Boris Lyatoshinsky

Boris Lyatoshinsky
Boris Lyatoshinsky
Background information
Born	January 3 [O.S. Dec. 22, 1894] 1895
Origin	Zhytomyr, Russian Empire
Died	May 15, 1968(1968-05-15) (aged 73) Kiev
Occupations	Composer, conductor, and teacher
Instruments	Violin, Piano

Boris Mykolayovych Lyatoshinsky or Lyatoshynsky (Ukrainian: Бори́с Ми́колайович Лятоши́нський, Borys Mykolayovych Lyatoshyns′kyi; January 3, 1895 – April 15, 1968) was a Ukrainian composer, conductor, teacher. A leading member of the new generation of twentieth-century Ukrainian composers, he was awarded a number of accolades, including the honorary title of People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and two Stalin State Prizes.

Biography

Monument of Lyatoshynksy in Zhytomyr.

Lyatoshinsky was born in Zhytomyr, in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). His father, Mykola Leontiyovych Lyatoshynsky, was a history teacher and activist in historical studies. He was also the director of various gymnasiums in Zhytomyr, Nemyriv, and Zlatopol. Lyatoshynsky's mother played the piano and sang.

Lyatoshinsky started playing piano and violin at 14, he wrote a mazurka, waltz, and quartet for piano. He also attended the Zhytomyr Gymnasium, from where he graduated in 1913. After graduating, he attended Kiev University and later the newly established Kiev Conservatory where he studied composition with Reinhold Glière in 1914. Lyatoshynsky graduated from Kiev University in 1918 and from the Kiev Conservatory in 1919. During this time, he composed his String Quartet No. 1, Op. 1, and Symphony No. 1, Op. 2.

In 1920, Lyatoshinsky began teaching music theory at the Kiev Conservatory. From 1922, he taught composition. From 1922 to 1925 he was director of the Association of Modern Music in the name of Mykola Leontovych. From 1935 to 1938 and from 1941 to 1944 he taught concurrently at the Moscow Conservatory.

He wrote a variety of works, including five symphonies, symphonic poems, and several shorter orchestral and vocal works, two operas, chamber music, and a number of works for solo piano. His earliest compositions were greatly influenced by the expressionism of Scriabin and Rachmaninov (Symphony No.1). His musical style later developed in a direction favored by Shostakovich, which caused significant problems with Soviet critics of the time, and as a result Lyatoshynsky was accused (together with Prokofiev and Shostakovich) of formalism and creation of degenerative art. Many of his compositions were rarely or never performed during his lifetime. The 1993, a recording of his symphonies by the American conductor Theodore Kuchar and the Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra (on the Naxos/Marco Polo label) brought his music to worldwide audiences.

Honours and awards

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Russian Wikipedia.

• Stalin Prizes:

second class (1946) - Quintet for Ukrainian

first class (1952) - for the music for the film "Taras Shevchenko" (1951)

• Shevchenko National Prize (1971) (posthumous) - for the opera "The Golden Hoop" (1930)
• People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1968)
• Honoured Artist of the USSR (1945)
• Order of Lenin

Works

Stage

• The Golden Ring, opera in 4 acts opus 23 (1929) (revised in 1970)
• "Shchors", opera about Nikolay Shchors in 5 acts after I. Kocherha and M.Rylsky opus 29 (1937)
• The Commander, opera (1970)

Orchestral

• 5 symphonies
  • Symphony No. 1 A major opus 2 (1918–1919)
  • Symphony No. 2 B minor opus 26 (1935–1936) Revised in 1940.
  • Symphony No. 3 B minor opus 50 "To the 25th Anniversary of the October revolution" (1951)
  • Symphony No. 4 B♭ minor opus 63 (1963)^[1]
  • Symphony No. 5 C major "Slavonic" opus 67 (1965–1966)
• Fantastic March opus 3 (1920)
• Overture on four Ukrainian Folk themes opus 20 (1927)
• Suite from the Opera "The Golden Tire" opus 23 (1928)
• Lyric Poem (1947)
• Song of the reunification of Russia opus 49 (1949–1950)
• Waltz (1951)
• Suite from the Film music "Taras Shevchenko" opus 51 (1952)
• Slavonic Concerto for piano and orchestra opus 54 (1953)
• Suite from the Play "Romeo and Juliet" opus 56 (1955)
• "On the Banks of Vistula", symphonic poem opus 59 (1958)
• Orchestration of String Quartet No. 2 A major opus 4 (No. 2 Intermezzo) for orchestra (1960)
• Polish Suite opus 60 (1961)
• Slavonic Overture opus 61 (1961)
• Lyric Poem "To the Memory of Gliere" opus 66 (1964)
• Slavonic Suite opus 68 (1966)
• Festive Overture opus 70 (1967)
• "Grazyna", ballade after A. Mickiewicz opus 58 (1955)

