Toronto choirs to pay tribute to Mykola Leontovych (03/30/03)

Toronto choirs to pay tribute to Mykola Leontovych

by Sonia Solomon

TORONTO - The Vesnivka Choir and the Ukrainian Male Chamber Chorus, under the direction of Kvitka Kondracka, will close their 2002-2003 season with a tribute to Mykola Leontovych.

Mykola Leontovych was born on December 1, 1877, in Monastyrsk, Ukraine. In 1882 he attended the seminary in Kamianets, where he sang in the choir, began to study ancient Ukrainian chants and folk melodies and began his first attempts at choral arranging. In 1894 he completed his seminary studies, taught at various schools, composed arrangements and organized choirs and orchestras. During this time Leontovych also published two booklets of choral arrangements, which he sent to Mykola Lysenko.

In the summer of 1903 and 1904 Leontovych attended the St. Petersburg Court Capella to continue his formal musical training and in 1909 he began to study composition at the Conservatory of Kyiv. He worked and studied in relative obscurity until 1916, when he showed Oleksander Koshetz his manuscript of "Schedryk." This piece was performed that year to tremendous acclaim and made Leontovych famous.

Leontovych's peak composing period was from 1910 to 1920. In the summer of 1919 he began working on "The Feast of the Water Nymphs," which was based on a story by poet and folkorist Borys Hrinchenko. At the end of 1920 the first act was almost finished while a couple of sections remained sketched out. Leontovych played the piece for composer Kyrylo Stetsenko and poet Pavlo Tychyna. Both were impressed by the work and Leontovych planned to write the second and third acts but was assassinated during the night of January 22-23, 1921, in a wave of terror initiated by the Soviet Bolshevik regime in Ukraine. We are fortunate that despite his relatively short life Leontovych left a substantial body of work.

Composer Myroslav Skoryk and poet D. Bobyr took it upon themselves to finish the one act opera. Mr. Bobyr edited the libretto and Mr. Skoryk focused on the unfinished sections of the score. Both worked as closely as possible to Leontovych's style to maintain the work's integrity. "The Feast of the Water Nymphs" is a folk-fantasy opera that weaves the intonations and rhythms of Ukrainian spring, kupalo and "rusalka" songs and elements of dance. The main theme of the opera is the conflict between the real world and the world of fantasy. Leontovych's fantasy world can be playful and frolicking but also full of secrets, mystery and danger. He makes the water nymphs real, suffering and angry beings with characteristics given to individual "rusalky."

"The Feast of the Water Nymphs" had its premiere in 1977 at the Kyiv State Opera and Ballet Theater to mark the centenary of Mykola Leontovych's birth. For the opera's North American premiere, Kvitka Kondracka commissioned Myroslav Skoryk to rearrange his original orchestral score for a chamber orchestra.

Guest soloists Kateryna Chubar, Christine Stelmacovich, Lesia Piasta and Taras Chmil will join Vesnivka Choir and The Ukrainian Male Chamber Chorus for the performance. The program will be rounded out with a selection of Leontovych's religious and folk compositions, including his signature pieces "Dudaryk and Schedryk" and should turn out to be an event that can't be missed.

A tribute to Mykola Leontovych featuring selections of liturgical and folk music and the North American premiere of Leontovych's unfinished one-act opera, "The Feast of the Water Nymphs," will be presented on April 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W., Toronto. Tickets are: $25 for adults; $20 for seniors/students. For additional information call (416) 246-9880.

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