Leopold Ivanovych Yashchenko (* 2 June 1928, Kyiv - 2 April 2016) was a Ukrainian musicologist, folklorist, conductor, and composer. Candidate of Arts (1961). Founder and director of the choir "Homin" (1969).
He was born on 2 June 1928 in Kyiv.
In 1947-1949, he studied at the R. Glier Kyiv State Music College, in 1954 he graduated from the Faculty of History and Theory of the Kyiv Conservatory, in 1957 - postgraduate studies at the Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.
From November 1957 to December 1962, he worked as a junior researcher at the Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1961, he defended his PhD thesis on "Ukrainian Folk Polyphony". In 1962, he became a senior researcher at the Department of Folklore Studies.
1968 - He was dismissed from his post because he signed a collective letter from the Ukrainian public to the CPSU Central Committee regarding the closed trials of dissidents. He switched to creative work.
In 1969, he organised the ethnographic choir "Homin", whose goal was to revive Ukrainian calendar folklore, folk customs and holidays in Kyiv: carols, shchedrivkas, vesnianky, Kupala celebrations, etc. However, on 28 September 1971, Leopold Yashchenko was expelled from the Union of Composers of Ukraine for "ideological mistakes made in the management of the choir" and the choir was liquidated as "nationalist". In the same year, L. Yashchenko was expelled from the USSR Composers' Union for "nationalist activities".
After that, L. Yashchenko worked as a methodologist and organiser, and in 1972-1973 he was the head of the children's sector at the House of Composers of Ukraine, and in 1975-1976 he directed a folklore ensemble at the Kyiv Institute of National Economy. Being in disgrace, he worked as a 3rd category painter of the construction team at the Molniya plant (Baryshivka), and as a carpenter at the Roslavychi state farm.
In 1984, he became the head of the Folk Choral Song Club, and in the same year he organised an ethnographic choir that sang in the alleys of Hydropark. In 1985, the choir was assigned to the House of Culture of Kyivmetrobud, and in 1988 it was given back its name, Gomin. In 1989, Leopold Yashchenko was reinstated to the Union of Composers of Ukraine, and the Gomin Choir was the first in Kyiv to publicly perform the national anthem "Ukraine Has Not Yet Died".
In 1992, he joined the National All-Ukrainian Music Union.
In June 1997, a new public association was registered in Kyiv: The Club of Folk Song Fans "Gomin". Under the leadership of Leopold Ivanovych, it includes the Gomin Choir, the Krynytsia Academic Ensemble (at the House of Scientists), the Kozaky Men's Band, and the Verbovetsky Family Band.
On 2 April 2016, Leopold Ivanovych died in Kyiv at the age of 87, leaving a legacy of decades of tireless work to revive and spread Ukrainian song and folklore, Ukrainian folk customs and holidays in Ukraine.
Family
Father - Ivan Yashchenko (1903-1944), electrical engineer
Mother - Halyna Mytrofanivna (1901-1931), teacher of Ukrainian language and literature
Wife - Lidiia Hryhorivna Orel (*1937), ethnographer, leading specialist of the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine
Son - Ivan (09.07.1959), translator from English and Italian
Son - Taras (07.01.1964-17.03.2017), composer, pianist.
Works and publications
Author of works:
"P.D. Demutskyi (essay on life and work)" (1957),
"H. Veriovka (Essay on Life and Work)" (1965),
"Ukrainian Folk Polyphony" (1962).
"State Honoured Chapel of Bandura Players of the Ukrainian SSR" Musical Ukraine, Kyiv - 1970 78C(C2)2 Y97
"Ukraine in Rituals at the Turn of the Millennium" (collection of songs; 2001),
"Ukrainian Family" (collection of songs; 2000),
"Songs of Cherkasy Region (collection; 2004),
"Shevchenko's Land" (collection of songs; 2005),
"Carols and Christmas carols" (repertoire collection, 2005),
"Red Spring, Quiet Summer" (repertoire collection, 2007), compiler and author of introductory articles to the publications:
"Ukrainian Folk Romances" (1961),
"Bukovynian Folk Songs" (1963),
collection "Ukrainian Folk Polyphony" (1963).
Works:
cantata "Poem about Ukraine" (1954),
songs and choruses to his own texts,
arrangements of folk songs,
more than 100 articles on musical culture and folklore, scripts for folklore festivals, and musical compositions.
Honours and awards
P. Chubynsky Prize (1992)
Shevchenko Prize (1993) for active work in preserving, reviving and popularising Ukrainian folk art.
On 8 December 2022, the Kyiv City Council renamed Vasyl Zhukovsky Lane in honour of Ukrainian conductor Leopold Yashchenko (1928-2016), founder and director of the Gomin Choir.
