the early time of Peter the Great, enlightenment was not yet colored with atheistic shades. On the contrary, the aristocracy was extremely religious, and Tsar Peter himself sang in the choir. Enlightenment was inextricably linked with faith.

– How visited was this place and did contemporaries read all these symbols?

– Of course, people from Dolgorukov’s circle read this. Baroque is always about allusions and subtexts. This is the era of a certain figurative language. They all understood very well what the circle meant and why it was used here.

Here is an eight on a quad – one of the most common architectural compositions for the end of XVII – early XVIII century. The octagon is an eight-part structure, the eight is a symbol of infinity. For dedicated people who knew the cultural and theological language, all this was obvious. Therefore, when they came to the temple in Podmoklovo, they saw these eight axes, it became clear to them that the temple is an image of heaven. And for Peter’s time – the theme of paradise. Peter built Petersburg as his own paradise. In fact, Peter’s baroque is very optimistic and conveys the idea of ​​​​building a new Russia, which will be the image of an earthly paradise.

Missionary bait

– That is, the temple was not just pure aesthetics and a fashionable trend. Did people perceive all these images?

– Yes, this is obvious to me, although it would probably be too bold to say that all segments of the population could consider these meanings. Local serfs were not counted. They had their own wooden temple in the center of the village. And the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was a house, an estate, even a palace. A colossal amount of money was spent on it - 1,375 rubles - Grigory Fedorovich’s annual salary at the beginning of his career. A huge amount of money was invested in the temple, and the manor house was made of wood, with nine windows. Not a palace, in a word.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, aristocrats first built a temple, and then luxurious housing. To build a temple was a life program for a person who thanks God for his well-being. The temple in Podmoklovo is from this category.

– You began to revive the temple in the hope that local villagers will penetrate into the essence of the sculptural decorations and see the image of paradise?

– You know, to each his own. Christianity, Orthodoxy - it is for all segments of the population: for aesthetes and simpletons, for academics, miners, for the young, for the old, for the Russians, for the French. Orthodoxy is universal. This is faith that can find its way to the heart if a person is willing to open his heart. And this architecturally grandiose temple can be a home both for local rural residents and for people with a high educational level and great aesthetic needs.

Orthodoxy is for all segments of the population: for aesthetes and simpletons, for academicians, miners, for the young, for the old, for the Russians, for the French.

I believe that the cultural potential of the temple in Podmoklovo is a way to make it a missionary “bait”. Someone will come to admire the beauty and be amazed by the place, and then will be imbued with the divine service, and maybe see how the parish communicates. Here we organize open-air festivals, meals, and youth work rallies. Such communal life, if experienced, can make one feel what Christianity is in its essence.

Music festival in ancient ruins

– How and why did the idea of ​​a classical music festival come about?

– My daughter, Vera Voronezhskaya, suggested. Due to my work, I am not prone to adventures, but Vera was persistent. She really wanted to organize a festival for her fellow students and friends. She insisted for a long time. I squeaked and agreed.

– Did you want to organize a concert in the temple?

- No, outside, near the walls. This was in 2014. The temple stood in the forests. After some thought, we decided to hold the first classical music festival near the ruins of the manor house. We depicted this long-suffering manor house as ancient ruins. And I must say, the festival, completed in a week, on the knee, unexpectedly attracted many spectators.

– Were they lovers of baroque music?

- Not only. The fact is that Baroque music is Vera’s sphere of interest, as is its authentic performance. This direction involves performing Beethoven not on a Steinway piano, but on a Hammerklavier, and Chopin on instruments of his time - early examples of the piano. They were, of course, pianos, but they differed significantly from modern ones in mechanics. And although Yamaha and Steinway are universal instruments, from the point of view of the truth of performance, musical truth, it is necessary that the music sound on those instruments that then existed, at least on their replicas.

Vera offered to play baroque music in the “Roman” ruins, fortunately we have our own harpsichord, and her friends play wind and stringed ancient instruments. And it turned out good festival. Small, literally for three hours. But people liked it.

The next time, in 2016, we decided to reach a new level and hold two festivals at once: baroque and folklore, a week apart.

And this year Vera has a new adventure. And I believe in the musical flagship of our family, especially since the organization of the entire musical part lies with her. She even organized crowdfunding and managed to raise funds for our new project.

Grand piano on the porch, stalls on the grass and music as a donation

– What is the adventure of the third festival?

