Voices of Ukraine 1922 – Part 1

For a brief moment following the collapse of empires – Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman, after the First World War – an independent Ukrainian state existed: the Ukrainian People’s Republic. The Ukrainian National Chorus was formed to promote Ukrainian culture abroad and, in a triumph of what must nave been very challenging post-war logistics, it toured to 10 countries in Europe and the Americas. In the USA alone, the choir performed in 115 cities across 36 states.

This recording was made in New York during that tour. A very familiar tune – now known as Carol of the Bells – but here in its original form with the title Shchedryk. Nothing to do with Christmas – it comes from a tradition of songs to welcome the new year by looking for the signs of spring.

The composer of this song (or perhaps more correctly, arranger – as it’s based on a folk melody) was the choral music specialist, Mykola Leontovych. In the early hours of 23 January 1921, he was murdered by an agent of the Cheka – the brutal Soviet secret-police organisation, and predecessor of the KGB – the employer from 1975 to 1991, of Vladimir Putin, the present-day butcher of an independent Ukraine.

Footnote: A few years later, the young George Gershwin heard the choir and was particularly moved be their performance of the Ukrainian lullaby, Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon. It’s possible that a memory of this tune seeped into his composition of Summertime.

[M. Leontovych: Shtchedryk. Ukrainian National Chorus conducted by Alexander Koshetz. Recorded New York, 1922]