N. Lysenko dedicated his diverse activities (composer, folklorist, performer, conductor, public figure) to serving national culture; he was the founder of the Ukrainian composer school. The life of the Ukrainian people, their original art was the soil that nurtured Lysenko’s talent. His childhood was spent in the Poltava region. The playing of traveling ensembles, the regimental orchestra, home musical evenings, and most of all - folk songs, dances, ritual games, in which the boy participated with great delight - “all that rich material was not in vain,” writes Lysenko in his autobiography, “ as if drop by drop of healing and living water sank into the young soul. The time has come for work, all that remains is to translate that material into notes, but it was no longer alien, perceived by the soul from childhood, mastered by the heart.”
In 1859, Lysenko entered the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Kharkov University, then Kyiv University, where he became close to radical students and plunged headlong into musical and educational work. His satirical opera-pamphlet “Andriaschiada” caused a public outcry in Kyiv. In 1867-69. Lysenko studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, and just as the young Glinka, while in Italy, realized himself to be a fully Russian composer, Lysenko in Leipzig finally strengthened his intention to devote his life to serving Ukrainian music. He completes and publishes 2 collections of Ukrainian folk songs and begins work on the grandiose (83 vocal compositions) cycle “Music for “Kobzar”” by T. G. Shevchenko. At all Ukrainian literature, friendship with M. Kotsyubinsky, L. Ukrainka, I. Franko were a strong artistic impulse for Lysenko. It is through Ukrainian poetry that the theme of social protest enters his work, which determined ideological content many of his works, starting with the choir “Zapovit” (at Shevchenko station) and ending with the anthem song “Eternal Revolutionary” (at Franko station), first performed in 1905, as well as the opera “Aeneid” (after I. Kotlyarevsky - 1910) - the worst satire on autocracy.
In 1874-76. Lysenko studied with N. Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, met with members of the " Mighty bunch", V. Stasov, devoted a lot of time and effort to work in the Music Department of the Salt Town (the site of industrial exhibitions, concerts were held there), where he directed an amateur choir for free. The experience of Russian composers, learned by Lysenko, turned out to be very fruitful. It made it possible to carry out an organic fusion of national and pan-European stylistic patterns at a new, higher professional level. “I will never refuse to study music from great examples of Russian art,” wrote Lysenko I. Franko in 1885. The composer did a great job of collecting, studying and promoting Ukrainian folklore, seeing in it an inexhaustible source of inspiration and skill. He created numerous treatments folk melodies(over 600), wrote several scientific works, among which the most significant is the abstract “Characteristics of the musical features of Little Russian thoughts and songs performed by the kobzar Veresai” (1873). However, Lysenko always opposed narrow ethnography and “Little Russianism.” He was equally interested in the folklore of other peoples. He recorded, processed, and performed not only Ukrainian, but also Polish, Serbian, Moravian, Czech, and Russian songs, and the choir he led had in its repertoire professional music of European and Russian composers from Palestrina to M. Mussorgsky and C. Saint-Saens. Lysenko was the first interpreter of the poetry of G. Heine and A. Mitskevich in Ukrainian music.
Lysenko's work is dominated by vocal genres: opera, choral works, songs, romances, although he is also the author of a symphony and a number of chamber and piano works. But precisely in vocal music national identity and author's individuality were revealed most clearly, and Lysenko's operas (10 in total, not counting youth ones) marked the birth of Ukrainian classical musical theater. Peaks operatic creativity became the lyrical and everyday comic opera “Natalka-Poltavka” (based on the play of the same name by I. Kotlyarevsky - 1889) and the folk musical drama “Taras Bulba” (based on the story by N. Gogol - 1890). Despite the active support of Russian musicians, especially P. Tchaikovsky, this opera was not staged during the composer’s lifetime, and listeners became acquainted with it only in 1924. Lysenko’s social activities were multifaceted. He was the first to organize amateur choirs in Ukraine and toured cities and villages with concerts. With the active participation of Lysenko, a music and drama school was opened in Kyiv in 1904 (since 1918, the music and drama institute named after him), in which the oldest Ukrainian composer L. Revutsky was educated. In 1905, Lysenko organized the Bayan society, and 2 years later - the Ukrainian club with musical evenings.
It was necessary to defend the right of Ukrainian professional art to national identity in difficult conditions, despite the chauvinistic policy of the tsarist government aimed at discriminating against national cultures. “There was no special Little Russian language, there is not and cannot be,” read a circular in 1863. Lysenko’s name was persecuted in the reactionary press, but the more active the attacks became, the more support the composer’s endeavors received from the Russian musical community. Lysenko's tireless selfless activity was highly appreciated by his compatriots. The 25th and 35th anniversaries of Lysenko’s creative and social activities turned into a big celebration national culture. “The people understood the greatness of his work” (M. Gorky).
