Ukrainian composer, musicologist, folklorist, teacher, doctor of musicology (1908), active member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. People's Artist of the USSR (1969), Hero of Socialist Labor (1979), Knight of the Order of Lenin (1979).
Biography
He was born on January 24, 1879 in Dolishno-Lezajsky suburb, in the town of Yaroslav (Poland), he was the fourth child in the family (three brothers — Maximilian, Alfred, and Adolf — died). After graduating from the higher gymnasium in Yaroslavl in 1897, he studied at the University of Lviv at the department of Ukrainian and classical philology of the faculty of philosophy (1898-1901), where the main direction of his studies was Ukrainian philology, and additional ones — philosophy and classical philology. At the same time, he was a free listener at the conservatory of the Galician Musical Society (1897-1899). He studied the theory of composition independently from his pianist mother, as well as from Mechyslav Soltys (Lviv), Oleksandr von Zemlinsky and H. Gredener (Vienna).
In 1901, he obtained a diploma as a teacher of Ukrainian and Latin languages and worked as a teacher in gymnasiums in Lviv and Przemyśl for two years. In particular, one of his students at the Lviv Gymnasium was Ivan Krypyakevich. He edited the magazine "Artistic Herald" (1905-1907). In 1906, in Przemyśl, Stanislav Lyudkevich met the actor and theater director Mykola Sadovsky (1856—1933) and Hnat Hotkevich (1877—1938). In 1907-1908, he studied at the musicological faculty of the Institute of Music and History of the University of Vienna (Austria), received the degree of doctor of philosophy in the field of music.
One of the organizers of the Mykola Lysenko Higher Music Institute in Lviv, where he first served as an inspector, and in 1910-1915 - its director and teacher, from 1919 - a teacher of theoretical disciplines and branch inspector (among famous students - Galina Golynska). From 1936, he was an inspector of its branches. In September 1919 he returned to Lviv. He organized the first Ukrainian symphony orchestra at the Lysenko Musical Society.
The Institute of Church Music was established in Lviv, where Stanislav Ludkevich taught. Collaborated with the city choir society "Boyan", "Bandurist", "Surma".
In 1930-1933, he edited the musical part of the "Book of Knowledge" - a three-volume Ukrainian general encyclopedia, compiled the Small Musical Encyclopedia as an appendix to the "Boyan" magazine. In 1934, Stanislav was elected head of the musicological section of the Union of Ukrainian Professional Musicians.
Since 1936, the head of the musicological commission of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.
Since 1939, he has been a professor, head of the Department of Theory and Composition at the Lviv Conservatory. At the same time, in 1939-1951 (with a break in 1941-1944), he was a senior researcher at the Lviv branch of the Institute of Folklore of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1941-1944, he was a teacher of theoretical disciplines at the House of Folk Art.
He advocated the preservation of Ukrainian traditions, a respectful attitude towards outstanding figures of the Ukrainian people. In 1919, he organized a concert honoring the memory of deceased composers. In 1948, he categorically refused to condemn the composer Vasyl Barvinskyi, in 1963 he signed a letter to the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Leonid Brezhnev, about the release and rehabilitation of the artist.
He died in Lviv, buried at the Lychakiv cemetery, field No. 3. In 1989, a monument created by sculptors Mykola Posikira, Yaroslav Skakun and Lyubomir Yaremchuk was erected on his grave.
Art
The most grandiose works of the composer include the cantata-symphony "Caucasus", based on Shevchenko's poem of the same name. The composer completed the first part of the work in 1905, the entire score in 1913. The premiere took place in 1914 in Lviv by the choir of the "Boyan" society at a concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Kobzar's birth. The author conducted.
Lyudkevich created the cantata "Testament" for the 120th anniversary of Shevchenko's birthday (1934). Its first performance took place in 1935 (Lviv Choir "Boyan" under the direction of the author). In the 1950s, Lyudkevich re-edited the cantata, and in this form it became one of the best examples of the cantata-oratorio genre.
honors
1964 — State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR named after Taras Shevchenko for the symphony-cantata "Caucasus" and the vocal-symphonic cantata "Testament" to the words of works of the same name by Taras Shevchenko.
