On August 12, a lecture dedicated to the anniversary of the well-known composer, pianist, and public activist Mykola Lysenko was held in the reading room of the Scientific and Technical Library, Lviv Polytechnic National University. The Ukrainian classical music composer devoted himself to music for more than half a century. He wrote more than a thousand original works. Among the most famous works of the great Ukrainian there are music pieces to the famous «Prayer for Ukraine», «Eternal Revolutionary», to the operas «Christmas Night», «Drowned», «Natalka Poltavka», «Taras Bulba», and «Aeneid». During his lifetime, Mykola Lysenko earned the title of «father of Ukrainian music».
In her lecture, Roksolana Havaliuk, the teacher of theoretical disciplines at Lviv Stanislaw Liudkevych State Music College, spoke about the celebration of Lysenko’s 100th anniversary under occupation.
«I am very grateful that so many people visited Polytechnic today to learn about Mykola Lysenko and mark his anniversary. Actually, Mykola Lysenko’s 100-year anniversary was quite extreme. The event took place in Lviv during the German occupation in 1942. This period is special in the history of the city and the whole of Galicia, because at that time the occupiers believed that Lviv was a recovered Austrian territory. But, despite everything, the shootings and deportations to forced labour in Germany continued. A very important institution of those times, which helped to organize Ukrainian cultural activity, was the Institute of People’s Creativity at the UCC, which was headed by Father Severyn Saprun – an extremely talented person, an expert in his field. There were various artistic circles at the Institute of People’s Creativity: a fine arts studio, an ethnography and folklore study, a drama theater, choreography courses, and a music study. The Institute also provided tacit support to the intelligentsia. It was the committee of the Institute of People’s Creativity and its director Severyn Saprun who organized the choir competition in Galicia in honour of Mykola Lysenko’s 100th anniversary», said the musicologist.
The Institute of People’s Creativity developed and coordinated a whole network of areas in which artistic, publishing, cultural, educational, scientific, and museum activities were carried out in 1942. And the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Mykola Lysenko became a unique event for occupied Lviv.
«The organization of Lysenko’s grand jubilee at that time is a real model for us. Ukrainian society widely and solemnly celebrated this event. Public and musical professionals, including Kost Pankivskyi, Severyn Saprun, Lonhyn Tsehelsky, Vasyl Barvinskyi, Stanislav Liudkevych, Zynovii Lysko, Mykola Kolessa, and the conductor of the opera Leontiy Turkevych, joined the celebrations and popularization of the work of Ukrainian classical music composer», added Roksolana Havaliuk.
Mykola Lysenko managed to bring the Ukrainian song to the world musical culture. So, let’s nurture the beauty of this priceless treasure.
