Kyrylo Stetsenko
Encyclopedia
Kyrylo Hryhorovych Stetsenko (May 12, 1882 – April 29, 1922) was a prolific Ukrainian
composer
, conductor, critic
, and teacher
. Late in his life he became an Ukrainian Orthodox Priest
and head of the Music section of the Ministry of Education of the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic
.
, in Ukraine
. His father, Hryhoriy Mykhailovych, was a painter
of icons and was known around for painting churches in nearby villages. His mother, Maria Ivanivna, was the daughter of a deacon
in the same village. Kyrylo was eighth of eleven children.
When Kyrylo Stetsenko was aged 10, his uncle (mother's brother) Danylo Horyanskyi took him to study at the Saint Sophia Church School, where the boy was enrolled for five years, from 1892 to 1897. The young boy lived with his uncle in Kyiv, only returning home to his parents during the summer. However, since his family was poor, the boy had to work during this "vacation", and his mother would spend the money that he earned on on new clothes for him.
During his studies at the school, Stestenko sang in the school choir and after three years, he already conducted the group. The boy also learned how to play the harmonium
and the piano
. At age thirteen, wrote his first composition: I Will Always Praise the Lord for choir.
An important milestone in his development as a composer was his acquaintance with Mykola Lysenko
, which later grew into a friendship. Stetsenko first met the Ukrainian composer in 1899 and became part of Lysenko's choir as a singer and a assistant-conductor. The young composer was greatly honoured when, during the opening ceremony of the monument to Ivan Kotlyarevskyi in Poltava
, Lysenko's choir performed Stetsenko's composition Burlaka.
Mykola Lysenko would introduce Stetsenko to his circle of intellectuals saying "This is who will replace me after my death. Some of these people were Mykhailo Starytskyi, Lesya Ukrayinka, Vasyl Stefanyk
, Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, Olena Pchilka
, Volodymyr Samiylenko, Mykola Arkas
, Ivan Steshenko
, Hnat Khotkevych
, and many others.
Completing his studies in 1903, Kyrylo Stetsenko decided to work as a music teacher, music critic, church conductor and composer, rather than imeadiately becoming a priest
.
.
. When the Ukrainian National Republic was declared, Stetsenko was made head of the Music Section in the Ministry of Education. He created two national choirs. One choir was led by composer Oleksandr Koshyts toured Europe
and North America
to promote Ukraine as an independent nation. Stetsenko led the other choir, touring Ukraine to promote national unity.
When the Bolshevik
s took over Ukraine in 1920, the Koshyts choir was stranded abroad while Stetsenko's choir was disbanded by the new Communist government.
Stetsenko left Kyiv to work in a parish in the village of Vepryk
, south of the city. The language of this parish was solely Ukrainian and in 1921, he became one of the founders of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
. In Vepryk he founded a choir and theatre where he was performed on stage. The villagers referred to Stetsenko as the "bright Father".
As political repressions were renewed against Ukrainians famine
and disease
began to spread later affecting Kyrylo Stetsenko in the spring of 1922 who died of typhus
while tending to the sick during an outbreak of the disease.
. He provides information about his grandfather.
His daughter, Dora Kuzmenko, escaped capture by the Soviets during WWII. She lived in a Displaced Persons camp in Austria for a number of years, from where she immigrated to the USA. She died in Syracuse NY in the 1960s. Dora had been an opera singer in her native Ukraine.
. Stetsenko composed over 30 solo vocal works to the words by Ukrainian poets Taras Shevchenko
, Ivan Franko
, Lesya Ukrainka
, Oleksandr Oles
and others. He wrote 42 art songs, over 100 sacred and secular choral pieces, including two liturgies
and a requiem
, and music to a dozen stage works. His Art Songs have been recorded by renowned British Bass Baritone Pavlo Hunka.
Stetsenko's greatest and most well-known works were written a few months before the end of his life. His last work was the panakhyda written in memory of his teacher and friend Mykola Lysenko
.
was transformed into a museum
of the composer, with an exhibition of what was in there during his life. Besides this, the church where the composer worked was also revived. Stetsenko's grave was fancied up with a large stone monument
to the composer placed next to it.
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, conductor, critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
, and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
. Late in his life he became an Ukrainian Orthodox Priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
and head of the Music section of the Ministry of Education of the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
.
Early life and Education
Kyrylo Stetsenko was born in Kvitkiv, in the land of CherkashchynaCherkasy Oblast
Cherkasy Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine located along the Dnieper River. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Cherkasy).-Geography:...
, in Ukraine
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...
. His father, Hryhoriy Mykhailovych, was a painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
of icons and was known around for painting churches in nearby villages. His mother, Maria Ivanivna, was the daughter of a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
in the same village. Kyrylo was eighth of eleven children.