“We decided not just to hold a festival, but to bring a whole grand piano. Moreover, the grand piano is historical – “Becker” from 1900, which we will place under the gallery. There will be a natural amphitheater auditorium, and the porch of the temple - an improvised stage. We even have an unspoken, humorous name for the program - “piano on the porch.” At the same time, we will not depart from the tradition of authentic sound. All baroque music will be played on ancient instruments, and on the Becker piano - works of more late period.

Moreover, our idea was responded to by outstanding performers, teachers of the Moscow Conservatory, those who now teach musicians and are the core of the Faculty of Historical Performing Arts of the Moscow Conservatory: Alexey Lyubimov, Ekaterina Derzhavina, Olga Martynova and the Gnessin baroque ensemble, Les Moscovites, Yuri Martynov and others . Their participation is an honor, joy and pride for us. Musicians participate in the project for free. They donate their performing arts to the temple. Knowing full well that their names will attract people, that the temple will gain additional fame, they participate, and this is their form of manifestation of Christianity.

– Don’t you sense a contradiction here: classical music on the porch Orthodox church. Doesn't the juxtaposition of these two concepts cause dissonance?

- Well, what contradiction can there be?

– Music itself is a rather passionate phenomenon. And the temple is the place where we meet God.

– I understand what you are talking about. Yes, such a view exists. But in fact, classical music is always serious, even when it is entertaining. She always says something deep to your soul. That is why this music is eternal. Like classic literature, How high works visual arts, although it is not directly “texts” on a religious subject or for religious reasons, it is deeply meaningful. In general, we know quite little about music.

For example, Bach's “Well-Tempered Clavier” is a sound gospel. Bach used certain musical rhetorical figures to create this harmonious system. And these figures not only carried semantic meaning and symbolism, they were perceived by people literally as text. "The Well-Tempered Clavier", which we know from music school as a student's work, it was a deeply religious work.

– Do you want to say that this is not a “musical multiplication table” or an essay for flexing your fingers?

– No, this is a work to warm up the soul. This is a kind of prayer, because each prelude and fugue is associated with a specific passage from the Gospel. It is known that the C major prelude and fugue, which is often performed as “Ave Maria,” is a symbol of the Annunciation. There is a scene of the Last Judgment, the Sermon on the Mount, and in fact the entire Gospel.

– Do you want to say that your festival is also a form of preaching?

- Undoubtedly. At the most superficial level, this is drawing attention to the church; the second level is our desire to show that parish life can acquire the most different shapes. Well, the third layer is the desire to give people the opportunity to work mentally.

– Work hard, because listening to classical music is difficult?

– Everything authentic requires work and immersion. Real art takes work, just like our faith. So people come to us and say: oh, what an unusual temple, oh, how wonderful. But few people notice that it has eight axes. Rarely does anyone think that cute flying angels are not “putti” at all. Even less commonly noticed is a stone block with bunches of grapes placed at the very top, under the arch. And rarely does anyone bring it all together and think: why, why all this? But because everything was created not for oneself, but for God. Art has always been a means of giving thanks to God. 'Cause it's high and hard work.

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We have selected the most interesting cultural and sporting events in the Moscow region and found out where to go this coming weekend, June 23-25.

Performance "Republic of ShKID" in Sergiev Posad

The play “The Republic of SHKID” based on the famous story by G. Belykh and L. Panteleev will be held at the Dubrava cultural and educational center. The play is about those for whom fate was preparing the fate of vagabonds, but life in the “Republic of SHKID” helps them achieve more. Starts at 19:00.

Where: Moscow region, Sergiev Posad, microdistrict. Semkhoz, st. Parkovaya, 16

Price: 600-800 rubles

Olympic Day in Podolsk

International Olympic Day will be celebrated in Podolsk on the sports ground behind the Metallurg cultural center in the Lvovsky microdistrict. For guests of the holiday there will be fun starts and relay races, as well as competitions in summer Olympic sports. Starts at 11:00.

Where: Moscow region, city Podolsk, st. Gorkogo, 5

Price: for free

The play “This, girls, is war” in Krasnogorsk

A military drama about four young girls caught up in the war will be shown at the Luch House of Culture in Krasnogorsk. The play by modern playwright Taras Drozd touches on issues of friendship and betrayal, love and hatred. Starts at 19:00.

Where: Moscow region, o. Krasnogorsk, Petrovo-Dalneye village, st. Shkolnaya, 24

Price: for free

Performance "Lukomorye" in Drakino

The performance “Lukomorye”, which is based on A. S. Pushkin’s poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, will be held as part of the “Open Air Theater” project. The plot is adapted for viewers of all ages. The performance is accompanied symphonic music great Russian composers - Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky. Starts at 19:00.

