Borys Kudryk (June 10, 1897, Rohatyn - March 28, 1952, Potma, Dubravlag, Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) was a Ukrainian musicologist, composer, teacher, conductor, improvisational pianist, skilled accompanist, musician, and music critic, author of a textbook on the history of Ukrainian music ("Overview of the History of Ukrainian Church Music," 1937).
Information about the musician's personal life is rather scarce, which is not surprising, since his posthumous rehabilitation took place only in 1993. Until now, the topic of Kudryk is one of the many taboos in Ukrainian culture, and in the twenty years since his rehabilitation, scholarly interest in Kudryk's figure has not revived.
Childhood, the period of personality formation
The activist was born in the family of a priest, Pavlo Kudryk, and Iryna of the Herasymovych family on June 10, 1897, in Rohatyn. He received his secondary education at the Rohatyn Gymnasium named after Volodymyr the Great, completing seven grades. In parallel with his studies at the gymnasium, he learned to play the piano. He completed the eighth grade of the gymnasium in Vienna, where the Kudryk family moved in 1914.
In 1915, B. Kudryk began his studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Music at the University of Vienna. In 1918 he received a diploma in the specialty: "Musicology and German Philology". In parallel with his studies at the university, he improved his piano playing at the Vienna Conservatory. His professors were outstanding teachers: Eusebiusz Mandyczewski, Guido Adler, Egon Welles, and Max Dietz.
The greatest influence on Kudryk's formation as a scholar was the son of a priest from Chernivtsi, E. Mandychevsky (1857, Chernivtsi - 1929). Kudryk found in him both a mentor and a like-minded person: among his scientific interests, church music occupied a prominent place. Mandychevsky remained in the history of music as a researcher of ancient music and a prolific music editor (a number of works by J. S. Bach, L. van Beethoven, and F. Schubert were published under his editorship), and an employee of the Vienna archives. A good connoisseur of ancient music, Mandychevsky instilled in his students a piety for ancient music and a habit of analyzing musical and historical processes on the basis of archival documents. It is likely that Kudryk also studied composition with Professor Mandyczewski. Kudryk's development as a musicologist was greatly benefited by his studies with Guido Adler, which helped him develop a holistic vision of the historical development of music. This knowledge became a solid foundation for creating musical and historical essays.
After returning to his homeland, Borys Kudryk lived in his hometown for six years and worked in a private Ukrainian gymnasium. The closest person to him at that time was the composer Mykhailo Haivoronsky, who lived in Lviv and worked as a violin teacher at the Lysenko Higher Music Institute. From the letters of his friends, we learn that Borys Kudryk was actively interested in the cultural news of Lviv, which he called "the Galician Gandhavz." He was also interested in the creative success of Mr. Barvinsky.
The mature period of his work
In 1926, Borys Kudryk moved to Lviv. At first, he supplemented his musical education by graduating from the piano class of the Polish Conservatory named after K. Szymanowski. In the same year, he became a lecturer at the Mykola Lysenko Music Institute (history and theory of music). According to Orest Berezevsky's memoirs, among other duties at the institute, Kudryk served as a concertmaster. Berezevsky studied cello in the class of Petro Pshenyczka. "He [Kudryk] accompanied me for student performances. I read the notes primo vista (from a sheet) very well, and in general I knew all the music literature, especially piano literature." In addition, he decided to complete his education, which he had begun in Vienna before the outbreak of the First World War. At that time, the head of the musicology department of Lviv University was Adolf Khybinsky, under whose watchful eye he wrote a paper on "The Work of Ukrainian Composers of the Nineteenth Century, Unified in the Przemysl School" (defended in 1932). In parallel with his studies and work at the VMI, he worked at the Conservatory of the Polish Music Society, as a music teacher at the Vasylian Sisters Gymnasium and the Lviv Theological Seminary. Kudryk's closest associates during his years of study were W. Wytvytskyi and the young Joseph Khomynskyi. The friends often gathered together to listen to music and discuss new scientific works.
In the 1930s, Kudryk's talent was revealed in many ways: he succeeded as a composer, musicologist, teacher, accompanist, lecturer, and music reviewer. However, his compositions did not receive universal recognition, although his choral works (both sacred and secular) and solo singing found their audience. But Kudryk devoted his main creative efforts to the creation of the Ukrainian sonata: he wrote three sonatas for piano and three more for violin and piano, as well as other chamber works in sonata form (string quartet and piano trio). One of the sonatas won an award in the competition of the music section of the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in America (1932). Two years later, Roman Prydatkevych performed the sonata in New York, which was reported in the newspaper Svoboda.