When Kyrylo Stetsenko was aged 10, his uncle (mother's brother) Danylo Horyanskyi took him to study at the Saint Sophia Church School, where the boy was enrolled for five years, from 1892 to 1897. The young boy lived with his uncle in Kyiv, only returning home to his parents during the summer. However, since his family was poor, the boy had to work during this "vacation", and his mother would spend the money that he earned on on new clothes for him.
During his studies at the school, Stestenko sang in the school choir and after three years, he already conducted the group. The boy also learned how to play the harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
and the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. At age thirteen, wrote his first composition: I Will Always Praise the Lord for choir.
Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary
Finishing his school education in 1897, Stetsenko began to attend the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary. Many of his original choir works composed made during this period.An important milestone in his development as a composer was his acquaintance with Mykola Lysenko
Mykola Lysenko
Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist.- Biography :Lysenko was born in Hrynky, Kremenchuk Povit, Poltava Governorate, the son of Vitaliy Romanovich Lysenko . From childhood he became very interested in the folksongs of Ukrainian peasants and...
, which later grew into a friendship. Stetsenko first met the Ukrainian composer in 1899 and became part of Lysenko's choir as a singer and a assistant-conductor. The young composer was greatly honoured when, during the opening ceremony of the monument to Ivan Kotlyarevskyi in Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
, Lysenko's choir performed Stetsenko's composition Burlaka.
Mykola Lysenko would introduce Stetsenko to his circle of intellectuals saying "This is who will replace me after my death. Some of these people were Mykhailo Starytskyi, Lesya Ukrayinka, Vasyl Stefanyk
Vasyl Stefanyk
Vasyl' Semenovych Stefanyk was a classical Ukrainian prose writer and political activist. He was a member of the Austrian parliament 1908-1918....
, Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi, Olena Pchilka
Olena Pchilka
Olha Petrivna Kosach , better known by her pen name Olena Pchilka, was a Ukrainian publisher, writer, ethnographer, interpreter, civil activist. Sister of Mykhailo Drahomanov-Early years:...
, Volodymyr Samiylenko, Mykola Arkas
Mykola Arkas
Mykola Mykolayovych Arkas was a Ukrainian composer, writer, historian, and cultural activist. Arkas completed his studies in physics and mathematics at the University of Odessa and served in the Black Sea Fleet...
, Ivan Steshenko
Ivan Steshenko
Ivan Steshenko was a Ukrainian civic and political activist, writer, translator, member of the Ukrainian government, and member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. He had several pen-surnames: Serdeshny, Sichovyk, Svitlenko, and Stepura.Steshenko had a wife Oksana Steshenko, a daughter and a...
, Hnat Khotkevych
Hnat Khotkevych
Hnat Martynovych Khotkevych December 31, 1877 in Kharkiv, Russian Empire – October 8, 1938 in Kharkiv, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union) was a Ukrainian writer, ethnographer, playwright, composer, musicologist, and bandurist....
, and many others.
Completing his studies in 1903, Kyrylo Stetsenko decided to work as a music teacher, music critic, church conductor and composer, rather than imeadiately becoming a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
.
Russian Empire
The composer's life was constantly affected by political events. Stetsenko was complicit in the publication of his own choral arrangement of the Ukrainian national anthem without Russian censor approval in 1911. The printer (A. Chokolov) took the blame fully on himself refusing to implicate Stetsenko, and as a result was sentenced to death. The Russian authorities could not prove Stetsenko's complicity, and he was exiled from Kyiv. He managed to return to the city only to leave one year later due to political and economic pressures. In 1911, urged by his uncle, Stetsenko became an Orthodox priest. Financial security, however, came at a price. The composer was required to serve in an obscure village in south-western Ukraine, far from the cultural life of Kyiv. There, in his self-imposed exile, Stetsenko weathered the political storm of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
After 1917 Revolution
Kyrylo Stetsenko returned to Kyiv with the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
. When the Ukrainian National Republic was declared, Stetsenko was made head of the Music Section in the Ministry of Education. He created two national choirs. One choir was led by composer Oleksandr Koshyts toured Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
to promote Ukraine as an independent nation. Stetsenko led the other choir, touring Ukraine to promote national unity.
When the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s took over Ukraine in 1920, the Koshyts choir was stranded abroad while Stetsenko's choir was disbanded by the new Communist government.
Stetsenko left Kyiv to work in a parish in the village of Vepryk
Vepryk
Vepryk is a village in Ukraine, in the Fastiv Raion of the Kiev Oblast. The village has a population of 1,053. It is famous for being the place where Ukrainian composer Kyrylo Stetsenko died. His house is a currently a museum, and there is monument on his grave.-References:...
