Mykola Lysenko

A member of the Russian Musical Society in the 1870s, Lysenko was not recognized and essentially shunned by the Society in his later years because of his political views. Early in his life, Lysenko studied piano with his mother and by the age of nine was in Kiev studying with figures like Panochini and Nejnkevic. As a serious student of music he was afforded an opportunity to study with Wolner, Dmitriev and Wilczyk and traveled to Leipzig to study with Reinecke and Richter. Later Lysenko was in St Petersburg learning orchestration from Rimsky-Korsakov. His music contains a great flavor of Ukrainian folk melodies which is an indication of the influence that Shevchenko, the poet, had upon his reflective artistry. Lysenko was not only influenced by Shevchenko but also by the political philosophy of Belinsky, Herzen and Chernishevsky. The compositional genres in which Lysenko composed included opera, short piano pieces, vocal music and chamber music. The most important operas he composed were "Taras Bul'ba" and "Natalka-Poltavka." The former was greatly admired by Tchaikovsk and both are considered hallmark works of Ukrainian opera. As an extraordinary pianist it is not surprising to find that Lysenko composed a number of abbreviated piano pieces demonstrating the influence of Chopin. Much of his music was inluenced by folksongs and themes from the music of the Ukraine. Lysenko's compositions, particularly those associated with the folk traditions, demonstrate a great pathos for textual description and textural sensitivity. ~ Keith Johnson