Stefaniia Turkevych-Lisovska, from 1937 Lukianovych, (25 April 1898, Lviv - 8 April 1977, Cambridge) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist and musicologist. She is officially recognised as the first Ukrainian composer. During the Soviet era, her works were banned by the state authorities.
Stefania Turkevych was born on 25 April 1898 in Lviv to a priestly family. She was the first child in the family of a Greek Catholic priest, choral conductor, catechist, and music critic, Father Ivan Emanuel Turkevych (1872-1936)[5] and Sofia Kormosh. She had a younger sister, Iryna Turkevych-Martynets, and a younger brother, Lev Turkevych.
Her grandfather, Father Lev Turkevych, and the future composer's father were priests. His mother Sofia Kormosh was a pianist who studied with Karol Mikul and Willem Kurtz and accompanied the young Solomiya Krushelnytska. The family was a musical one, where everyone played a musical instrument. Stefania played the piano, harp, and harmonium. Later, the composer recalled her childhood and love of music this way:
"The reason for this was my mother, who played the piano beautifully. As a small child, I passionately loved to listen to her play... Well, and then we had a home salon orchestra. We played in the following composition: my father on bass (although he was a piano player, he studied with Prof. Mark), my mother on piano, Lenya on cello, me on harmonium, Mariya and Zenko (students of Prof. Perfetskyi) on violins. Dad also founded our home choir - he set our first steps in music. He never spared any money for our musical education."
Stefaniia first studied at the Mykola Lysenko Higher Music Institute with Vasyl Barvinskyi, and then (1914-1916) in Vienna as a pianist with Willem Kurtz and Jerzy Lyalewicz. After the First World War, she studied at Lviv University, where she studied philosophy, pedagogy, and musicology; the latter with Adolf Hibinsky. Stefania graduated from the university in 1921. At the same time (autumn 1919 - summer 1920), she studied music at the State Teachers' Seminary, and in 1921, she also studied at the Conservatory of the Polish Music Society. In 1921-1923, she continued her studies in Vienna, where she studied with Guido Adler at the University of Vienna and with F. Würer and Joseph Marx at the Academy of Music.
In 1925, she married Robert Lisowski. In 1927-1930, she lived in Berlin, where she studied with Arnold Schoenberg and Franz Schreker. In 1930, she moved to Prague, where she studied composition, first with Otakar Šin at the Prague Conservatory, and later with Vítěslav Novák at the Higher School of Craftsmanship. She also studied with Zdeněk Nějedla (Charles University). In 1934, she defended her dissertation in musicology in Prague. Her dissertation topic: "The Ukrainian Element in Tchaikovsky's The Slippers and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Night Before Christmas and their comparison with Mykola Lysenko's opera A Christmas Carol". Also in autumn 1933, Ms Lisowska taught piano and was an accompanist at the Prague Conservatory.
In 1935-1939, she taught harmony and piano at the Higher Music Institute in Lviv, and from 1939 - at the United Conservatory.
In 1937, she married for the second time, to Narcyz Lukianovych, a psychiatrist who was also a writer. In 1944, the family left for Vienna, from where they moved to England in 1946.
Stefania Lukianowicz died on 8 April 1977 in Cambridge, UK.
Works
Symphonic works
Symphony - Symphony no. 1 - 1937.
Symphony no. 2(a) - Symphony no. 2(a) - 1952.
Symphony no. 2(b) (2nd version) - Symphony no. 2(b) (2nd version).
Symphoniette - 1956.
Three Symphonic Sketches - 3 May, 1975.
Symphonic poem "La Vita".
Space Symphony - 1972.
Suite for Double String Orchestra - Suite for Double String Orchestra.
Fantasy for Double String Orchestra - Fantasy for Double String Orchestra.
Ballets
The Girl with the Withered Hands - Bristol, 1957.
Pearls - The Necklace.
Spring - (Children's Ballet) 1934-5.
Mavka - 'The Forest Nymph' - 1964-7 - Belfast.
Mavka (b) - Mavka - 'The Forest Nymph' - 1964-7 - Belfast.
Scarecrow - 1976.
Opera.
The Nymph (based on Lesya Ukrainka's Forest Song) (unfinished).
Children's operas
Tsar Okh or Heart of Oksana - 1960
The Young Devil - The Young Devil
A Vegetable Plot (1969)
Choral works
Liturgy 1919.
Psalm to Sheptytsky.
For the Battle.
Triptych.
Lullaby (Ah, there is no kitty; 1946).
Chamber and instrumental works
Sonata for violin and piano (1935).
(a) String Quartet, 1960-1970 - String quartet.
(b) String quartet 1960-1970 - String quartet.
Trio for violin, viola and cello 1960-1970 - Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello.
Quintet for two violins, viola, cello and piano 1960-1970 - Piano Quintet.
Trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon 1972 - Wind Trio.
Works for piano
Variations on a Ukrainian Theme 1932 - Variations on a Ukrainian Theme.
Fantasia: Piano Suite on Ukrainian Themes - Fantasia: Suite for Piano on Ukrainian Themes 1940.
Impromptu - Impromptu 1962.
Grotesque - Grotesque 1964.
Mountain Suite - Mountain Suite 1966-1968.
Cycle of Pieces for Children 1936-1946.
Ukrainian carols and shchedrivka - Ukrainian carols and Shchedrivka.
Good Tidings.
Christmas with Harlequin 1971.
Miscellaneous.
Heart - Solo voice with orchestra.
Lorelei - Narrator, Harmonium and Piano 1919 - words by Lesia Ukrainka.
May - May - 1912.
Folk Song Themes.
On the Maidan - Independence Square - piano piece.
I won't go to the forest with my limbs - Lemky song for voice and strings.
Performances of the composer's music
Some of the artist's works were performed in the 1920s and 1930s in Lviv and Prague, in 1956-1961 in Western Europe, and in 1969-1970 in Canada. However, many of her works have not yet been performed on stage, although in recent years some of her works have been performed in Canada and Ukraine. In 2014, Canada released a CD of 20 songs by the composer (part of the collection "Galicians I - The Art Songs").
On 8 November 2020, the Lviv National Philharmonic hosted the premiere of Stefania Turkevych-Lukiyanovych's opera Oksana's Heart conducted by Serhiy Horovets. The opera was composed exactly 60 years ago in 1960 and only in 2020 was it staged in Ukraine for the first time. This opera is dedicated to Stefania's sister, Iryna Turkevych-Martynyets (1899-1983), an opera and chamber singer who emigrated to Canada after the war and became the director of the Ukrainian Children's Theatre of Winnipeg in 1960.
On 26 December 2020, the world premiere of the children's opera Kuts took place at the Chernivtsi Regional Philharmonic
