Turning the pages back... April 13, 1767 (04/11/99)

Turning the pages back...

April 13, 1767

Artem Vedel, one of the greatest Ukrainian musical talents and composers of liturgical works, was cursed with a tragic end. His life began auspiciously enough. Born on April 13, 1767, in Kyiv to a carpenter, Lukian Vedelsky, he was sent to the Kyivan Academy to study in 1776.

From an early age he was renowned for his beautiful voice, which matured into a tenor, and musical skill, which included aptitude on the violin and an ability to conduct choirs. He served as the conductor of the academy's cappella from the age of 16.

He also began trying his hand at composing chants and choral arrangements of psalms, and was influenced by a fashion, introduced by visiting Italian musicians, for liturgical oratorios and concertos. The results are prime examples of the Kozak Baroque style in Ukrainian music, which he was to perfect in the course of his career.

In 1787, the recently appointed governor general of Moscow, Piotr Yeropkin, asked Kyivan Metropolitan Samiilo Myslavskyi to send him someone to conduct his choir. Myslavsky sent Vedel. When Yeropkin was dismissed in 1790, Vedel remained at his post as conductor of the gubernial choir under Aleksandr Prozorovskyi.

However, Vedel tired of the Russian city, and asked to be allowed to return to Kyiv. His wish was granted in 1792, and for a brief two-year stint he rejoined the academy as choir conductor.

Russian Gen. Andrei Levanidov, commander of the so-called "Ukrainian" Infantry Corps in Kyiv in 1790-1794, visited the city's various churches in search of the best singers for his choir. In 1794 he happened upon Vedel and hired him to serve as conductor. Their association ushered in the happiest period in Vedel's life and certainly the most prolific. In March 1796, when General Levanidov was appointed Governor Gen. of Slobidska Ukraine and moved to the regional capital, Kharkiv, Vedel followed, taking Kyiv's best choristers with him.

Unfortunately, this good fortune didn't last. The accession of Paul I to the Russian imperial throne spelled demotion for Levanidov, who was removed from his post in 1798, leaving Vedel without a patron.

Since Paul also had notions of "foreign [Italian] elements" that had crept into Russian music (issuing a decree on the matter in May 1797), this subjected Vedel to additional pressures. He narrowly escaped mobilization in the army, returned to Kyiv to work in his father's atelier and compose music. All the while, he sought another appointment as a choir conductor, and even considered joining a monastic order at the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra (Monastery of the Caves).

This was to prove a fateful decision. Paul was paranoid about "free-thinkers" and set in motion all manner of police investigations to root them out. In turn, this engendered a contagion of suspicion in various religious orders. In 1799, Vedel fled from the Lavra and set out on a Skovoroda-like journey in the Kharkiv region.

In 1780, based on the testimony of students at the Lavra, who alleged they found "irreverent notes" written in his hand, Vedel was arrested in the village of Okhtyrka, and brought to Kyiv for interrogation. He was ordered imprisoned in a "house for the insane" by Tsar Paul himself, who also issued an edict (akin to that issued against Shevchenko years later) banning him from the use of pen and ink.

The autocrat's death at the hand of disgruntled nobles in March 1801 provided no relief, as his successor, Alexander, was no more lenient nor less suspicious. Vedel died in the asylum on July 26, 1808, leaving a legacy of over 80 works, including various sacred concertos, a liturgy, vespers, music for psalms and paschal hours.

Sources: "Vedel, Artem," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 5 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993); Ihor Sonevytsky, "Artem Vedel: His Life and Legacy" (New York: Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S., 1966); "Nyni Znaiemo Tse: Deshcho Nove do Biohrafiyi Artema Vedelia," Kultura i Zhyttia, No. 42, 1988.

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