Unknown Composer of the East Slavic Baroque Kaplinsky and His Easter Concert
Abstract
In the article, the Easter four-part concerto Mary Magdalene Stood Without at the Sepulchre is introduced into musicological circulation. Its author, Kaplinsky, is a composer of the East Slavic Baroque, about whom practically nothing is known. A search for the family name and its derivatives in the lists of the Polish-Lithuanian gentry revealed that one of the branches of the Kaplinsky family had lived in the Smolensk district since the end of the 16th century. The emergence of the Easter concerto is probably associated with this same area. The paper analyses two versions of the concerto from a set of four-voice parts dating back to 1675–1676 and establishes that they represent two editions of it. The first, presumably, contained the parts of the first and second discant, alto, tenor and bass continuo, while the second, having a traditional four-part composition, was an arrangement for performance in unaccompanied Orthodox church singing practice. Kaplinsky’s concerto differs from the common type of concerto ripieni partes compositions, which present an alternation between solo and choral episodes. It alternates between duets and trios, with brief choral episodes used to draw attention to key moments in the plot; the melodic style of the concerto follows the arioso type. In general terms, the composition is close to a special form that arose in the Western European spiritual concerto tradition known as the “dialogue,” which became widespread in the works of the masters of the early Baroque. The score of Kaplinsky’s concerto, as compiled on the basis of its two editions, is published for the first time in the Appendix to the article.
Keywords: partes style, partes concert, Kaplinsky, Diletsky, East Slavic choral baroque
For citation: Gerasimova, I. V. (2025). Unknown Composer of the East Slavic Baroque Kaplinsky and His Easter Concert. Contemporary Musicology, 9(2), 36―70. https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2025-2-036-070References
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2025-2-036-070
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