Mykola Arkas
Mykola Mykolayovych Arkas (born January 7, 1853, Mykolaiv – September 26, 1909, Mykolaiv) was a Ukrainian composer, writer, historian, and cultural activist. Arkas was the author of a popular book History of Ukraine (1908).
Biography
Mykola Arkas was born on December 26, 1852 (7 January 1853), in Nikolaev in the family of Black Sea Fleet Admiral Mykola Arkas and Sophia, née Bogdanovich.
Mykola Arkas received all-round education in the Law School of St. Petersburg and completed his studies in physics and mathematics at the University of Odessa.
After completing his studies (1875 - 1881), according to the family tradition, he served in the Navy Department in Nikolaev.
Upon completion of naval service in 1881 he obtained a magistracy in Kherson. In his leisure time Mykola started collecting and recording folk songs, also studied the history of Ukraine. His teacher, Petr Nischinskyi, who was a Ukrainian composer, conductor and writer, had an influence upon Mykola; the latter tried to master musical knowledge independently, to develop his composer's skills and writing music.
Mykola Arkas died on 13 (26) March 1909, in Nikolaev, where he was buried on the town cemetery in the family chapel.
Compositions and other cultural activities
The artistic heritage of the composer are solo-singing, vocal ensembles and folk songs (around 80). Opera "Kateryna" (1890) is the most significant work of Mykola Arkas, Taras Shevchenko's poem, adapted for play. This work brought recognition to M. Arkas and became the first Ukrainian lyrical folk opera. "Kateryna" had a great success, first set by Mark Kropivnitskiy troupe in Moscow in 1899, and later in Minsk, Vilnius, Kiev.
Mykola Arkas was the founder and chairman of Prosvita society (Education in Ukrainian) in Nikolaev, at his own expense he opened public school with teaching in Ukrainian.
In 1908 in St. Petersburg, a book by Mykola Arkas - "History of Russia and Ukraine" - was published under the editorship of Ukrainian writer Vasyl Domaniczky. The book was written in Ukrainian.
Acknowledgment
- In October 1992 in Nikolaev there was open a monument to M.Arkas (by sculptor O.Zdykhovskiy)[1]
- In 2003 a postage stamp was released in Ukraine dedicated to M. Arkas
References
- Dytyniak Maria Ukrainian Composers - A Bio-bibliographic Guide - Research report No. 14, 1896, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, Canada.
- Kaufman L. M. M. - Arkas - Narys pro zhyttia i tvorchist', Kiev, 1958.
External links
|