Ukrainian Galician composer, conductor, priest of the UGCC.
Biography.
He was born in the village of Lopinka in Lemkivshchyna (destroyed in 1946-1947; now a tract in Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland) in the family of a local priest.
He first studied at a choral school in Przemysl, then at the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary in Lviv. He studied music under the tutelage of Vincent Sersavius, as well as the regent of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Przemyśl, F. Lorenz. In 1849 he was ordained and for several years served as a parish priest in the village of Lopushnytsia (now Starosambir district, Lviv region). Later he moved to Przemyśl, where he held the position of prefect (mentor) at the seminary (1850-1854).
He directed the choir of the deacon-teacher school. At the same time, he was engaged in composing, writing music for church choirs, as well as secular songs based on literary works. His songs "Gen, Gen, Far Away" (based on poems by P. Leontovych), "The Russian River" for male choir (based on words by J. Holovatsky), and "The Widow's Lament" (based on poems by A. Lazhetsky) played an important role in the development of secular music in Galicia (critics consider Lavrivsky to be one of the co-creators of a new compositional style), and the local press called him "a worthy deputy of Mykhailo Verbytsky."
He was the administrator of the Greek Catholic parish in Krakow (1854-1861), and from 1861 he was a parish priest. He published a monograph on the Krakow parish, prepared for publication an ancient manuscript on the history of the Greek Catholic Church, and focused much attention on cultural and educational work.
In 1863-1866 he lived in Lviv (he was the director of the choir of the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary). He composed music for the Ruska Besida professional theater, which had just been established in Galicia. However, three of Lavrivsky's compositions were not performed on stage for various reasons, including political ones (there were well-known claims about the work "Mr. Dovhonis"). During 1866-1873, he lived in the town of Kholm (now Lublin Voivodeship, Poland). At the suggestion of the Russian government, he worked as a vice rector and professor at the Greek Catholic Theological Seminary, taught theology, liturgy, and church singing, served as rector of the cathedral parish, was a cathedral canon and member of the consistory, and wrote liturgical compositions for choirs.
His works
Lavrivskyi's works are dominated by secular and spiritual choral music. Elegiac moods are expressed in mournful psalms, choruses "Eternal Memory", "Holy Spirit", etc., as well as in the "landscape" choruses "Autumn" (based on the poem by M. Ustianovych), "To the Nightingale", "Thought" (based on the words by P. Leontovych), and "Farewell Song" (based on the words by an unknown author). The social upsurge of Ukrainians in Galicia after the "Spring of Nations" of 1848 inspired Lavrivskyi to create such works as "Hey, Brothers, Sincerely and Boldly" (based on a poem by M. Shashkevych), "Cossack to Torban" (based on words by I. Hushalevych), and others.
He died in the town of Kholm.
