Tereshko Parkhomenko
Encyclopedia
Terentiy Makarovych Parkhomenko (1872–1910) (or as he was known Tereshko) was one of the most respected kobzar
s of the late 19th and early 20th century.
county, in the Chernigov Governorate
of the Russian Empire
. He became blind at the age of 11 after a grave illness. He learned to play the bandura
from the kobzar
Andriy Haydenko and became a sought out performer after his performance at the XIIth Archeological Conference. He had a tenor voice and a loud bandura and played songs with a patriotic content that were rarely performed by other kobzars.
. The performance included the performances of six kobzars, including four from Kharkiv
, one from Poltava
province and one from Chernihiv
province. After both the Kharkiv bandurists played and the Mykhailo Kravchenko
played (and demonstrated what they knew) it was time for Tereshko to demonstrate his art.
In his essay "Some facts about the kobzars and lirnyk
s" Khotkevych wrote:
The successful performance of the kobzars at the XIIth Archeological conference, showed a new direction in the development of kobzar art - the potential to perform this art on the stage. This new found potential was exploited initially by the kobzars that took part in the conference.
Reminiscing the performance of the kobzars after the conference Khotkevych wrote: "the most visible career was made by T. Parkhomenko. A tall with lank appearance he had a nice tenor voice as if made for the stage. He was able to use his talents: performing solo and in groups. In the periodic press there are numerous mentions about his performances in Kremenchuk
, Uman', Yekaterinoslav, Vinnytsia
, Elizabethgrad, Mohyla-Podilsk and other towns. The magazine "Ridniy krai" write about Parkhomenko's concert in 1908 that "it was a unique in its type: there performed blind kobzars without any intelligentsia influence. The organizer of the concert was a kobzar himself - Terentiy Parkhomenko. (Apart from Parkhomenko the concert had performances by Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
, Mykhailo Kravchenko
, Pavlo Hashchenko
and Petro Drevchenko
.)
Despite the popularity of Parkhomenko, there were anti-Parkhomenko writings in the press. The editor of the magazine "Ridniy krai" - Olena Pchilka
- the mother of Lesia Ukrainka after hearing the performance of the kobzar at the Archeological conference in 1905 in Katerynoslav wrote:
A similar article was published by Pchilka in a review of a concert by five kobzars in Kiev
in 21 October 1908 - Parkhomenko - she wrote - "He can give to a sad duma a happy accompaniment. This cuts the ear, and only because no-one understands our dumy do people accept this."
Pchilka also wrote that Parkhomenko's voice was not good, but fresher than those other voiceless grandfathers and because of this Parkhomenko is successful. I feel that Parkhomenko gets applause just for the fact that he performs with the bandura and not for his performances. He sings without taste and understanding, and barely is able to play on the bandura."
Kobzar
A Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment.-Tradition:Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800s...
s of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Biography
He was born 10 September 1872 in the village of Voloskivtsi, SosnytsiaSosnytsia
Sosnytsia is a townlet and administrative center of the Sosnytsky Raion of the Chernihiv Oblast in north-central Ukraine. The townlet is located on the west bank of the Ubid' river, a tributary of the Desna river, some from Chernihiv, the province center.Sosnytsia was the birthplace of...
county, in the Chernigov Governorate
Chernigov Governorate
The Chernigov Governorate , also known as the Government of Chernigov, was a guberniya in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian Empire, which was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Malorossiya Governorate with an administrative centre of Chernigov...
of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. He became blind at the age of 11 after a grave illness. He learned to play the bandura
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...
from the kobzar
Kobzar
A Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment.-Tradition:Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800s...
Andriy Haydenko and became a sought out performer after his performance at the XIIth Archeological Conference. He had a tenor voice and a loud bandura and played songs with a patriotic content that were rarely performed by other kobzars.
XIIth Archeological Conference
This was the first stage performance of the kobzars organized by Hnat KhotkevychHnat 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....
. The performance included the performances of six kobzars, including four from Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
, one from 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 ....
province and one from Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
province. After both the Kharkiv bandurists played and the Mykhailo Kravchenko
Mykhailo Kravchenko
Mykhailo Stepanovych Kravchenko was regarded as one of the most outstanding kobzars of Poltava province of the late 19th early 20th century.- Biography :...
played (and demonstrated what they knew) it was time for Tereshko to demonstrate his art.
"So that is the way you play". And for some reason he repeated the statement.
And he hit the strings! His bandura was large, and loud. His manner of playing was very specific: his left hand played the basses, and the right using a specific device: the fingers hit in one direction and then the other. (Our kobzars tried it but they could not do it). His voice - a high clear tenor. A song no-one had heard before about "Morozenko". Everything added up to a victory for Tereshko. The Kharkiv kobzars sat quiet. The first place of Tereshko was a given fact, and his song about Morozenko became the most popular song.
In his essay "Some facts about the kobzars and lirnyk
Lirnyk
The lirnyk was an itinerant Ukrainian musician who performed religious, historical and epic songs to the accompaniment of a lira, the Ukrainian version of the hurdy-gurdy....
s" Khotkevych wrote:
"About the kobzars from Chernihiv province I would like to say a bit more because this is a totally new type of bandurist which are establishing themselves and have a great future. This is Terentiy Makarovych Parkhomenko. He is 30 years old and studied under Andriy Hojdenko, however he did not learn any dumyDuma (epic)A Duma is a sung epic poem which originated in Ukraine during the Hetmanate Era in the sixteenth century...
from him nor from his friends. "No matter how much HorilkaHorilkaHorilka is a Ukrainian alcoholic beverage. The word horilka may also be used in a generic sense in the Ukrainian language to mean whisky, or other strong spirits and etymologically is similar to the Ukrainian word for burning - hority. Home-distilled horilka, moonshine, is called samogon ....