Where: Moscow region, Serpukhov district, Drakino village, Drakino park

Festival "Russian Song - 2017" in the Voskresensky district

Festival “Russian Song – 2017”, dedicated to creativity Lyudmila Zykina, will be held in the urban settlement of Beloozersky in the village of Mikhalevo on the banks of the Moscow River. Participants in the festival will be groups from the Moscow region, as well as individual soloists and duets. Starts at 13:00.

Where: Moscow region, Voskresensky district, village. Mikhalevo, st. Sovetskaya, 47A

Price: for free

Country gatherings in Melikhovo

At the Melikhovo estate on Saturday you can plunge into leisurely country life. Guests of the event will enjoy tea with a Russian samovar, traditional country games and entertainment from the late 19th century, and a country theater. Visitors will be able to prepare a theatrical divertissement, a genre of “living picture,” under the guidance of the director. Guests will play one of country stories Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Starts at 17:00.

Where: Moscow region, Chekhov district, village. Melikhovo

Price: 1500 rubles

Ivan Kupala holiday in Dmitrovsky district

The celebration of Ivan Kupala Day “In search of a fern flower” will take place at the Shikhovo zoo farm in the village of Komarovka, Dmitrovsky district. Although the event will take place during the day and not at night, as tradition requires, everything necessary points will be taken into account. Guests of the event will be able to enjoy jumping over a fire, fortune telling, wreath weaving, as well as a quest and various master classes. Starts at 16:00.

Where: Moscow region, Dmitrovsky district, Komarovka village, building 48

Price: 500 rubles, children – 250 rubles

Baroque Music Festival in Podmoklovo

The Baroque music festival will take place in Serpukhov near the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, located on the banks of the Oka. Musicians will perform works from the late 16th century on harpsichords, lutes, oboes and flutes. The performers will be laureates of international competitions, graduates of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Starts at 12:00.

Where: Moscow region, Serpukhov district, village. Podmoklovo

Price: any donation

The play “The Scarlet Flower” at the Provincial Theater

The play “The Scarlet Flower” based on the fairy tale by S. Aksakov will be presented at the Provincial Theater. Famous story O kind girl, a magical flower and an enchanted prince will appeal to both adults and children. The recommended age for children is six years and older. Starts at 12:00.

Where: Moscow, Volgogradsky prospect, 121

Victoria Kulagina

The RIAMO columnist selected the most interesting events of the upcoming weekend in Moscow and the Moscow region and found out where to go from June 23 to 25.

MIFF-2017

The 39th Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF) starts in Moscow on June 22. The opening film will be the Indian epic “Baahubali. Completion” directed by S.S. Rajamouli, and the festival will end on June 29 with the screening of Sofia Coppola's film The Fatal Temptation. IN competitive program- 13 films, including “A Three-Year-Long April Dream” from Japan, the Turkish film “Yellow Heat”, “Selfie” from Spain, “Stars” (Finland), “Underworld” (Denmark) and others.

Russia is represented at the festival by director Vladimir Kott with the film “Frozen Carp”, Rustam Khamdamov with the film “Bag Without a Bottom” and Vadim Perelman with the film “Buy Me”. According to tradition, festival visitors will be able to see the latest in Russian cinema in non-competition programs, for example, “Loveless” by Andrei Zvyagintsev, “Cold Tango” by Pavel Chukhrai, “Myths about Moscow” by Alexander Molochnikov and many others.

Where: Moscow, cinemas "October", "Cosmos"

Festival "Wild Mint"

The international music festival “Wild Mint” will be held for the tenth time from June 23 to 25. The festival will feature three stages, on which about 70 artists from 10 countries will perform over three days.

This year the headliners are Ivan Dorn, Bi-2 and the Melnitsa group. You can also listen to - SunSay, Therr Maitz, Optimystica Orchestra, Pompeya, “Crematorium”, La Dame Blanche, Zventa Sventana, Markscheider Kunst, S.P.O.R.T., The Great Machine, Guru Groove Foundation, Alai Oli, Alexey Kortnev and many others. The festival program includes a Green Age market, where natural cosmetics and healthy food will be presented, lectures by Anton Dolin and Vitaly Egorov, a food court, a handmade market and much more.

Where: Tula region, Aleksinsky district, Bunyrevo village

Price: from 850 rubles (per day) to 3750 rubles for all days

Restaurant festival Taste of Moscow

The Moscow festival of the best restaurants Taste of Moscow can be visited from June 22 to 25. In a programme - cooking show performed by first-class Russian chefs, tasting of wines and spirits alcoholic drinks, culinary master classes, as well as a concert, theatrical performances and performances. At the festival you will be able to buy delicacies, farm products, personal care products, interior items, dishes, etc. Among the restaurants that will present their products are I like Grill, Panaekhali, Cheese, Cheese Connection, In the Fresh Air " and others.

