Danylo Petrovsky (born 15 December 1889, Kalmytsia, Poltava region - died in the USA?) was a Ukrainian activist, a member of the Katerynoslav "Prosvita" from 23 February 1914. During the 1917 national revolution, he founded the Ukrainian national choir in Sicheslav. He worked in the collection service of the Catherine Railway.
Activities in Katerynoslav as a chorister and member of the "Prosvita"
"In Katerynoslav itself," Isaak Mazepa recalled, "with the active participation of the workers, a Ukrainian choir was organised, which performed at various concerts, parties, etc. under the direction of D. Petrivskyi..."
And here is what the Yekaterinoslav newspaper Narodna Zhyttia wrote in April 1918:
"In the city of Katerynoslav, under the direction of D. Petrovsky, a Ukrainian national choir of girls and boys numbering up to 50 souls was formed. This choir had performed before at various festivals and always satisfied the audience... On 21 (8) April, an evening of singing and recitations was held in the Winter Theatre for the first time. The place was packed with people."
"Danylo Petrivskyi, a railway employee, performed a good service for the cultural development of Ukrainian workers in the Katerynoslav industrial centre." (Now in America), Panas Fedenko recalled in a book published in London in 1954, "Petrivskyi graduated from the music conservatory as a baritone singer, but his throat catarrh prevented him from pursuing a career as an artist.
However, as an employee of the railway directorate, he devoted all his creative work to organising choirs among Ukrainian workers. A profound connoisseur of Ukrainian folk music, Petrivsky instilled this love of folk song in his choral students. The Ukrainian choirs of Petrivsky, a member of the USDRP, were unrivalled in Katerynoslav. I. Mazepa often mentioned Petrivsky as an example of an exemplary ideological worker, and he was also on friendly terms with him in exile."
On 9 (22) November 1917, as a response to the Third Universal of the Central Rada, a parade of Ukrainian troops and a demonstration parade around the city took place in Katerynoslav, as described in his memoirs by General M. Omelianovych-Pavlenko. The cathedral hosted a Divine Liturgy, "celebrated in Ukrainian, with Petrovsky's colossal choir singing..."
Later, Petrovsky left Katerynoslav. Among the books announced in the publications of the Ukrainian Publishing House in Katerynoslav (Branch for Right-Bank Ukraine, Katerynoslav-Kamianets-Leipzig), there is one: "Ten songs in the schedule of D. Petrovsky. " (Last page of the publication: M.O. Kovalevsky. History of Greece and Rome. For school and self-study. 1920).
Internment in Poland
In 1920-1921, Petrovsky was interned together with Ukrainian military units interned by the Polish authorities in Tarnów, Poland. From the memoirs of Maria Livytska (1879-1971):
"Of course, like everywhere else where Ukrainians gathered, a choir was organised, in which all the singing youth participated. The conductor was Professor Steshko, and later Mr Petrivskyi. Several times a week there were singing sessions." In the spring of 1922, young people from the camps began to gradually move to the Czech Republic. "Meanwhile, the young people who still remained in Tarnów continued to waste their time," Maria Livytska recalled, "they often gathered at our house, despite the cramped conditions in the house... often these young people improvised home concerts, especially when the conductor, Mr. Petrivskyi, came.
Moving to Zakarpattia
According to academician Mykola Mushynka, in 1929, Petrivskyi graduated from the Ukrainian Academy of Economics in Podebrady (Czech Republic) and moved to Zakarpattia. There, after Rosynevych-Shchurovska, he took over the management of her choir. Platonyda Shchurovska-Rosyniewicz (1893-1973) was the organiser and director of the choir at the Banduryst Choral Society in Uzhhorod (1934-1936).
Isaac Mazepa recalls Petrovsky as a later professor at the Ukrainian Teachers' Seminary in Uzhhorod, then in Khust in Carpathian Ukraine. And Panas Fedenko mentions Petrovsky among Mazepa's friends and acquaintances who helped him during the famine of 1945 in postwar Augsburg in Germany. Later, Petrowski moved to the United States.
