Put art song in your heart…
enjoy this gift of love ❤︎
Ukrainian Art Song Project invites you to listen to а beautiful interpretation of
Зацвіла в долині - Blossoms in the Valley
by Mykola Lysenko
Performed by
Allyson McHardy - mezzo-soprano
Russell Braun - baritone
Albert Krywolt - piano
Зацвіла в долині
музика: Микола Лисенко
поезія: Тарас Шевченко
Зацвіла в долині
Червона калина,
Ніби засміялась
Дівчина-дитина.
Любо, любо стало,
Пташечка зраділа
І защебетала.
Почула дівчина
І в білій свитині,
З біленької хати
Вийшла погуляти
У гай на долину.
І вийшов до неї
З зеленого гаю
Козак молоденький;
Цілує, вітає,
І йдуть по долині,
І йдучи співають.
Як діточок двоє,
Під тую калину
Прийшли, посідали
І поцілувались.
Якого ж ми раю
У Бога благаєм?
Це один з найбільш безжурних і радісних солоспівів Лисенка на вірш Шевченка. Далеко від коханої вітчизни, поет малює ідилічний український пейзаж, на тлі якого розцвітає кохання залюбленої молодої пари. Лисенко забарвлює пасторальні образи цього ідеального дуету в лагідні, безтурботні музичні тони.
Blossoms in the Valley
music: Mykola Lysenko
poem: Taras Shevchenko
translation: Watson Kirconnell
There blossomed in a valley long ago
A red cranberry bush, as innocent
As if a maiden smiled in her delight.
A bird was gladdened and began to chirp...
A maiden heard it and in smock of white
Came from her whitewashed cottage to have joy,
There in the forest in the valley low.
Out of the green grove there emerged to meet her
A fine young Cossack: and he greets the maiden,
He kisses her and holds her gentle hands.
Along the valley then they softly walk
And, like two children, sing in simple pleasure;
To that cranberry bush they come at last,
And there sit down... and kiss, and kiss, and kiss..
What better Heaven shall we ask from God?
One of the happiest and most peaceful of the Shevchenko–Lysenko collaborations. Far from his beloved motherland, Shevchenko pictures an idyllic Ukrainian landscape as a backdrop for the blossoming feelings of two young lovers. Lysenko colours the pastoral images of this ideal duo with a gentle, serene musical palette.
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.
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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