SOUNDS AND VIEWS: International aspects of Ukrainian music (01/24/93)

SOUNDS AND VIEWS

by Roman Sawycky

International aspects of Ukrainian music

Ukraine has always been close to Western influences, so much so that the city of Lviv in western Ukraine has even been named "Little Vienna." For example, the modern five-line staff music notation was introduced from the West first into Ukraine and only then into Russia. The art of complex choral polyphony, i.e. part-singing, assimilated from the West by Ukraine, was only then made available to Russia. And Ukrainian composer and theorist Mykola Dyletsky's (1630-1690?) treatise "Musical Grammar" in its many editions, became a sourcebook on polyphony influencing the entire Eastern Europe.

Composer and conductor Dmytro Bortniansky (1751-1825), trained in Italy, was an unsurpassed master of vocal polyphony. The French master Hector Berlioz was influenced by an unforgettable impression from liturgical music by Bortniansky.

Berlioz heard this music performed in St. Petersburg in 1847 and was so profoundly impressed, he wrote an article about it in the journal Debats issued October 19, 1850. Berlioz was of the opinion that "Bortniansky's works testify about his rare experience and ability in grouping and arranging of vocal masses, a wonderful understanding of nuance..." Berlioz wrote that what is "most astonishing is the unbelievable freedom in arranging the voices..."

Likewise, both Schumann and Liszt, "expressed the greatest enthusiasm, especially for the Ukrainian basses..." (see Grove's Dictionary... fifth edition, 1955, in the entry "Russian Imperial Chapel," p. 337), when they heard the Imperial Court Cappella at St. Petersburg - a famous choir composed mostly of Ukrainian singers and until 1825 conducted by Bortniansky).

Following the increased fame of Ukrainian music and musicians, such masters as Haydn, Beethoven, Hummel, Franz Xavier Mozart (son of Amadeus), Weber, Chopin, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Bartok, even Loeffler, Gershwin and a host of others turned to Ukrainian melodies and/or subjects for inspirations.

In a letter to Liszt, written near Geneva, on July 12, 1856, Wagner mentions Liszt's heroic symphonic poem "Mazeppa." Wagner wrote: "Your 'Mazeppa' is terribly beautiful. When I read your score for the first time, I was short of breath..."

In the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries much was happening in Ukrainian music. The New Encyclopedia Britannica in 30 Volumes (vol. 18, p. 839, 1977 edition) wrote as follows:

"The development of national composers has been intrinsic to the growth of Ukrainian culture. The founder of the national school in Ukrainian music, namely Mykola Lysenko (1842-1912), created such outstanding and popular operas as 'Utoplena' (Drowned Woman) and 'Taras Bulba' (after Gogol; praised by Tchaikovsky). Semen Hulak-Artemovsky (1813-1873) is noted for the comic opera 'Zaporozhian Cossack beyond the Danube.' The choral compositions of Boris Liatoshynsky (1895-1968), his and Lev Revutsky's (1889-1977) symphonies, the ballets of Vadym Homoliaka (b. 1914), the operas of Yuli Meytus (b. 1903), and the operettas of Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky (b. 1918) are gaining international repute. Drama, opera and ballet are performed (in Ukraine) at more than 60 professional theaters. The Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra enjoys great popularity, as do the Dumka and Trembita choirs, the Ukrainian State Folk Chorus, and other performing ensembles."

Much value can be attributed to the international successes (1919-1926) of the Ukrainian National Chorus under the direction of Alexander Koshetz (1875-1944) who followed Lysenko's ideals (see also Roman Sawycky's "Mykola Lysenko in Western Sources," 1992). Choral compositions programmed by Koshetz elicited significant interest in the musical circles of Western Europe and the Americas.

Instrumental, especially orchestral music, began to take on more importance and in 1920 became the dominant form of writing by most Ukrainian composers. But free development of this art in Ukraine was hindered by the Soviet-Russian occupation.

In spite of proclamations that full-bodied Ukrainian music was possible only under Russian "protection," history continues to surprise us with examples to the contrary. To be sure, there have been several instances when de facto Ukrainian educators trained young Russians, who were later to become superstars in the firmament of world music.

For example, Rachmaninoff's biographer, Oscar von Riesemann, related in 1934 that Rachmaninoff's first teacher at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire was not Russian, but was Ukrainian, namely, composer-educator Alexander Rubets (1837-1913). According to the New Grove Dictionary... (1980 edition, entry on Akimenko), Ukrainian composer and educator Fedir Akimenko (Yakymenko) (1876-1945), who was to become famous in the West, especially in France, was the first teacher of composition for Igor Stravinsky.

