Ukrainian composer, conductor, teacher, art critic, candidate of art history.
Biography
Roman Sovyak was born on June 9, 1938 in the picturesque village of Lishnya on the banks of the Bar River, 5 kilometers northwest of the city of Drohobych, along the road from Drohobych to Sambir. At home, the Sovyak family loved to sing, so from an early age, Roman was fascinated by folk songs, carols, scherdrivkas, and folk songs. His childhood fell on the years of war, the heroic struggle of the Ukrainian people against enslavement by the criminal Bolshevik regime. That is why the patriotic rifle songs and songs of the UPA soldiers burned so deeply into his soul.
Education
A musically gifted village boy masters the bayan on his own and enters the Drohobytsky Music School, where he studies playing the bayan, singing, conducting and other musical disciplines. After successfully completing his studies at the school in 1957, he continued his musical education at the Lviv Conservatory. First, in the class of the founder of the Lviv accordion school Mykhailo Oberyukhtin (1957-1961). Subsequently, he was transferred to the faculty of choral conducting in the class of Honored Artist of Ukraine, associate professor Yevhen Vahnyak (1961-1962). Performing and composing professionalism, an active civic position were formed here. In parallel with his studies, he teaches at the Lviv Music and Pedagogical School (1959 — 1962).
After completing his studies at the conservatory in 1962, Roman Sovyak was sent to the Khmelnytskyi Music School, where he worked as a teacher until returning to Drohobych in 1964. Here begins the fruitful period of his musical career, connected with the cultural life of Drohobych, which becomes his hometown. From September 1, 1964, he was accepted as a teacher of the Department of Music and Singing of the Drohobytsk Pedagogical Institute, from which he was dismissed on February 10, 1965 in connection with the transfer to the position of head of the orchestra of the Academic Music and Drama Theater, head of the musical part of the theater.
Since 1968, Roman Sovyak's creative and pedagogical activity has been associated with the Drohobytsk Pedagogical Institute, where he successively worked as a teacher of the conducting department (1968), senior teacher (1982), associate professor (1989), professor (2000) of the department of musical methods education and choral conducting. At the music and pedagogical faculty of the university, he taught conducting, related disciplines, and led course choirs.
In 1984, he defended his candidate's thesis on the topic "The problem of the formation of Western Ukrainian romance of the 19th and early 20th centuries" with the award of a candidate of art history degree.
Creative activity
As a composer, Roman Sovyak left behind four collections of original compositions and masterful arrangements of folk songs: "You have risen, my Ukraine!" (1992), "Kalynova Halychyna" (1997)", "We were born at a great hour" (2003) and "Hallowed, free Ukraine!" (2006). The development of Roman Sovyak's compositional talent is quite his work in the 1960s in the theater of Drohobych contributed to this, where he arranged musically for more than one performance, skilfully and with a sense of tact, combining folk song music with other people's and his own composer's melodies.
The composer's works include original works and arrangements of songs, mainly folk songs. Roman Sovyak writes primarily on the texts of classic poets — M. Shashkevich, T. Shevchenko, B. Lepkoy, V. Sosyura. The first edition of R. Sovyak's arrangements of folk songs "You have risen, my Ukraine!" (1992) was composed mainly of the composer's works that were included in the repertoire of the "Beskid" folk choir. The collection includes well-known spiritual and folk songs: "God, listen to the prayer!" — arrangement of the well-known song-prayer (1990), "You are risen, my Ukraine!" (1992), "Sad Trembito" — a song by R. Kupchynskyi worked on in 1990. "Oh, the shooters of Sichovia were sad" — a folk version of the melody was recorded in 1990 at Pokutta by the daughter of the composer Dzvenislav Sovyak. At the same time, this melody was developed for a male choir. The collection also included such works as "Give me a hand in farewell, girl", "Once upon a time, sweet girl", "May's night", "For Ukraine", "Whether it's a storm, whether it's a thunder", "Get up - you're free , my people!", "Stand up brothers!", "Love Ukraine!" etc.
