Which piece is Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych most famous for?
1627866#32
Mykola Leontovych specialised in a cappella choral music. He is remembered today mostly through the musical works he left behind, which include over 150 choral compositions. These range from artistic arrangements of folk songs, religious works (including his liturgy), cantatas, and choral compositions set to the words of various Ukrainian poets. His two most famous works are the choral miniatures "Schedryk" and "Dudaryk".
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#0
Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych (; sometimes spelt Leontovich; 23 January 1921) was a Ukrainian composer, choral conductor, and teacher of international renown. His music was inspired by Mykola Lysenko and the Ukrainian National Music School. Leontovych specialised in a cappella choral music, ranging from original compositions, to church music, to elaborate arrangements of folk music.
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#35
Mykola Leontovych's Shchedryk is his most well-known piece. In its English version as a Christmas carol, it is known as the holiday favourite "Carol of the Bells". It is famous for its four-note ostinato motif and has been arranged over 150 times since 2004. The original Ukrainian text of Shchedryk used hemiola, a shifting of accents within each measure between 6/8 and 3/4, which is lost in the English versions. The most popular English adaptation was composed in 1936 by Peter J Wilhousky who was influenced by the culture of his Eastern European parents and the traditional Christian story of carols ringing out at the birth of Jesus, although other English adaptations of the song were also made in 1947 by M. L. Holman, 1957, and 1972.
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#15
Leontovych's move to Tulchyn marked the beginning of a period of compositional maturity and major artistic achievements in the life of the composer. In Tulchyn, Leontovych taught vocal and instrumental music at the Tulchyn Eparchy Women's College to the daughters of village priests. There, he met composer Kyrylo Stetsenko who was a student of Mykola Lysenko and also specialised in choral music. Stetsenko lived in a nearby village at the time where he was working as a priest, and their acquaintance developed into a lasting friendship that influenced Leontovych's music. Stetsenko was the first critic of Leontovych's music, saying, "Leontovych is a famous music expert from Podolia. He recorded many folk songs... These songs are harmonised for mixed choir. These harmonisations have revealed the author to be a great expert of both choral singing and theoretical studies". Leontovych also transitioned to more renowned music during his choir performances, such as Russian composers Mikhail Glinka, Alexey Verstovsky, and Peter Tchaikovsky in addition to Ukrainian composers Mykola Lysenko, Kyrylo Stetsenko, and Petro Nishchynskyi.
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#17
This period in his career was among the most productive, as he created numerous choral arrangements. These included his famous "Shchedryk", as well as "Піють півні" ("The Roosters are Singing"), ' ("A Mother had One Daughter"), ' ("Little Dudka Player"), "" ("Oh, the Star has Risen"), amongst others. In 1914, Stetsenko convinced Leontovych to have his music performed by the student choir of the Kyiv University under the leadership of Alexander Koshetz. On 26 December 1916, the performance of his arrangement of "Shchedryk" brought Leontovych great success from the public in Kyiv and raised the interest of intellectuals.
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#42
The successful debut of "Shchedryk" earnt Leontovych popularity among specialists and fans of choral music in Kiev. Leontovych's mentor-turned-coworker at the Kiev Conservatory, Boleslav Yavorsky, also positively evaluated his newly written works. During another concert, Leontovych's "Lehenda", set to a poem by Mykola Voronyi, gained great popularity.
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#34
One of the largest influences in Mykola Leontovych's music is that of Mykola Lysenko, who is considered "the father of Ukrainian classical music". Leontovych admired Lysenko's music ever since he was a student at the Kamianets-Podilskyi Theological Seminary, when he had the seminary's choir perform the composer's music. Since then, he would perform Lysenko's music in concerts wherever he worked.
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#3
Mykola Leontovych was born on in the Monastyrok community, near the village of Selevyntsi, in the Podolia province of Ukraine (then a part of the Russian Empire). His father, grandfather, and great grandfather were village priests. His father, Dmytro Feofanovych Leontovych, was skilled at singing and playing cello, double bass, harmonium, violin, and guitar, in addition to directing a school choir. Leontovych received his first musical lessons from him. His mother, Mariya Yosypivna Leontovych, was also a singer.
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#18
During the October Revolution and the establishment of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918, Leontovych relocated without his family to Ukraine's capital Kyiv, where he was active as both a conductor and composer. Several of his pieces gained popularity among professional and amateurs groups alike, who added them to their repertoire. In the beginning of 1919, the rest of his family also relocated to Kyiv. During this period, Leontovych also began teaching choir conducting alongside Hryhoriy Veryovka at the Kyiv Conservatory, and also taught at the Mykola Lysenko Institute of Music and Drama. Leontovych was one of the organisers of the first Ukrainian State Orchestra. He participated in the founding of the Ukrainian Republic Capella of which he was the commissioner.
Mykola Leontovych
1627866#1
Leontovych was born and raised in the Podolia province of the Russian Empire (now in Ukraine). He was educated as a priest in the Kamianets-Podilskyi Theological Seminary and later furthered his musical education at the Saint Petersburg Court Capella and private lessons with Boleslav Yavorsky. With the independence of the Ukrainian state in the 1917 revolution, Leontovych moved to Kyiv where he worked at the Kyiv Conservatory and the Mykola Lysenko Institute of Music and Drama. He is recognised for composing "Shchedryk" in 1904 (which premiered in 1916), known to the English-speaking world as "Carol of the Bells" or "Ring, Christmas Bells". He is known as a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian Church, where he is also remembered for his liturgy, the first liturgy composed in the vernacular, specifically in the modern Ukrainian language. He was assassinated by a Soviet agent in 1921.
Mykola Leontovych