O. Averyanova
An outstanding Ukrainian composer, folklorist, conductor, pianist and public figure. The name of Nikolai Lysenko is associated with the formation of professional music, theater and art education in Ukraine. Nikolai Vitalievich Lysenko was born on March 10 1842 in the village Grinki of the Kremenchug district in the Poltava region in a Cossack-landowner family. Nikolai's father, Vitaly Romanovich, was a Poltava nobleman and served in the army. Mikola Lisenko, breaking this long-standing tradition, laid the foundation for a new one - a generation of talented musicians. Nikolai's parents were wealthy people and nurtured their child very much. Little Nikolai Lysenko walked around dressed in velvet and lace, was a very capricious and headstrong guy and did not want to listen to anyone. From an early age he was taught Russian literacy, French, dancing and playing the piano, that is, they were raised like most of the noble children of that time.
And although Nikolai was not told anything about Ukraine, it surrounded him on all sides. Nikolai Lysenko also became acquainted with his native language and folk songs from his grandmother. At the age of 9, Nikolai was taken to Kyiv to the Geduin school. He studied very well, was one of the first, and did not give up music. After graduating from Geduen's school, which was equivalent to 3 years of a gymnasium, Nikolai Lysenko entered the 4th grade of a gymnasium in Kharkov. His musical studies lasted, and every year the young man played better and better. Under the guidance of teachers - the then famous pianist Dmitriev, later the Czech Kilchik, Mikola Lisenko plays works of great composers of different nations, learning from them musical taste.
After graduating from high school, Nikolai Lysenko entered Kharkov University, and a year later transferred to Kiev University. Young Lisenko became interested in Ukrainian national movement– began to study and record Ukrainian folk songs, including songs of the famous kobzar Ostap Veresai. At this time, Nikolai Lysenko felt himself not only a lover of the people, but also a sincere and forever faithful son of Ukraine, ready to give his whole life and work in the interests of his native people.
IN 1864 Mr. Mikola Lisenko graduated from the natural sciences department of the Kyiv University of St. Vladimir, and a year later received a diploma of a candidate of natural sciences. Stay in Kyiv, participation in the work of the “Kyiv Society had decisive influence on the young man's worldview.
IN 1867 Nikolai Lysenko goes to Leipzig to complete his musical education. Here in 1868 Mr. Mykola Lisenko compiles and publishes the first collection of folk songs he recorded and the first 10 songs that he himself created based on the words of Taras Shevchenko. Nikolai Lysenko ended the Leipzig Conservatory with a brilliant performance of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto with his own cadenza, which was respectfully written about in German magazines.
WITH 1869 Mr. Nikolai Lysenko lived in Kyiv. He becomes a teacher at a music school, giving private lessons. He is invited to many wealthy families, but he does not pursue such fame. Getting a good salary for teaching, everything free time gives to Ukrainian song: issues new collections of folk songs, composes his own songs. IN 1876 a decree was issued that prohibited the printing of books, works for the theater and musical works with in Ukrainian words. Even a simple folk song was forbidden to be sung in a concert if the words were Ukrainian. But Mikola Lisenko is compiling new collections of folk songs.
In the 90s of the XIX century. Nikolai Lysenko, having organized the choir, traveled with it to Ukraine more than once. I wanted to show Ukrainians all the richness and beauty of their native song and teach them how to sing this song. The then Ukrainian musical and cultural life Kyiv. Mykola Lisenko gave concerts as a pianist, organized choirs and gave concerts with them in Kyiv and throughout Ukraine. IN 1900 Mr. Nikolai Lysenko established his own school in Kyiv. To stage his works, he often visited Galicia, where he was well known and loved.
Mykola Lisenko created many songs based on texts by Ivan Frank, Mikhail Voronoi and Lesya Ukrainka. He is one of the founders of the Ukrainian professional theater, in particular the opera theater: he wrote 11 operas, created music for up to 10 dramatic performances. The composer never saw his main brainchild, the opera Taras Bulba, despite P. Tchaikovsky’s offer to facilitate its production on the Moscow stage. But his “Natalka Poltavka” is still extremely popular. The opera legacy of Mikoli Lisenko continues stage life and today in different editions.
The funeral of the father of Ukrainian music also became an open political demonstration by thousands of people. For the first time, Ukrainian youth came to the defense of the national shrine, surrounding the mournful march and preventing the police from making arrests. However, the highest award of Nikolai Lysenko is not just a tribute to the memory and honor of descendants, but the fact that it was he who was destined to become the author of two national anthems that affirm the spiritual greatness of man and people. The first of them is “The Eternal Revolutionary” (in 1905 g.) to a poem by I. Frank, the second - “Children’s Hymn” to a poem by O. Konisky (in 1885 g.), the now world-famous “Prayer for Ukraine”, which 1992 approved as the official anthem of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate).
Nikolai Vitalievich Lysenko was born in 1842 in the village of Grinki in the territory of modern Poltava region, died of a heart attack on November 6, 1912 in Kyiv. Great Ukrainian composer, conductor, pianist, teacher, active public figure and collector song folklore.
8 services of Nikolai Lysenko to the Ukrainian people.
