Mykola Lysenko | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko |
Occupation(s) | Composer Pianist Conductor |
Instrument | piano |
Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko (Ukrainian: Микола Віталійович Лисенко, October 22 [O.S. October 3] 1842 – November 6 [O.S. October 24] 1912) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and folksong collector. He is referred to as the founder of national Ukrainian classical music.[1]
Biography
editEarly life
editMykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko was born on October 3, 1842 (Julian calendar) or October 22 (Gregorian calendar) in the Poltava oblast, then part of the Russian Empire, but in present day Ukraine. His family was very wealthy, with his father Vitaliy Lysenko, a colonel. Mykola's mother Olga, who spoke French almost fluently, made sure that he would only know French in his childhood and later he learned Ukrainian. Olga Lysenko also played the piano, and the parents noticed that Mykola would try to pick out melodies for hours on their grand piano, so they hired a piano teacher for him since he was five years old. Lysenko accelerated really fast in music. By nine years old (when he was in first grade) he wrote a polka that was published in Kiev.
Kharkiv
editIn 1855, Mykola Lysenko started attending the Second Kharkiv Gymnasium. During that time, he took piano lessons on the side. After a while, he became a well-known pianist in Kharkiv and was invited to play at various parties and balls where he played dances, pieces by Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and improvised on themes of Ukrainian folk songs. In the spring of 1859, Mykola graduated from the Gymnasium with a silver medal and later that year, he, together with his cousin Mykhailo Starytsky, joined the Natural Science faculty of the Kharkiv university.
Kiev
editIn 1960, Mykola's parents moved to Kiev, and the cousins switched to the Kiev University. Here Mykola's nationalism toward Ukraine's language and culture starting growing, according to his cousin Mykhailo Starytsky. He was even a pallbearer at Taras Shevchenko's funeral in 1861. While at the Universtiy, Lysenko started studying music of composers such as Glinka, Schumann, and Wagner. During vacations and holidays at the Universtiy, he started collecting and recording Ukrainian folk songs onto sheetmusic . On June 1, 1864, Mykola Lysenko finished the Physics-Mathematics Faculty of the Kiev University and in the May of 1845, he graduated with a degree of a Candidate of Natural Sciences. He then organized a few student choirs which he directed and performed with publicly.
Leipzig
editNot long after graduating from the Kiev University, Mykola Lysenko decided to get a degree in music. With his family, he picked the Leipzig Conservatory, which they considered one of the best in Europe. In September 1867, he entered into the University. During his studies in the Conservatory, Lysenko continued to work on Ukrainian folk songs. In 1868, he published his first collection of Ukrainian folk songs, with 40 songs for piano and voice. Mykola also joined and activist group in Ukraine at this time, and published a cycle of songs, with words from Taras Shevchenko's "Kobzar". In 1869, Mykola Lysenko finished the Conservatory successfully after having played Beethoven's fourth piano concerto. During his studies here in Leipzig, Lysenko also authored a portion of a future suite for piano, a symphonic overture on the theme of the Ukrainian folk song Oi zapyv kozak, zapyv, the first movement of his Youth symphony, and a quartet and a trio for strings.
Marriage and children
editIn the summer of 1868, Mykola Lysenko married Olga O'Konnor whom he brought back to Leipzig with him to continue his studies.
- Subject's Son (birthdate – death) If notable, provide a brief single-line description.
- Subject's Daughter (birthdate – death) If notable, provide a brief single-line description.
Return to Kiev
editFrom 1869 to 1874 Mykola Lysenko lived in Kyiv becoming familiar with the creative, pedagogic, and community activities there. He was a member of the Russian Music Society from 1872 to 1873 and participated in its concerts. In 1872 Lysenko took charge of a newly-created amatuer choir with 50 singers (?with the goal of gaining support from the choir movement in Ukraine/supporting the choir movement in Kyiv?).
In 1872, a group of Ukrainian activists, headed by Mykola Lysenko and Mykhailo Starytsky gained the right to publicly perform Ukrainian plays. That’s when Lysenko and Sarytsky wrote the operettas Chornomortsi and Rizdvyana Nich (which they later made into an opera). Chornomortsi, a folk operetta, entered the theatrical repertoire in the same year, while Rizdvyana Nich was finally performed in the Kiev Opera House in 1974 by amatuer actors. This marked the beginning of Ukrainian national music theatre.
In 1873, Mykola Lysenko published his first work on Ukrainian musical folklore entitled, Unique Musical Characteristics of the Ukrainian dumas and songs performed by kobzar Ostap Veresai. During this period, Mykola Vitalievych composed many works for the piano, as well as Kozak-Shumka, his symphonic fantasy on Ukrainian folk themes.