This period of his work includes his first significant successes in musicology. Thanks to Borys Kudryk, the history of Ukrainian church music in Galicia rose to a new level of development. At the invitation of the Theological Academy, the musicologist taught a course on the history of Ukrainian music (from 1933). After some time, Kudryk's efforts led to the creation of the Institute of Church Music at the Academy, which was to study church music. He also formed a library of church music. During these years, he wrote research on topics related to Ukrainian music: "Mykhailo Verbytskyi," "The Era of the Older So-Called 'Partes' Singing," "Participation of the Clergy in Galician-Ukrainian Culture." "Ukrainian Folk Song and World Music" (1927, Prosvita), "Overview of the History of Ukrainian Church Music" (1937). At one time, the textbook was sharply criticized by Oleksandr Koshytskyi and Fedir Steshko, but it has not lost its relevance today.
Later, Kudryk took an active part in the activities of the newly created Union of Ukrainian Professional Musicians, although in his articles he either spoke out against the Union's postulates or remained neutral. This is a rather strange position, given the fact of his cooperation with SUPROM: Kudryk organized concerts and was actively involved in the Ukrainian Music Month.
Borys Kudryk was one of the first well-known musicians in Ukraine to take an active part in the work of Lviv Radio. In 1935, he started a tradition of concerts on the radio with the participation of instrumentalists together with the pianist O. Tsukrovska and the young Ivan Barvinsky (for a certain period, a series of programs called "Corner for Young Talents" was broadcast). The first program featured piano pieces by M. Lysenko, S. Liudkevych, and D. Bortnyansky performed by B. Kudryk.
The later period
After the advent of Soviet power in 1939, Kudryk's life did not change: he performed teaching duties at music schools and continued his compositional work. In 1940, he participated in the plenary session of the Union of Composers as a delegate from Lviv musicians, where he had the opportunity to meet Levko Revutsky, Borys Liatoshynsky, Pylyp Kozytsky, Mykhailo Verikivsky, Kostiantyn Dankevych, Dmytro Shostakovych, Aram Khachaturian, and Dmytro Kabalevsky.
During the German occupation, in addition to teaching, Kudryk collaborated with the Lviv Opera House. He translated librettos from German into Ukrainian. He also arranged piano music for ballets. It is worth mentioning at least the production of Per Gynt based on Grieg's works, which was reported by Lvivski Visti. In addition, the press reports on the staging of K. Galloni's Samodury with music by Borys Kudryk and Lesia Ukrainka's Oderzhyma on the stage of the Literary and Musical Club. This period was the heyday of his journalistic activity. He was actually the only regular contributor throughout the occupation. He also worked as an accompanist at the Veselyi Lviv Theater, despite the fact that this work was not to his liking. It was with the Vesely Lviv troupe that the composer traveled to Vienna, the city of his youth. Despite the unfriendly wartime conditions, the musician planned to stay in the city. It was here in 1945 that he was arrested by the Soviet punitive authorities. From Lviv, the artist was sent to the Dubravlag concentration camp in Mordovia.
The difficult years in the camp are known from the memoirs of his cellmates Andrii Bilynskyi, Orest Berezovskyi, and Volodymyr Kovalyk. It is known that Vasyl Barvinsky was in the same camp with Kudryk. The artists supported each other in every possible way. Kovalyk was destined to become Kudryk's last cellmate. The years 1948-1950, when they were on neighboring bunks, were the last for the exhausted and sick composer.
His main works are
Symphony in E moll
cantata "Hetman's Choice" for mixed choir with piano for 4 hands (words by Taras Shevchenko, 1934, in 2 parts)
choirs - "Folk Hymn" for women's choir and piano (words by V. Samoilenko, 1923), "Call to Church" for male or female choir with soprano or tenor solo (1929), "It's thundering! " for mixed choir (words by I. Franko, 1930), "Oh Ribbon to Ribbon" (1931), "My Thoughts", "Oh I Have, I Have Eyes" (both 1932, for women's choir unaccompanied; all of them. unaccompanied choir, all with words by Taras Shevchenko), "Free Ukraine" for male choir (words by Y. Shkrumeliak, 1934), "To the Dawn of Galicia" for mixed choir (words by M. Ustynovych, 1936), "Spring" for mixed choir with soprano solo (words by Y. Holovatsky, 1937)
sacred choirs - Psalm 132 for women's choir accompanied by piano (words by T. Shevchenko, 1927), Memorial service in memory of A. Vakhnyanyn for mixed a cappella choir (1928), Psalms to David for mixed choir (part 1 - "On the 950th anniversary of the baptism of Rus-Ukraine 988, 1938)
works for orchestra "Hey hoot, mother, hoot", "Hey, don't be surprised, good people", "March of the Kuban Cossacks", "The First Zaporizhzhia March" (all - 1937);
music for dramatic performances;
arrangements of folk songs, solos.
