ALBANY — Sheldon Silver, who faces federal corruption charges, is being replaced as speaker of the New York State Assembly next week, Democratic lawmakers said on Tuesday, paving the way for them to choose a new leader in an election to be held Feb. 10.

A Rochester-area assemblyman, Joseph D. Morelle, who is the majority leader and a top contender to succeed Mr. Silver, will become interim speaker on Monday, officials said.

Mr. Silver’s swift downfall ends an era in the capital, overturning its hierarchy just as a new legislative session gets underway and setting off what is likely to be a scramble to select his successor. It came after he mounted a last-ditch effort to keep the leadership position he had held since 1994, a tenure spanning five governors.

Mr. Silver, 70, who was first elected to represent Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the Assembly in 1976, is not resigning from his legislative seat.