1969 — People's Artist of the USSR.
January 23, 1979 - Hero of Socialist Labor.
Musical works
"Eternal revolutionary" (1898).
"Free Ukraine" (1912-1914, second edition - 1939).
"The Last Battle" (1914).
Cantata-symphony "Caucasus" based on a poem by Taras Shevchenko (1902—1913).
Opera "Bar Kochba" (1926, unfinished).
The symphonic poem "The Stonemasons" (1926, second edition — 1956).
"Striletska Rhapsody" (1928) (second edition — 1956 under the title "Galician Rhapsody").
Cantata "Testament" based on a poem by Taras Shevchenko (1934, second edition — 1955).
The symphonic poem "Spring Girl" (1935).
Cantata "The Mercenary" based on a poem by Ivan Franko (1941).
"The Conquistadors" (1941).
Symphonic poem "Dnipro" (1947).
The symphonic poem "Song of the Young Men" (1948).
"The Carpathian Symphony" (1952).
Opera "Dovbush" (1955).
The symphonic poem "Don't Forget Young Days" (1956).
The symphonic poem "Our Sea" (1957).
Symphonic poem "Moses" (1962).
The symphonic poem "Chacon" (1964).
Piano and violin concerts.
Choral compositions based on texts by Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, Markiyan Shashkevych, Maksym Rylsky, and others.
Processing of folk songs ("Hagilka", "Oh, Moroze, Morozenku", "Let the rooster fool you", "About Bondarivna").
Solos ("Sleep, my child").
Musicological works
"Research and articles" (1976) — theoretical studies, musical explorations, journalism.
Research, articles, reviews. Vol. 1. — Lviv, 1999. — 495 pp., illustrations.
Research, articles, reviews, speeches. T. 2. — Lviv, 2000. — 815 pp., illustrations.
Lyudkevich S. General basics of music: (music theory) Stanislav Lyudkevich. — Kolomyia: Overprinted by "Zag. book collections", 1921. — 136 p.
Memory
Streets are named in his honor in many cities of Ukraine, in particular, in Lviv, Pustomyty, Stryi, Kolomyia, Kamianets-Buzky. In addition, a memorial museum of Stanislav Lyudkevich was created in the building on the street of the same name in Lviv, and an artistic memorial table with a high relief of the composer (authorship of sculptors Volodymyr and Vasyl Odrekhivskyi) was installed on the facade of the museum building.
A music award named after S. Lyudkevich. In Lviv, a music college is named after him.
On January 24, 2004, in the premises of the Main Post Office of Lviv, a solemn special redemption of the anniversary stamp for the 125th anniversary of the birth of Stanislav Lyudkevich took place. The composer's wife, Zenovia Stunder, was the first to redeem (put a special stamp on the envelope) the jubilee stamp.
In the hometown of Stanislav Lyudkevich, Yaroslavl, after years of efforts by the Ukrainian community in Poland, appeals and letters from officials, famous musicians from Ukraine, the city council decided to rename Tatarska Street to Lyudkevich Street. This street symbolically leads from the Greek Catholic Church to the Roman Catholic Collegium, thus connecting the two main national communities that have lived on this land for centuries. The solemn consecration and ribbon cutting on the occasion of the renaming of the street took place in May 2010.
In 2017, the music agency "Collegium Musicum" launched the festival "Ludkevich Fest", dedicated to the figure of the composer Stanislav Ludkevich and his era. The first festival took place in Lviv on September 8-17, 2017. The cycle "Collection of Liturgical Songs", written in 1922, as well as almost all of the composer's solo piano works, was played for the first time at the festival.
The sculptors Vasyl Odrekhivskyi (1959, 1975, 1980), Yevhen Dzindra (1979, relief), Yaroslav Loza (medal, 1980), Petro Dzindra (1983, plaque) embodied Lyudkevich's image in their works.
