Grechaninov, Alexander. (1864 - 1956) [Jaroff, Serge. (1896-1985)]. Five Autograph Musical Manuscripts, incribed to Serge Jaroff and the Don Cossack Chorus. Five important and interesting autograph manuscripts from the student of Rimsky-Korsakov who went on to become one of the leading Russian composers in the late Romantic tradition. 35 pp. Manuscripts of five Russian songs in the composer's hand, three bound in two albums, together with two laid in. From the collection of Sergei Alekseevich Zharov [Jaroff]. As follows:


1. "Voin-vorobei" [The Warrior Sparrow]. Dance song from the opera Dobrynya Nikitich (1895-1901), adapted for the Don Cossack Choir of Serge Jaroff. Folio. 5 pp. Bound within contemporary green boards. Inscribed by the composer to the director on upper right corner of first page: "To dear Sergei Alekseevich Zharov in fond memory. A. Grechaninov. Aix-les-Bains, July 1928." Signed a second time on the bottom of the last page: "A. Grechaninov. July 1928 Aix-les-Bains."


2. "2 narodniya russkiya pesnii/2 chansons populaires russes" [Two Russian Folk Songs]. Being: "Zvonili zvony/Les Cloches sonnaient" [The Bells Rang]; and "Poidu li ya, vyidu li ya/J'y vais, je sois" [Here I Go, Here I Come Out]. Folio. 11 pp. Bound in contemporary green boards. Inscribed by the composer to the director: "For the wonderful Don Cossack Choir and their leader Sergei Alekseevich Zharov these carefully adapted songs. A. Grechaninov. May 1928. Paris."


WITH: two additional folk songs adapted for the choir laid in: "Polushko" [Little Field], 8 pp; and "Vo derevne to bylo v Olkhovka" [It Happened in Olkhovka Village], 6 pp.


These works do not appear under the titles given here in the Catalogue of Works in the composer's autobiography 'My Life' (Slonimsky, 1952).


A. T. Grechaninov was a Russian Romantic composer and protégé of Rimsky-Korsakov. While in Moscow, he composed for the theater and the Russian Orthodox Church; and for this work, he received a pension from the Tsar. He is remembered primarily for his vocal works. He emigrated to France in 1925, and settled in the United States in 1939.


Sergei Zharov (Serge Jaroff) founded the Don Cossack Choir of Serge Jaroff, a men's chorus of exiled Russian Cossacks, in 1921. He composed songs for this company and conducted it for nearly sixty years. He, his wife and son eventually settled in Lakewood Township, New Jersey.