Kyrylo Stetsenko (1882-1922, Ukraine) - opera Iphigenia in Tauris

[Christopher]

Ukrainian Live have released a recording of the opera Iphigenia in Tauris by Ukrainian composer Kyrylo Stetsenko (1882-1922).

https://ukrainianlive.org/stetsenko-iphigenia

You have to download the app where shown to listen to the music (I haven't worked out how to listen to it directly or convert to an mp3, if anyone can figure this out please let me know!).

Performed by:
Soloists and choir of the National Opera of Ukraine
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Conductor - Natalia Ponomarchuk

On April 29, we honor the memory of the outstanding Ukrainian composer and choirmaster Kyrylo Stetsenko, who passed away 100 years ago. A life full of inspiration, kindness, and love. A priest, a husband, a father, and an artist whose life suddenly ended the disease at the age of 39 took. The release presents the last significant work of the composer - the dramatic scene Iphigenia in Tauris based on the drama of the same name by Lesya Ukrainka.

A monoopera based on the ancient myth of the self-sacrifice of princess Iphigenia for the salvation of the Motherland. The main and only heroine of the story is Iphigenia, the daughter of Mycenae King Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra. Having sacrificed the goddess Artemis Iphigenia, her father hopes to win the campaign in Troy. But the goddess herself saves the girl from death by replacing her with a sacrificial doe. Instead, the sacrifice of Iphigenia is as follows: the king's daughter becomes a pythoness in the temple of Artemis in Tavrida (Crimea), where on the altar, every stranger treading on the land of Tavrida must die. It turns out that Iphigenia's inability to come and see her loved ones is even more torment than death: "I would rather die a hundred times than live here!" sounds in the last stanza of the scene. But the girl is unable to commit suicide, she humbly obeys the will of Artemis to save the people.

Kyrylo Stetsenko is mostly known for his unique choral (sacral) and vocal music. The composer also created music for the theater. Stetsenko skillfully worked with the poetic text. The structure of the opera is subordinated to the dramatic scene, which the poet Lesya Ukrainka borrowed from the ancient Greek tragedy. Choral and large-scale solo episodes change one another and it is a distinctive feature of the work. The choir represents both the narrator and the girls who bring flowers and gifts to the divine pedestal. Emotionally and vividly voicing the text of the scene "Iphigenia in Tauris", Kyrylo Stetsenko emphasized the psychologism and drama of Lesya Ukrainka`s poetry.

https://ukrainianlive.org/stetsenko-kyrylo

Kyrylo Stetsenko (b. 1882, Kvitky - 1922, Vepryk)

Ukrainian composer, choral conductor, teacher and public figure, priest (Ukrainian Orthodox Church).

He studied at the St. Sophia Cathedral seminary in Kyiv and the Mykola Murashko Art School (1892). From 1897 he studied at the Kyiv Theological Seminary and worked as an assistant regent of the St. Michael's Monastery.

In 1899 he met Mykola Lysenko and traveled around Ukraine with his choir as a member of the choir and assistant conductor. In 1903 he graduated from the Kyiv Theological Seminary and until 1907 studied at the Lysenko Music and Drama School. In the same year he was arrested for participating in public activities and deported to the Donetsk region, in 1908 he returned from exile and taught singing in Bila Tserkva and Tyvriv.

In 1911 he was ordained a priest and received a parish in Podillya. From 1917 he worked in Kyiv in the music department of the Ministry of Education of the Ukrainian People's Republic, developed new educational projects, organized the Kobza music edition, and established choirs, including the Dumka choir, with which he traveled throughout Ukraine. In 1921 he took part in the First All-Ukrainian Church Council, which confirmed the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UAOC).

Kyrylo Stetsenko supported the development of national Ukrainian music, initiated by Mykola Lysenko, so the genre diversity of his music is closely related to national poetry. He wrote the operas Captive (Polonyanka), Karmelyuk, Iphigenia in Tauris, children's operas Ivasyk-Telesyk, Fox, Cat and Rooster. Kyrylo Stetsenko's vocal and choral music is very diverse. He is the author of cantatas Unite (Yednaynosya), To Shevchenko, Dream), spiritual music (two Liturgies, Vesper (Vsenochna), Funeral Mass, in memory of M. Lysenko), romances, etc., arrangements of folk songs, as well as music for theatrical performances.

Stetsenko's music is marked by a rich timbre palette, color harmony, melodic and textural richness. He developed the deep traditions of the national singing art and applied new ideas and techniques of the twentieth-century new generation. His work summed up the achievements of his predecessors and opened new ways of developing the Ukrainian musical style.

Kyrylo Stetsenko developed a national method of teaching music and singing, he published school song collections and teaching aids, a textbook for playing the kobza.

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrylo_Stetsenko

[mikehopf]

Hi Chris

I've tried ( and tried) to download the app onto my computer but it only downloaded to my grand daughter's mobile from where I can listen to the opera but can neither transfer it to my computer nor record it. Can any computer whiz help? Or can anyone who has succeeded in recording this opera put it into the downloads section?

PS I loved your other downloads.. some very tasty music!

[Christopher]

Hi Mike - yes I think the app maybe only downloads onto phones and tablets. So yes, if there is a whizz among us, or someone with whizz children...!

I wrote to them to ask if they can have their posts in a downloadable format and they replied yesterday that "There is no possibility to download, the content is protected, it is possible to listen only in the app. The reason for this - that we take the recordings (if they are not our own) from different performers for the non-profit use only in our app. Maybe in the future we will develop the app and make it more comfortable.  By the way - this is our Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw08wbOMAlAUOo0dXRcPpKw"

So it seems there is a possibility they may change this in future.  Of course, when they post their pieces onto youtube it's easy to convert to mp3, but I can't see that they have posted this particular opera there (yet)...