Ukrainian composer, teacher, conductor, folklorist, musical and public figure. He is the author of the first Ukrainian oratorio "Thought about the Maid Marusya Boguslavka" (1923), the first Ukrainian ballet "Mr. Kanyovsky" (1930). Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1944). Professor (1946). Father of Iryna and Olena Verikivskyi.
Biography
As a child, he was in an atmosphere of love and respect for his native folk song, which influenced his musical creativity. After graduating from elementary school, Mykhailo entered the Kremenets two-class city school and was accepted into the bishop's choir. He continued his musical education at the Kremenets Commercial School (1912-1914), where he learned to play musical instruments. Mykhailo Verykivskyi led a choir and an orchestra of folk instruments, played in the school's symphony orchestra, studied the cello and piano, and made his first compositional attempts — he created piano preludes and romances. One of the early works of the composer was the March of the Students of the Kremenets Commercial School for the orchestra of folk instruments (1913), which was performed at one of the school concerts.
In 1914, Verikyvskyi entered the Kyiv Conservatory.
Memorial plaque to Mykhailo Verikyvskyi
in the premises of the Kyiv Conservatory
From 1922 he taught at the Mykola Lysenko Music and Drama Institute and the Kyiv Conservatory (until 1960, with a break from 1941 to 1944; from 1946 he was its professor). Among the students, in particular, Mykhailo Antkiv.
1920 — head of the Ukrainian National Choir.
1921–1928 — co-founder, member of the board and chairman of the Society named after Mykola Leontovych (head of the choir-studio under him).
1928–1930 — chairman of the presidium and head of the scientific and creative department of the All-Ukrainian Society of Revolutionary Musicians.
1926–1928 — conductor of the Kyiv Opera and Ballet Theater.
1928–1935 — conductor of the Kharkiv Opera and Ballet Theater.
1940 — head of the Dumka State Chapel.
1950–1958 — researcher at the Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.
Art
Meeting of Kharkiv and Kyiv artists. Kyiv, 1923. From left to right, first row: Maksym Rylskyi, Yuriy Mezhenko, Mykola Khvylovy, Mike Johansen, Hryhoriy Mykhaylov, Mykhailo Verikivskyi. Second row: Natalya Romanovych, Mykhailo Mohylyanskyi, Vasyl Ellan-Blakytny, Serhii Pylypenko, Pavlo Tychyna, Pavlo Filipovych. In the third row are: Dmytro Zagul, Mykola Zerov, Mykhailo Dry-Khmara, Hryhoriy Kosinka, Volodymyr Sosyura, Todos Osmachka, Volodymyr Koryak, Mykhailo Ivchenko
The creative legacy of the composer is more than 400 works.
Stage works:
operas: "Heavenly Affairs" (1931), "The Centurion" (1939), "The Mercenary" (1943, both based on poems by Taras Shevchenko), "Runaways" (1948), "Slava" (1961);
musical comedy "Vii" (1936, 2nd edition 1945 — comic opera);
ballet "Mr. Kanyovsky" (1930).
Symphonic works:
the oratorio "Thought about the captive girl Marusya Boguslavka" (1923);
symphonic suite "Vesnyanka" (1924);
cantata "Anger of the Slavs" (1941);
dramatic symphonic poem "Petro Konashevich-Sagaidachny" (1944).
Other:
more than 60 chamber and vocal works;
more than 40 mass and about 100 songs for children;
about 100 arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs for various performers.
M.I. Verikyvskyi created music for the "Berezil" and Kyiv theaters named after I. Franko, Kharkiv Children's Theater, theatrical performances, films "Black Cloud" (1936), "Nazar Stodolya" (1936), "Carmelyuk" (1938), "Kyiv" (1945), "Cathedral" (1946).
In 1957, he orchestrated a symphony by an unknown author at the end of the 18th century, which later turned out to be Ernest Vanjura's First Symphony.
Shevchenkian M.I. Verikivskyi
For the first time, the composer turned to Taras Shevchenko's "Kobzar" in 1919 (Haydamaka's fantasy for soloists, choir and piano). Subsequently, the composer created the oratorios "Ivan Hus" (1934, 1943), "Poplar" (1951), "Haydamaki" (1951).
In 1936, he wrote music for the film "Nazar Stodolya" (Ukrfilm, Odesa).
In 1938, he created the choir "Svete Yasny", in 1939 - the literary and musical composition "Caucasus", the choir "Response to Shevchenko's Testament" based on the text of A. Lahuti in translation. M. Rylskyi. In 1938, he wrote the opera in two pictures "The Centurion" based on Shevchenko's poem of the same name (production of the Odesa Opera Theater, 1939; adaptation by the Odesa Television Studio, 1964).
In 1939—1943, he created the opera "Naimichka" with his own libretto and K. Gerasimenko's libretto (2nd ed. 1956—1960). In November 1943, during the evacuation, the opera was staged in Irkutsk by the Kyiv Opera Theater (conductor V. Tolba, director V. Manziy, artist O. Khvostenko-Khvostov). In 1944, Naimychka opened the first season of the theater in liberated Kyiv. The leading parts were performed by M. Lytvynenko-Wolgemut, Z. Gaidai, and I. Patorzhynskyi. In 1945, the opera was staged in Kharkiv and Lviv, in 1961 in Donetsk; in 1984, the Kyiv Opera and Ballet Theater performed a new production of it. In 1963, at the Kyiv Film Studio named after O. Dovzhenka filmed the film opera "Naymichka" with B. Hmyreya and L. Rudenko, and in 1986 at the "Ukrtelefilm" studio - a two-part telefilm-opera called "Atonement" with L. Zabylyasta in the role of Anna.
In 1943 in Ufa during the evacuationM.I. Verikivskyi wrote the poem "Monk" for bass and symphony orchestra. The composer himself conducted the "Monk" for the first time in a concert of the Shevchenkiv Session of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR in 1943. This monologue for bass was performed by I. Patorzhynskyi, M. Romenskyi, and J. Goshulyak (Canada). In 1996, it was performed by T. Shtonda at the celebratory concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth at the National Opera of Ukraine.
The composer is the author of the chorus "Oi gop, taki-tak" (1960), arrangements of the choirs "My thoughts" (1939, 1942), "Testament" (1951). He orchestrated the choirs of "Ivan Hus" by M. Lysenko (1924), "Testament" by K. Stetsenko (1943), edited and orchestrated the suite from the opera "Kateryna" by M. Arkas (1934), "Vechornytsia" by P. Nishchinsky (introduction to 2 th act of the play "Nazar Stodolya", 1949), several numbers from the opera "Pan Sotnyk" by G. Kozachenko (1955).
Memory
Memorial plaque to Mykhailo Verikyvskyi
The tombstone of Mykhailo Verikyvskyi at Baikovo cemetery in Kyiv
In Kremenets, a commemorative plaque has been installed on the house where the composer was born.
Music schools and streets in a number of cities are named after the composer. In particular, Kyiv Children's School of Arts No. 2.
In 1996, the award named after Verikivskyi, which is awarded for outstanding achievements in the field of opera and ballet creativity.
In 2012, more than two thousand documents of the composer were transferred to the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art by the daughter and son-in-law of M. Verikyvskyi.
On November 24, 2016, the Mykhailo Verikyvskyi Museum was opened in Kremenets on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the birth of the Ukrainian composer, teacher, conductor, folklorist, music and public figure.
