Ivan Khandoshko. Restitution of Ukrainian Cultural Heritage: Relevance of the Present

Abstract

The challenges of the present force us to delve as deeply as possible into our past, bringing back from oblivion everything that will help us to restore historical justice and enrich Ukrainian culture. The article is dedicated to the description of the figure of the virtuoso violinist Ivan Yevstakhiiovych Khandoshkin in the light of his Ukrainian origin. He has been considered as the founder of Russian violin school until recently. The heritage of I. Khandoshkin has been still interpreted by Russian researchers exclusively as a component of Russian musical culture and all the details of his works, emphasizing the Ukrainian origin of the composer, are concealed. After all, this case has not been an isolated one, because in this way, at the expense of many names of Ukrainian origin, the so-called Russian culture is created, enriched and asserted. The work of Ukrainian composer and musician Mykhailo Stepanenko, who has emphasized the Ukrainian origin of the artist, presented the Ukrainian sounding of his name – Ivan Ostapovych Khandoshko, and confirmed his spiritual belonging to Ukrainian culture, manifested in his violin works, becomes a stimulus for this scientific investigation. There is also another Ukrainian, the tsarist officer Vasyl Myrovych, a descendant of the closest assistant and associate of Hetman Ivan Mazepa, Pereiaslav colonel Fedir Myrovych. Vasyl Myrovych has been executed by the tsarist government for the attempt of a coup d’état. Therefore, I. Khandoshko’s dedication of one of his best sonatas to the Ukrainian Vasyl Myrovych is another confirmation of the Ukrainian essence of the composer. Studying additional musicological and historical sources we have managed to clarify and enrich information about the life and works of I. Khandoshko, which is on the article authoress opinion of a great importance both for Ukrainian violin performance in particular and for the entire musical culture of Ukraine in general.