1. - founder and at the same time legend and pinnacle of Ukrainian classical music, the same as for Ukrainian literature,
The name of Mykola Lysenko in the history of Ukrainian culture is closely connected with the era during which the formation of Ukrainian music took place, as professional looking activities of creative people. In most cases, Lysenko is perceived as a composer, but his contribution to the development of Ukrainian theater and cultural education is truly enormous. Among the main merits of the landmark for the whole creative person The following points can be mentioned:
As a composer, Lysenko is the founder of the national school of composition in, he is called the author of the national musical language;
At a time when the Ukrainian language was not even studied in schools, and patriotic movements were strictly prohibited by the imperial government, Lysenko devoted his life to the development of Ukrainian culture;
Lysenko used art as a weapon to fight for awakening national identity native people. He dedicated everything to achieving this goal. own life, his talent as a brilliant virtuoso pianist and choral conductor, an outstanding teacher and an uncompromising public figure.
2. The most virtuoso pianist in Ukraine of his time. The skill that Lysenko possessed amazed his contemporaries not only among his compatriots. Foreign critics gave the maestro's performance the highest rating. A clear proof of his high mastery of the keys is the complexity of the piano works written by the composer. Amazingly melodic, meticulously thought out works enjoy consistently high popularity not only on Ukrainian territory;
3. Nikolai Lysenko is the greatest teacher of Ukrainian classical music. In 1904, he opened the doors of his Music and Drama School in Kyiv. In addition to music education itself, this educational institution had departments of Ukrainian and Russian drama. Also in this school there was the first class of playing on the entire territory of the Russian Empire. folk instrument. At Lysenko's educational institution, teachers taught the basics of playing the bandura (the first graduation of students, despite difficulties in organization, took place in 1911).
The school opened by the composer then grew into the Music and Drama Institute, which was named after Lysenko. Over the period from 1918 to 1934, this educational institution was the leader among others, where the basic principles of creativity were taught. Graduates of the Music and Drama Institute became the founders of Ukrainian art and the authors of the main cultural achievements of the 20th century.
4. A "musical revolutionary" ahead of his time. Other luminaries of European music began to use it only 10-20 years after their appearance in Lysenko’s works.
Art critics argue that Nikolai Lysenko, as a virtuoso pianist, not only formed the foundations of professional musical performance with his creativity, but tried in every possible way to bring his own listeners “from the farm environment into the widest European world.” The “Ukrainian Suite” written by the master created a real sensation. Until this time, no composer had combined folk art and canonical dance forms.
The basis for this work is elements of folk art, Ukrainian folk songs. But after cutting by the jeweler-composer, every facet, every single musical intonation shone with a unique light. Then the musicians, evaluating the work, argued that the suite cannot be called an adaptation of folk art, since it is a full-fledged author's musical creation.
5. Lysenko glorified Ukrainian national music throughout the world. His works are still performed at opera houses and theater stages all over the world. Operas, symphonies, rhapsodies and other works of his remain relevant many years after the composer's life.
6. Lysenko - one of the first leaders of the “Ukrainian Club”, who defended Ukrainian independence (of course, within the framework of Tsarist Russia, the club’s program requirement was the autonomy of Ukraine) and democratization political life. He laid down his own life on the altar of the struggle for the revival of the Ukrainian national spirit and consciousness. One of his strongest desires was the unification of the nation with its subsequent struggle for the right to be oneself, speak freely in one’s native language and cherish one’s own traditions.
7. Lysenko made a huge contribution to the ethnographic heritage of Ukraine, having collected hundreds of samples of folk art (folk songs, rituals), which he actively used in his musical works. Working with choirs made it possible to collect data on folk art in different Ukrainian regions. In 1874, he published a book with an analysis of Cossack dumas from the repertoire of the famous bandura player Ostap Veresai.
8. Lysenko - one of the founders of the Ukrainian National Opera Theater in Kyiv. Significant event In the life of not only the composer, but also the entire Ukrainian art world, there was the joint work of Lysenko and his second cousin, playwright Mikhail Staritsky, on the operetta “The Night Before Christmas” based on the work of Gogol. For the first time this work was performed on the stage of the Kyiv City Theater by an amateur theater club 1874. This day is inscribed in the history of Ukrainian art as the date of birth of the opera theater in Ukraine.
The organizing committee that staged the operetta includes significant personalities for Ukraine - Mikhail Drahomanov, Pavel Chubinsky, Fyodor Vovk, Lindforsov and other persons. In Kyiv, which was under imperial rule, they openly declared their own clear pro-Ukrainian position.
The scenery created for the production replicated the interior of a Ukrainian rural hut. Before the eyes of the spectators, on one of the beams supporting the roof, the date of the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich by the tsarist troops was carved. It is equally important that the premiere itself took place exactly 200 years after the tragic event for Ukraine. After this production and until the end of his days, Nikolai Vitalievich was closely watched by the watchful eye of the Tsar’s policemen.
It is safe to say that one of the most convincing evidence of the recognition of Nikolai Vitalievich as a genius and hero is not only the memory of him in the hearts of grateful descendants, but also the performance of his works as national anthems.
