Ukrainian composer, author of music for children and youth.
Biographical information
Shapovalenko Volodymyr Pavlovych was born on July 9, 1932 in Poltava, in a family of teachers.
His mother, Oleksandra Maksymivna Shapovalenko (Savchenko), the daughter of a hereditary honorary citizen, worked as a primary school teacher, and his father, Pavlo Petrovych Shapovalenko, from a family of clergy, was a singing teacher and leader of choirs that won numerous competitions. As a preschooler, he composed his first song "About Our Mother," which received favorable reviews from musical circles.
In 1941, he graduated from the 1st grade. During the German-Soviet war, he lived in the territory occupied by the German invaders - Poltava, studied at a music school, piano class with N. Kozynenko and O. Shkliar. He did not study at a secondary school, he studied under the program of the 2nd and 3rd grade with his mother. After the liberation of Poltava, he was admitted to the 4th grade of the 20th Railway School, where he studied until 1947. By the same time, he had graduated from the children's music school, where he studied music theory with a pupil of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, O. Vazhenin. He also played the violin, sang in the choir at a secondary school, was fond of theater, went to various performances and even participated in them. With the help of his father, Volodymyr Shapovalenko mastered conducting, and after graduating from high school he worked as a choirmaster in amateur groups, and then in the choir of the Poltava Locomotive Repair Plant. From 1948 to 1951, he studied at the 7th, 1st, and 2nd schools for working youth, worked as a freelance correspondent for the Poltava Regional Radio Committee, and as a concertmaster of the choir of the Poltava Meat and Dairy Industry College.
His songs were published in the collection "Golden of our harvest", in the newspaper "Zorya Poltavshchyny", and later on they were broadcast on the radio.
Participation in the republican review of young talents in 1951 finally decided the young man's fate. Lev Mykolaiovych Revutskyi, a classic of Ukrainian music who headed the jury, praised the young musician and advised him to continue his studies. It so happened that this famous composer was the one who took Volodymyr's entrance exams to the Tchaikovsky Kyiv Conservatory.
In 1951, he entered the 1st year of the composition faculty of the Tchaikovsky Kyiv State Conservatory, then transferred to the composition faculty of the Lysenko Lviv Conservatory, but returned to Kyiv and resumed his studies at the Kyiv State Conservatory, where he later graduated. At this time, he began to compose a cappella choral works "Lily of the Valley", "Elegy" based on poems by O. Oles, songs, etc. The "Waltz of Love", which was born in collaboration with the Poltava poet A. Pashko, became popular.
From 1960 to 1967, he worked as a musical director of literary programs at the State Radio Committee of Ukraine. In 1967, he was appointed head of the music department of the Ukrainian Touring and Concert Association. After a sabbatical, he returned to the Broadcasting Department for Children and Youth of the State Television and Radio Committee of Ukraine, where he worked until his untimely death.
Creative work
Volodymyr spent a lot of time in the control room, where programs for children and youth were edited. He filled every fairy tale, story, or radio show with the most poetic musical colors. The composer wrote many works for children in various genres: songs, operettas, musicals, music for television shows, cartoons, and puppet theater performances. Departing from the academicism that prevailed at the time, he introduced elements of pop genres into his music. The most important means of musical expression for him is a melody - bright, with a clear structure, well remembered. V. Shapovalenko also revealed his melodic gift in symphonic works such as "Overture" and "Image".
His operetta "Marriage with Adventures" became popular, which was successfully performed in theaters in Chernihiv, Uzhhorod, Ivano-Frankivsk, Simferopol, Luhansk, and Kyiv. V. Shapovalenko is the author of more than 180 works of various genres. The management of the National Radio Company of Ukraine petitioned the Kyiv Organization of the Union of Composers of Ukraine to award Volodymyr Pavlovych the title of "Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine" for his contribution to the development of Ukrainian music.
Cinematographic works
He is the author of music for the cartoon "Viy" (1996, in co-authorship), the cartoon "Chicken in a Cell", the movie "The First Storm" (1972), a number of television films ("Once Upon a Time in Kyiv", 1966), etc.
