Did you know that Ivan the Terrible was also a… composer?
He went down in history not only as a ruler, but also as a writer and a theologian. In Alexandrova Sloboda, which served as the capital of the Oprichnina for over 15 years, he established a sort of court conservatory or chapel, where the finest singers and composers of the time performed.
In 1551, Ivan participated in the Moscow Council, which, among other things, standardized church chant.
Incidentally, he himself participated in the divine services daily – not as a tsar, but as a singer and parishioner. He also wrote stichera, devotional hymns sung during morning and evening services. They begin with the text of a psalm and glorify a particular church holiday or individual.
Two sticheras written by Ivan the Terrible have survived to this day. The first is in honor of the ‘Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the savior of Old Russia from the Tatar invasion. The second is dedicated to Saint Peter of Moscow, the city's first patron saint. It was he who moved the metropolitan see here from Kiev in the year 1325 and prophesied that Moscow would one day become the center of the Russian lands.
The tsar himself wrote the music and lyrics for the stichera. In the four-volume collection ‘Oko Dyachye’ (‘The Deacon's Eye’), which compiles hymns for all the calendar holidays of the year, his compositions are signed as follows: "The work of Tsar Ivan, Despot of Russia."
