In many respects this festival could be described as symbolic – not only because of being held at Easter time (April 27 – June 4) and the composer’s dates of death (April 24) and birth (May 25) – as though drawing a death-birth parallel, but also because it revived many compositions heretofore completely forgotten (the author would have been 120 years old), performed precisely as written. For a long time Stetsenko’s biography and creative legacy were presented in a one-sided view. The current festival was originated, among others, by the Kyrylo Stetsenko International Foundation head, the composer’s grandson Kyrylo Stetsenko the Younger. He kindly agreed to an interview, focusing on the phenomenon of originality and unexpected relevance of his grandfather’s brilliant legacy.
The Day: Mr. Stetsenko, in all honesty this festival turned out to be a great revelation for many, making them see your grandfather’s heritage in an altogether different light. Was there any true surprise for you personally?
K. S.: I would say that the greatest surprise was seeing the festival actually take place. For the first time after Ukraine gained independence the jubilee was marked at the national level. Indeed, the composer’s legacy is worth being discussed both within and without Ukraine.
During the festival, a true Stetsenko returned, unbeknownst to many. I have in mind his religious and patriotic music in the first place, romances, choral, and dramatic compositions to the lyrics of poets later known as representing the generation of the so- called executed renascence of the 1920s. Of the seven festival concerts, five were real premieres. The Kyiv Frescoes religious choir presented a canonical rendition of three masterpieces: Mass for the Dead, All Night Vigil, and John Chrysostom Liturgy. Also, the premiere of the solo opera Iphigenia in the Land of the Taurians, using the author’s orchestration. To stress the continuity of generations and honor the composer’s memory, we staged the Easter folk festival on the second holy day. Few others have loved and understood folks songs the way he did, or done as much as he did to bring them onto the big stage. We wanted to show the real authentic folk sources which Stetsenko said were his source of inspiration and the construction material for his works.
The Day: The premieres are eighty years after the author’s death. Was this not a somewhat belated gesture?
K. S.: Kyrylo Stetsenko has turned out even more contemporary than at first glance. He was ahead of his time in understanding individual values and emotions. Even then, together with Europe, he distanced himself from the ideology of collectivism, focusing on the revelation of human nature and its finest impulses. This is especially evident in his romances.
Stetsenko also was ahead of his time in studying the subtlest nuances of the human character, his response to the world around him. He was not a modernist in the proper sense of the word, yet somehow close to the French impressionists. His music is saturated so much thet it can be brought into line with that of Anton Webern, although they are separated by time, world outlooks, and cultural environment. Stetsenko’s romances are extremely laconic, precisely detailed, portraying graphic images, shedding new light on the poetry of Lesia Ukrainka, Mykhailo Vorony, and Oleksandr Oles, of whom Stetsenko was especially fond.
The Day: Yet it is true that Stetsenko is not often included in vocal repertoires, compared to European classics or Russian composers.
K. S.: Sad but true, because many of us are still haunted by the inferiority complex; we still have to overcome it. I have often heard that there are no Ukrainian romances, yet Stetsenko alone wrote over fifty, printed in the 1950s. You can find them in many libraries, so it’s not the absence of material but the absence of a desire to reach over and above set stereotypes. I hope that our festival will be a step forward in understanding Stetsenko at other levels.
There is another reason why we don’t hear Stetsenko as often as he deserves. His music requires from the vocalist an extremely delicate spiritual adjustment, so he can convey all the emotional overtones. Vocal mastery alone does not suffice; the performer has to be keenly aware of the composition and this takes a degree of self-sacrifice.
Times change, however, and so do performers. I am happy to have discovered and invited to as festival participants the excellent singer Liubov Kaniuka; she may lack kudos but she has great creative potential. I’m also happy to have the Kyiv Frescoes Choir. Their congenial rendition of Stetsenko’s religious music was an eye-opener.
I am happy that this festival discovered Stetsenko not only for Ukraine, but also the rest of the world. There were many calls after the premieres, also from abroad, and I realized that they regard Stetsenko not as an exotic Ukrainian figure, but as a creative personality with a European way of thinking.
The Day: If you were to present Stetsenko in Europe now, what would you propose?
K. S.: Stetsenko worked in different genres, and everywhere he did something very interesting, so it is hard to choose between them. His music is profoundly individual and inherently Ukrainian. This is always interesting.