I gave them, nothing came out of it" - he said. In the meantime Terentiy wanted greatly to learn to perform dumy - something spoke to his soul. I have not seen such a bandurists who listens with such intent to the performance of dumy and historic songs like this Parkhomenko. And his energies did not fall on barren ground: after meeting some Ukrainian intellectuals, he asked that they show him some dumy, he purchased books and song books, and he has a literate guide boy specifically for the reason, that he have the potential to learn dumy and old songs. "I didn't just come to the conference to perform - he said to me - but to learn more songs". And now he has nine dumy in his repertoire, many historic songs - one of which - About Morozenko - you will hear tonight. But taking the melodies of his songs from the intelligentsia which can read and write. Terentiy does not go blindly creating arrangement which are foreign, but gives each song and individuality, returning forgotten recordings, so that the song does not have a bookish character. In such a way we can see that the intelligentsia is able to give back to the people their lost culture, and although it does not look after this culture very well, at least some aspects have been conserved. God grant Terentiy the energy to learn all that he wants. His is the future."
Terentiy knows 25 psalmsPsalmsThe Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
, folk songs and humorous songs are so numerous in his repertoire. .... Terentiy plays on the bandura very well, and I want you to pay particular attention to the manner of playing the instrument. The matter lies in the fact that his ability to play the bandura has undergone an evolution, and in my opinion Terentiy's manner of playing is very old..."
The successful performance of the kobzars at the XIIth Archeological conference, showed a new direction in the development of kobzar art - the potential to perform this art on the stage. This new found potential was exploited initially by the kobzars that took part in the conference.
Reminiscing the performance of the kobzars after the conference Khotkevych wrote: "the most visible career was made by T. Parkhomenko. A tall with lank appearance he had a nice tenor voice as if made for the stage. He was able to use his talents: performing solo and in groups. In the periodic press there are numerous mentions about his performances in Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.-History:Kremenchuk was...
, Uman', Yekaterinoslav, Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia is a city located on the banks of the Southern Bug, in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast.-Names:...
, Elizabethgrad, Mohyla-Podilsk and other towns. The magazine "Ridniy krai" write about Parkhomenko's concert in 1908 that "it was a unique in its type: there performed blind kobzars without any intelligentsia influence. The organizer of the concert was a kobzar himself - Terentiy Parkhomenko. (Apart from Parkhomenko the concert had performances by Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko
Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko Ivan Iovych Kuchuhura-Kucherenko (July 7, 1878—November 24, 1937 was a Ukrainian minstrel (kobzar) and one of the most influential kobzars of the early 20th century...
, Mykhailo Kravchenko
Mykhailo Kravchenko
Mykhailo Stepanovych Kravchenko was regarded as one of the most outstanding kobzars of Poltava province of the late 19th early 20th century.- Biography :...
, Pavlo Hashchenko
Pavlo Hashchenko
Pavlo Ivanovych Hashchenko was a Ukrainian kobzar and bandura player.Hashchenko was originally from Poltava province but lived most of his life in the village of Konstantynivka, Bohodukhiv county, Kharkiv province....
and Petro Drevchenko
Petro Drevchenko
Petro Semenovych Drevchenko was also known by the surname of Drevkin and Drygavka.-Biography:Drevchenko was born in 1863 in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire to a family of servants. From the age of 12 he lived in Kharkiv, in the area of Zalutin. At the age of 13 he came down with...
.)
Popularity and critics
As an artist, Parkhomenko was able to became extremely popular in a short time. - They even had cigarette packets with his portrait on them.Despite the popularity of Parkhomenko, there were anti-Parkhomenko writings in the press. The editor of the magazine "Ridniy krai" - 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:...
- the mother of Lesia Ukrainka after hearing the performance of the kobzar at the Archeological conference in 1905 in Katerynoslav wrote:
..." The Chernihivite Parkhomenko - is of middle age, - this is a new kobzar a concert performer who has now gotten used to performing on stage, he is dress in a theatrical manner. he knows the words of dumy from books, and does not understand the melodies - he sings anything even a dance melody. he sang for us Morozenko."
A similar article was published by Pchilka in a review of a concert by five kobzars in 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....
in 21 October 1908 - Parkhomenko - she wrote - "He can give to a sad duma a happy accompaniment. This cuts the ear, and only because no-one understands our dumy do people accept this."
Pchilka also wrote that Parkhomenko's voice was not good, but fresher than those other voiceless grandfathers and because of this Parkhomenko is successful. I feel that Parkhomenko gets applause just for the fact that he performs with the bandura and not for his performances. He sings without taste and understanding, and barely is able to play on the bandura."
Health
After a period of success, he wound up living very poorly. In the spring of 1910, Parkhomenko was given a terrible beating by police. He became sick and did not have money to get medical care. At the age of 38, back in his native village of Voloskivtsi, he died of his injuries on 23 March 1910.Sources
- Mishalow, V. and M. - Ukrains'ki kobzari-bandurysty - Sydney, Australia, 1986
- "Kobzars", "Parkhomenko, Terentii," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vols. 2, 3 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988, 1993).