Mykola Markevych

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Mykola Markevych (Ukrainian: Микола Маркевич) (1804-1860) was a Ukrainian musician, composer, historian, ethnographer, and poet.

Mykola Markevych was born in Dunaiets, Ukraine on February 7, 1804. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Pedagogical Institute from 1817 to 1820 and studied piano and composition in Moscow. He served as an officer in the Russian army from 1820–24.

Markevych collected many historical materials on Ukraine's history and Ukrainian folk songs at his estate and around Ukraine. He wrote many works on Ukrainian folk customs and beliefs, as well as foods. His greatest work was the "History of Little Russia (Ukraine)" (Історії Малоросії), which was published in Moscow in 1842–3. In it, Markevych portrays Ukraine as "ours" (part of Imperial Russia), but not "us" (not Russian).^[1] He also wrote extensively on Ukrainain cossacks, most notably on Ivan Mazepa and Yakiv Barabash. His works influenced his friend and contemporary Taras Shevchenko.

He died in Turivka, Ukraine on June 21, 1860. Many of his works have not been published. His personal archive and diary are kept at the Institute of Russian Literature in Saint Petersburg.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mykola Markevych, Encyclopedia of Ukraine