Village life and Concert Hall: Is There a Connection?

Abstract

Ukrainian folk music has been embedded into much of the classical music we hear. Mykola Leontovych and Peter Wilhousky are credited for the ever-famous piece Carol of the Bells, an arrangement of a Ukrainian Epiphany carol called Shchedryk (Щедрик). Despite the applicability of Ukrainian folk-inspired music in our society, people are generally unaware of its origin. In fact, researcher Yakov Soroker provides evidence of Ukrainian folk inspiration in various classical pieces being misclassified as Russian, Polish, and/or Hungarian. Ukrainian classical music, for many reasons pertaining to its unstable history, is not well known outside Ukraine and, therefore, is rarely discussed. This has limited potential insights it might bring to those who have interest in its place in Western music. My research explores the influence that Ukrainian folk traditions have had on contemporary classical music. My research has come from gathering and sifting through historical literature about the origins of classical, Ukrainian classical, Ukrainian folk, and other folk music works. I have also listened to selected works and examined the critiques of experts to form conclusions about how composers today have been influenced, knowingly or otherwise, by Ukrainian folk music. Going one step further, in order to provide a deeper, practical insight into the creative process of composers who have been influenced by Ukrainian folk music, I have composed a piece of my own influenced by Ukrainian folklore.