Internet as a means of preserving the great composer’ s legacy

The National Opera of Ukraine hosted a soiree on March 29 commemorating the 160th anniversary of the birth of Mykola Lysenko, founder of Ukrainian classical music, composer, pianist, professor, conductor, cultural and public figure.

In fact, the festivities ought to have taken place a week earlier on March 22 when the celebrated composer had been born, but we have to thank the Ukrainian State Center of Cultural Initiatives that finally managed to organize it as a tribute to the composer’s memory that made Ukraine famous. The organizers explained that the delay was due to the Kyiv Opera cast and orchestra being on a concert tour in Germany, and returning only a few days prior to the event. The concert program showed that time has no power over creations in the Ukrainian classical treasure-trove, and that Mykola Lysenko’s talent was indeed versatile and outstanding. The soiree consisted of three parts: symphony and operatic music, chamber pieces, folk vocal arrangements, popular arias and duets performed by soloists Mariya Stefiuk, Roman Maiboroda, Lidiya Zabiliasta, Ivan Ponomarenko, Iryna Dates, the Pyramid brothers, Mykola Shopsha, and the opera’s choir and symphony orchestra. Volodymyr Kozhukhar, Ivan Hamkalo, and the composer’s great grandson Mykola Lysenko took turns at the conductor’s stand. The concert also starred the Khreshchatyk chamber choir from Lviv, conservatory professor Etela Chupryk, and ended with Lysenko’s famous God, Great and Only.

“We are richer than the Chinese considered to have been at the cradle of the operatic art. They have one opera and we have three: Lysenko’s Taras Bulba, Natalka Poltavka, and Hulak-Artemovsky’s A Cossack Beyond the Danube,” says conductor Volodymyr Kozhukhar. “What made the maestro stand out among contemporaries were his brilliant compositions that have remained on the Ukrainian repertoire. Every country, every nation has its original operas. For example, The Sold Fiancee in what was Czechoslovakia, The Free Shooter in Germany, Ivan Susanin and Ruslan and Liudmila in Russia. While Natalka Poltavka can be described as a musical drama, Taras Bulba is an epic one, to which prominent masters dedicated their creative efforts: Levko Revutsky, who developed the concept, and Borys Liatoshynsky, who orchestrated it. The result was brilliant, a grand opera that would embellish any stage in the world. Taras Bulba embodies all the best one can find in Ukrainian music. This opera is the touchstone of professionalism and those passing muster stand out among colleagues. This repertoire expands vocal range and flexibility, and the rendition requires the utmost emotional penetration inherent in folk Ukrainian songs. It is likewise a serious test for the musicians, because the score is very complex.”

Mykola Lysenko’s creative heritage is vast. He was among the first musical interpreters of Shevchenko’s Kobzar, author of over ninety vocal pieces, ranging from songs to romances to ensembles to cantatas. City streets, ships, and a Kyiv music school for gifted children (built with his financial help and still very much alive) have been named for him. The Lysenko music contest has been regularly held since 1962. There are the Lysenko Prize, memorial museum, numerous papers and monographs dedicated to his heritage, and numerous monuments, yet we remember him only on certain dates.

Mykola Lysenko, the Younger, his great grandson, has dedicated his life to popularizing and reserving the composer’s legacy. He is a professional musician and is the second conductor of Viktor Zdorenko’s variety- symphony orchestra; he sings with the choir of a Kyiv monastery, and is vice president of the Lysenko Foundation. In his words, officials at various levels assure they are willing to help, but in actuality the last time the composer’s complete collection of works was published in 1956. His great grandfather was the author of over twenty operas and we usually remember his name only when hearing Taras Bulba and Natalka Poltavka. Much of what he created has to be collected by bits and pieces, but there are irreparable losses. Lysenko’s home at the village of Zhovneve, where he lived before moving to Kyiv, is now at the bottom of the Kremenchuk Reservoir. The family estate in Hrynky, a village in what is Poltava oblast, was plundered and destroyed by local peasants during the revolution; what little was left is stored at a museum organized in a church. “It’s outrageous and the problem must be solved by all means,” the younger Lysenko points out bitterly. “He was a believer and I think he won’t forgive us this paradox. My cherished dream is to restore the family estate. I thought I’d lease the land, restore the music school (it used to have an almost professional brass band), and have the church exposition transferred to the house-museum. The trouble is, the local authorities won’t cooperate.”

His mother, Olha Lysenko, is a candidate of science in art studies, pianist, docent at the National Music Academy of Ukraine, and president of the Mykola Lysenko International Benevolent Research and Cultural Family Foundation. She stresses, “The main task of our organization is to uphold Mykola Lysenko’s creative heritage and that of his followers. We must raise the popularity of Ukrainian classic music in the world arena. We must bring the composer closer to the current reality, so he is perceived not as a canonical figure but as human being, albeit an extremely gifted one. His music, rooted in folk sources, remains captivating to modern audiences; his every melody is like a prayer without words. He was not a happy man, he couldn’t divorce his legitimate wife because he would be denied his teaching post. He had a common law wife, Olha, whom he loved with all his heart. She died in childbirth in 1900, leaving five children. It was a great tragedy, but he adored his children and gave them all an excellent education, although the family budget remained low. By the way, he dedicated his ‘Prayer for Ukraine’ to these children. He composed at night, and I’m sure he would have created more, given proper living and work conditions. I think that Ukraine’s music heritage should be preserved on a par with the state program to preserve historical and cultural monuments.”

The Internet is shortly to feature www.lysenko.org with the composer’s letters, spiritual compositions, and stories by contemporaries. The new website will carry every new story and item about Mykola Lysenko and his legacy.