#Leontovych

[pettania]

We return to the Barbican tomorrow for another Christmas offering, performing Handel-Mozart's Messiah with Britten Sinfonia. Find out more on bbc.co.uk/singers

[opera-ghosts]

This year marks the 100th anniversary since North American public heard the melody of their favourite Christmas hit performed for the first time by the Ukrainian choir in New York in 1922 at Carnegie Hall. Later, the Ukrainian folk song "Shchedryk" was adapted into English, becoming the world-known "Carol of The Bells".

Ukranian National Choir - Shchedryk or Carol of the Bells 1922 Recorded on or between 26-09-1922 and 06-10-1922 in New York.

[veresghost]

Just a terrible-terrible dream…

Author of “Carol of the bells”, Mykola Leontovych.

A fragment from a poem by Ivan Malkovych:

***

leontovych recognizes me and steps towards

he reaches out his warm hands:

“what happened? why are you crying my friend?”

“oh don’t ask maestro i had a terrible-terrible dream…”

“so tell it to me and forget about it, it’s Christmas!”

“the dream applied… to you mister leontovych…”

“me?.. then i must hear it!”

“…i saw… that many years ago… in 1921… a chekist invited himself to stay at your place for the night… and at dawn… no, no… i can’t…”

“please go on, i’m not afraid of dreams…”

“and at down he… shot you…”

i’m trembling like in a fever

suddenly leontovych fades

where he was standing there’s a blue chasm

i close and open my eyes…

a swallow whirls on the 5th avenue… delighted,

mister leontovych is taking photos

with chirrupy people again…

it’s like i’ve gotten out from a bloody tunnel:

“thank god that it was just a dream!” i whisper to myself

“just a terrible-terrible dream”

[tomorrowusa]

Something for Christmas. Many people still don't know that this carol has its origins in Ukraine.

Щасливого Різдва! Merry Christmas!

[luvetlux]

The song is based on the Ukrainian folk chant "Shchedryk", also known as the "Bell Carol".

Performed by LIBERA, from the 2019 album ‘Christmas Carols with Libera' Conductor - Robert Prizeman Music - M Leontovych Arranged - Robert Prizeman Soloist - Luca Brugnoli

Filmed at St Augustine’s Church, Kilburn Video director - Emyr Afan Video editor - Scott Jaeger

Every time You'll hear "Carol of the bells" this year, pleaey keep in mind that Mykola Leontovych was killed by russians on 23rd of January 1921. 101 years later russians still are killing Ukrainians.

“Shchedryk” was arranged by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych at the beginning of the 20th century. The song is based on the traditional Ukrainian folk chant welcoming the New Year (“shchedrivka”). In 1921, the Ukrainian National Chorus sung the song in the United States to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall. Later, Peter J. Wilhousky rearranged the melody for orchestra and wrote the new lyrics in English thus creating “Carol of the Bells”. The original “Shchedryk” by Leontovych was intended to be sung a cappella by mixed four-voice choir.

[draumurt]

So, a bit about Mykola Leontovych. He's a Ukrainian composer, conductor, ethnomusicologist and teacher. His the most famous song is "Shchedryk" (ua: Щедрик). "Carol of the Bells" was based on this song. So, back to the composer.

23 January 1921, he was at his dad's in village Markivka (ua: Марківка), where he was killed by Cheka's (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR) agent Afanasy Grishchenko in the morning. The Cheka's agent robbed them and shot the composer. The report text was made public only in nineties, from which we know the name of the agent.

Mykola Leontovych wasn't the first and wasn't the last who was killed by soviet regime, but many of them were claimed as "russian" people

[mod-a-day]

Mykola Leontovych, Brent Jordan (Brenthoven) "Shchedryk" ("Carol of the Bells" MOD Arrangement) Shchedryk (1922) The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company

[cbjustmusic]

Kings Return performing “Carol of the Bells”, a song based on a Ukrainian composition that premiered in the United States in 1922. The second video features the Ukrainian choir who performed the song in Carnegie Hall earlier this month to celebrate this centennial anniversary. _______________________ Carol of the Bells Music by Mykola Leontovych; Lyrics by Peter J. Wilhousky

Hark! how the bells Sweet silver bells All seem to say, "Throw cares away." Christmas is here Bringing good cheer To young and old Meek and the bold

Ding, dong, ding, dong That is their song With joyful ring All caroling One seems to hear Words of good cheer From ev'rywhere Filling the air

Oh how they pound, Raising the sound, O'er hill and dale, Telling their tale, Gaily they ring While people sing Songs of good cheer Christmas is here Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

Hark! how the bells Sweet silver bells All seem to say, "Throw cares away." Christmas is here Bringing good cheer To young and old Meek and the bold

Ding, dong, ding, dong That is their song With joyful ring All caroling One seems to hear Words of good cheer From ev'rywhere Filling the air

Oh how they pound, Raising the sound, O'er hill and dale, Telling their tale, Gaily they ring While people sing Songs of good cheer Christmas is here Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

On, on they send On without end Their joyful tone To ev'ry home

[snovyda]

Also Mykola Leontovych, composer of what you call Carol of the Bells (the one who recorded and arranged the most "ultimate" version of Shchedryk) was freaking murdered by, as is widely believed, the soviet secret police, for daring to uplift Ukrainian culture this much, and now we have ignorant people on the internet making clowny funney posts based on just their own stupidity.