Where: Moscow, Luzhniki

Bosco Fresh Fest 2017

The music festival Bosco Fresh Fest 2017 will be held in Moscow on June 24 and 25. Over two days at the festival, Antokha MC, The Boxer Rebellion, Vougal, Bravo, Roots Manuva, Sevdaliza, etc. will perform. The headliners will be Morcheeba, John Newman, Parov Stelar, Sohn. As last year, an additional Bosco Fresh Night program will be organized for lovers of night parties. Leaders of the electronic scene such as DMX Krew, Luke Vibert, Gunnar Haslam, Voiski, Cape Cod and Rout 8, Mall Grab and Leonid will perform on two stages of the festival. Lipelis. As a program from Tele2, you can listen to the projects “Naadya”, On-the-Go, “Sirotkin”, etc. The festival will feature a beauty zone where everyone will get makeup and hair done, a 24-hour food court, as well as excursions around park.

Where: Moscow, Tsaritsyno Estate Museum

Price: from 1600 to 3000 rubles

Live sound festival “Music of Summer”

The concert of Leonid Agutin and the Esperanto group will take place on June 24 in the Hermitage Garden as part of the Music of Summer live sound festival. The open-air program includes unusual arrangements and new songs by the group, which combine the rhythms of jazz and blues.

Where: Moscow, Hermitage Garden

Ahmad Tea Music Festival 2017

Festival British music Ahmad Tea Music Festival 2017 on June 24 will be held for the seventh time at Muzeon. The lineup includes British musician Richard Ashcroft, vocalist of The Verve and songwriter of “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, “The Drugs Don’t Work”, rock band from Wales Catfish and the Bottlemen and the duo Seafret, who will open the festival.

Where: Moscow, Muzeon art park

Food truck festival

The festival of food trucks (snack bars on wheels) can be visited from June 23 to 25 in Sokolniki Park. At the festival, you should try popular street food from all over the world, visit a retro park and listen to street musicians perform.

The program also includes film screenings, dance master classes from Good Radio, a children's zone and much more.

Where: Moscow, Sokolniki Park

"Lambada Market"

Fair Russian designers and showrooms “Lambada Market” will be held in Moscow on June 25. More than 200 participants will present their products at the fair. Here you can find summer collections of clothing, shoes and accessories, vintage, furniture, interior items, books and records. The drink of the fair will be the Aperol Spritz cocktail; at the food court you will be able to buy burgers, smoothies and ice cream from 30 street food projects. Popular Moscow DJs will entertain visitors.

Where: Moscow, “Red October”, bar “Strelka”

Classical Music Festival

The annual classical music festival will be held on June 25 in the village of Podmoklovo near Moscow. The festival will be dedicated to Baroque and Renaissance music, which will be performed on authentic instruments: harpsichords, lutes, Baroque flutes, violins, oboes, cellos. An antique Becker grand piano from the collection of piano maker Alexei Stavitsky will be brought to Podmoklovo especially for the festival. Visitors will be able to hear the music of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi.

Where: Moscow region, Serpukhov district, village. Podmoklovo, in front of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Price: free

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June 25 on the steps of the unique Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, built in the Italian Baroque style, in the village of Podmoklovo, Serpukhov district it will already pass third classical music festival. The organizer of the festival, Vera Voronezhskaya, and her father Dionisy Kryukov, the rector of the temple, tell how a platform appeared in the village beyond the Oka River, where the flower of the Moscow Conservatory performs.

Vera Voronezhskaya, organizer of the classical music festival in the village of Podmoklovo

What is your professional background? As far as I understand, the festivals in Podmoklov are closely connected with the musical environment of the Moscow Conservatory?

Yes, I studied there at the Faculty of Historical and Contemporary Performing Arts. This year, in the first block of our festival - from 12 to 14 o'clock - five teachers of this faculty will perform: Alexey Lyubimov, Ivan Sokolov, Ekaterina Derzhavina, Yuri Martynov and Peter Aidu.

At our faculty we have always had very friendly relations between teachers and students. I, like everyone else, was very surprised by this at first - students in the lesson can suggest something themselves, and no one will tell you: “I’m right, and you will play as I said.” Teachers not only are not offended, but on the contrary, they welcome us when we go to lessons with other teachers. For example, I attend the lessons of Alexey Borisovich Lyubimov. We got into a conversation one day, and in response to my question about the festival, he said: “Yes, I can come.”

