The Ukrainian Art Song Project sends you this gift of song…♪
The Ukrainian Art Song Project invites you to listen to a beautiful interpretation of
In Winter ~ Зимою
Yakiv Stepovy: composer
Oleksandr Oles: poet
Michael Colvin, tenor
Albert Krywolt, piano
Oleksandr Oles
Translation: Bohdan Parashchak
The sun looked upon the silver branches,
And smiled, but they could not stand the smile
Of the shinning sun,
And fainting, began to melt…
The silver melted… and the branches saw,
As the tears dropped, one by one,
How the sun was laughing and shining in the blue sky,
O sun! Why did you smile on them?
And again returned to the grave
This is probably the earliest musical setting of a text by Oles, one of Ukraine’s modernist poets. With a rich palette Stepovy paints each phrase of text. The entire song is unified by a triplet figure that evokes dripping water as the snows melt. Fellow Ukrainian composer Kyrylo Stetsenko praised this song highly.
Олександер Олесь
Дивилося сонце на срібнії віти,
Всміхалося їм, і вони не змогли
Усмішки блискучого сонця стерпіти
І танути в млості якійсь почали…
І срібло розтало… і бачили віти,
Як капали сльози по одній із них,
Як сонце сміялось і сяло в блакиті…
О сонце! Нащо ти всміхалось до них?!
Це чи не найперша пісня, написана на слова Олеся-модерніста. Багатою палітрою Степовий розфарбовує кожну фразу тексту. Вся пісня поєднана тріолею, яка представляє капання води із розтаючих снігів на весні. Композитор Кирило Стеценко високо оцінив цю пісню.
YAKIV STEPOVY
(1883 - 1921)
From Imperial choirboy to Soviet composer, much of the life story of Yakiv Stepovy is lost in the historic upheavals that ravaged Ukraine in the 20th century. Even so, Stepovy’s legacy of art songs, piano pieces, and other vocal works survives almost intact. It reveals a composer who could adapt to changes in politics, culture, and society. His eclectic preludes and other ephemeral piano pieces give way, after WWI, to revolutionary mass songs and arrangements for bandura, a lute-like Ukrainian folk instrument. But there was one constant in Stepovyi’s life: the art song. Each one is an uncompromising declaration of the composer’s artistic ideal. Stepovy was one of the first modern Ukrainian composers to avoid the direct use of folk material. He sought to transform the traditional language of music into a new modernist idiom and thus create a new national identity.
Yakiv Yakymenko (pseudonym Stepovy) was born in the city of Kharkiv, in north-eastern Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. His father was a poor, retired non-commissioned officer. In 1886, Yakiv’s older brother, composer Fedir Yakymenko (aka Theodore Akimenko), was sent to the Imperial Chapel as a choirboy. Nine years later, Yakiv joined him there in St. Petersburg. Within three years, Yakiv's voice broke and he was forced to leave the choir. Somehow he managed to continue his music studies. A year later, in 1899, he composed the liturgical Cherubic Hymn, opus 1. Then, in 1902, Fedir arranged an interview for his younger brother with Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Both Russian composers were so impressed with Yakiv’s talent that they allowed him to study part-time for free at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The studies lasted for twelve years, until 1914, when Stepovy finally graduated....
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.
Your gift can also be made through CanadaHelps as a one-time or monthly donation.