Lysenko is the author of the music of 2 works, without which it is impossible to imagine the Ukrainian nation; these songs affirm the spiritual greatness of the individual and the entire people. The composer created music based on the words of the famous work"The Eternal Revolutionary" For quite a long time after it was written, this creation was absolutely groundlessly used for propaganda purposes by the Soviet government, although it actually glorifies the spiritual revolution and has nothing to do with the communist takeover.
Another famous creation of the composer is the music for the poem by Alexander Konisky “For Ukraine,” better known as the spiritual anthem of Ukraine “God, Great, One.” In 1992, this work officially received the status of the anthem of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. At the end of the 20th century, the song was perceived as the second national anthem of independent Ukraine.
Lysenko’s life path is not limited to just writing musical works. He paid great attention to the development of vocal art. It is Nikolai Vitalievich who is the founder of the professional creative education in Ukraine.
Lysenko’s creative path is often called a continuation of the feat of Taras Shevchenko. Since student years, one of the main directions of his activity was preserving Shevchenko’s cultural heritage for descendants. Lysenko dedicated a number of his works to the unforgettable Kobzar; some of the poet’s work, set to music by the composer, then took its rightful place in the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian nation.
It is known that he was directly involved in organizing the reburial of Taras Shevchenko; this fact received documentary confirmation only in the 21st century. But this is not the only trace of Lysenko’s participation in the fate of the most famous Ukrainian poet; Lysenko continued and developed the cultural and educational work that Shevchenko was engaged in during his life.
Paying tribute to the memory of Taras Shevchenko, Lysenko became the founder of a new concert form - a mixed concert. As part of these events, which were organized annually since 1862, the composer performed as a pianist and choral conductor. The concert program included not only his adaptations of folklore and his own works, but also the work of other authors dedicated to Shevchenko, poems by the great poet and fragments theatrical productions according to his works. After many years, such concerts can no longer surprise the viewer, but this form originates from the Shevchenkiade, which was organized by Lysenko.
The work of Nikolai Lysenko as an integral part of Ukrainian culture.
Researchers of the composer’s work state that he turned to Shevchenko’s works about 100 times. In Lysenko's works there is an interpretation of them both in the form of solo performance and in more monumental forms - vocal scenes or even cantatas, choirs with musical accompaniment or a cappella vocal ensembles. It is noteworthy that some works from “Music for the Kobzar” by Lysenko through short time after creation received eternal life, became folk songs.
Shevchenko's work became Alpha and Omega for the composer. Lysenko called the music for “Zapovit” written at the request of the Lvov association “Prosvita” his first work. Literally on the eve of the day of his death, the composer wrote the choir “God, with our ears we hear your glory” based on the text of Shevchenko’s 43 “Psalm of David.”
In addition to 3 cantatas and 18 choirs based on Shevchenko’s poems, the vocal and choral part of Lysenko’s creative heritage also includes 12 original choral works based on texts by Ukrainian poets. It should be noted that among the 12 choirs there are 2 works also dedicated to Shevchenko - “March of Pity” to the words of Lesya Ukrainka and the cantata “Before the 50s of the death of T. Shevchenko”, dedicated to the anniversary of the death of the brilliant poet.
Over the 70 years of his life, Lysenko wrote 11 operas; in addition, in collaboration with theater groups, the pioneers of Ukrainian theatrical art, he created musical scores for another 10 productions. The stories of the creation of the composer’s operas are very different, some of them, according to music critics, cannot be considered elements of Lysenko’s work. For example, “Andrisciada” is a combination of popular melodies from other classical operas, a kind of “cabbage”. Critics doubt that the composer created “Natalka-Poltavka”, since the handwritten score with Lysenko’s autograph has not been found.
Lysenko did not like to write works on spiritual themes. Music critics argue that the reason for the composer’s reluctance to create in this genre is explained by the desire to avoid the need to write music for words in Russian, which the composer did not do on principle. Despite the small number of works created by Lysenko in the spiritual genre, the works on the list are truly masterpieces. For example, a popular religious song is his choral concert “Where will I go before your face, Lord?”, which is performed not only in Ukraine, but also by members of the diaspora abroad.
In choral works and the work of a conductor, according to experts, Lysenko reached heights of mastery unprecedented for his time. Even after many decades of writing, his work “The Fog Lies with Hwils” (a fragment of the opera “Drowned”) is considered a pearl of choral creativity. The composer's students, Alexander Koshits, Kirill Stetsenko and Yakov Yatsinevich, also became famous choral conductors.
Lysenko never saw the opera Taras Bulba, which he created over the course of 35 years, staged, although Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky offered to use his connections and get the work staged on the Moscow stage. Mikhail Staritsky then assumed that the reason for the refusal was that the composer did not want to present his brainchild to the public in a non-native language.
It should be noted that Lysenko moved away from the classic Gogol plot in his opera. He presented the person of Taras primarily as a patriotic Cossack, strong and persistent. One of the main storylines The work revolves around the conflict between the sons of a Cossack, Ostap and Andrey, and the problem of their national self-identification.
The composer’s son recalled that Nikolai Vitalievich considered himself an impractical person, with a complete lack of administrative spirit. But this did not stop Lysenko from gathering around him the best teachers of his time in a school where mainly children of poor and middle-income people studied. There were no subsidies for training; sometimes the composer was forced to go into debt to pay teachers' salaries. After a fairly short time, the school brought together talented students from all over Ukraine who continued the maestro’s life’s work.
