Salvation Is Created

Pavel Tschesnokoff composed Salvation Is Created for a cappella chorus in 1912, one of the last sacred works he completed before being forced to turn to secular music by the Soviet government. Although he never heard it performed during his lifetime, his children had the opportunity in the years following his death. Its popularity is such that many different versions exist both in Russian and in English; transcriptions also exist for different combinations of winds. This arrangement is in the original key and preserves as much as possible the original chords, voicing, and octave settings. It is unmeasured as in the original choral score and the players are encouraged to think of playing it in a chant-like manner, not adhering to strict meter or tempo. Barlines are to help with phrasing and staying together. We are proud to make this masterpiece of choral literature available for brass quintet.  Trumpet parts are provided in B♭ and C.

The original text translates as follows:

Salvation is created in the midst of the earth, O God. Alleluia.

Performance note:

The performers will note that this work is not metered. Tchesnokov meant for the piece to be performed in a free chant-like manner, with no set pulse. At rehearsal letters C and H you will note that there is only one minim in the measure. It is alright to pause before this note each time, and to insert breaths or pauses elsewhere, but these should not feel measured, or 'in time,' but rather organically flow from the chant phrase. The care taken to achieve this will be well worth the effort in creating the feel of a choral chant.

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