The collection of patriotic songs by Roman Sovyak "We were born in a great hour" was started during his work at the Drohobytsk Music and Drama Theater. These were arrangements of Ukrainian patriotic choral songs for dramatic works, in particular, for a play based on the historical play by B. Grinchenko "The Steppe Guest". The following patriotic choral songs were timed to celebrate heroic dates and events in the history of Ukraine. The continuation of the heroic themes in the composer's work was realized in the song collection "Svyatsia, Ukraine is free!" published in 2006, which included 9 arrangements of insurgent songs and 5 original works.
The artist felt special respect for the work of Ivan Franko, from whose family he came. Inspired by admiration for the countryman's creativity, he created romances for his poetic works, music for his dramatic works. The pearls of his musical creativity were "Stonesmith", "Thunderauspicious time is coming" for a mixed choir, "Spring" for a cappella women's choir, "Books - the depth of the sea" for women's choir with accompaniment, "Dry, drizzly, drizzly snow..., "Earth, my all-fruitful mother!. .” for baritone soloist and male choir with piano accompaniment and an edition for mixed choir (1989). In 2006, the collection of choral works "Three Choirs on the Words of Ivan Franko" was published.
Roman Sovyak was a professional composer, a member of the Drohobytsk branch of the Union of Composers of Ukraine.
As a conductor, Roman Sovyak was formed in a theater and orchestra environment. From 1990 until the end of his life, Professor R. Sovyak led the People's Choir Chapel "Beskid", replacing Stepan Stelmashchuk in this function. In the 1990s pp. the collective becomes a laureate of regional and all-Ukrainian festivals. In particular, in 1990, at the First Festival "Cossack Songs", the choir's performance of the song "Pour, brothers, crystal bowls" by V. Lisovol and V. Kryshchenko, arranged by R. Sovyak, was awarded the "Audience Prize". The team took part in the "Music of Ukrainian Abroad" festival, was a participant in the International Sacred Song Festival in Košice (Slovakia), made concert trips to Ukraine and the cities of Poland and Slovakia. The programs of these tours demonstrated the richness of Ukrainian songs and the creativity of regional artists. As a conductor, R. Sovyak also cooperated with the Boyan Drohobytskyi folk male chamber choir, the Lviv "Homin" choir, the "Homin" male choir of the Union of Ukrainians in Great Britain. With these collectives, especially with the men's choir "Beskid", performing the works of classics and modern composers, promoting Ukrainian choral music and author's works, R. Sovyak developed a wide and fruitful activity. R. Sovyak's vocal and choral works are written with excellent knowledge of the performing capabilities of their groups, written in such a way as not to overstrain the performing apparatus, but to help the interpreter show his strengths.
The cover of Roman Sovyak's book "Ostap Nyzhankivskyi"
R. Sovyak's research interests in musicology were aimed at researching the contribution of prominent representatives of culture and art in Drohobych region: Ivan Franko, Ostap Nyzhankivskyi, Yevhen Kozak. An important development was the highlighting of figures of Ukrainian composers who had been forgotten for a long time: M. Verbytskyi, S. Vorobkevych, D. Sichynskyi, M. Zavadskyi, M. Hayvoronskyi, Ya. Barnych, B. Barvinskyi, and others.
In 1994, Roman Sovyak published the first monograph on the life and work of the outstanding composer, conductor, public figure, father of the Greek Catholic Church, Ostap Nyzhankivskyi, in which he analyzed in detail the best works of O. Nyzhankivskyi, outlined the ways of further research of this extraordinary creative personality, sincere patriot of Ukraine. The book served as the basis for the creation of the documentary film "Priest, Milkman, Music", realized by the State Television and Radio Company "Kultura" and was republished for the 100th anniversary of the tragic death of the singer of the Galician land.
On December 11, 2007, Roman Sovyak passed away. He was buried in his native Lishna.
Selected musical works
Sovyak R. You resurrected, my Ukraine: author's compositions and arrangements in Ukrainian. people. songs for men's choir / R. P. Sovyak. – Drohobych: b. v., 1992. - 71 p. : fig.
