The 1910s
With World War I in full swing, Ukraine lay at the epicentre of the armed conflict. Ukrainians were fighting on both sides — in the armies of the russian empire and Austria-Hungary — while aspiring to establish a state of their own that would safeguard their national interests. In 1914, Ukrainians established the Supreme Ukrainian Council in Lviv as their only unified representative body. The Council would later initiate the idea of forming a Ukrainian national military unit within the Austro-Hungarian army — the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (USR), initially comprising 2,500 Ukrainians.
By 1917, as the struggle for independence had spread to the Naddniprianshchyna (a historical region of Ukraine centred around the Dnipro River valley), the Sich Riflemenformed one of the Ukrainian People’s Republic’s most capable armies. Its soldiers were educated and creatively gifted individuals who composed numerous songs dedicated to the Ukrainian national liberation struggle of the early 20th century; such songs were reminiscent of the older Cossack ones. Straight away, they would become folk songs as their various interpretations were spreading abound. The songs mostly featured patriotic motifs and resonated with longing for family and home.
Levko Lepkyi (1888–1971), sub-standard-bearer (pidkhorunzhyi) of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, painter, poet, and author of riflemen’s songs
Some of the Riflemen’s songs’ most renowned authors were USR sergeant major, artist, and composer Levko Lepkyi (he and his brother Bohdan Lepkyi co-authored ‘Chuiesh, brate mii’ [‘Do You Hear, My Brother’]); composer and conductor Mykhailo Haivoronskyi (‘Hei, tam na hori Sich ide’ [‘Hey, There on the Mountain Sich is Marching’]); poet and prose writer Roman Kupchynskyi (‘Oi tam pry dolyni’ [‘Oh, There in theValley’]). The Sich Riflemen’s anthem and now world-famous song ‘Oi u luzi chervona kalyna’ [‘Oh,the Red Viburnum in the Meadow’] was written by poet, theatre and music critic and director Stepan Charnetskyi.
During these turbulent years of worldwide warfare and dramatic upheaval, Ukrainians were defending their right to independence.
1917 saw the proclamation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, which was committed to firmly establishing Ukraine on the world map. No matter what body was in charge in our country — the Central Rada, Hetmanate (during the brief rise of the Ukrainian State after the 1918 coup), or the Directorate that restored the UPR — its leadership always did its best to uplift the national culture. In August 1918, Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi promoted the establishment of the first professional artistic ensemble known as the Kobzar Choir1, led by bandurist2 Vasyl Yemets. Then, in January 1919, Chairman of the UPR Directorate Symon Petliura ordered the creation of the Ukrainian Republican Capella to promote the idea of independent Ukraine and popularise Ukrainian musical culture abroad.
The Ukrainian Republican Chapel in Basel with the head of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission to Switzerland, Mykola Vasylko
One of the most influential composers of the 1910s was Mykola Lysenko, whose legacy sparked an interest in re-arranging folk songs. An outstanding generation of young Ukrainian composers, followers of Lysenko, began exploring new ways to adapt folk songs and create choral pieces on their basis. These composers aimed to reveal and expand upon the intrinsic qualities of folk music. Arrangements became composers’ personal adaptations of folk tunes. Hence, our musical heritage grew richer with diverse compositions set to the verses of Ukrainian poets such as Taras Shevchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, Ivan Franko, and Oleksandr Oles, as well as children’s operas based on librettos of Ukrainian fairy tales and operas with historical and folk themes.
Ukrainian song arrangements reached their pinnacle with the works of Mykola Leontovych, whose unique composition ‘Shchedryk’, now known everywhere as ‘Carol of the Bells’ owing to worldwide tours of the Ukrainian Republican Capella, stands as a true emblem and jewel of Ukraine’s musical diplomacy.
1. Kobzar is a traditional Ukrainian bard, often blind, who performed epic ballads (dumy) and folk songs, accompanying themselves on the bandura or kobza. They played a key role in preserving Ukrainian culture and history through oral tradition.
2. Bandurist is a person who plays a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument known as the bandura.
Kyiv, 6-A Pyrohova St