And with Peter Aidu it actually turned out interesting - he has a dacha in Podmoklov. But we first met at the conservatory, and then we met here.

With an antique piano Becker, who will come to us for the festival, everything was also organized as if by itself. I met piano restorer Alexei Stavitsky and decided not to miss this chance: if he gives his pianos to other musicians, why not ask us too.

Stepan Voronezhsky

- You present this historical piano everywhere as one of the main events of the festival. What is its significance?

This is an instrument from 1900, restored by Alexey Stavitsky. By the way, maybe an original tafel clavier from Mozart’s time will also come to the festival - if I’m not mistaken, from the collection of Alexei Lyubimov. By the way, the collection of instruments by Aidu, Lyubimov and Stavitsky is now going through difficult times - it for a long time was in one place, and now on Planet.ru they are raising funds to move it to a new address. All this is closely connected with Peter Aidu’s “Piano Shelter” project, aimed at rescuing ancient instruments that someone was simply going to throw away. The project allows you to save such instruments and wait until some musician is found who is ready to invest in their restoration.

Royals Becker, one of which we will have at the festival, was produced in Russia. And if they are not preserved, then we simply will not be able to tell and show our descendants what kind of mechanics we had, and it had its own specifics - not the same as in Europe. They even sound different than modern ones Steinway or Yamaha, and look different - the shapes are more elegant.

- What will be played on this piano?

This will be the first department - classic. The festival will begin at noon. We understood that we had to play romantic or late romantic music on such an instrument. Ivan Sokolov will perform “Fleetingness,” this is Prokofiev’s early opus, and he could well have played this piece on a similar piano in his time. Alexey Lyubimov - “Preludes” by Debussy, this composer lived for some time in Russia and could also play music on the Becker. Ekaterina Derzhavina will play “The Seasons” by Tchaikovsky, Yuri Martynov will play Chopin’s plays. The first part will last about two hours.

Next in the program there is an hour-long break - we need it to remove the piano, put a harpsichord in its place and install other microphones (for ancient instruments there should be a different soundtrack). And the spectators will be able to refresh themselves, take a walk around the surrounding area, or go to our unique temple, which will be open all this time; they will be able to look at our famous sculptures apostles

I can’t promise that my father will be able to give a tour at this time - perhaps he will be busy with something else, and none of us have yet learned to tell the story like he does. But last year it was possible - although the temple, of course, was overcrowded...

Stepan Voronezhsky

- How will this day continue and end?

At 15:00 the baroque music department will begin, this will be the largest block - three hours, and, most likely, it will take place with a break. Chamber ensembles will play. But there will also be solo performances. For example, a very serious harpsichordist Olga Martynova, a world-famous musician, will come. Olga will perform Bach’s “French Suite”, and then will also play as part of the ensemble Gnessin Baroque- this, by the way, is also a team of conservatory teachers. And the ensemble Les Moscovites, where oboist Philippe Naudel is the organizer, will play the music of Telemann and Vivaldi.

Then there is another hour break, and at 19:00 we will begin a block of ancient dances on another stage - on the lawn near the linden grove. I'm anticipating that it will be exactly like in Raphael's painting "The Betrothal" - everyone will be in real Renaissance costumes. The accompaniment will be live music, also performed on ancient instruments. A large ensemble will play, these are all also people close to the conservatory - students or graduates. Their leader, Natalya Kaidanovskaya, will gather them together.

This whole project as a whole is Natasha’s most interesting work. She translates the treatises of Baroque dancers, French if I'm not mistaken, performed at the court of Louis XIV. Restores the dances described in these treatises. The audience will be able to see these dances. And even the music will be unique. In the program that Natasha sent me, next to some of the dances it is written: “The music was restored by Peter Aidu from the top line.” That is, as I understand it, Natasha had notes for the dances, but not a full score, but only a melody. And Peter, as a person deeply versed in this music, completed the score for the entire ensemble. It is better to arrive at this block early and not be late; it will be the shortest - an hour or even a little less.

Yes, the program looks serious. Aren’t you offended that all this will happen not in some Moscow Hermitage garden, for example, but in the village of Podmoklovo?

Not only is it not offensive, but quite the opposite. I think everyone Russian musician Today he feels that there is nowhere and no one to play. No, in Moscow, of course, there are many halls, even I, a conservatory graduate, play in both the Rachmaninov Hall and the Maly. But even if you achieve such a hall, the public will not come to you as a musician without a name and the audience will not gather. The viewer often goes to some inflated names, but to thin, interesting musicians doesn't pay attention. For example, Ekaterina Derzhavina - she deeply understands the music of Medtner and Haydn, she has many awards received in Germany, she records discs there, and her concerts are held there all the time. And in Moscow she performs once a year.

