About a hundred demonstrators gathered near the famous Stravinsky Fountain in Paris on December 24. These people came to support the “For Fair Elections” rally in Moscow the same day. Entire world’s attention was focused on Moscow and other Russian cities on that day, and it is the current events in Russia that give hope to democratic forces in Europe, America, and Asia. It is very important to understand that Ukraine, due to its historical and cultural heritage, was involved in the current global development processes through this Paris gathering. Is this “automatic” involvement enough? Do Ukrainians understand the importance of their great cultural heritage and their own responsibility as its custodians?
Maks Karpovets, cultural critic:
“The Parisians in Stravinsky Square, while supporting the Russians in their fight against the total rigging of elections, made a very important and ambiguous gesture which has a lot to do with the Ukrainian cultural layer, too. I mean an attempt to identify and preserve the integrity of European identity, where Ukrainians play a key role. It is another matter that most Ukrainians do not know it and have no idea about it, mistakenly believing themselves to be residents of a vast province.
“Stravinsky’s ancestors came from Volyn, and the composer always identified himself with the whole body of Ukrainian traditions and values. These facts automatically actualize codes of our culture, they plug it in global political, historical and mental processes where there are no differences between center and periphery.
“However, amazingly, while Ukrainians try not to interfere in the dialogue of ‘great’ cultures and evade worrying about their problems, they still find themselves at the epicenter of events one way or another. The Parisians, who gathered on December 24, supported not only some Russians’ freedom and choice to pursue decent life, but also Europeans in general and Ukrainians in particular. It goes beyond nationals and aliens, distant and close peoples. All this indicates how important it is to understand and recognize our own involvement in European culture, take care about the common living space, where the principle ‘it is no business of mine’ should yield to the principle of supporting one’s neighbor.”
Olena Ohnieva, Candidate of Sciense in History, Associate Professor of Documentation and Museology at Volyn Lesia Ukrainka National University, exhibition planner for Igor Stravinsky Museum in Ustyluh:
“The world’s only (!) Stravinsky museum operates in Volynian town of Ustyluh. The town was home to three generations of the family, great bass singer at Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg Fyodor Stravinsky, his son, world-famous composer Igor Stravinsky, and the latter’s son, another Fyodor Stravinsky, globally known Swiss and French painter. The Beliankin-Nosenkos’ family residence is preserved in the historical area of Ustyluh, too, and Kateryna Nosenko was Igor Stravinsky’s wife. The composer built his family house nearby which houses now music school and museum. Stravinsky famously remarked about the town, ‘Ustyluh was a little creative paradise for me.’ The town’s best-known event is the music festival ‘Stravinsky and Ukraine.’ The festival’s guests included famous film director Tony Palmer, who made a film about Stravinsky and showed it there for the first time, and Ihor Blazhkov who performed his concert there; the latter artist was once expelled from the conservatory for writing a term paper about Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird. The Dumka National Choir came to Ustyluh with Stravinsky’s Les Noces, and the town was second only to Kyiv to hear the cantata sung. Lutsk School of Fine Arts is named after Stravinsky, and Volynian artists are awarded Stravinsky Prize. Students at Volyn Lesia Ukrainka National University write research papers on Stravinsky’s creative legacy, we publish pamphlets and collections of articles about it. Thus, Stravinsky is truly significant figure for Volyn, he is one of the cultural symbols of the land.”