[awesome-svsv]

We wish u merry Christmas 🎄

[learnukrainian]

Ukrainian Christmas carols

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it! I hope that these songs will fill your heart with joy and hope <3

Щедрик or Carol of the bells (did you know that it was originally written by a Ukrainian composer Leontovych? :))

2. Хай Ісус, мале дитя (May Jesus, little baby..)

3. Коляда-колядка (Carol)

4. Добрий вечір тобі, пане господарю (Good evening to you, good sir)

5. BONUS :) Ukrainian cover of the 'Silent Night' (Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht)

[horpyna]

the song is called "Щедрик(Shchedryk)" which comes from the word "щедрий", "generous" in ukrainian. It is a song from the canlendar cycle. It is not about Jesus's birth because it's a song for a completely different purpose. Ukrainians would walk from home to home and sing this songs called "щедрівки (shchedryvkas)" to wish luck, wealth, good harvests and prosperity to the owners. This process (or a ritual if you will) is called "щедрування(shchedruvannya)".

The original song very much goes about a swallow, that wishes more money and goods to the owners of the household, pointing out the fine lambs that were born in their flock.

The song is now associated with Christmas across the world, but shchdryvkas (thus Shchedryk) are usually sung for New Year, in the evening of the December 31 (January 12 old style). This evening is called "Щедрий вечір(Shchedryi vechir)" – literally translated as "the Generouse evening", or Silvester. It's festive and theatrical.

Shchedruvannya live looks like this:

For Christmas, there is a different kind of the calendar cycle songs – "колядки(kolyadkas)". Those are explicitly about Jesus's birth, Mother Mary, Three Kings and The Beacon. The name itself originetes from the pagan fest "Коляда(Kolyada)", which celebrated the birth of the God of the New Sun. The Goddess Kolyada would give birth to the New Sun, after the Old Sun ends it's cycle on the day of Winter Solstice. Kolyadkas would essentially praise the Goddess and her newborn son. After the Christianisation, kolyadkas morphed to praise mother Mary and Jesus Christ, but the name remained unchanged.

Kolyadkas are also sung for households by local youth, "колядники(the kolyadnyks)". The kolyadnyks would go from home to home and sing kolyadkas in exchange for sweets, backed goods, money or other items. The whole process is called "колядування (kolyaduvannya)". They are dressed festivly, carrying a gloving beacon and small verteps (nativity scene).

Kolyadkas are sung in the evening of the December 24 (January 6 old style). This evening is called "Святвечір(Svyatvechir)" or "Святий вечір (Svyatyi vechir)", which is translated literally as the Saint Evening, or Christmas Eve.

(Though they ask for goods during "щедрування(shchedruvannya)" as well. Sometimes this request are directly in the lyrics or the shchedryvkas. Ukrainians have this joke "Turn off the lights, the kolyadnyks/shchedruvalnyks are coming!")

Here is how it looks nowadays.

Shchedryk itself is a folk sond, arranged by the ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych. Thus the music of the Carol of the Bells is also his. It is an important piece of ukrainian art, as Leontovych himself was murdered in cold blood by the undercover NKVD agent in the wave of repressions against the ukrainian artistic intelligentsia. He pretended to be a passerby who needed a shelter, and Leontovych let him in to stay overnight. NKVD agent shot him in his sleep. All his compositions were destroyed. The fact that Shchedryk survived is a miracle. People began to acknowledge Leontovych as the original author of the music only in the recent years.

In the US Shchedryk was adapted as an English Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells", by american composer Peter J. Wilhousky, in 1936. But earlier the original Shchedryk was performed abroad by Alexander Koshetz's Ukrainian National Chorus.

Here is Schchedryk's literal translation to English:

And here are the kolyadkas, unfortunately in ukrainian only:

Only good thing about Christmas time is I get to hear carol of the bells all the time but the bad part is I have to act normal like that song doesn’t go hard as fuck

[syndromealice-blog]

Every time you’ll hear “Carol of the bells”, remember the author of this is Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych was killed by russians on 23rd of January 1921.

101 years later they still wanna destroy us. That’s not putin’s war. Remember this. Merry Christmas.

[lengthofropes]

Btw happy festive season everyone, and here's a reminder that worldwide known and loved Carol of the bells is originally Ukrainian. "Shchedryk" (Ukrainian: Щедрик, from Щедрий вечiр, "Bountiful Evening") is a Ukrainian shchedrivka, or New Year's song. It was arranged by composer and teacher Mykola Leontovych in 1916.

It was later adapted as an English Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells", by Peter J. Wilhousky, following a performance of the original song by Alexander Koshetz's Ukrainian National Chorus at Carnegie Hall on October 5, 1921. Wilhousky copyrighted and published his new lyrics (which were not based on the Ukrainian lyrics) in 1936, and the song became popular in the United States and Canada, where it became strongly associated with Christmas. This season it was performed by Ukraine’s Shchedryk Children Choir at Cargaegy hall again ❤️