as our gift of song
to you ♪
Ukrainian Art Song Project invites you to listen to a beautiful interpretation of
Успеніє ~ The Assumption
Composer: Stefania Turkewich
Poet: Vira VoVk
Performers:
Monica Whicher, Soprano
Albert Krywolt, Piano
Poem : Vira Vovk
Translation: Maria Lukianowicz
She walked with a smiling, untroubled face,
The whisper of the grass tired her,
The Mother of God fell asleep among the herbs.
Daisies covered her sleeves,
Tall poplars stood up to sing
And little ponds spilt over,
Overwhelmed, that in the meadow
Poppies embroidered her sleeves.
After immigrating to England, Turkewich wrote a number of art songs to the words of her daughter’s-childhood friend, Vira Vovk. The poetry contains many Ukrainian themes presented in a surrealistic manner. “The Assumption” combines images of nature and religious mysticism within a luminous musical texture.
Віра Вовк
Ішла усміхнена, погожа,
Втомилась шепотом трави:
Заснула в зіллі Мати Божа;
Зійшли роменом рукави.
Співати станули тополі
І розливатися ставки,
Зворушені, бо серед поля
Розквітли маком уставки.
Після еміґрації до Англії, Туркевич написала ряд мистецьких пісень на слова товаришки її доньки, Віри Вовк. Поезія містить багато українських мотивів, представлених у сюрреалістичній манері. “Успеніє” поєднує образи природи і релігійного містицизму на фоні ясної музичної тканини.
STEFANIA TURKEWICH (1898-1977)
Ukraine’s first woman composer is Stefania Turkewich. She began her music studies with her mother, who was a pupil of Karol Mikuli, the director of the Lemberg Conservatory in Galicia. Then, at the Lysenko Institute in Lviv, she was taught by Vasyl Barvinsky. After World War I, Turkewicz studied in Lviv with Adolf Chybinski at the Lviv University, and also at the Lysenko conservatory. She then moved to Austria and studied with Guido Adler at the University of Vienna and Joseph Marx at the music academy.
In 1925, she travelled with her first husband to Berlin where she studied with Franz Schreker and the influential expressionist, Arnold Schoenberg; in Prague she studied with Zdenek Nejedly at Charles University, with Otakar Sin at the conservatory, and with Vitezslav Novak at the music academy. She received her doctorate in musicology in 1934. From 1935 to 1939, she taught harmony and piano at the Lysenko Institute in Lviv, and, from 1940 to 1944, she lectured at the Lviv State Conservatory.
Fleeing from the Soviets, Turkewich immigrated to England with her second husband in 1946. There she spent much of her time composing, but many of her works have never been performed. Stylistically they are much more modern, but still hearken back to Ukrainian folksongs, when they are not post-romantic, atonal or expressionistic in character.
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The Ukrainian Art Song Project has been bringing Ukraine's musical treasures to light since 2004. With your support, we will continue to bring Ukraine's finest composers and their masterpieces to the world stage, where they belong.
Проєкт "Українськa Мистецькa Пісня" поширює найкращі зразки української музики з 2004 року. З Вашою підтримкою ми продовжимо презентувати найкращих українських композиторів та їх шедеври, які належать до світової музичної спадщини.
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