The owner of the house next door to the temple powered a lot of our equipment from his electrical network. I remember that we then increased the meter for him, of course, and although we later compensated for everything, he didn’t even talk about it.

- Are you leading to the idea that you are giving such profound musicians another platform?

No, what I am saying is that the listener needs to be educated. I taught in schools for a long time, and it was interesting for me to do it - but not just “teach the piano,” but talk about music. So that then children listening to rap will google and download Mozart to their players and tell you: “It’s okay, these classics of yours are interesting. What if you go to a concert, the impression will probably be even stronger?” I actually heard such words, children after the fifth grade become so interested... It seems to me that the layer classical culture Today he goes somewhere, becomes elitist and distant from people. You see, the tradition of performing music in concert halls is relatively new; this did not exist in the Baroque era. It’s hard for ordinary people within these walls; they don’t know how to behave. The concert hall becomes some kind of museum, and music is a very living sphere...

That is, if during a performance by a famous harpsichordist children are jumping on the grass screaming, do you look at it calmly?

Well, we haven’t played romantic music at the festival yet, I don’t have that experience yet. But Baroque music is quite alive. And our soundtrack will be quite strong. You can’t drown it out with a child’s scream, unless all the children start screaming in unison. (laughs).

We will have a professional sound engineer working with us. Because the first concert - four years ago - was simple, without any amplification, then there were 150 people listening, and this was the maximum possible. Ancient instruments - they are much quieter, these are not the pianos of some modern or metal flutes.

It is obvious that the status of your project is increasing year by year. Do you feel the strength to fully implement such a festival and to further scale it up - after all, you didn’t specifically study this kind of work?

Yes, I did not study either management or organizing musical events. And it’s clear that four years ago I would have been like this major festival didn’t pull it and we wouldn’t have pulled it all. But year after year a new understanding appears, and so far everything somehow works out organically. I set myself two tasks. The first is the popularization of classical music. The second is to hold a festival in this very place. To tell the world about it and help my father popularize the unique temple in which he serves. Therefore, I don’t think that even if I were ready to organize multi-thousand festivals in Moscow, I would be interested. I just don't have that goal. In general, this festival is my first experience in organizing; I have always been a quiet child and never even participated in school events.

Stepan Voronezhsky

And now this happens to you, the daughter of a priest - TV channels come, journalists take interviews, an audience of thousands gathers for events. Don't you perceive this as a temptation?

Well, I’m not just the daughter of a priest, but also a musician. A musician is always a temptation and a test of pride. We have been living with this since we were seven years old - when they started taking us to competitions. I remember how at the age of 13 I won the regional competition in Klin and I was sent to Japan for the Tchaikovsky competition in the age category from 14 to 18 years. For a girl from Pushchino it was something incredible!.. I think that all musicians, regardless of whether they are religious or not, somehow work with their sense of pride, because this is an unhealthy thing - and something needs to be done with it live. It is clear that an artist must work for the public, interact with them, and if you do not have this desire - to show everything that you are capable of - then nothing will come of it. But on the other hand... I will say this as a religious person. My grandfather, a monk, always tells me: “Everything you do is for the glory of God.” And if you play with this feeling and perform, then there will be success. And if you think: “It’s all me, I did it all,” then maybe once or twice everything will work out, and then this feeling throws people back. This can be seen even in many great performers who win high-profile competitions.

-And now you continue your musical career?

Yes, I am a graduate student at the Moscow Conservatory, majoring in Contemporary Music Orchestra. This is everything that is written in a new language, starting from Schoenberg and Stravinsky and ending with modern composers... We play such music, learn to understand it...

- And this, too, is not in conflict with church life?

Not yet. My religiosity and music studies somehow coexist very harmoniously. And modern music for me is a delight. Some will say that this is a cacophony, devoid of beauty. And for me this is some kind of very interesting mathematics, higher mathematics... You know, in the Middle Ages they studied the sciences of the quadrivium, and music was included there along with arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. And it seems to me that the music of the 20th and 21st centuries also sometimes seems to go back - to that state. And mathematics is very beautiful, and this is also a manifestation of God’s harmony.

Stepan Voronezhsky

Have you tried to assess the composition of your viewing audience - how many people are from nearby villages, how many from Moscow, are there any foreigners coming?