Take his solo opera Iphigenia in the Land of the Taurians. Its purity and spiritual intensity equals the best works of Wagner, Scriabin, or The Messiah. In fact, the national opera formed in Europe in the early nineteenth century on a par with the formation of nations. You could say that Wagner and his epic Ring of the Nibelungen laid the foundations of the German nation. Now that our nation is also looking for ways to develop further and assert itself, Stetsenko’s solo opera is perceived in a special way, the more so that the setting is in the Taurian city of Parthenitus, within today’s Ukrainian territory, and the ethic and moral problems involved, sacrificing one’s own interests to carry out a supreme mission, are still relevant. There is a definite epic touch to the music, taking us back thousands of years, yet it is also quite modern, simple and full of light.
Stetsenko’s talent was universal, so much so it cannot be regarded only from one given angle. Preparing the Iphigenia premiere (the score had to be restored, using the composer’s manuscripts kept at the Music Department of the Vernadsky National Library), Vadym Zhuravytsky who made a computer version of the score asked if I wanted to hear some of it. I did and it sounded like New Age. When I heard it on stage I thought that Stetsenko moved parallel to the European fashion. I also think that the state must help stage this opera somewhere in Europe.
The Day: You think that the official attitude toward the problem of culture is changing?
K. S.: It is, as evidenced by this festival, among other things. Frankly, only a year ago I wouldn’t expect that three branches influencing culture in some way or another – I mean the authorities, volunteer organizations, and business – could be combined in such a harmonious manner. We found support in the Ministry of Culture and Composers’ Union, All-Ukraine Prosvita Society, and Kyiv Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Filaret of All Ukraine- Rus’ blessed the festival. We were also assisted by the Kraft Fuchs firm representing the Corona and Milka trademarks, and another firm, Komora, did the recording of the concerts. I am also grateful to our sponsors, including your newspaper. It is evidence that there are changes for the better in Ukrainian society. As I have mentioned, various organizations helped us organize the festival; they were united by concern for Ukrainian culture and its future. Stetsenko is part of that future and all that will attend the closing concert at the National Opera tonight will see that it is really so. By the way, all the concerts were free, meaning that anyone could attend them. You could get an invitation card at the Opera’s box offices.
The Day: This closing concert means the end of the festival. What next?
K. S.: Actually, it’s not the end but just the beginning. We plan a kind of cultural landing operation in the second half of the year, touring Lviv, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, and Cherkasy. We also plan a traveling festival, The Heart of Ukraine. Its route includes Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Vinnytsia oblasts. Add here at least four CDs with Stetsenko music. In other words, Stetsenko’s Easter has begun indeed and I believe that it will be eventually recognized the world over, because the composer deserves it.
THE DAY’S REFERENCE
Kyrylo H. Stetsenko (1882-1922), Ukrainian composer, choir conductor, public figure, clergyman. Graduate of Kyiv Theological Seminary (1903). Music education received at a Kyiv college of music and Mykola Lysenko Music and Drama School. Took lessons in composition from Liubomyrsky. In 1907-10, taught singing in school in Oleksandrovska-Hrushevska (currently the town of Shakhty, Rostov oblast [Russia], Bila Tserkva, and Tyvriv. In 1912, took the vows, settling in Holovo-Rusava (currently part of the village of Oleksandrivka in Vinnytsia oblast). Returned to Kyiv in 1917. Took part in the organization of music life and education, founded a school for kobza-players; worked for the All-Ukraine Music Committee, Department of the Arts under the People’s Commissariat [Ministry] of Education of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1919, was appointed head of the music and choir section, Music Department of Dniprosoyuz in Kyiv. Initiated itinerant choirs and orchestras, organized publication of music, founded a music library; taught at Kyiv’s Lysenko Music and Drama Institute. In December 1920, settled in the village of Vepryk (currently hosting the composer’s house-museum and a statue. Works include Burlaka [The Vagabond], Grow, Flower, Grow, Sodom, Prometheus, The Dream, Clouds, Spring is Here Again, Liberty, Equality, and Love, We Are in the Night, It was a Quiet Night, and They All Lived along with the cantatas To Shevchenko, Let’s Unite, On Holy Sunday , burlesque song King of the Peas, operas Karmeliuk (unfinished), Iphigenia in the Land of the Taurians, A Vixen, a Kitten, and a Little Rooster; music for the plays Matchmaking at Honcharivka; and about fifty a cappella arrangements of Ukrainian Christmas and spring carols, vocal solo parts, three liturgies, Mass for the Dead and The All Night Vigil. Stetsenko organized and participated in numerous concerts commemorating Taras Shevchenko.
