Mykola Lysenko | |
|---|---|
Микола Лисенко | |
 Mykola Lysenko,c. 1900 | |
| Born | (1842-03-22)22 March 1842 |
| Died | 6 November 1912(1912-11-06) (aged 70) |
| Occupations |
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| Relatives | Mykhailo Starytsky (cousin) Mariia Starytska (niece) Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska (niece) Oksana Steshenko (niece) Veronika Chernyakhivska (great-niece) |
Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko (Ukrainian:Микола Віталійович Лисенко; 22 March 1842 – 6 November 1912)[n 1] was aUkrainian composer,pianist, conductor andethnomusicologist of the lateRomantic period.[1] In his time he was the central figure ofUkrainian music, with anoeuvre that includes operas,art songs, choral works, orchestral and chamber pieces, and a wide variety of solo piano music. He is often credited with founding anational music tradition during theUkrainian national revival, in the vein of contemporaries such asGrieg in Norway,The Five in Russia as well asSmetana andDvořák in what is now the Czech Republic.[2]
By studying and drawing fromUkrainian folk music, promoting the use of theUkrainian language, and separating himself from Russian culture, his compositions form what many consider the quintessential essence of Ukrainian music.[3] This is demonstrated best in his epic operaTaras Bulba from thenovella of the same name byNikolai Gogol, in which the grandeur, complexity and Ukrainian-language libretto prevented its staging during Lysenko's lifetime.[4]
To promote and cultivate Ukrainian culture, Lysenko set works by many Ukrainian poets to music, especiallyTaras Shevchenko, to whom he was particularly devoted.[n 2] His musical setting of a patriotic poem byOleksandr Konysky, known as the "Prayer for Ukraine", has become Ukraine's spiritual anthem. Lysenko had a profound influence on laterUkrainian composers, includingStanyslav Lyudkevych,Alexander Koshetz,Kyrylo Stetsenko,Yakiv Stepovy, and most importantly,Mykola Leontovych.
He is the namesake of theMykola Lysenko International Music Competition and theLysenko music school, which is now theKyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University. Despite his immense renown in Ukraine, Lysenko remains relatively unknown outside of his home country.
Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko (transliterated in Russian as Nikolay Vitalyevich Lysenko), was born inHrynky, nearKremenchugsky Uyezd of thePoltava Governorate (nowKremenchuk,Poltava Oblast, Ukraine) on 22 March 1842.[1] His hometown was a small village near theDnieper river, and between the major cities ofKyiv andYekaterinoslav.[6] At the time, Ukraine was split between theRussian Empire andAustro-Hungarian Empire.[7] TheLysenko family was wealthy and educated;[7] they were an oldaristocratic family stemming back toCossacks of the 17th-century.[6] Among their descendants were thecolonelIvan Lysenko [uk] (d. 1699) who had commanded theChernihiv Regiment and fought in both theChyhyrin Campaigns andAzov campaigns; Ivan Lysenko's son,Fedir Lysenko [uk] (d. 1751) had served as ayesaul andgeneral judge [uk].[8] Mykola Lysenko's father wasVitaliy Romanovych Lysenko [uk], the great grandson of Fedir and a colonel himself.[9] The composer had two younger siblings, a sister,Sofiya Vitaliivna Staryts'ka [uk] and a brother,Andriy Vitaliyovych Lysenko [uk].[10]
Lysenko studied music at an early age, first receiving piano instruction from his mother.[1] At the age of nine, he was brought to Kyiv to continue musical study inboarding schools.[1][6][11] He studied piano underAlois Panocini [uk] andmusic theory.[1] His early compositions from this time survive, including a Polka (c. 1851) and Nocturne (1859–1860) for piano, as well as a piece forstring orchestra,Moldavskaya, Russian Pizzicato (1859–1860).[12] In 1860, Lysenko attended theGymnasium ofKharkiv, and studiednatural sciences at thecity's university, and later at theKyiv University.[1] At the latter he continued his music studies withDmitriyev, Wilczyk and Wolner,[1] and graduated in 1865 with a degree in the natural sciences.[13] Lysenko then completed two years ofcivil service inTarashcha county as apeace mediator [uk;ru] for disputes involving formerserfs and their land-ownership claims.[13][5] He pursued further music studies at theLeipzig Conservatory, Germany, from 1867 to 1869, where his primary teachers includedCarl Reinecke for piano as well asErnst Richter for composition and theory.[14]
