Biographical information: Bohdan Wesolowsky (1915-1971)

Born May 30, 1915, in Vienna, Bohdan Wesolowsky was a popular composer of Ukrainian tangos, foxtrots, waltzes and rumbas starting in the 1930s until his death in 1971.

After the first world war his family moved back to Stryi in western Ukraine, where he spent the formative part of his life. In 1933 Wesolowsky moved to Lviv, where he studied law and received a master of law degree from the Lviv University. During this period he also studied at the Mykola Lysenko Conservatory in Lviv, where his teachers were Stanislav Liudkevych, Mykola Kolessa and Vasyl Barvinsky - all pre-eminent Ukrainian composers.

Wesolowsky was close friends with Lviv composer Anatol Kos-Anatolsky, with whom he played in the popular jazz orchestra of Leonid Yablonsky.

Having completed his studies in 1938, Wesolowsky left Lviv for the Zakarpattia region of western Ukraine. The beginning of the war and political unrest in Ukraine forced Wesolowsky to flee Ukraine to settle once again in Vienna. He continued his studies in Vienna and earned a diploma from the Consular Academy, and later a doctor of science degree in economics from the University of Vienna.

Wesolowsky was only 22 years old when he wrote his first hit, "Pryide Sche Chas" (The Time Will Come), in Lviv. His music enjoyed such popularity that people began recognizing him on the city's streets. His songs were heard on the radio, at concerts, at student dances and at the movies.

In 1945, Wesolowsky joined the U.S. armed forces in Austria and worked with the Counter Intelligence Corps of the U.S. Army as chief of the border control and as special investigator. By this time he had married Olena Zalizniak, originally from Zavadiv, western Ukraine. They had two children, Yuri and Ostap. In 1949 they immigrated to Canada and lived for a short while in Sudbury, Ontario, where, as a member of the Kiwanis Club, Wesolowsky took an active part in organizing music festivals.

In 1952 Wesolowsky was offered a position as the first announcer-producer of the newly formed Ukrainian section of Radio Canada International. He worked at Radio Canada International until his death on December 17, 1971. His remains were moved to the family cemetery in Stryi.

Throughout his life in Montreal, Wseolowsky was a prominent and leading figure in the thriving Ukrainian immigrant community. He also organized orchestras and concerts in which he himself performed as an accordion player, pianist and singer. He was considered to be an accomplished pianist.

Throughout his life, Wesolowsky wrote and published songs and himself oversaw the production of recordings of his music on 78 rpm LPs during the 1950s and '60s. Singers from Canada and the United States, such as Antin Derbish, Myroslava Verbytska, Tamara Kosach and Andrij Dobriansky, were featured in his songs. His recordings were extremely popular throughout Canada, the United States and in Europe. No other recordings have been made of Wesolowsky's songs since that period.

Wesolowsky left behind well over 100 songs. Today his archives can be found in museums in Kyiv and Stryi. Three volumes of his music were published in Lviv (Oleksander Zelynsky, editor). These three compilations contain all the known works of the composer's music, including songs as well as instrumental pieces.

Wesolowsky's first compositional style, which began back in Lviv in the 1930s, was based on the standard of the popular Western lighter musical genre. This style was strongly influenced by the Austrian waltz and tango. The tango, the foxtrot and the light waltz were Wesolowsky's forte. The lyrics he chose for most of his songs are based on the theme of love in all its forms. Other songs are of a patriotic nature and express a longing for his homeland, Ukraine.

Wesolowsky sometimes wrote his own lyrics but for the most part he used the lyrics, of poets from Ukraine. His position at Radio Canada enabled him to keep abreast of the latest developments in culture and the arts from Ukraine. His favorite poet was Volodymyr Sosiura (1898-1965). Well over a dozen of his songs are set to Sosiura's poetry.

Like many immigrants of that generation, Wesolowsky was a true Ukrainian patriot. Even though he lived most of his life in Canada, he always promoted Ukrainian culture and causes through the composition of his melodious music and through his work at Radio Canada International.

- Taras Kulish, based on materials by Orysia Antonovych, Chicago, and Oleksander Zelinsky, Lviv

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 6, 2005, No. 45, Vol. LXXIII

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