In the last years of his life, the composer headed the first legal Ukrainian socio-political organization, the Kiev Ukrainian Club. In 1906, he created the “Joint Committee for the Construction of the Monument to Taras Shevchenko,” which received charitable donations from Canada, and European countries. The last public event in Lysenko’s activities was the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Shevchenko’s death.
Due to oppression by the tsarist regime, the events were forced to move from Kyiv to Moscow. As a result, the police filed a case regarding the closure of the Kyiv Ukrainian club and “bringing the council of elders, headed by music teacher Nikolai Lysenko, to responsibility for anti-government activities.” 4 days after the initiation of a criminal case, the composer dies of a heart attack.
The main point of Lysenko’s musical and educational activities was that working with choirs made it possible to travel all over the country and gather people who were special in many respects into the choir. Beginning with the choir of Kyiv University students created by the composer in 1862, all his life he collected in choirs “not just basses or tenors, but primarily conscientious ones.”
In police reports, spies reported that Lysenko did not lead a choir, but “a circle that is most harmful politically.” It was precisely this absurd accusation that at one time caused the cessation of the activities of the Choral Association, founded by the composer in 1871-1872. But only in his own choir did he gather people in whom he saw potential for the subsequent revival of the Ukrainian nation.
Around national idea he actively united creative youth wherever there was an opportunity to do so. The place for such a gathering of patriotic intellectuals was the Kiev Literary and Artistic Association, created in 1895 as a kind of outpost Russian culture. Over time, the members of the association changed the original character at their own discretion, turning the organization into a center for promoting the Ukrainian idea and national culture, which was the reason for its closure in 1905.
WITH light hand Maestro also created the “Young Literature” circle, better known to the Ukrainian public as the “Pleiad of Young Ukrainian Writers.” From this “nest” Lesya Ukrainka, Lyudmila Staritskaya-Chernyakhovskaya, Maxim Slavinsky, Vladimir Samoilenko, Sergei Efremov and many other writers and public figures beginning of the 20th century.
The composer belongs to the famous Cossack elder family. His ancestor is known to history as an ally of Maxim Krivonos Vovgur Lis. The leader of the uprising received noble and property rights from Hetman Demyan Mnogohreshny. It was said about the composer’s ancestor that he, with a small detachment of Cossacks, could resist the raid of the Turkish horde, had the strength of a wolf and the cunning of a fox;
The future educator and musician grew up like an ordinary child of the nobility - surrounded by velvet and lace fabrics. He received his first music lessons from his mother, who had previously studied at the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens of St. Petersburg. From childhood, the boy studied 7 languages, primarily French;
The mother examined her son's talent early age At the age of 5, he was already learning to play the piano, and at the age of 9, little Nikolai’s father published his first composer’s work, a stylized polka;
After the abolition of serfdom, the composer’s parents went bankrupt; Lysenko earned money for his studies on his own, working as a peace mediator in court;
The musician has not accumulated much capital throughout his life. His work as a composer did not bring any profit; Lysenko made money by teaching, which, combined with social work, occupied all his time. The composer wrote mainly at night;
The future composer became acquainted with Shevchenko’s work at the age of 14. In the summer he and second cousin Mikhail Staritsky was visiting his grandfather, where the young people found a forbidden collection of Kobzar’s poems. The works they read made an indelible impression on the brothers. Art critics are sure that it was this event that helped Lysenko determine his own purpose in life;
The composer lived all his life in rented apartments. The funds raised by friends in 1903 to buy housing during the celebration of the 35th anniversary of his creative activity were spent on opening a school;
Historians call Lysenko’s funeral the first demonstration of Ukrainian self-awareness. People from all over Ukraine came to attend the burial ceremony. According to historical data, from 30 to 100 thousand people came to Kyiv for the maestro’s funeral. The current Shevchenko Boulevard was completely packed with people, even on the roofs and trees there were people sitting who wanted to say goodbye to the Ukrainian genius. After the funeral, the tsarist police massively destroyed the photo and video materials taken at the ceremony.
The descendants of Nikolai Lysenko are well known to Ukrainian society. Now the State Academic Variety Symphony Orchestra is led by the composer’s great-grandson, protodeacon and namesake of the famous ancestor, Nikolai Lysenko.
Biography of Nikolai Lysenko.
