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SERGE JAROFF’S DON COSSACK CHOIR: A TREASURE FROM THE RUSSIAN DIASPORA

and unfamiliar repertoire irrelevant. Constant dramatic cert and watched him intently. He used subtle hand mo-
variations in tempi and dynamics were an especially tions and poignant facial expressions to evoke the effects
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moving hallmark of their style. Their attacks, cutoffs, he wanted. Rachmaninov, who was a strong supporter
intonation, diction, and blend were so precise that many of the choir and had mentored Jaroff early on, had ad-
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reviewers described their technique as perfect. Distin- vised him to conduct this way. Fortunately, there are
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guished music critic Deems Taylor stated that they were numerous film clips from earlier and later in his life that
the best chorus he ever heard or ever hoped to hear. 21 show him doing so (Photo 2 on the next page).
The famous German orchestral conductor Herbert von Commentators constantly marveled at his physical
Karajan was once asked if there were any choirs that restraint. Far more importantly, however, Jaroff inter-
particularly impressed him. He said there was one: Ja- preted every work the choir performed in extraordi-
roff’s Don Cossacks. He attended all their concerts to try narily minute detail, which resulted in the constant ex-
to figure out how Jaroff obtained his powerful, precise pressive nuances that moved audiences so deeply.
attacks but never succeeded. 22

Arrangements
The Move to America Jaroff arranged most of the choir’s music, and his
The choir was based in Berlin and toured mostly in innovations in voicings and timbre set his arrangements
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Europe in the 1920s, but in 1930, they began touring in apart. He included falsettists to sing treble parts. This
the United States. Despite Jaroff’s apprehensions, they made mixed-choir repertoire from the Russian Ortho-
were immediately a great success in various regions of dox canon possible. He stated in a rare interview that he
the country and were eagerly invited back every year. 23 divided the choir into falsettist, first tenor, second tenor,
As newspaper reviews document, they performed in baritone, bass, and octavist sections, often with further
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diverse venues, ranging from Carnegie Hall and the divisions. The octavist range for which Russian choirs
Metropolitan Opera House to school auditoriums in are famous is an octave below the normal bass range.
small cities. His frequent octavist doubling of bass lines and place-
Most of the choristers had fought in two wars: ment of lyrical melodies in the falsettist register focused
World War I and the Russian Civil War. Dismayed by attention on his superb octavist and falsettist sections
the military buildup they witnessed in Europe in the and gave the choir a signature sonority that was aesthet-
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early 1930s, which suggested that more war was im- ically very compelling.
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minent, Jaroff made the dramatic decision to move Homophonic texture and basic tonal harmony typify
the choir members to New York and to seek Ameri- the liturgical and secular works in the choir’s repertoire.
can citizenship. With help from Bronson M. Cutting This reflects the fact that Western-influenced classical
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(1888-1935), a United States senator from New Mexico music in Russia has a relatively short history. Ukrainian-
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who was an ardent fan, they gained permanent-res- born composer Dmitry Bortniansky (1751–1825), who
ident status in 1936 and citizenship in 1943 and were is best remembered for his choral works, is generally
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based in New York from then on. Members of the recognized as Russia’s first great master of that west-
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American choral community had ample opportunity to ernized style, which he learned from study in Italy.
experience their artistry, and it was reported that they The choir’s repertoire encompassed his works through
learned much from the Don Cossacks. those of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-centu-
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ry masters.
A notable example of the latter is Alexander Kastal-
Jaroff as Conductor sky (1856–1926), who was director of the Synodal
Serge Jaroff’s conducting style was unusually re- School from 1910 to 1918 when Jaroff studied there. He
strained. The singers, who numbered twenty-two after championed the “New Direction” movement in Rus-
World War II, stood in two parallel lines or arcs in con- sian sacred choral music, which sought to create an au-

28 CHORAL JOURNAL March/April 2025 Volume 65 Number 7