“Hardworking and Tireless” Vasyl Hermanovych — Singer and Servant to Four Generations of Princes of Ostroh

Abstract

Scholars, including music historians, have long been interested in the cultural centers of early modern Ukraine-Rus’. One of these centers located in Ostroh (Volhynian palatinate of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) existed in the last third of the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth centuries. Ostroh was famous not only for its mighty fortress, a printing house, the intellectuals circle, and the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy but also for its “singing school,” which introduced a co-called “Ostroh tune.” It is not known for certain when the school was founded and by whom, and in general, very little information has been preserved about the musicians and singers who lived in the city during this “classical period.” This article aims to fill in some gaps and introduce new biographical material related to Vasyl Hermanovych († 1626), who was a court singer of the voivode of Kyiv Prince Vasyl-Kostiantyn Ostrozkyi (1526–1608) and served to several generations of his descendants. Until now, information about Vasyl Hermanovych was limited to mentioning him as Vasyl Spivak in a document of 1621. Thanks to the discovery of other manuscripts, including his will, it has become possible to significantly expand our knowledge about the singer. The article considers the origin of Vasyl Hermanovych and reconstructs his family ties, the conditions of his service, and material support. A particular focus is on the last wishes of the singer, who asked to be buried in the Derman Holy Trinity Monastery and bequeathed all his property to his wife and a close relative, whom he specified as a “grandson” in his will. Vasyl Hermanovych’s will is published in the appendix to the article.