29 Facts About Borys Lyatoshynsky

Borys Lyatoshynsky's music was written with a modern European style, and skilfully includes Ukrainian themes.

The existence of a Polish side to Borys Lyatoshynsky's family resulted in Polish themes being central for many of his works.

Borys Lyatoshynsky was born on 3 January 1895, in Zhytomyr, Ukraine.

Borys Lyatoshynsky's parents were both musical and well-educated, and their son received his primary education at home.

The Lyatoshynsky family lived in towns and cities throughout Ukraine during Borys's childhood.

Polish literature and history was held in high esteem in the Lyatoshynsky household; Borys read a lot as a boy, especially the historical and romantic works of Henryk Sienkiewicz and Stefan Zeromski.

The existence of a Polish side to Borys Lyatoshynsky's family resulted in Polish themes being central for much of his work.

In Zlatopol, Borys Lyatoshynsky took piano lessons from a school teacher whom he later remembered with great warmth.

The first work written by Borys Lyatoshynsky was thought by musicologists to have been a mazurka, written on 20 January 1910, when he was 15.

Borys Lyatoshynsky's Piano Trio No 1 for violin, cello, and piano, is a work that attempts to have greater dynamic content and complexity; its sections are more contrasting than in previous works.

Borys Lyatoshynsky was appointed as professor of composition in 1935.

Borys Lyatoshynsky composed songs, some of them set to the lyrics of the Chinese ancient poets.

Borys Lyatoshynsky worked on the symphony for six months during 1934.

From 1935 to 1938, and from 1941 to 1944, Borys Lyatoshynsky taught orchestration at the Moscow Conservatory.

Borys Lyatoshynsky was the chairman of the Union of Composers of Ukraine in 1939.

Many faculties of the Moscow Conservatoire, including the music department, were relocated to Saratov, a town near the Volga, and Borys Lyatoshynsky was evacuated there along with his colleagues, In Saratov, the Ukrainian Taras Shevchenko Radio Station broadcast political speeches and daily concerts of Borys Lyatoshynsky's arrangements of Ukrainian music.

Borys Lyatoshynsky established contacts and worked collaboratively with the administrators of the local Concert Hall and Radio Committee.

Borys Lyatoshynsky recalled when German troops used Lyatoshynsky's Kyiv house on Lenin Street as a headquarters.

In September 1943, Borys Lyatoshynsky was invited by the Moscow Conservatory to work there for a year, but on 10 November 1943, after the liberation of Kyiv, he returned on the first flight back to his home city, as part of a delegation that included the poets Maksym Rylsky and Mykola Bazhan, and the artist Mykhailo Derehus.

Borys Lyatoshynsky wrote at this time of his despondency over the prohibition of his music by the authorities.

Borys Lyatoshynsky wrote to Gliere that "the crowded hall literally gave me a standing ovation".

Borys Lyatoshynsky was a member of international competition juries for the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 and again in 1962, the Belgian Quartet Competition in Liege and the Mykola Lysenko Music Competition in Kyiv in 1965.

Borys Lyatoshynsky travelled to Poland on several occasions to Warsaw Autumn festivals of contemporary music.

Borys Lyatoshynsky wrote a variety of works, including five symphonies, symphonic poems, and several shorter orchestral and vocal works, two operas, chamber music, and a number of works for solo piano.

Borys Lyatoshynsky produced four string quartets, in 1915,1922,1928, and 1943.

Borys Lyatoshynsky wrote music with a modern European style and technique, skillfully combining it with Ukrainian themes.

Borys Lyatoshynsky's symphonies "reflect the stresses of the period of their composition".

Borys Lyatoshynsky wrote the opera Schors, and The Solemn Cantata.

Soviet and Ukrainian composers who studied under Borys Lyatoshynsky, and were influenced by him, include Igor Boelza, Ihor Shamo, Roman Vereshchagin, Alexander Kanershtein, Gleb Taranov, Myroslav Skoryk, Yevhen Stankovych, Lesia Dychko, Leonid Hrabovsky, Ivan Karabyts, and Silvestrov, who dedicated a symphony to his teacher.