Matvii Tymofiiovych Vasyliev (pseudonym - Vasyliev-Svyatoshenko) (* 18 (30) August 1863, Smolensk - 14 February 1961, Chernihiv) was a composer, conductor, actor of the Ukrainian theater, Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1947).
He studied music on his own and made his debut as a conductor at the age of 16 in Gavrilov's operetta troupe (Voronezh). In addition to his independent studies, in the early 1890s Vasiliev attended lectures on music theory at the Moscow Conservatory as a free listener.
His wife, O. P. Ratmyrova, was a popular soprano singer in the Ukrainian theater.
In 1882, he was invited to participate in a production of Natalka Poltavka staged in Poltava by Kropyvnytskyi, Sadovskyi, and local amateurs. Since 1883, Vasyliev has been a permanent member of leading Ukrainian theater groups. In 1890, he founded a theater company that lasted only a year. Over time, he became a prominent figure among Ukrainian theater conductors of the 2nd half of the 19th century. He took an active part in preparing the premiere of "Cossack Beyond the Danube" on the Ukrainian stage (1884); he directed the musical part of Kropyvnytskyi's troupe during a responsible tour to St. Petersburg in 1886-1887; he conducted the first production (orchestrated by F. Voyachek) of Arkas's "Catherine" in Moscow (1899). Catherine was performed by O. Ratmyrova.
Since 1891, he has been a conductor and composer in the troupes of S. Novikov (Poltava), I. Derkach, M. Kropyvnytskyi, M. Sadovsky, and L. Sabinin.
Since 1921, he has worked in theaters in Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv. In 1935-1948, with interruptions, he was the head of the musical department of the Chernihiv Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater named after Taras Shevchenko.
Among other things, he composed music for 80 Ukrainian plays, including "Natalka Poltavka" by Ivan Kotliarevskyi and "Shelmenko the Day Laborer" by Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko (1882), "Limerivna" by Panas Myrnyi (1884), "Talentless" by Ivan Karpenko-Karyi (1887), "Oh, Don't Go, Hrytsia," "Gypsy Aza" (1892), "Marusya Boguslavka" (1899) by Mykhailo Starytskyi, and plays by Soviet playwrights: "Pravda (1939) and In the Steppes of Ukraine (1943) by Oleksandr Korniichuk.
He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
