Kostiantyn Dankevych

Kostiantin Fedorovych Dankevych (; December 26, 1905 – February 26, 1984) was an eminent Ukrainian composer and musical teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1954).
Biography.
Kostiantyn Dankevych was born in Odessa, in the Russian Empire (in present-day Ukraine). He studied at the Odessa Conservatory with Zolotarev and Nikolai Vilinsky and graduated in 1929. His friendship and collaboration with Vilinsky lasted many years. He was made the director of Songs and Dance of the Red Army Choir in Tbilisi. Konstantin wrote his first symphony in 1937. Two years later he wrote his most popular score, the ballet "Lileya".
Dankevych taught composition at the Odessa Conservatory starting from 1944. In 1953, he was promoted to the staff of the Kiev Conservatory. Dankevich used many Ukrainian and Russian Folk motifs. One of his notable works was his opera "Bogdan Khmelnitsky" (premiered January 29, 1951). Following its June premiere in Moscow, "Pravda" issued some vague and insignificant criticisms of the work, namely that it had not sufficiently portrayed the Polish gentry as enemies, that it did not depict the suffering of the masses, and it lacked a battle scene. The Ukrainian authorities took this criticism much further, attacking the libretto for “insufficiently glorifying the historical Russian-Ukraine friendship.” After after several rounds of revisions, the opera was staged on September 27, 1953 to rave reviews, and was similarly well received when performed again in Moscow in May 1954.
When teaching he often wore two pairs of socks due to his superstitions.
In 1960, he wrote the opera "Nazar Stodolya". Other works include "Poem of Ukraine", several overtures and patriotic courses. In 1959, a monograph was published on him in Kiev.
Kostiantyn Dankevych died on February 26, 1984 in Kiev, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (in present-day Ukraine).