1855 - beginning of studies at a privileged educational institution - 2 gymnasiums in Kharkov, taking up playing the piano, gaining fame as a pianist. He graduated from high school in 1859 with a silver medal;
1864 - graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics "in the category of natural sciences", in 1865 - received a candidate's degree in natural science;
In 1867 he went to study at the Leipzig Conservatory. There he meets European traditions music pedagogy, which he then wanted to recreate in Kyiv;
October 1868 - publication of the first issue of arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs, adapted for voice with piano accompaniment;
1869-1874 - engaged in creativity, teaching and social activities in Kyiv;
1874-1876 - to improve his skills in symphonic instrumentation, he studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of Rimsky-Korsakov;
Upon returning to Kyiv, he is engaged in active concert activities, after the publication of the Ensky Decree, Ukrainian songs are performed by its choirs in foreign languages;
In 1878, he took up the position of piano teacher at the Institute of Noble Maidens. In 1880, a period of particularly high activity in creative activity began;
In 1905, Lysenko founded the Boyan choir, in 1908 he headed the Ukrainian Club, and did not stop active social activities even despite oppression from the tsarist regime;
In 1912 it became clear that many years of intense work rhythm had an understandable effect negative impact on the composer's health. 4 days after a criminal case was opened against him for “anti-government activities,” Lysenko dies of an unexpected heart attack.
Perpetuating the memory of Nikolai Lysenko.
Well-known art and educational institutions in Ukraine bear the name of Nikolai Lysenko - the National Academy of Music, the Academic opera house in, column hall of the National Philharmonic, specialized music school in Kyiv, State music school in Poltava;
A leading Ukrainian chamber group - a string quartet, streets in Kyiv and Lvov - is named in Lysenko's honor;
On December 29, 1965, a monument to the composer was unveiled near the National Opera of Ukraine on Theater Square;
There is also a monument to Lysenko in the village of Grinki;
In 1986, the historical and biographical “And in the sounds the memory will be heard...”, dedicated to pages from the composer’s life, was filmed at the Alexander Dovzhenko film studio;
In 1992, in honor of Lysenko’s 150th anniversary, Ukrposhta issued a stamp and envelope with his image;
In 2002, National released commemorative coin denomination of 2 hryvnia in honor of Lysenko. The reverse depicts a portrait of the composer, the obverse shows a fragment of the musical text “Prayer for Ukraine”;
The Lysenko Prize is awarded to Ukrainian musicians every year and is held periodically in the Ukrainian capital. International competition named after the great maestro;
At the address Saksagansky 95 in Kyiv, where the composer lived in 1898-1912, the Nikolai Lysenko House-Museum was created.
As can be seen from the photo, in November 2015, search engine users were interested in the query “Mikola Lisenko” 24 times.
And according to this, you can trace how the interest of Yandex users in the request “Mikola Lisenko” has changed over the past two years:
The highest interest for this request was recorded in September 2014 (6120 requests);
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Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, collector of folklore songs and public figure.
Nikolai Lysenko came from the old Cossack elder family of Lysenko. Nikolai's father Vitaly Romanovich, was a colonel of the Order Cuirassier Regiment. Mother, Olga Eremeevna, came from a Poltava landowner family Lutsenko. Nicholas was homeschooled by his mother and a famous poet A. A. Fet. The mother taught her son French, refined manners and dancing, Afanasy Fet - Russian. At the age of five, noticing the boy’s musical talent, they invited a music teacher for him. From early childhood Nikolai was interested in poetry Taras Shevchenko and Ukrainian folk songs, the love for which was instilled in him by his great-uncle and grandmother - Nikolai And Maria Bulyubashi. After finishing his home education, to prepare for the gymnasium, Nikolai moved to Kyiv, where he studied first at the Weil boarding school, then at the Geduin boarding school.
In 1855, Nikolai was sent to the second Kharkov gymnasium, from which he graduated with a silver medal in the spring of 1859. While studying at the gymnasium, Lysenko studied music privately, gradually becoming a famous pianist in Kharkov. He was invited to evenings and balls, where Nikolai performed plays Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, played dances and improvised on themes of Ukrainian folk melodies. After graduating from high school, Nikolai Vitalievich entered the natural science faculty of Kharkov University. However, a year later his parents moved to Kyiv, and Nikolai Vitalievich transferred to the Department of Natural Sciences of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kyiv University. Having graduated from the university on June 1, 1864, Nikolai Vitalievich received the degree of Candidate of Natural Sciences in May 1865.
After graduating from Kyiv University and short service, N.V. Lysenko decides to get a higher education music education. In September 1867, he entered the Leipzig Conservatory, considered one of the best in Europe. His piano teachers were K. Reinecke, I. Moscheles And E. Wenzel, by composition - E. F. Richter, according to theory - Paperitz. It was there that Nikolai Vitalievich realized that it was more important to collect, develop and create Ukrainian music than to copy Western classics.
In the summer of 1868 N. Lysenko married Olga Alexandrovna O'Connor, who was his second cousin and was 8 years younger. However, after 12 years life together Nikolai and Olga, without officially filing a divorce, separated due to the lack of children.
Having completed his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory with great success in 1869, Nikolai Vitalievich returned to Kyiv, where he lived, with a short break (from 1874 to 1876, Lysenko improved his skills in the field of symphonic instrumentation at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov), just over forty years, engaged in creative, teaching and social activities. He took part in the organization of a Sunday school for peasant children, later in the preparation of the “Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language”, in the census of the population of Kyiv, in the work of the South-Western branch of the Russian Geographical Society.