And, composer and pianist Vladimir Pukhalsky (1848-1933), who composed the first Ukrainian concerto for modern piano (and orchestra), taught such luminaries as Horowitz, Brailowsky and Kogan. We also note here that superstars Oistrakh, Milstein and others were taught by none other than Petro Stoliarsky (1871-1944) who, working at the Odessa Conservatory, founded one of the most important violin schools in the USSR.

Not to be outdone, the music of western Ukraine had developed to some extent under influences of the West. Many Ukrainians, such as Vasyl Barvinsky (1888-1963), Stanyslav Liudkevych (1879-1979), Nestor Nyzhankivsky (1893-1940) and Roman Sawycky (1907-1960), received their education in Western capitals.

Barvinsky, trained in Prague under V. Novak, published his piano music in Vienna's prestigious printing house Universal Edition. This music was rated as "excellent" by German musicologists Robert Teichmuller and Kurt Herrmann (see their handbook "Internationale Moderne Klaviermusik," Leipzig, Zurich, 1927).

One should not forget to mention noted Ukrainian-Austrian musicologist, composer and conductor Eusebius Mandyczewski (1857-1929). He was a professor at the Vienna Academy of Music and the Vienna Conservatory, and among his students were Karl Bohm, George Szell and Carl Prohazka. He was the first to devise a catalogue of Haydn's symphonies. This musicologist was researcher, editor and publisher of the collected works of J.S. Bach, Haydn, Schubert and Brahms (who was his close friend). Mandyczewski received many honors throughout his career.

Moving on to the United States, one should note it was here that Mykola Leontovych's (1877-1921) "Carol of the Bells" received its numerous vocal and instrumental transmutations, including orchestral versions conducted by Eugene Ormandy and Leonard Bernstein among others. (I have logged about 50 Ukrainian and American recordings of this item.) This Epiphany carol (or New Year's carol), originally titled "Shchedryk" was remade into English in 1936 by conductor-educator Peter Wilhousky, one-time assistant to Toscanini.

Musicologist and composer Wasyl Wytwycky (b. 1905) wrote of developments back in Ukraine: "the ideological pressure eased somewhat in the 1960s. The relaxation allowed for a whole group of young composers to use the newest means of musical expression. The members of this group, who went by the name Kyyiv Avant-Garde, were Leonid Hrabovsky (b. 1935), Valentyn Silvestrov (b. 1937), Vitaliy Hodziatsky (b. 1936),Vladimir Zahortsev (b. 1944), and Vladimir Huba (b. 1938). The appearance of this group created much interest abroad, especially in the United States, although in Kyyiv their achievements did not reach beyond a narrow circle of listeners.

"The composers Myroslav Skoryk (b. 1938), Lesia Dychko (b. 1939), and, among the younger generation, Eugene Stankovych (b.1942), Ivan Karabyts (b. 1945) and others have created original syntheses of the traditional with the modern.

"A small number of Ukrainian composers have worked outside Ukraine, although financial constraints have usually rendered it impossible to develop a full career from the writing of Ukrainian scores. The most notable of these figures have worked in Canada and the United States; they include Mykhailo Haivoronsky (1892-1949), Roman Prydatkevych (1895-1980), Alexander Koshetz (1875-1944), Paul Pecheniha-Ouglitzky (1892-1948) before the second world war and Antin Rudnytsky (1902-1975), Volodymyr Hrudyn (1893-1980), Mykola Fomenko (1894-1961), George Fiala (b. 1923) and Ihor Sonevytsky (b. 1926) after it.

"A number of Ukrainians within the general realm of the North American musical world, most notably Liubomyr Melnyk (b. 1948), Wasyl Sydorenko (b. 1960) and especially composer and conductor Virko Baley (b. 1938) have many works to their credit."

Maestro Baley, founder and director of the Las Vegas Chamber Players, also conducts the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra. He and impresario Irene Stecura of New York have introduced numerous contemporary musicians of Ukraine, both composers and performers, to the West - most notably to the United States.

One of the most important recent developments in the realm of Ukrainian music is the International Ukrainian Music Festival, mounted annually in the Ukrainian capital. With the renewal of Ukrainian Statehood in 1991, we may now truly hope the sun will never set on Ukrainian music and its creators.

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