This is difficult to assess, because why not conduct surveys? We still don’t have enough volunteers, I even made a post on social networks on this topic - if someone wants to come to us as a volunteer, we will be very glad, and we really need it now. I know that foreigners came to the last festival, but they were vacationing here somewhere in Pushchina. I know that people from all over Russia come to this festival, because on social networks people have already asked me where to stay.

- In addition to volunteers, does anyone help you in preparing and holding the festival?

The administration of the Serpukhov district and its division responsible for culture are very helpful. They give us a bus to bring musicians from Moscow and back - this would be a huge expense. They provide sound equipment, however, it is not for classical music, so we still have to rent special microphones. They provide tents for catering outlets, for souvenir shops and for musicians. They provide a podium stage on which there will be dancing this year. They even provide blue toilet stalls. In general, they help us a lot, and we are very grateful for that. But this is understandable: for the Serpukhov region such a large festival is a big event.

There are sympathetic village residents: at one of the past festivals, the owner of the house next to the temple powered a lot of our equipment from his electrical network. I remember that we then increased the meter for him, of course, and although we later compensated for everything, he didn’t even talk about it. Volunteers are mainly parishioners of the temple and village residents, to whom we include summer residents. So far this year there are about ten of them - this is very little, and I hope that people will still respond. The traffic police are also helping, without this we would have a crush on the roads, otherwise they will block the entrance to the village, and guests, leaving their cars on the side of the road, will have to walk the last 200 meters. But if you need to take, for example, a pensioner to a place, there is such an opportunity - you just need to contact us in advance and provide the car number.

- Are you already making any plans for the future or is it too early to talk about it before the end of the festival?

There are plans that are clear now. On next year we need to find sponsors. Yes, this year we raised the planned amount on Planet.ru, although initially we ourselves did not believe that this was possible. But this took us a lot of time and still does not allow us to pay the artists a fee that would not look ridiculous. At the same time, we categorically refuse to introduce paid entrance to the festival. Because we don’t want it to become an event for an elite audience. Maybe for some, our festival will become the place of their first meeting with baroque music.

Stepan Voronezhsky

Dionysius Kryukov, rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Podmoklovo

Tell us your personal history. How did you become the rector of this temple and co-organizer of the music festival taking place on its steps?

I am a pianist by training; I studied at the Gnesin Academy with the wonderful musician Theodor Davidovich Gutman. My wife studied there too. But at some point I interrupted my studies because I decided to become a clergyman, and literally in a year I became a priest from a pianist. This was in 1993.

I was born in Pushchina, in this academic center on the Oka River, in a family of scientists. My father is a mathematician, he is still working on mathematical problems of memory, modeling consciousness and brain function. In 1990, approximately at the same time when I began singing in the choir of the St. Daniel Monastery, my father went to the same monastery and became a monk there, but is still involved in science - he is a learned monk.

-What happened to you? turning point when did you decide to get up from the piano and go to church?

You probably can't say it in words. But I always remember that, no matter how much I resisted and said that I would be a musician and wanted to play on stage, my grandmother said: “Well, of course, you will play for a while, then you will become a priest.” My grandmother was also a nun. Her words came true. At first I built a temple and created a church community in Pushchina, the years were difficult, but it helped that the community was friendly and active.

The apostles who decorate our temple are figures best suited for the role of a conventional cultural Christian, or a believing intellectual.

- That is, you came to Podmoklovo - to the Italian temple on the banks of the Oka -, relatively speaking, through Pushchino.

Yes, having gained some experience, I thought that I was ready to direct my efforts to the restoration of this unique temple and gratefully accepted the blessing of Bishop Juvenal to work on it. Every person in our district knows this temple very well, and since I am still related to art, I understood all its value. And it so happened that assistants immediately appeared and began to participate in its restoration. We managed to get into the state restoration program - which is very difficult and in itself akin to a miracle. The restoration was led by architect Irina Davydovna Lyubimova, she works in the Central Scientific and Restoration Production Workshops, received an award for her work in the Lopukhin Chambers, and is involved in Novodevichy Convent and some objects of the Moscow Kremlin. Our temple is a hobby for her, as she herself jokes.

Stepan Voronezhsky

And still build new temple in Pushchina and restoring a unique monument with a three-century history are two different things.

