SOUNDS & VIEWS: Vive la France et l'Ukraine (05/12/02)

SOUNDS & VIEWS

by Roman Sawycky

Vive la France et l'Ukraine

On the 951st anniversary of the marriage of France's Henry I and Ukraine's Anna Yaroslavna at Rheims.

One of the most distinguished writers of 16th century France, François Voltaire, penned "The History of Charles XII" (of Sweden) wherein he noted that "Ukraine always yearned for freedom." It was King Charles XII, allied with Ukraine's Kozak leader Ivan Mazepa, that stood against Tsar Peter I under Poltava. That momentous battle determined the future map of eastern Europe. A century after the battle it was still avidly studied by Napoleon.

While Victor Hugo immortalized Hetman Mazepa in his poetry, several early 19th century French painters depicted legendary feats attributed to Mazepa on their canvases. Other Ukrainian themes were explored in the writings and translations of Prosper Mérimée and Honoré de Balzac. And even Jules Verne, the father of modern science-fiction, who became famous for such classics as "Around the World in 80 Days," met success with the mystery novel "Carpathian Chateau."

Ukrainian writers, painters and musicians flourished and shone while in Paris, the proverbial"City of Light." Among these was the very young and incredibly talented painter Maria Bashkirtseva, author of a celebrated diary. More recently, distinguished painters Mykola Hlushchenko and Alexis Gritchenko (Hryshchenko) even assumed a joint Ukrainian-French identity; the same can be said of two composers who settled in France, Fedir Akimenko and the contemporary Marian Kouzan. Music careers that blossomed included those of singers Evuhenia Zarytska and Myroslav Starytsky, who was awarded the key to the city of Paris for his outstanding performances. The award-winning film director Eugene Deslaw brought much sparkle to the screen while working in France.

The celebrated 20th century French cubist painter Fernand Léger taught such Ukrainian artists as Mykhailo Moroz and Sviatoslav Hordynsky, both active until recently in the New York area. Ukrainian lecturers as well as graduates of the Sorbonne have yet to be counted.

Cases are on record when French was the preferred language in titling Ukrainian music works. Beethoven, for example, chose French titles for his chamber music on Ukrainian folk themes. When Ukrainian became forbidden in print and performances - as a result of the unprecedented edict issued in 1863 by the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Pyotr Valuyev - Ukraine's national composer Mykola Lysenko could not conduct his new choral setting about a merry drizzle, using the original folk text: "Doschyk, doschyk, kapaye dribnenko," so he had the folksong translated and performed in French.

Virtuoso conductor Alexander Koshetz toured Europe with his famous Ukrainian cappella after World War I. When French audiences heard his rendition of the Christmas classic known in America as "Carol of the Bells," a French choir volunteered to perform the piece, not in the original of course, but in a French remake.

The multi-talented and Paris-educated Sviatoslav Hordynsky, who in addition to being an artist was a poet and translator, translated from various languages into modern Ukrainian. In about 1960 he produced Ukrainian versions of French poetry by Hugo, Baudelaire, Mauriac and Apollinaire.

Last but not least on our list of French enthusiasm for things Ukrainian: celebrated French character actor Harri Baur is remembered as the lion of French cinema throughout the 1930s. He portrayed the genius of Beethoven and the heroics of the Ukrainian Kozak chieftain Taras Bulba with dramatic strength and conviction.

When the composer of the revolutionary "Symphonie Fantastique," Hector Berlioz, first heard the Imperial Court Cappella (a distinguished choir of St. Petersburg, composed mostly of voices imported from Ukraine), he waxed enthusiastic about the Ukrainian basses. His praise of the sacred choral music of Ukrainian composer Dmytro Bortniansky of St. Petersburg resulted in his many performances of this music. In addition, Berlioz wrote an analytical article on Bortniansky's unique style; it was published in the French journal Debats.

The major French composer Maurice Ravel, master of orchestration and one of the most influential musicians of the century, toured Europe in late 1931 conducting his own works for orchestra. Through articles by Antin Rudnytsky and, more recently, O. Zakharchuk it became known that Ravel also visited the western Ukrainian city of Lviv in the spring of 1932. On March 16, 1932, he conducted his "La Valse," "Bolero," the Piano Concerto and other scores at the Lviv Opera Theater.

The press was enthusiastic, and Ravel himself praised the opera house orchestra. His words are a matter of record: "We had very few rehearsals ... and my works are not easy to perform. Nonetheless, the orchestra carried out its task successfully. This concert will certainly remain one of my finest recollections of the city of Lviv."

Interestingly enough, three decades later the Lviv Opera produced "Bolero" in a new guise, premiering the work as a ballet scene. Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," as orchestrated by Ravel, ends in what became the cycle's grandest canvas - "The Great Gate of Kyiv." This return to medieval Ukraine recalled the times of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, ruler and benefactor, and his daughter, Princess Anna, who became a ruler in the West, as the queen of France.

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