Nikolay Leontovich

140 years ago, the Ukrainian composer Nikolay Leontovich, the author of "Shchedryka" processing, who conquered the whole world under the title "Carol of the Bells", was born! In honor of the birthday of the great maestro, I will tell you a few facts about his life and the history of the legendary work.

1. Mykola Leontovych was born in the village of Monastirok, which is in Vinnitsa region. The boy's father was a village priest, but he knew how to play many instruments and taught his son to play cello, violin, guitar, poetry and balalaika. The mother of composer Maria Yosypivna was a woman of "unique spiritual and physical beauty," sang well, taught the son some folk songs. The boy did not only sing, but also conducted a peculiar chorus consisting of brothers and sisters.

2. Parents wanted Mykola to be a priest. After graduating from the Shargorod bourse he studied at the Kamyanets-Podilskyi Seminary. But Mykola still loved music, he started self-education. After graduating from the seminary, he worked as a teacher of a village school in Chukovo, where he organized a choir, an orchestra, and attracted students there. He bought instruments for his own money. With a monthly salary of 27 rubles, for each instrument he gave 25-40 rubles. Than Leontovych composed his "First collection of songs from Podillya" and worked on "The Second Collection of Songs from Podillya."

3. For several years, Leontovych has been a teacher of chants in the Donetsk region and Podillya. During the 1905 revolution, Leontovych organized a chorus of workers who sang at rallies. This attracted the attention of the police, because of which Leontovych was forced to leave.

4. A significant part of his life (Leontovych lived only 43 years), the composer put on work on "Shchedryk." The first author's edition appeared in 1901, the latter - 1919. For the first time, "Shchedryk" was performed by the choir of Kiev University in 1916, and in 1921 it was heard in the USA - the work was performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. The world famous "Carol of the bells" appeared in 1936. Then an American of Ukrainian origin, Peter Wilkhovsky, created the English version of words. Since then, the whole world has known the Ukrainian "Shchedryk" under the name "Carol of the Bells". You can hear the legendary song in modern films, including "Home alone", "Harry Potter", "The Hard Nut" and others. "Shchedryk" became an integral attribute of Christmas holidays.

5. The prominent Ukrainian composer was killed on the 23d of January, 1921, when he came to visit his father. For many years, this information was concealed, but now it is known that the killer of Leontovych was a Chekist Athanasius Gryshchenko, who asked to stay in his father’s house for a night. In the morning, he robbed the house and shot Mykola Leontovych. The text of the report revealing the name of the killer of the composer was made public only in the 1990s.

In addition to "Shchedryk", Leontovych made 150 wonderful works, among which such famous as "Dudaryk", "Pryala", "Kozak carry". Be sure to turn on one of them today to enjoy the immortal talent of the great Ukrainian composer!