Yes, at that moment I felt a craving for science - apparently, my genes affected me. I began to become interested in the history of the temple, the literature of that time, and the historical situation. And now I have already accumulated quite a large amount of ideas, which will soon be published in the form of articles and in the form of a monograph on the history of the temple. My status as a researcher at the Likhachev Heritage Institute provides such opportunities. A topic that interests me very much now is the image of the apostles at a turning point. I can very briefly say that the apostles decorating our temple are not only one of the first such Russian sculptures made by Russian masters, but also figures best suited for the role of a conventional cultural Christian, or a believing intellectual. This was very important for the historical period when Russia was moving to modern times from the era of the Middle Ages, when even the study of foreign languages ​​was viewed with suspicion. I agree with the conclusions of one researcher who unraveled the program of the sculptural decoration of our temple: this is the image of the apostles who go to preach from Jerusalem precisely on the day of Pentecost, having received the gift of speaking foreign languages. They even appear in the order given in Acts. I often give tours in and around the temple for those who are interested in such topics on a deeper level. I will also add that now we, together with the Italian architectural historian Federica Rossi, Dmitry Guzevich, who lives in Paris, and a number of Russian researchers, are preparing the publication of a monograph on the semantics of our temple. This semantics is heavily involved in the politics of that time, in the emerging new culture and, of course, in theology - such a junction of three directions is very big interest not only in the scientific community, but even among media representatives.

Stepan Voronezhsky

Don't you see some irony in the fact that now you seem to have been caught up again by the music that you left at the time? I'm talking about a music festival taking place on the steps of a temple.

Basically, this was my desire. Although I cannot say that I was the main initiator of these music festivals. After all, a priest is a man who measures seven times and cuts once. But my children - and two of my four daughters study at the conservatory - and my wife also took the initiative along with them. I did not resist, but supported them; I only believed that the event should correspond to the level of the place. Surprisingly, they succeeded the first time and continue to succeed.

And I myself have always loved and love music. I still have many friends in the musical community. This is connected both with my previous education and social circle, and with the current place of study of my daughters. And in general, we have such a family symbiosis: my daughter Vera started this project to help me. Because restoring such a temple at a considerable cost from the state is a very serious matter, and I’m not sure that it would be justified if few people still knew about this place. It is important for us to popularize this place and attract attention to it.

And in general, even the banal material maintenance of the temple is a big question, because we have at most twenty parishioners from the village. And only thanks to the fact that I am the rector of two churches, this issue does not become a problem. It was very difficult for my predecessors to survive here.

Stepan Voronezhsky

Is filling the festival’s music program a problem for you as a clergyman? Questions about what can and cannot be played on the steps of the temple do not arise?

No, that doesn't happen. Vera and I are complete like-minded people and, if necessary, we easily listen to each other. In general, I believe that art in general, especially classical music, requires a lot of spiritual work from a person. Even if the music does not directly speak about any religious motives or ideas, but simply displays a rural pastoral or large social processes, like, for example, Beethoven, it still concerns the human soul, and, in my opinion, it is certainly connected with God. Therefore, such a proximity between the temple and classical music is natural.

- But there is Bach, and there is Stravinsky - and they will sound differently in the context of the temple space.

Stravinsky, by the way, was a very church-going person. It is clear that we will not play “Mephisto Waltz” on the porch of our temple. But I don’t see any problems with creating an adequate festival program.

Stepan Voronezhsky

Don’t you think the release of music from the temple space onto lawns and street benches is its desacralization? Musicians play sacred music, and nearby children run after a balloon...

Of course not. In general, in our family we all somehow think that classical music has acquired, perhaps, too rigid an external form. Concert halls- they only appeared in late XIX century. Before this, music always sounded in the context of the life for which it was written - music for walks on water, for fireworks, for festive events... This does not mean the servility of these works, among them there are also brilliant things written brilliant composers. But now it is customary to perceive music exclusively on velvet chairs in stuccoed halls. But in this case, the naturalness of its perception is often lost. Therefore, when music is played in the open air, it seems to me, on the contrary, that it takes on some kind of genuine breath. It’s the same with folklore - when real folklore, not the one we were taught to listen to in Soviet times, but the genuine one, which is studied in professional ethnographic expeditions... So when this folklore is sung on stage, it even looks a little out of place. It should sound in the environment in which he lived and lives.

Therefore, when our music sounds in an open space, it seems to me that it just steps beyond some artificially placed barriers. And many people told us that they were grateful for the opportunity to listen, without feeling the pressure of walls and ceilings, to generally complex music.

By the way, we had our first festival without any sound amplification at all, and we were a little scared, because baroque instruments are generally quiet. There were a lot of people, and the harpsichord usually plays for a small audience. But it turns out that the desire to listen also has its own, relatively speaking, drawing function - as in the theater, when the most significant words are spoken in a quiet whisper and the whole audience perceives this as a culmination, and the loudest words and remarks can turn out to be the most empty.