Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Which piece is Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych most famous for?
Mykola Leontovych's Shchedryk is his most well-known piece. In its English version as a Christmas carol, it is known as the holiday favourite Carol of the Bells.[1][2][4][16] It is famous for its four-note ostinato motif and has been arranged over 150 times since 2004.[1] The original Ukrainian text of Shchedryk used hemiola, a shifting of accents within each measure between 6/8 and 3/4, which is lost in the English versions. The most popular English adaptation was composed in 1936 by Peter J Wilhousky who was influenced by the culture of his Eastern European parents and the traditional Christian story of carols ringing out at the birth of Jesus, although other English adaptations of the song were also made in 1947 by M. L. Holman, 1957, and 1972.[20]
Leontovych's move to Tulchyn marked the beginning of a period of compositional maturity and major artistic achievements in the life of the composer.[4] In Tulchyn, Leontovych taught vocal and instrumental music at the Tulchyn Eparchy Women's College to the daughters of village priests.[8] There, he met composer Kyrylo Stetsenko who was a student of Mykola Lysenko and also specialised in choral music. Stetsenko lived in a nearby village at the time where he was working as a priest, and their acquaintance developed into a lasting friendship that influenced Leontovych's music.[4] Stetsenko was the first critic of Leontovych's music, saying, "Leontovych is a famous music expert from Podolia. He recorded many folk songs... These songs are harmonised for mixed choir. These harmonisations have revealed the author to be a great expert of both choral singing and theoretical studies".[2] Leontovych also transitioned to more renowned music during his choir performances, such as Russian composers Mikhail Glinka, Alexey Verstovsky, and Peter Tchaikovsky in addition to Ukrainian composers Mykola Lysenko, Kyrylo Stetsenko, and Petro Nishchynskyi.[8]
After several conflicts with the school's administration, Leontovych got a new job as a teacher of church music and calligraphy at the Theological College in Tyvriv.[4] Besides working with the college choir, Leontovych organised an amateur orchestra that often performed at college events. As he did earlier with choirs, Leontovych included arrangements of folk songs among the usual religious works sung in theological schools. These included arrangements by Mykola Lysenko, his own choral arrangements of folk songs, and entirely original works. One such work was based on a poem by Taras Shevchenko titled Зоре моя вечірняя (Oh My Evening Star).[4]
Folk songs have provided inspiration for many Ukrainian composers, such as Mykola Lysenko, Mykola Leontovych, and Kyrylo Stetsenko. The famous Russian composers Peter Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Serge Rachmaninoff also collected and used Ukrainian folk melodies in their works. Today many folk songs are still used, and are even used by contemporary artists.
After reviewing Leontovych's Second Compilation of Songs from Podolia, Lysenko wrote: "Leontovych has an original, illustrious gift. In his arrangements I found separate passages, movement of voices, which later developed in a geniously weaved musical network."[12][n 4]
In the summer of 1879, Mykola Leontovych was moved to a new parish located in the village of Shershni in suburbs of Bar, Ukraine in Bar's district, where he would spend his childhood.[4] Then, in 1887, Leontovych was admitted to Nemyriv gymnasium. Due to financial problems a year later, however, his father transferred him to the Sharhorod Spiritual Beginners School, whose pupils received full financial support.[5] At the school, Leontovych mastered singing, and was able to freely read difficult passages from religious choral texts.[4]
This period in his career was among the most productive, as he created numerous choral arrangements. These included his famous Shchedryk, as well as Піють півні (The Roosters are Singing), Мала мати одну дочку (A Mother had One Daughter), Дударик (Little Dudka Player), Ой зійшла зоря (Oh, the Star has Risen), amongst others. In 1914, Stetsenko convinced Leontovych to have his music performed by the student choir of the Kyiv University under the leadership of Alexander Koshetz. On 26 December 1916, the performance of his arrangement of Shchedryk brought Leontovych great success from the public in Kyiv and raised the interest of intellectuals.[8]
The successful debut of "Shchedryk" earnt Leontovych popularity among specialists and fans of choral music in Kiev.[4] Leontovych's mentor-turned-coworker at the Kiev Conservatory, Boleslav Yavorsky, also positively evaluated his newly written works.[4] During another concert, Leontovych's Lehenda, set to a poem by Mykola Voronyi, gained great popularity.[30]
The first category is closely tied with the Ukrainian national school of music spearheaded by Mykola Lysenko. It includes such composers as Kyrylo Stetsenko, Mykola Leontovych, Levko Revutsky, and Sydir Vorobkevych. Most of their music contains Ukrainian folk figures and are composed to Ukrainian texts.
In 1946 Hryhory Nazarenko together with the Honcharenko brothers left the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus and started working on establishing a new bandurist capella. This new capella was formed in the British zone in Germany in the city of Goslar and was called the Leontovych Bandurist Capella after the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych.
The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (, tr. "Liturhiya Ivana Zlatoustoho") is the musical setting of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Mykola Leontovych. Consistent with Orthodox tradition, in which service is sung exclusively a cappella, the piece is set for unaccompanied choir and soloist. It was first performed in the Mykolaiv Cathedral at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra on May 22, 1919, with Leontovych himself conducting.
