Mykhailo (Mykhaylo, Michał, Michael) Verbytsky (Ukrainian: Михайло Михайлович Вербицький) (March 4, 1815 in Jawornik Ruski - December 7, 1870) was an Ukrainian composer, and a Greek Catholic priest. He is famous for composing an alternate melody to the song Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy (Ukraine's glory has not perished) which became the modern National Anthem of Ukraine.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Compositions 3 Commemoration 4 References 5 Sources

[edit] Biography

Mykhailo Verbytsky was born in the Nadsyannya. Sources often differ as to the exact location of his birth. He was however born in Jawornik Ruski^[1] and christened 14 km away in Ulucz^[2] (the site of the oldest wooden church in Poland where his father was the local priest. Both are now in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland.)

As a composer he helped lay the foundations for the development of modern Ukrainian music. His works are formally unsophisticated, often strophic, and usually in the minor mode; but his stage works (notably Prostachka (‘The Simpleton’), 1870) are representative of a popular folk genre that was melodically fluid, singable, pictorial and emotionally evocative. His instrumental writing does not extend far beyond the simple development of folktunes. Nevertheless, he composed 12 so-called symphonies (really overtures), the sixth of which Stanislav Lyudkevich based an orchestral piece and a piano trio. He also composed Zapovit (‘Testament’, 1868), a setting of Shevchenko’s poem for bass solo, double choir and orchestra, the operetta Podgoryane which was staged in Lemberg (now L′viv, 1864), and numerous sacred and secular choral works and songs. He is best known as the composer of the Ukrainian national anthem Shche ne vmerla Ukrayina (‘The Ukraine has not Perished’), which in 1917 was adopted by the new Ukrainian republican government.

[edit] Compositions

Musicologist Uliana Petrus' has put together a list of 133 known compositions by M. Verbytsky. These include:

• Large scale secular choral works - 30
• Sacred choral works - 37
• Vocal ensembles
• Art songs -10
• Arrangements of folk songs - 10
• Orchestral works - 18 works including 9 symphonies
• Chamber works
• 15 works for various instruments
• Music to 12 stage works

[edit] Commemoration

In 2005 the chapel-pantheon over the tomb of Mykhailo Verbytsky was opened to mark the 140th anniversary of Ukrainian national anthem and 190th anniversary of its composer.

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Andriy V. Szul. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5
• Загайкевич, Марія Михайло Вербицький - Сторінки життя і творчості - Львів, 1998 ISBN 966-02-0819-7