Vocal/Choral Orchestral

• Festive Cantata "To the 60th Anniversary of Stalin" after Rilskov for mixed chorus and orchestra (1938)
• "Inheritance", cantata after Shevtshenko (1939)

Chamber/Instrumental

• 5 string quartets
  • String Quartet No. 1 D minor opus 1 (1915)
  • String Quartet No. 2 A major opus 4 (1922)
  • String Quartet No. 3 opus 21 (1928)
  • String Quartet No. 4 opus 43 (1943)
  • String Quartet No. 5 (1944–1951)
• Piano Trio No. 1 opus 7 (1922) (revised in 1925)
• Sonata for violin and piano opus 19 (1926)
• Three Pieces after Folksong-Themes for violin and piano opus 25 (1932)
• Piano Trio No. 2 opus 41 (1942)
• Piano Quintet "Ukrainian Quintet" opus 42 (1942)
• Suite on Ukrainian Folksong-Themes for string quartet opus 45 (1944)
• Suite for wind quartet opus 46 (1944)
• Two Mazurkas on Polonian Themes for cello and piano (1953)
• Nocturne and Scherzino for viola and piano (1963)

Piano

	Lyatoshynsky, Sonata-Ballad (1925) performed by Andriy Bondarenko
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• Elegy-Prelude (1920)
• Piano Sonata No. 1 opus 13 (1924)
• Seven Pieces "Reflections" opus 16 (1925)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 "Sonata Ballade" opus 18 (1925)
• Ballad opus 22 (1928–1929)
• Ballad opus 24 (1929)
• Suite (1941)
• Three Preludes opus 38 (1942)
• Two Preludes opus 38b (1942)
• Shevchenko-Suite (1942) Not finished.
• Five Preludes opus 44 (1943)
• Concerto Etude-Rondo (1962–1965)
• Concert-Etude (1962–1967)

Vocal

• "Moonshadow", song after Verlaine, I.Severyanin, Balmont and Wilde opus 9 (1923)
• Two Poems after Shelley opus 10 (1923)
• Two Songs after Maeterlinck and Balmont opus 12 (1923)
• Four Poems after Shelley opus 14 (1924)
• Poems for baritone and piano opus 15 (1924)

Choral

• The Sun Rises at the Horizon, song after Shevtshenko for chorus
• Water, Flow into the Blue Lake!, song after Shevtshenko for chorus
• Seasons after Pushkin for chorus
• Po negy kradetsya luna after Pushkin for chorus
• Kto, volny, vas ostanovil after Pushkin for chorus

Incidental and Film music

• Music to the Play "Optimistic Tragedy" (1932)
• Music to the Film "Taras Shevtshenko" (1950)
• Music to the Play "Romeo and Julia" (1954)
• Music to the Film "The Hooked Pig's Snout" (1956)
• Music to the Film "Ivan Franko" (1956)

Band

• March No. 1 for wind orchestra (1931)
• March No. 2 for wind orchestra (1932)
• March No. 3 for wind orchestra (1936)

Transcriptions

• Orchestration of Lysenko's opera Taras Bulba (Co-operation with L. Revutsky)
• Orchestration of Gliere's Violin Concerto (Co-operation with K. G. Mostras)

See also

• List of Ukrainian composers - see other Ukrainian composers of the same period

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boris Lyatoshynsky.

• "Boris Lyatoshynsky". Naxos Records. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 
• "Liatoshinsky". Onno van Rijen's Soviet Composers Site. March 4, 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-16.