During the October Revolution and the establishment of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918, Leontovych relocated without his family to Ukraine's capital Kyiv, where he was active as both a conductor and composer. Several of his pieces gained popularity among professional and amateurs groups alike, who added them to their repertoire. In the beginning of 1919, the rest of his family also relocated to Kyiv. During this period, Leontovych also began teaching choir conducting alongside Hryhoriy Veryovka at the Kyiv Conservatory, and also taught at the Mykola Lysenko Institute of Music and Drama.[8] Leontovych was one of the organisers of the first Ukrainian State Orchestra. He participated in the founding of the Ukrainian Republic Capella of which he was the commissioner.[4]
During his studies there, Leontovych continued to advance his skills on the violin and learnt to play a variety of other instruments.[2] He also participated in the seminary's choir, and when an orchestra was formed during his third year of study, Leontovych joined, playing the violin until his graduation. Leontovych studied music theory and started writing choral arrangements as a student at the seminary.[4]
When the seminary's choir director died, the school administration requested that Leontovych take over this position. As the conductor of the choir, Leontovych added secular music to the repertoire of traditional church music. This included Ukrainian folk songs arranged by Mykola Lysenko, Profyriy Demutskiy, and himself.[4] Leontovych graduated from the Kamianets-Podilskiy Theological Seminary in 1899 and broke the family tradition by becoming a music teacher instead of a priest.[3][4]
Mykola Lysenko, Mykola Leontovych, Kyrylo Stetsenko, Yakiv Stepovy
During the night of 22–23 January 1921, Mykola Leontovych was murdered by Chekist (Soviet state security) agent Afanasy Grishchenko. Leontovych was staying at the home of his parents, whom he was visiting for the Orthodox Feast of the Nativity (25 December of the Julian calendar, which, on the Gregorian calendar, adopted by the USSR only in 1918, falls in January). The undercover Chekist had also asked to stay the night at the house and shared a room with Mykola. At dawn he shot the composer (who died of blood loss a few hours later) after robbing his family.[4][8][10][11]
Ukrainian writer and politician of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Pavlo Tychyna, was an admirer of Leontovych and wrote about the composer's death in prose. Poets Maksym Rylskyi and Mykola Bazhan also dedicated poetry to him.[13]
On 1 February 1921, nine days after Leontovych's death, a large number of artists, professors, and students of the Mykola Lysenko Institute of Music and Drama in Kiev gathered to commemorate him, as is expected according to Christian tradition. They established the Committee for the Memory of Mykola Leontovych, which later became the All-Ukrainian Mykola Leontovych Music Society, and promoted Ukrainian music until 1928.[8]
Financial hardships prompted Leontovych to accept an offer to move to the city of Vinnytsia to instruct at the Church-Educators' College. Again, he organised a choir and, later, a concert band, with which he performed both secular and spiritual music. In 1903, he published his Second Compilation of Songs from Podolia which he dedicated to Mykola Lysenko.[4]
Mykola Leontovych specialised in a cappella choral music.[16] He is remembered today mostly through the musical works he left behind, which include over 150 choral compositions. These range from artistic arrangements of folk songs, religious works (including his liturgy), cantatas, and choral compositions set to the words of various Ukrainian poets.[1] His two most famous works are the choral miniatures Schedryk and Dudaryk.[16]
Unlike his compositions based on poetry and folk themes, which were constantly performed throughout the twentieth century, Leontovych's sacred music, and that of his predecessors, was banned in the Soviet Union. For this reason, the sacred music of Mykola Leontovych, including his liturgy, are not well known.
For most of his career, Leontovych kept his music to himself, only performing it during his own concerts. This was because of the composer's highly self-critical and shy personality.[13] Leontovych's first critic was his friend and fellow priest and composer Kyrylo Stetsenko, who described him to be "a great expert of both choral singing and theoretical studies".[2] He also convinced Leontovych to publish his music and have it performed by the Kiev University.[4]
One of the largest influences in Mykola Leontovych's music is that of Mykola Lysenko,[16] who is considered "the father of Ukrainian classical music".[18][19] Leontovych admired Lysenko's music ever since he was a student at the Kamianets-Podilskyi Theological Seminary, when he had the seminary's choir perform the composer's music. Since then, he would perform Lysenko's music in concerts wherever he worked.[4]
"Carol of the Old Ones" is a song originally published in the 1988 HPLHS Solstice Carol Songbook, released by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. With lyrics written by Andrew Leman, it is sung and performed to the tune of "Carol of the Bells" by Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych (itself sung to the tune of Shchedryk), with soprano lead vocals and four-part harmony at various points in the song. The song is performed by The Dagon Tabernacle Choir; the performers' names are Rebecca Marcotte, Digby Dolmen, J.D. Titan, and Walter Forsythe. It can be found on the album "A Very Scary Solstice".
Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych (Ukrainian: Микола Дмитрович Леонтович; sometimes spelt Leontovich; December 13[O.S. December 1]1877–23 January 1921) was a Ukrainian composer, choral conductor, and teacher of international renown. His music was inspired by Mykola Lysenko and the Ukrainian National Music School. Leontovych specialised in a cappella choral music, ranging from original compositions, to church music, to elaborate arrangements of folk music.