From his youth, Lysenko had developed an intense enthusiasm for Ukrainian music and culture, particularly from the influence of his grandparents,[13] and his enjoyment of peasant songs.[1] In the early 1860s he began to collect and publishUkrainian folk songs, often with the minstrelOstap Veresai's help.[15] He would later publish seven volumes of arrangements and transcriptions of these between 1868 and 1911.[15] The philosophersVissarion Belinsky,Nikolay Chernyshevsky andAlexander Herzen influenced him.[1]
His early works included musical settings of Ukrainian poets, particularlyTaras Shevchenko, an important figure of early Ukrainian literature, whose text he set in the choral workZapovit ('The Testament').[16] Two other factors were important to his nationalistic fervor: close relationships with his cousin,Mykhailo Starytsky, the historianVolodymyr Antonovych and the scholar Tadei Rylsky; and also his association with thehromada in Kyiv, the'Old Society' [uk].[13] Lysenko concluded that music was the best way he could express his patriotism, and aimed to create an independent school of Ukrainian music, rather than duplicate existing styles ofWestern classical music.[5] In 1869 Lysenko returned to Kyiv, and in the words of music historianRichard Taruskin, "he returned home a committed musical nationalist".[14]
On his return to Kyiv he continued to arrange and study Ukrainian folk melodies.[5] He split his time between numerous activities: giving piano lessons, working at theRussian Musical Society (RMS) chapter in Kyiv, and composing.[17] During this period Lysenko wrote his first operaChernomortsy (the 'Black Sea Sailors') between 1872 and 1873.[17] Also during these years he wrote an orchestralfantasia, entitledUkraïns′kyy kazak-shumka (Ukrainian Cossack Song) and a chamber piece for flute, violin and piano, the Fantasy on Ukrainian Themes.[12] Lysenko went toSaint Petersburg from 1874 to 1876 to studyorchestration withNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.[1] Besides Rimsky-Korsakov, he met with other members ofThe Five, particularlyModest Mussorgsky, who was working on an opera set in Ukraine,The Fair at Sorochyntsi.[17] During this short stay in Saint Petersburg Lysenko conducted a choir[1] and wrote many piano compositions, writing more than 10 works in a variety of genres.[12]
Lysenko led another choir when he returned to Kyiv 1876.[15] Many of the choristers under Lysenko's instruction would become composers, includingLevko Revutsky, Porfyrii Demutsky,Kyrylo Stetsenko and his sonOstap Lysenko [uk].[18] Other acitives included organizing concerts for Veresai and giving music lessons, often at theKyiv Institute for Daughters of the Nobility [ru;uk].[17][13]
By the late 1870s, Lysenko was recognized as a leading figure in Ukrainian music.[15] As a Ukrainian composer living in a Russian-controlled state he endured continued difficulties from the government.[19] His relationship with the RMS gradually deteriorated, until he was completely ignored.[15] Unlike his Russian colleagues, Lysenko received no state support, and sometimes active resistance from Russian officials.[19] He was repeatedly monitored by the government and often attacked in the local press,[20] because his activities in support of Ukrainian culture made him suspicious to the political officials[15] – in particular his frequent meetings with other Ukrainian patriots, and later, his support of the1905 revolution and heading of theUkrainian Club.[15][11] He was jailed for his stance on the revolution in 1907.[15]
TheEms Ukaz decree of 1876 that banned use of the Ukrainian language in print was one of the obstacles for Lysenko; he had to publish some of his scores abroad, while performances of his music had to be authorized by the imperial censor.[21] For hisoperalibretti Lysenko insisted on using only Ukrainian. He was so intent on promoting and elevating the Ukrainian culture that he didn't allow his operaTaras Bulba to be translated – he maintained that it was too ambitious to be staged in Ukrainian opera houses.Tchaikovsky was impressed by the opera and wanted to stage the work inMoscow. Lysenko's insistence on it being performed in Ukrainian, not Russian, prevented the performance from taking place in Moscow.[4]
In his later years, Lysenko raised funds to open a Ukrainian School of Music, known as theLysenko music school. Lysenko's daughter Mariana followed in her father's footsteps as a pianist, and his son Ostap also taught music in Kyiv.
A composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist,[22] Lysenko was the central figure of Ukrainian music in his time.[23] He was a prolific composer, writing many piano pieces, over a hundred art songs, operas, as well as orchestral, chamber and choral music.[24]
Lysenko wrote a number of operatic works, including the classical Ukrainian operaNatalka Poltavka,Utoplena (The Drowned Maiden, afterGogol'sMay Night) andTaras Bulba,Nocturne, and two operas for children—Koza-dereza andMr. Kotsky.[12]
Of his Ukrainian colleagues, Lysenko was the composer most committed toart songs (Ukrainian:lirychni pisni).[25] His works in this genre number 133, and "relate a wonderfully descriptive and passionate story of 19th- and early 20th-century European life".[25] These songs are usuallythrough-composed and attentive to the details of the text.[26] His approach blends characteristics from traditional Ukrainian music and Western classical music.[26] From the former are the frequent use ofornamentation, unusualmeters, and folk melody-like affects, while from classical music there is aRomantic use of intensechromaticism and rapid shifts betweentonal centers, typical of20th-century classical music.[26] His songs cover a wide variety of topics, described by the musicologist Dagmara Turchyn as an "astoundingly wide [range]—passionate dramatic monologues and meditative elegies, profound philosophical statements and colourful folk scenes, lyrical serenades and ecstatic love songs, a melancholy waltz and a heroic duma, an extensive romantic ballad and a tone poem".[26]
Lysenko set music to many poets, particularly the Ukrainianmodernists,[27] which he found the best way to express his patriotic and political beliefs.[15] These includedIvan Franko,Yevhen Hrebinka,Oleksandr Oles,Stepan Rudanskyi [uk], Shchegolev, Staryts′ky andLesya Ukrainka, but also others such asHeinrich Heine,Adam Mickiewicz andSemyon Nadson.[12] He was particularly devoted to Taras Shevchenko, and set 82 texts from the poet'sKobzar collection.[28] In Ukraine, comparisons are often drawn between Lysenko and Shevchenko, both of whom form what many Ukrainians consider the essence of their culture and identity.[29]
Aside from art songs, Lysenko's vocal work includes three cantatas for choir and orchestra, all toTaras Shevchenko's texts:Raduisia nyvo nepolytaia (Rejoice, Unwatered Field),Biut’ porohy (The Rapids Roar),Na vichnu pamiat’ Kotliarevs’komu (To the Eternal Memory of Kotliarevsky).[30] He also arranged approximately 500 folk songs for voice and piano, choir and piano, or choir a cappella.[31] He wrote two works for anniversaries of Shevchenko's death, a Funeral March (1888) on words by Ukrainka for the 27th, and a Cantata (1911) for the 50th.[12]
His 1885 choral setting of a patriotic poem byOleksandr Konysky, originally intended for a children's choir, became known internationally as "Prayer for Ukraine", a spiritual hymn for the country.
Lysenko's larger works for piano include theUkrainian Suite in Form of Ancient Dances, two rhapsodies (the second,Dumka-shumka is one of his most-known works),Heroic scherzo and Sonata in A minor. He also wrote dozens of smaller works such as nocturnes, polonaises, songs without words, and program pieces. Some of his piano works show the influence ofFrédéric Chopin's style.
Lysenko's chamber music includes a string quartet, a trio for two violins and viola, and a number of works for violin and piano.
Lysenko made the first musical-ethnographic studies of the blindkobzar Ostap Veresai which he published in 1873 and 1874; they are still exemplary. Lysenko continued to research and transcribe the repertoire of other kobzars from other regions such asOpanas Slastion fromPoltava andPavlo Bratytsia fromChernihiv. He also made a thorough study of other Ukrainian folk instruments such as thetorban. His collection of essays about Ukrainianfolk instruments makes him the founder of Ukrainianorganology and one of the first organologists in the Russian Empire.
Source:[32]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The influence of his music and nationalistic style was immense for subsequentUkrainian composers. Composers such asStanyslav Lyudkevych,Alexander Koshetz,Kyrylo Stetsenko,Yakiv Stepovy, and mostly importantly,Mykola Leontovych, have acknowledged his influence.[22] Despite his high renown in Ukraine, Lysenko is not particularly well known outside of the country.[26]
From 1950 to 1959, Lysenko's complete works were published in Kyiv in 22 volumes.[22]
A group of Ukrainian composers and musicians, includingYelizaveta Chavdar [uk;ru], Ariadna Lysenko (the composer's granddaughter), Yevhen Rzhanov,Andriy Shtoharenko,Myroslav Skoryk andYevhen Stankovych founded theMykola Lysenko International Music Competition in 1962 in honor of Lysenko.[33] Lysenko's home in Kyiv where he resided from 1894 to 1912 was converted into theMykola Lysenko House-Museum in 1987, one the city's many museums for important cultural figures.[34]
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