Rostyslava Mariia Vitoldivna Bilynska-Temnytska (born 5 March 1890, Stratyn, Rohatyn district, Austria-Hungary - 1968, Newark, USA) was a Ukrainian pianist and teacher. She was the wife of Volodymyr Temnytskyi.
Biography.
Rostyslava Maria Bilynska was born on 5 March 1890 in the village of Stratyn, Rohatyn district, Austria-Hungary, to Father Witold Bilynskyi and Neonila Rybak (daughter of Mykola Rybak and Antonina Levytska). Soon Father Witold was transferred to the large parish of Kotsiubintsi.
When Rostyslava was just 2 years old, her mother died of typhus, so her father invited a musically gifted governess, Maria Hansher, an orphan of a military doctor, to raise his daughters. Already at the age of five, Rostyslava began to learn piano from her. Thanks to Maria Gansher, Rostyslava also learnt German and completed her primary education.
She continued her musical education at the Girls' Institute in Przemyśl (class of Prof. Natalia Kmiecikiewicz), then at the Teachers' Seminary in Chernivtsi, partly as an external student thanks to the training of pianist Gisela Richter (mother of singer Yevheniia Zarytska), a teacher from Vienna. Rostyslava's musical education was also significantly influenced by her maternal uncle Ambrosii Rybak, who was a priest, singer (bass) and composer. Rostyslava also had access to a beautiful Bezendorfer grand piano that belonged to her paternal uncle Liubomyr Bilynskyi, who served in the parish of Vyshnivchyk.
In 1908, Rostyslava entered the Mykola Lysenko Higher Music Institute in Lviv (professors S. Dnistrianska and Mariia Krynytska). In 1909-1910, she studied in Vienna at the Horak Conservatory (Professor Glezner). In 1914, she graduated from the Mykola Lysenko Music Institute, passing the exam before the diploma commission headed by Stanislav Liudkevych.
She worked as a pianist for the Boyan and Banduryst societies.
In 1912, she took part in a large jubilee concert in honour of Ivan Franko held in the Lviv Philharmonic Hall, where Metropolitan Andrey (Sheptytskyi) greeted the Great Stonemason, and later the great actor and director Les Kurbas recited his remarks. The concert was also attended by Les Novyna-Rozlutskyi, Mykhailo Mykysha, Hanna Krushelnytska, and others.
Rostyslava Bilynska gained recognition and was subsequently invited by S. Liudkevych to concerts dedicated to the works of P. Tchaikovsky (she performed a solo "Theme with Variations", Op. 19 and the "Pathetic Symphony" for four hands with O. Ozarkevych-Biretska) and F. Schubert (she performed the Sonata in A-moll). She took part in the concert tour of S. Liudkevych's Banduryst Choir in the cities of Western Ukraine, which also featured the outstanding tenor Mykhailo Mykysha, singer (soprano) Oleksandra Parakhonyakivna, violinist O. Pezhanskyi, virtuoso zitherist Yevhen Kupchynskyi, and others.
In 1917, she headed the musical department of Les Kurbas's Young Theatre. The case file of the UPR leader Volodymyr Chekhivskyi shows that Temnytskyi's brother Omelian and Temnytskyi's wife Rostyslava Bilynska lived with him in Odesa in 1917 and 1918.
After the Poles came to power, Father Witold Bilynski became a parish priest in the town of Skala nad Zbruch, where Rostyslawa Bilynska was staying at the time, caring for sick former UGA and UPR soldiers. Her father contracted typhus there and died in 1919.
In May 1921, Rostyslava married Volodymyr Temnytskyi, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian People's Republic. In 1922, she gave birth to a daughter, Ruta, and in 1924, in the village of Ustia Zelena, she gave birth to a son, Iryney (Orikh), and thus took a break from her musical career. Under Polish rule, she worked as a teacher. From 1926, she lectured at the Stryi Music Institute, later she gave private lectures in Lviv, and from 1938 she taught at the Mykola Lysenko Higher Music Institute.
In 1938, her beloved husband died, and later her beloved daughter Ruta (Areta) died at a young age. Rostyslava continued to teach at music schools in Lviv, then in schools in West Germany, and in 1952 she emigrated to the United States, where she taught piano at the Ukrainian Music Institute.
She passed away in December 1968 in Newark (USA). She was buried at St Mary's Cemetery in Philadelphia (Fox Chase suburb).
Family.
Husband - Volodymyr Mykolaiovych Temnytskyi (1879-1938), was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1919.
Daughter Ruta (Aretha Romana; 1922-1943) had outstanding acting talents, died at a young age.
Iryna's son Yurii (Orikh; 1924-2007) was a historian who lived in the United States.
