Mykola Ivanovych Lutskyi (15 July 1893, Dychkiv village, now Ternopil district, Ternopil region, Ukraine - 30 April 1974, Velyka Horohanna village, now Mykolaiv district, Lviv region, Ukraine) was a Ukrainian amateur singer (soloist of the Riflemen's Choir), conductor, teacher, participant of the national liberation struggle, Sich Rifleman.
Biography
He was born on 15 June 1893 in the village of Dychkiv (now Ternopil district, Ternopil region, Ukraine) in the family of a deacon-beekeeper. His father, Ivan Lutskyi, came from the village of Krasne, now in the Husiatyn district. His mother was Mariia from the Baranovskyi family of Skalat.
He studied at the Ternopil Ukrainian Gymnasium and the Ternopil Men's Teachers' Seminary. After graduating in August 1914, he joined the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. In 1922-1923, he studied opera singing at the Lviv Opera and Drama Theatre.
Mykola had a heroic tenor voice. He was a soloist and conductor of the Riflemen's Choir, the first performer of some Riflemen's songs. He sang at worship services, gave concerts and performances in Lviv, other villages and towns of Galicia, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
He participated in battles with Russian troops in Galicia. After the Battle of Makivka in the early summer of 1916, he was transferred to a military unit in Velyka Horodianka.
On 1 November 1919, Mykola Lutskyi took over from the Austrian administration. Having taken over the "main butler" of the railway station in Lviv, he defended it from the first minutes of the war.
He took part in the battles for the independence of the ZUNR from the first day of the war until the retreat of the UGA across the Zbruch River. He was the commandant of the ZUNR in Komarno. In Greater Ukraine, during 1919-1922, he participated in the battles of the main military units of the Ukrainian army against the Russian Red and White Guard armies. After returning from the front, he was a soloist at the Lviv Opera House for several months.
Mykola Lutskyi and his wife Tekla devoted the rest of their lives to educational work. From 1923 to 1942, they worked in Mala Horodianka. Later, they worked in the villages of Dovhe, Stryhantsi, Bodnariv, Hromno, and Velyka Horohiannia. Mykola Lutskyi directed school and village singing groups, taught singing in church choirs, and sang in them.
Mykola Lutskyi died on 30 April 1974 in Velyka Horodiannia, where he was buried.
