Semen Hulak-Artemovsky (1813-1873)

[UnsungMasterpieces]

This is a Ukrainian composer I came across a few months ago while looking at Wikipedia's list of Ukrainian composers.
Apparently, he was born in Horodysche, to the family of a priest. Besides being a composer, he was also an opera singer, who had caught the attention of Mikhail Glinka,
of which he received vocal training. He also sang roles in two operas by Anton Rubinstein, in 1852 and 1853.

Wikipedia further states that he's composed three operas in the Ukrainian language, but I haven't found recordings yet.
I actually doubt if they've ever been recorded. But I did find a song by him on YouTube. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7yGw2FhQPo

So, he was a well-known opera singer in his time, and today he's a quite "unsung" composer.

Who knows of other recordings of his music?

[Mark Thomas]

You can hear a recording of his catchily-titled opera "Cossacks in Exile Beyond the Danube" from 1864 on YouTube here.

[UnsungMasterpieces]

Thank you! It sounds pretty interesting.

[Revilod]

And even a filmed version (from 1953) here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAKu9TorgxE

[UnsungMasterpieces]

Recently, I split a recording of 'Zaporozhets za Dunayem' up in pieces as they're mentioned in the score.
However, I seem to find a few differences between the recording and the score.
Apparently, from what I can find, there's supposed to be a chorus after the overture, but instead there's a sort of 'aria' sung by the character Oksana. Is this the 'supposed-to-be-chorus?'
Also, near the end of Act III, there seems to be something missing in the recording, but I'm not really sure what that is.

I've found two versions of the score, and you could say they're the same.
Does anyone know if this is perhaps a different version of the opera?

[Christopher]

You can buy it on a CD (in mp3 format) which looks like this - http://www.char.ru/books/4864265_CD-ROM_MP3_Ukrainskaya_opera_Disk_1_S_Gulak-Artemovskij_N_Lysenko



- it's coupled with Lysenko's Natalka Poltavka.  Easy to order in Russian-speaking countries, and probably fairly easy to find on sites like Discogs and Amazon though it will likely cost more.

The opera's name literally translates as "The Cossack Beyond the Danube" - (not quite such a mouthful) so the fact that he's in exile, or at least not where he should be, is understood (to people from those parts!).

I particularly like the Ukrainian Dances from the opera - you can hear them here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weYbo5I2g6Q

The duet of Oksana and Andrii is also very attractive (item 13 on here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZHOqmkKLdc , starting at 37:28 till 43.41.

(And the item before this is also from the opera - the duet of Odarka and Karas - from 28:54 till 37:28.)

If you search on youtube using the title of the opera in Ukrainian ("Запорожець за Дунаєм") you will find a lot of extracts from the opera.

If you search for the composer's name in Ukrainian ("Гулак-Артемовський") on Youtube you will find a lot of his songs.  Some for solo with orchestra, others for solo with piano, others for solo with Ukrainian instruments like banduras. Here's a couple:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA19y-HCpPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdsIJx9flRQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcD5kqscjw0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vaxO2rIZH0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYYJh54uKYM

[Christopher]

No, no, not at all.  Hope you liked.

[UnsungMasterpieces]

Very interesting! I already knew the parts of the opera you mentioned, of course, as I've listened to the opera at least 6 times! I should give those songs you mentioned a good listen though.
But I'm still wondering if the differences I found in the score are mistakes or perhaps they're just from a different version of the opera, as I also found out that one of the original characters, Prokop Teren, was eliminated from it.

[Christopher]

His wikipedia entry implies that he might not have written the score in full for the opera and that the orchestration was done by others (it's not completely clear).  If this is the case, maybe the orchestrator dropped that section?

The orchestration has subsequently been rewritten by composers such as Reinhold Glière and Heorhiy Maiboroda. ... The orchestral score was completed in the autumn of 1862 by Konstantin Lyadov, (father of Anatoly Lyadov), who developed it under the guidance of Hulak-Artemovsky. Hulak-Artemovsky had composed the original piano score and written the libretto (in Russian), no later than 12 July of that year (as the earliest known manuscript bears that date). The libretto and score were first published in 1866 in St Petersburg, by the firm of F. Stelovsky. In 1902, the Ukrainian composer Oleksandr Horily wrote the aria Prylyn', prylyn (Ukrainian: Пpилинь, пpилинь – "Come, come"), when arranging the comic opera for Mykola Sadovsky's theatrical troupe. The aria essentially extended the vocal range of the character Oksana, who had previously been played by mezzo-sopranos; this aria is intended for a soprano.
After 1898, the original role of Prokop Teren (Ukrainian: Пpoкoп Tepeн), a rival of Andriy for the affections of Oksana, was eliminated (although in Moscow, the role was performed up until 1915).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporozhets_za_Dunayem

[UnsungMasterpieces]

I've looked the two versions of the score I found through, and one of them is orchestrated, and the other looks like a piano reduction, of course with the sung and spoken texts included.
Both have the same mistakes, so that's what confused me. You can find them on IMSLP here:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Zaporozhets_za_Dunayem_(Hulak-Artemovsky,_Semen%29

Perhaps I'm interpreting them in the wrong way?

[eschiss1]

Erm, if you want a url with an ending ) to work, there's a few ways to go about it- one is to replace the ) with %29; I think - I need to double-check that. But just linking it -that- way doesn't work, as you find if you preview and test your link before posting...

[UnsungMasterpieces]

Oops, I forgot to test it. I've modified it now.

[eschiss1]

The fully orchestrated version may be a download from Russian State Library (theirs tend to lop off copyright info etc.) published in 1983 by Muzyka Ukrainia (sp??) of Kiev - the full information -is- listed in the RSL catalog:

Zaporozhets over the Danube : Opera in 3 g / Libretto Semen Gulak-Artyomovsk;. Orchestration G. Mayboroda; The Editorial Board. . G. Mayboroda, Kireyko V., M. Bajan etc.

Number of pages: 239 s.
MZ 32/306

(Apologies for Google Chrome translation and my decision to use same...)

[Christopher]

If anyone is curious, here's a note on "Zaporozhian" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhian_Sich

Zaporizhia is an area in Ukraine ("Zaporozhye" in Russian") which was traditionally a stronghold of Cossacks.  So, in the title of the opera, when it says "The Zaporozhian beyond the Danube", it's understand that this is a Cossack.

[eschiss1]

Like Glière's symphonic poem Zaporozhye Cossacks (which I've heard of/seen a recording mentioned...). Right. Should have worked that out, sorry!