In 1878, Nikolai Lysenko took the position of piano teacher at the Institute of Noble Maidens. In the same year he entered into a civil marriage with Olga Antonovna Lipskaya, who was a pianist and his student. The composer met her during concerts in Chernigov. From this marriage N. Lysenko had five children. Olga Lipskaya died in 1900 after giving birth to a child.
In the 1890s, in addition to teaching at the institute and private lessons, N. Lysenko worked in music schools S. Blumenfeld And N. Tutkovsky.
In the fall of 1904, the Music and Drama School (since 1913 - named after N.V. Lysenko), organized by Nikolai Vitalievich, began operating in Kyiv. It was the first Ukrainian educational institution that provided higher musical education according to the conservatory program. To organize the school, N. Lysenko used funds raised by his friends during the celebration of the composer’s 35th anniversary in 1903 to publish his works and purchase dachas for him and the children. Nikolai Vitalievich taught piano at school. Both the school and N. Lysenko as its director were under constant police surveillance. In February 1907, Nikolai Vitalievich was arrested, but was released the next morning.
From 1908 to 1912, N. Lysenko was the chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Club society. This society carried out large public educational activities: organized literary and musical evenings, organized courses for folk teachers. In 1911, Lysenko headed the committees created by this society to promote the construction of the monument to T. Shevchenko for the 50th anniversary of the poet’s death.
Nikolai Lysenko died on November 6, 1912, suddenly from a heart attack. Thousands of people came from all regions of Ukraine to say goodbye to the composer. Lysenko's funeral was held in Vladimir Cathedral. The choir that walked ahead of the funeral procession numbered 1,200 people; its singing could be heard even in the center of Kyiv. N.V. Lysenko was buried in Kyiv at the Baikovo cemetery.
Creation
While studying at Kiev University, trying to acquire as much musical knowledge as possible, Nikolai Lysenko studied opera A. Dargomyzhsky, Glinka, A. Serova, got acquainted with music Wagner And Schumann. It was from this time that he began collecting and harmonizing Ukrainian folk songs, for example, he recorded a wedding ceremony (with text and music) in Pereyaslavsky district. In addition, N. Lysenko was the organizer and leader of student choirs, with which he performed publicly.
While studying at the Leipzig Conservatory in October 1868, N. V. Lysenko published “A Collection of Ukrainian Songs for Voice and Piano” - the first release of his arrangements of forty Ukrainian folk songs, which, in addition to practical purposes, have great scientific and ethnographic value. In the same 1868, he wrote his first significant work - “Zapovit” (“Testament”) to the words of T. Shevchenko, on the anniversary of the poet’s death. This work opened the “Music for the Kobzar” cycle, which included more than 80 vocal and instrumental works of various genres, published in seven series, the last of which was published in 1901.
N.V. Lysenko was at the center of the musical and national-cultural life of Kyiv. Being a member of the directorate of the Russian Musical Society in 1872-1873, he took an active part in its concerts held throughout Ukraine; led a choir of 50 singers, organized in 1872 at the Philharmonic Society of Lovers of Music and Singing; took part in the “Circle of Music and Singing Lovers”, “Circle of Music Lovers” Y. Spiglazova. In 1872, a circle led by N. Lysenko and M. Staritsky, obtained permission for public performances of plays in Ukrainian. In the same year, Lysenko wrote the operettas “Chernomorets” and “Christmas Night” (later transformed into an opera), which firmly entered the theatrical repertoire, becoming the basis of the Ukrainian national opera art. In 1873, N. Lysenko’s first musicological work on Ukrainian was published musical folklore“Characteristics of the musical features of Little Russian thoughts and songs performed by kobzar Ostap Veresay.” During the same period, Nikolai Vitalievich wrote many piano works, as well as a symphonic fantasy on Ukrainian folk themes “Cossack-Shumka”.
During the St. Petersburg period, N. Lysenko took part in concerts of the Russian Geographical Society and directed choral courses. Together with V. N. Paskhalov Nikolai Vitalievich organized concerts choral music in the “Salt Town”, the program of which included Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Serbian songs and works by Lysenko himself. He develops friendly relations with the composers of the “Mighty Handful”. In St. Petersburg he wrote the first rhapsody on Ukrainian themes, the first and second concert polonaises, and a piano sonata. There, Lysenko began work on the opera “Marusya Boguslavka” (unfinished) and made the second edition of the opera “Christmas Night”. His collection of girls’ and children’s songs and dances “Molodoshi” (“Young Years”) was published in St. Petersburg.