, south of the city. The language of this parish was solely Ukrainian and in 1921, he became one of the founders of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is one of the three major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. Close to ten percent of the Christian population claim to be members of the UAOC. The other Churches are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Russophile Orthodox...
. In Vepryk he founded a choir and theatre where he was performed on stage. The villagers referred to Stetsenko as the "bright Father".
As political repressions were renewed against Ukrainians famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
and disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
began to spread later affecting Kyrylo Stetsenko in the spring of 1922 who died of typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
while tending to the sick during an outbreak of the disease.
Family
His grandson, Kyrylo Vadymovych Stetsenko, is a violinist and composer in UkraineUkraine
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...
. He provides information about his grandfather.
His daughter, Dora Kuzmenko, escaped capture by the Soviets during WWII. She lived in a Displaced Persons camp in Austria for a number of years, from where she immigrated to the USA. She died in Syracuse NY in the 1960s. Dora had been an opera singer in her native Ukraine.
Works
In his works and activity, Stetsenko continued the national focus in Ukrainian music, that was started by Mykola LysenkoMykola Lysenko
Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist.- Biography :Lysenko was born in Hrynky, Kremenchuk Povit, Poltava Governorate, the son of Vitaliy Romanovich Lysenko . From childhood he became very interested in the folksongs of Ukrainian peasants and...
. Stetsenko composed over 30 solo vocal works to the words by Ukrainian poets Taras Shevchenko
Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...
, Ivan Franko
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language....
, Lesya Ukrainka
Lesya Ukrainka
Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka better known under her literary pseudonym Lesya Ukrainka , was one of Ukraine's best-known poets and writers and the foremost woman writer in Ukrainian literature. She also was a political, civil, and female activist....
, Oleksandr Oles
Oleksandr Oles
Oleksandr Ivanovych Oles , a well-known Ukrainian writer and poet. He is a father of another Ukrainian poet and political activist Oleh Olzhych who perished in the Nazi labor camps in 1944....
and others. He wrote 42 art songs, over 100 sacred and secular choral pieces, including two liturgies
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
and a requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
, and music to a dozen stage works. His Art Songs have been recorded by renowned British Bass Baritone Pavlo Hunka.
Stetsenko's greatest and most well-known works were written a few months before the end of his life. His last work was the panakhyda written in memory of his teacher and friend Mykola Lysenko
Mykola Lysenko
Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist.- Biography :Lysenko was born in Hrynky, Kremenchuk Povit, Poltava Governorate, the son of Vitaliy Romanovich Lysenko . From childhood he became very interested in the folksongs of Ukrainian peasants and...
.
List of major works
- Choral works
- church pieces (2 liturgies, 1 pankhyda)
- cantatas
- choruses a cappella and with piano accompaniment
- arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs.
- Plays
- Proposing to a Potter's daughter by Hryhory Kvitka-Osnovianenko
- What ThyrsusThyrsusIn Greek mythology, a thyrsus or thyrsos was a staff of giant fennel covered with ivy vines and leaves, sometimes wound with taeniae and always topped with a pine cone. These staffs were carried by Dionysus and his followers. Euripides wrote that honey dripped from the thyrsos staves that the...
rustled about by Spyrydon Cherkasenko - Buval'shchyna by A. Velysovskyi
- Operas (incomplete)
- Polonianka
- KarmaliukUstym KarmaliukUstym Yakymovych Karmаliuk was a Ukrainian peasant outlaw who became a folk hero. He is often referred to as the "Ukrainian Robin Hood" and "the last Haydamak".-Early Age:...
- Theatre works
- Ifgenia in Tavridia on a drama by Lesya UkrainkaLesya UkrainkaLarysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka better known under her literary pseudonym Lesya Ukrainka , was one of Ukraine's best-known poets and writers and the foremost woman writer in Ukrainian literature. She also was a political, civil, and female activist....
- music to the poem «Haidamaky» by Taras ShevchenkoTaras ShevchenkoTaras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...
- Ifgenia in Tavridia on a drama by Lesya Ukrainka
- Children's operas
- Ivasyk-Telesyk
- The Fox, the Cat, and the Rooster
- Numerous children's songs.
Legacy
In 1982 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Kyrylo Stetsenko's death, Stetsenko's house in VeprykVepryk
Vepryk is a village in Ukraine, in the Fastiv Raion of the Kiev Oblast. The village has a population of 1,053. It is famous for being the place where Ukrainian composer Kyrylo Stetsenko died. His house is a currently a museum, and there is monument on his grave.-References:...
was transformed into a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
of the composer, with an exhibition of what was in there during his life. Besides this, the church where the composer worked was also revived. Stetsenko's grave was fancied up with a large stone monument
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
to the composer placed next to it.