Revisiting the Collection of Tatar
Musical-Ethnographic
51
“having softened, guttural sounds [which could be] likened to the light
sound of the flute; all singing took on an expression of some solemnity, so
that its listeners seemed to feel the same pleasure a European experiences
under the influence of the magical sounds of Rossini or Beethoven.”
39
This is a very important observation by the academic, who noted the
characteristics of Koran chanting and made
an analogy with European
music. Islamic culture and Oriental languages were Sablukov’s main
academic fields and he was, notably, the first person to translate the Koran
from Arabic to Russian.
40
As a active figure in missionary education in the Kazan Ecclesiastical
Academy, Sablukov was tasked to compile a brief manual for priests of the
Kazan eparchy
41
to deny Mohammedanism and to improve the missionary
anti-Muslim department because it was deemed that “under the
circumstances of the quite considerable detachment of Mohammedans,
Christened Tatars of the Kazan eparchy ... from Christianity, the manual
was necessary.”
42
The reconversion of Christened Tatars back to Islam (or
as it was known at that time, Mohammedanism) was one of the religious
and political problems in the Volga region in that period, hence Sablukov
participated in the work of various commissions, regularly visiting villages
of Christened Tatars to persuade them of the genuineness of Christianity.
It is clear that the collection of Tatar musical-ethnographic material
by the teachers of the Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy was closely connected
with their missionary-educative activity. However, despite these ideological
purposes, the investigations of these researchers are of great historical value
and take an important place in the history of Tatar musical ethnography.
Revisiting the Collection of Tatar Musical-Ethnographic Materials by the
Teachers of the Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy in the Context of
Their Missionary-Educative Activity (19
th
Century)
(Abstract)
Musical and ethnographic observations of the Tatars by the research faculty of the Kazan
Ecclesiastical Academy are discussed in this article. Their scholarly works allow us to
consider the specifics of national traditions and culture of the
19
th
century Tatars, reveal
features of Tatar holidays and folk music performance, and understand the distinctiveness
of their songs and instrumental music. Questions concerning collection of Tatar musical
and ethnographic material by Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy faculty members are discussed
in connection with their mission and educational work.
39
Sablukov 1845, p. 187.
40
Sablukov 1878.
41
Kazan eparchy: the eparchy of Russian Orthodox Church, Kazan.
42
NATR, fund 10, folder 25, list 1, p. 6.
www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro
E. I. Safiullina
52
The nature of these first forays into Tatar musical ethnography as an independent
academic direction is related to the specific context of the mid-19
th
century. In this era, the
collection and study of Tatar musical and ethnographic material had a goal-oriented
character, due to the active efforts of many academic and educational institutions including
the Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy. This institution was a science and educational centre for
the study of the history, culture, ethnography and languages of the non-Russian nations of
pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1854, special missionary departments were created whose
activities focused on the conversion of Tatars and other nations of the Volga region, the
Transurals and Siberia, to the system of Christianity. To fulfil this mission, specialists with
sufficient knowledge not only in language but also the history, culture, ethnography of the
non-Russian nations were required. Therefore teachers and scholars of Kazan Ecclesiastical
Academy went on the ethnographic expeditions to various localities, where they collected
information on national holidays, customs, rituals and the musical culture of non-Russian
nations.
Teachers of the Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy regularly published historical and
religious works, tutorials with a spiritual and religious content, ethnographic, reference and
bibliographic materials. As a research and educational centre, the Academy contributed
greatly to Tatar musical ethnography. The gathering of Tatar musical ethnographic material
by the academics and teachers of Kazan Ecclesiastical Academy was closely related to their
missionary outreach.
Bibliographical Abbreviations
Berdnikov 1892
- Ilya Stepanovich Berdnikov,
Kratkiy ocherk uchebnoy i uchenoy
deyatelnosti Kazanskoy duhovnoy akademii za 50 let ee
suschestvovaniya, 1842-1892 gg., Kazan, 1892.
Filippov 1915
- G. A. Filippov, Tatarsko-chuvashskie devichi horovodyi v
Tetyushskom i Tsivilskom uezdah Kazanskoy gubernii, in
Inorodcheskoe obozrenie, vol. 1, book 10, 1915, p. 753-760.
Gusterin 2014
- Pavel Vyacheslavovich Gusterin, Koran kak ob’ekt izucheniya,
Saarbruecken, 2014.
Ilminskiy 1887
- Nikilay Ivanovich Ilminskiy, Kazanskaya tsentralnaya krescheno-
tatarskaya shkola, Kazan, 1887.
Khabibullin 2009
- Mars Zabirovich Khabibullin, Vklad prepodavateley Kazanskoy
duhovnoy akademii v izuchenie istorii, yazyika i etnografii nerusskih
narodov Povolzhya i Priuralya v 1854-1881 gg., in Vestnik Ufa, 6
(44), 2009, p. 84-91.
Kharlampovich 1907
- Konstantin Vasilievich Kharlampovich, Kazanskaya
Duhovnaya akademiya (1842-1907). Istoricheskiy ocherk, in
Pravoslavnaya Bogoslovskaya Entsiklopediya, vol. VIII, Saint
Petersburg, 1907, p. 702-853.
Khurmatullina, Salpykova 2014
- Rezeda Kamilevna Khurmatullina, Indira Maratovna
Salpykova, Tatar Folklore in the Creative Work of Сomposer Rafael
Belyalov, in MEJSR, 19, 2014, 1, p. 29-41.
Malov
1892
- Yevfimiy Aleksandrovich Malov, Missionerstvo sredi
muhammedan i kreschenyih tatar: Sb. statey, Kazan, 1892.
NATR
- National Archive of Tatarstan Republic.
www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html / www.cimec.ro