Returning to Kyiv in 1876, Nikolai Lysenko began active performing activities. He organized annual “Slavic concerts”, performed as a pianist in concerts of the Kyiv branch of the Russian Musical Society, at the evenings of the Literary and Artistic Society, of which he was a board member, and in monthly folk concerts in the People’s Auditorium. Organized annual Shevchenko concerts. From seminarians and students familiar with musical notation, Nikolai Vitalievich re-organizes choirs in which they received the beginnings of artistic education K. Stetsenko, P. Demutsky, L. Revutsky, O. Lysenko and others. The money collected from the concerts went to public needs, for example, in favor of 183 students of Kyiv University who were drafted into the army for participating in the anti-government demonstration of 1901. At this time, he wrote almost all of his large piano works, including the second rhapsody, third polonaise, and nocturne in C sharp minor. In 1880, N. Lysenko began work on his most significant work - the opera “Taras Bulba” based on the story of the same name N. Gogol to a libretto by M. Staritsky, which will be completed only ten years later. In the 80s, Lysenko wrote such works as “The Drowned Woman” - a lyric-fantastic opera based on “May Night” by N. Gogol with a libretto by M. Staritsky; “Rejoice, unwatered field” - cantata to poems by T. Shevchenko; third edition of “Christmas Night” (1883). In 1889, Nikolai Vitalievich improved and orchestrated the music for the operetta “Natalka Poltavka” based on the work I. Kotlyarevsky, in 1894 he wrote music for the extravaganza “The Magic Dream” based on the text by M. Staritsky, and in 1896 the opera “Sappho”.
Among N. Lysenko's authorial achievements, it is also necessary to note the creation of a new genre - children's opera. From 1888 to 1893 he wrote three children's operas based on folk tales on the libretto of the Dnieper-Chaika: “Koza-Dereza”, “Pan Kotsky (Kotsky)”, “Winter and Spring, or Snow Queen" “Koza-Dereza” became a kind of gift from Nikolai Lysenko to his children.
From 1892 to 1902, Nikolai Lysenko four times organized touring concerts throughout Ukraine, the so-called “choral travels,” in which mainly his own choral works were performed based on Shevchenko’s texts and arrangements of Ukrainian songs. In 1892, Lysenko’s art historical research “On the torban and the music of Vidort’s songs” was published, and in 1894, “Folk musical instruments in Ukraine.”
In 1905, N. Lysenko, together with A. Koshits organized the Boyan choral society, with which he organized choral concerts of Ukrainian, Slavic and Western European music. The conductors of the concerts were himself and A. Koshits. However, due to unfavorable political conditions and lack of material resources, the society disintegrated, having existed for little more than a year. At the beginning of the 20th century, Lysenko wrote music for the dramatic performances “The Last Night” (1903) and “Hetman Doroshenko”. In 1905 he wrote the work “Hey, for our native land" In 1908, the chorus “The Silent Evening” was written to the words of V. Samoilenko, in 1912 - the opera “Nocturne”, lyrical romances based on the texts were created Lesya Ukrainka, Dnieper Chaika, A. Olesya.
In the last years of his life, Nikolai Vitalievich wrote a number of works in the field of sacred music, continuing what he had founded back in late XIX century “Cherubim” cycle: “The Most Pure Virgin, Mother of the Russian Land” (1909), “I will go from Thy presence, O Lord” (1909), “The Virgin is giving birth to the Most Essential One today,” “By the Tree of the Cross”; in 1910, “David’s Psalm” was written based on the text by T. Shevchenko.
Memory
* Streets in Kyiv and Lvov, Lvov National Academy of Music, Kharkov State Academy of Music bear the name of N.V. Lysenko academic theater opera and ballet (since 1944) and the Poltava Music School.
* In 1962, the string quartet of the Kyiv State Philharmonic was named after N.V. Lysenko. In the same year it was founded music competition named after Nikolai Lysenko, which had national status until 1992, and since 1992 it has become international.
* December 29, 1965 near National Opera Ukraine, a monument to N.V. Lysenko was unveiled on Teatralnaya Square. Sculptor A. A. Kovalev, architect V. G. Gnezdilov.
* The monument was erected in the composer’s homeland, in the village of Grinki.
* In 1986 at the film studio named after A. Dovzhenko director T. Levchuk a historical and biographical film “And in the sounds the memory will respond...” was shot, showing pages from the life of Nikolai Vitalievich Lysenko. The role of the composer in the film was played by F. N. Strigun.
* A memorial museum has been opened in the Kyiv apartment of N.V. Lysenko at 95 Saksaganskogo Street.
* In 1992, the Ukrainian Post issued a postage stamp dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of N.V. Lysenko.
* In 2002, on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a commemorative coin with a face value of 2 hryvnia. The obverse of the coin depicts a musical excerpt from the composition “Prayer for Ukraine” (1885), and the reverse shows a portrait of N. Lysenko.
Major works
Operas
* “Christmas Night” (1872, 2nd edition 1874, 3rd edition 1883)
* "The Drowned Woman" (1885)
* “Natalka Poltavka” (1889)
* “Taras Bulba” (1890)
* "Sappho" (1896)
* "Aeneid" (1911)
* "Nocturne" (1912)
Children's operas
* “Goat-Dereza” (1888)
* “Pan Kotsky” (1891)
* “Winter and Spring, or the Snow Queen” (1892)
Operettas
* “Chernomortsy” (1872)
Works based on words by T. Shevchenko
* cycle “Music for the Kobzar” (1868-1901), including more than 80 different vocal genres from songs to detailed musical and dramatic scenes.
Musicological works
* “Characteristics of the musical features of Little Russian thoughts and songs performed by kobzar Ostap Veresay” (1873)
* “On the torban and the music of Vidort’s songs” (1892)
* “Folk musical instruments in Ukraine” (1894)