Combined Bandurist Capella
Encyclopedia
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
bandurist
Bandura
Bandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as its lute-like predecessor, the kobza...
ensemble in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
which existed from 1935 to 1941, until it was disbanded due to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
A few months after the liquidation of all of the professional bandurist capellas in October 1934, a reversal of policy took place.
A call came from Moscow for performing ensembles from Ukraine to perform at the Decade of Ukrainian Culture in Moscow. It was decided in February 1935 to form a new group established by combining the musicians of the former Kiev Bandurist Capella
Kiev Bandurist Capella
The Kiev Bandurist Capella is a male vocal-instrumental ensemble that accompanies its singing with the playing of the multi-stringed Ukrainian folk instrument known as the bandura....
, the Poltava Bandurist Capella
Poltava Bandurist Capella
The Poltava Bandurist Capella was vocal-instrumental ensemble who accompanied themselves on the multi-stringed Ukrainian bandura. It was initially established in February 1925, based on a male church choir who sang in the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Cathedral in Poltava under the direction of...
and the Bandurist Capella of the Kiev Philharmonia.
The artistic director for this new larger bandurist capella was Mykola Mykhailov
Mykola Mykhailov
Mykola Mykolayovych Mykhailov was a Ukrainian bandurist, composer, and arranger.- Biography :Born in 1903, Mykola Mykolailovych Mykhailov completed his studies at the Kiev Muz-dram Institute in 1929....
, the former director of the Kiev capella. His assistant was Danylo Pika, the former director of the Poltava Bandurist Capella. In March, the capella received a new title: "The Ukrainian State Exemplary Bandurist Capella".
Members included:
From the Poltava Capella:
- Yakiv Kladovyj
- A. Kononenko (at that time was under arrest but joined later) later joined the post-war Kiev Capella
- T. Medvediv - died at the front in the first days of WWII
- S. Miniajlo - later joined the post-war Kiev Capella
- P. Miniajlo - emigrated with the Shevchenko Capella
- H. Nazarenko - emigrated with the Shevchenko Capella
- Yosyp Panasenko - emigrated with the Shevchenko Capella
- Danylo Pika - assistant director - died at the front in the first days of World War II
- Yakiv Protopopov - emigrated with the Shevchenko Capella, died in Germany
From the Kiev Philharmonia Bandurist Capella:
- Olesiy Dziubenko - later joined the Shevchenko Chorus but returned to Ukraine.
- A. Fed'ko - arrested in 1937
- O. Kostetsky
- M. Mykhailiv - director of the group
- T. Pivko - emigrated with the Shevchenko chorus
- V. Pokhyl
- O. Shleyuk
- I. Tsybuliv - arrested in 1937
Members from other bandura groups included:
- E. Bazylevsky
- D. Balatsky - arrested in 1937
- V. Charivnyj - postwar Kiev Capella
- S. Hnylokvas - arrested in 1937. Postwar Kiev Capella, from the radio chorus.
- Hr. Kytastyj - emigrated with the Shevchenko Capella (1937)
- O. Ponomarenko
- Ya. Savchenko (V)
- M. Yarovyj - joined in 1936
The director of the new group was Zakhariy Aronsky, Administrator: I Nedolia.
In 1936 the Combined Capella performed in Moscow at the Decade of Ukrainian Culture in Moscow and recorded a number of disks there.
Mykhailov, however, died in 1937 during a tour of the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, in Tashkent. His death from angina was thought to have been suspicious.
In 1937 the group was made up of 24 members. By 1938, the group had grown to 44 artists.
In 1939, the ensemble was sent on a tour of Western Ukraine with a Ukrainian nationalistic program commemorating the 125th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko. The program was known as Slovo Tarasa. It included songs which had previously been banned by the Soviet censors and was specifically geared to entice the Western Ukrainian population to embrace the Soviet administration. The program however was not allowed to be performed in the areas that were previously formally part of the Soviet Union.
In 1941, the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union came when the Kiev Bandurist Capella was performing for the miners in Kryviy Rih. They returned through the chaos to Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
where, on July 8, 1941, the chorus was disbanded and most of its members were mobilized. Within days some of the members, such as Danylo Pika and Mykola Opryshko, were killed on the front. It is interesting to note that Russian ensembles did not suffer the same fate. They remained intact to perform in front of the Soviet troops.
1935-1941 conductors
Mykola Mykolayovych Mykhajlov (director 1935-36) was previously a member of the Kiev Capella from 1932 and director in 1934. He was a graduate of the Lysenko Music Institute. Became the conductor/director of the combined group from February 1935, until his death 16 July 1936 in Tashkent during the tour of the Caucuses from angina. His assistant was Danylo Pika.Dmytro Yevhenovych Balatskyj (director 1937-38) (born 1902, died 1981) completed his studies at the Kiev Muz-dram institute in 1929. Director of the Kiev Bandurist Capella 1937-38. Arrested in 1938. Returned to Ukraine from Siberian Exile in 1947 moving to Odessa where he worked as a choral conductor. Author of the song "Rozpriahajte khloptsi koni".
Danylo Pika (director 1938-41). With the removal (arrest) of Balatsky, Pika again had a chance to become the artistic director of the chorus. Although he did not have a formal music education, he had for many years been the concertmaster of the Capella. Pika prepared the first "Slovo Tarasa" program in 1939 to coincide with the Shevchenko Jubilee and the tour of the recently acquired Western Ukrainian lands.