Ukrainian composer, pianist, teacher.
Biography
Father - Stepan Semenovych Kosenko (d. 1909, Warsaw) - major general of the tsarist army, mother Leopolda Yosypivna (nee Doroshevich, d. 1919, Zhytomyr). Children - Maria, Oleksandr, Semyon and Victor - the youngest.
In 1918, he graduated from the Petrograd Conservatory in composition with N.A. Sokolov and piano with I.S. Myklashevska.
Since 1918, he taught at the Music College in Zhytomyr. From 1929 he taught at the Kyiv Music and Drama Institute (since 1932 - professor). In 1934-37 he worked at the Kyiv Conservatory. Viktor Kosenko entered the history of Ukrainian music, first of all, as an unsurpassed lyricist. His vocal, chamber and symphonic works are filled with romantic intonations of Slavic music and folk songs.
Zhytomyr School of Music named after Viktor Kosenko
Kosenkov, one of the few Ukrainian composers of that time, was lucky enough to receive a European musical education. His childhood was spent in Warsaw. He was truly a child prodigy: even at the age of six, without knowing the notes, he played Beethoven's "Pathetic Sonata" by ear. The boy's unique abilities were developed by the professors of the Warsaw Conservatory. Kosenko continued his musical education at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Its director at the time was the famous Russian composer Oleksandr Glazunov. Assessing Kosenko's giftedness, Glazunov exempted him from tuition fees. In St. Petersburg, the young musician met with Rachmaninoff and Scriabin.
Viktor Stepanovych lived most of his life in Zhytomyr. Here he and his musician friends created an artistic environment that was not inferior to that of the capital. As the singer Zoya Gaidai recalls, their listeners were, first of all, peasants, workers and soldiers. Young Kosenko earned a living by illustrating music for silent films. Contemporaries say that the audience ran after him from cinema to cinema to listen to the amazing playing of the musician: Kosenko was a phenomenal pianist.
While working as a professor at the Kyiv Conservatory, he created the symphonic "Moldavian Poem", which he was never able to hear. It sounded only these days.
Performed as a pianist with solo concerts and in ensembles. V. Kosenko relied on the traditions of Russian (P. I. Tchaikovsky, S. V. Rachmaninov, O. Skryabin) and Ukrainian classics (M. V. Lysenko) in his work, which is diverse in terms of genres and mostly lyrical in nature.
Befriended the opera singer Ivan Patorzhynskyi.
He died on October 3, 1938. He was buried at Baikovo Cemetery (tombstone - granite; sculptor L.V. Sherwood).
Family
In 1920, he married Angelina Volodymyrivna Kanep (née Shumylo-Denbnovetska; born 1893), the former wife of the Estonian colonel Eduard Kanep, and adopted her daughters Iryna and Raisa. In Zhytomyr, he lived with his family in building No. 6 (now No. 10) on Dmitrivska Street. In 1938, the school was named after him.
Writings
Viktor Kosenko left behind dozens of works that were included in the golden fund of Ukrainian piano music. Among them is the "Album of Children's Plays", on which many generations of young pianists grew up.
For symphony orchestra:
Heroic Overture for Symphony Orchestra (1932)
"Moldavian Poem" (1937);
For piano and orchestra:
Concert (1928–37), completed by L. Revutskyi and H. Maiboroda)
Chamber ensembles, including:
Trio 1927
Sonata for cello and piano 1923
Sonata for violin and piano 1927
Sonata for viola and piano 1928
Violin concerto
For piano:
6 poems (1915–21),
2 poems-legends (1921),
3 sonatas (1922, 1924, 1926–30),
2 concert waltzes (1931);
Romances in sl. Ukrainian and Russian poets (P. Tychyna, O. Pushkin, O. Blok, O. Apukhtin, K. Balmont and others);
Songs, processed in Ukrainian. born songs for people unaccompanied quartet (1929–36),
24 works for children, including a cycle of 6 children. Christmas tree songs (1936–37);
Music for the film "The Last Port" (1934, directed by A. Kordyum), performances;
Arrangement and harmonization of Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian. born songs
Etudes, Preludes, Poems, works for the choir.
The ballet "Dawn Poem" (1973, orchestration, later - Symphonic Suite by L. Kolodub, libretto by V. Timofeev) was created to the composer's piano music, staged at the Kyiv Opera and Ballet Theater named after T. Shevchenko and the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theater.
Memory
In 1938, on the advice of the poet Maksym Rylskyi, a memorial office-museum of the artist was opened in Kyiv, on Mykhailo Kotsyubynskyi Street, in building No. 9 (at that time Tymofiivska Street, building No. 11), in apartment No. 4, where Viktor Kosenko lived since May 11, 1938 and to death. The composer's wife, Angelina Volodymyrivna Kanep-Kosenko, took care of the museum. In 1964, the museum officially received national status, and since 2007 - state. Since 2009, it has been called the Museum-apartment of V. S. Kosenko. Personal belongings, manuscripts, a photo archive, the composer's epistolary heritage, editions and gramophone records of his works are kept here.
A memorial plaque (sculptor H. Kalchenko) has been installed on the building.
At Baikovo cemetery, where Viktor Kosenko is buried, there is a monument to the work of sculptor L. Sherwood, arch. A. Ignashchenko (plot No. 8).Kosenko's name was assigned to the Zhytomyr Music School, Kyiv Children's Music School No. 3, streets in Kyiv and Zhytomyr are named after him.
In 2001, the Ministry of Culture and Arts of Ukraine and the NSKU established the Viktor Kosenko Art Award for significant creative achievements in the field of music for children and youth.
