as our gift of song to you ♪
We invite you to listen to a moving interpretation of Сонце заходить - The Sun is Setting
Composer: Mykola Lysenko
Poet: Taras Shevchenko
Performers:
Monica Whicher, soprano
Krisztina Szabó, mezzo-soprano
Michael Colvin, tenor
Albert Krywolt, pian
Translation: Watson Kirkconnell
The sun is setting and the hills grow dim,
All bird-song ceases, and the fields are quiet,
And man is glad because rest comes for him.
But I look wakeful round; my spirit’s fiat
Sets me to fly to orchards of Ukraine;
On, on I flit, deep in the gulfs of thought
And thus my heart can find relief from pain.
Fields, groves, and hills are now in darkness caught
And in the deep, blue sky a star appears.
O evening star!
Have you now risen also in Ukraine?
Are hazel eyes now seeking you tonight
In the blue sky? Have they forgotten quite?
If they have lost all memory of me,
Then let them sleep, nor know my destiny!
This early lyrical vocal trio was written by Lysenko in 1869 during his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory. The homesick composer expresses his longing for his native land, family, and friends. The song is dedicated to a recently married couple - his sister Sofia and his best friend, the writer and poet Mykhailo Starytsky.
Сонце заходить, гори чорніють,
Пташечка тихне, поле німіє,
Радіють люди, що одпочинуть,
А я дивлюся... і серцем лину
В темний садочок на Україну;
Лину я, лину, думу гадаю,
І ніби серце одпочиває.
Чорніє поле, і гай, і гори,
На небо синє виходить зоря.
Ой зоре! зоре! – і сльози кануть.
Чи ти зійшла вже і на Украйні?
Чи очі карі тебе шукають
На небі синім? Чи забувають?
Коли забули, бодай заснули!
Про мою доленьку щоб і не чули.
Це раннє ліричне вокальне тріо Лисенко написав у1869 р. в Німеччині, під час навчання у Ляйпціґській консерваторії. Тут композитор тужить за рід-ною землею, друзями та близькими. Твір присвя-чено щойно одруженій молодій парі – його сестрі Софії та його найкращому товаришеві МихайловіСтарицькому.
Mykola Lysenko (1842 - 1912)
Mykola Lysenko (1842 - 1912) is the father of modern Ukrainian classical music. His prolific life’s work laid the foundation for the further development and expansion of Ukrainian musical culture. He influenced a large group of Ukrainian composers, including Stetsenko, Stepovyi, Leontovych, Koshyts, and Liudkevych. A compilation of Lysenko’s works in 22 volumes was published in Kyiv in 1950–59.
Lysenko was a composer, ethnomusicologist, pianist, and conductor. He studied at the Kharkiv and Kyiv universities and, later, at the Leipzig Conservatory under Reinicke and Richter (1867–69). From 1874 to 1876 he studied orchestration under Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg. In 1904, he founded his own School of Music and Drama in Kyiv.
The list of Lysenko’s operatic compositions include Black Sea Cossacks (1872); three operas based on the works of the Ukrainian writer Mykola Hohol – Christmas Night (1873–82),
The Drowned Maiden (1883) and Taras Bulba (1890); and the operettas Natalka from Poltava (1889) and Aeneas (1911). Himself a well-known pianist, Lysenko composed a piano sonata, two rhapsodies, a suite, a scherzo and a rondo, as well as an abundance of smaller pieces, including songs without words, nocturnes, waltzes and polonaises. He also wrote a number of works for strings. Of the Ukrainian composers, Lysenko was the most committed to the art song genre. Lysenko’s 133 art songs (lirychni pisni in Ukrainian) relate a wonderfully descriptive and passionate story of 19th- and early 20th-century European life.
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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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