Sovyak R. Kalinova Halychyna: solos / R. Sovyak; emphasis M. Logoida; Lviv. VDMI named after M. Lysenko; DDPU named after I. Franko. - Lviv: Spiv Mitusy, 1997. - 60 p.
Sovyak R. We were born at a great hour: coll. songs for men's choir / R. Scoop; inst. sl. O. Yatskiv. – Drohobych: Kolo, 2003. – 96 p. : sheet music
R. Sovyak. Three choirs to the words of Ivan Franko: [collection] / R. Sovyak; [author prev. L. Filonenko; music ed. I. Fryt] ; MES of Ukraine, DDPU named after I. Franko. – Drohobych: Posvit, 2006. – 40 p.
Sovyak R. Be holy, Ukraine is free! : collection of songs for men's choir / R. Sovyak; [lit. ed. and author prev. M. Shalata, music. ed. I. Fryt] ; MES of Ukraine, DDPU named after I. Franko. – Drohobych: Posvit, 2006. – 76 p. : sheet music
Selected musicological publications
Sovyak R. On the question of the traditions of V. Matyuk's "Vesnivka" in Western Ukrainian solo singing of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. / R. Sovyak // Shashkevichiana: coll. of science works / Institute of Ukrainian Studies named after I. Krypyakevich; NAS of Ukraine; DDPU named after I. Franka; Prikarpattia University named after V. Stefanyka. – Lviv; Winnipeg, 2000. - Vol. 3–4: "Russian Trinity" and Prykarpattia. "Russian Trinity" and the culture of the Slavic world. – pp. 715–716.
Sovyak R. Ivan Franko in the life and work of Ostap Nyzhankivskyi / R. Sovyak // Annals of Boykivshchyna. – ZSA-Canada-Ukraine: Boykivshchyna, 2006. – Ch. 2/71(82). – pp. 69–75. - Bibliogr. at the end of Art.
Sovyak R. Mykhailo Verbytskyi / R. Sovyak // Halytska zorya. - 1990. - November 24. (No. 14). - P. 2.
R. Sovyak. Musical and aesthetic education in the pedagogical heritage of V. O. Sukhomlynskyi / R. P. Sovyak // Problems of comprehensive personality development in the pedagogical heritage of V. O. Sukhomlynskyi: theses of scientific-method reports. conference, dedicated. On the 70th anniversary of the birthday of V. O. Sukhomlynskyi (October 30 - October 1, 1988). - Drohobych, 1988.– P. 31–32.
Sovyak R. Ostap Nyzhankivskyi: essay on life and creativity / R. P. Sovyak; [Goal. ed. V. P. Ivanyshyn]. - Drohobych: Renaissance, 1994. - 88 p. : fig.
Sovyak R. Ostap Nyzhankivskyi and his musical and pedagogical heritage: (for the help of a music teacher) / R. Sovyak. – Drohobych: Kamenyar State University of Applied Sciences, 2005. – 198 p. : fig.
Sovyak R. Poet-songwriter of the Franko cohort: to the 70th anniversary of Mykhailo Shalata / R. Sovyak // Our destiny: songs to the words of Mykhailo Shalata / arranged. : P. Gushovaty, R. Sovyak; author inst. Art. and music ed. R. Sovyak. – Drohobych, 2007. – P. 3–12.
Soviak R. Sonata for piano in A minor: ed. manual with disciplines "The main musical instrument (piano)" / R.P. Sovyak; [ed.-ed., inst. sl. L. Filonenko]. – Drohobych: Posvit, 2015. – 24 p. - In memory of the author on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of his birth.
R. Sovyak. Folklore activity of Ostap Nyzhankivskyi / R. Sovyak // Annals of Boykivshchyna / [ed. number : N. Hrynash, M. Zymomria, M. Ilnytskyi, etc.; Goal. ed. Ya. Radevich-Vynnytskyi]. - United States of America - Canada - Ukraine, 2004. - Part 2/67 (78). – pp. 80–85.
