Fact #17
One of the most famous Christmas melodies in the world belongs to a Ukrainian composer.
The New Year’s song of the Ukrainian composer Leotovych is sung all over the planet. We are talking about “Shchedryk” by Leontovich – one of the most popular New Year’s songs. First performed in 1916 in Kyiv, the melody spread around the world and was heard in New York’s Carnegie Hall as early as 1921.
The world knows it as Carol of the Bells or Ring Christmas Bells. No American Christmas is complete without the performance of Carol of the Bells, but very few of the local population know that this song is not American, but Ukrainian. Yes, the adaptation of the Ukrainian folk song “Shchedryk” by the composer Mykola Leontovich sounds throughout the beloved movie “Home Alone”. Usually, various performances of “Schedryk” get millions of views on Youtube.
Fact #18
Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated two of his symphonies to the Ukrainian.
The outstanding Austrian composer Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated two symphonies to the Ukrainian. The name of the lucky man, in whose honor two works were created, is Andriy Razumovskyi, the son of the last Ukrainian hetman.
Andriy Kyrylovych Rozumovsky was a good diplomat and patron of Beethoven. He spent almost his entire life in Vienna, where he met the composer. The friendship between the men was the reason for dedicating the 5th and 6th symphonies to Andriy Razumovsky.
Fact #19
The song Summertime is based on the Ukrainian lullaby “Oh, sleep is walking around the windows”.
Ukrainian folk songs inspired many composers to write world musical masterpieces. For example, the composition Summertime, an aria written by George Gershwin in 1935 for the opera Porgy and Bess, one of the most famous songs in the world, is based on the Ukrainian lullaby “Oh, Sleep Walks by the Windows.”
Gershwin heard this composition in New York performed by the Ukrainian National Choir under the direction of Oleksandr Kosyts. He heard and wrote one of the most brilliant and famous jazz creations.
Since the composition was written, it has been performed by many artists, but the most famous remains Summertime performed by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Charlie Parker.