St. Petersburg
editWith the purpose of advancing his mastery in the sphere of symphonic instrumentation, in 1874 he enters the St. Petersburg conservatory into the course of world-renowned master Rimsky-Korsakov, which he finished in 1876. “…lessons with Rimsky-Korsakov greatened his musical erudition and opened before him new mysteries of compositions with many different sounds. The people for Petersburg even proposed to Lysenko the position of kapellmeister in a private opera with the perspective of a [later] transfer to the emperor’s stage …But a yearning for his homeland pulled him home”. (Mykhailo Starytsky. Recollections) During this period, Lysenko has friendlily communicates with the composers of the “Mighty Handful”, and takes part in concerts of the Geographic Society, directs choir courses, together with V.Paskhalov organizes “Solyanomu mistechku” concerts of choral music, where among the performed music, was Lysenko’s own as well. In the Petersburg period he wrote a sonata for piano, his first and second polonaises, first rhapsody on Ukrainian themes, and published “Molodoschi” (a collection maiden and child songs and dances). He worked also on the opera “Marusya Bohuslavka” (unfinished) and his second edition of the opera “Rizdvyana Nich”.
Expanded description
editIf an event that occurred in the life of the subject requires further explanation, elaborate.
Expanded description
editIf an event that occurred in the life of the subject requires further explanation, elaborate.
Death and afterward
edit[If applicable] Legacy If any, describe. See Charles Darwin for example.
Philosophical and/or political views
editIf any, describe.[2]
Notes
edit- ^ from Mykola Lysenko - International Mykola Lysenko Foundation
- ^ Last, first (date). Name of page. Page xx. Publisher: xxxx
Works
editIf any, list the works organized by date of publication. See Charles Darwin for example.
Published works
editLetters
editAwards
edit(If any)
See also
editList related internal (Wikipedia) articles in alphabetical order. Common nouns are listed first. Proper nouns follow.
References
edit- The World of Mykola Lysenko: Ethnic Identity, Music, and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Ukraine. Taras Filenko, Tamara Bulat. Ukraine Millennium Foundation (Canada). 2001. Hardcover. 434 pages. ISBN 966-530-045-8.
External links
edit- International Mykola Lysenko Foundation
- Ukrainian Millennium Foundation
- Article by Natalie Kononenko
- The Lysenko Choir
Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko (Ukrainian: Микола Віталійович Лисенко, October 22 [O.S. October 3] 1842 – November 6 [O.S. October 24] 1912) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and folksong collector.
He was born in Poltava Oblast. Since childhood he was very much impressed by the folksongs of Ukrainian peasants and the poetry of Taras Shevchenko. When Shevchenko died in 1861, Lysenko was a pallbearer. During his time at Kiev University, Lysenko dedicated himself to collecting and arranging Ukrainian folksongs, published in seven volumes. One of his principal sources was the minstrel Ostap Veresai (after whom Lysenko named his son later on).
Lysenko took orchestration lessons from Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov in the mid 1870s and took part in the activities of the Russian Musical Society, but his strong Ukrainian nationalism and disdain for Russian czarism kept him from achieving much success with that organization. He supported the 1905 revolution and was in jail briefly in 1907. In 1908, he was the head of the Ukrainian Club, an association of Ukrainian national public figures.
For his opera librettos Lysenko insisted on using Ukrainian language librettos. Tchaikovsky was impressed by Lysenko's Taras Bulba and wanted to perform the work in Moscow, but Lysenko's insistence on it being performed in Ukrainian, not Russian, prevented the performance from taking place.
In his later years, Lysenko easily raised funds to open the Ukrainian School of Music, and his death was mourned by all Ukrainians.
His music is little known outside Ukraine, and his piano works, considered derivative of Chopin, are not of as much interest to musicologists as his vocal music. Lysenko's daughter Maryana followed his footsteps as a pianist, while his son Ostap taught music in Kiev.
See also
editList related internal (Wikipedia) articles in alphabetical order. Common nouns are listed first. Proper nouns follow.
References
edit- The World of Mykola Lysenko: Ethnic Identity, Music, and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Ukraine. Taras Filenko, Tamara Bulat. Ukraine Millennium Foundation (Canada). 2001. Hardcover. 434 pages. ISBN 966-530-045-8.
External links
edit- International Mykola Lysenko Foundation
- Ukrainian Millennium Foundation
- Article by Natalie Kononenko
Lysenko, Mykola Lysenko, Mykola Lysenko, Mykola Lysenko, Mykola Lysenko, Mykola