The meaning and characteristics of Nikolai Lysenko’s creativity. Mykola Lysenko (1842–1912) composer, pianist, teacher, choral conductor, founder of Ukrainian classical music

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Nikolay Lysenko – 8 merits of the hetman of Ukrainian music to the people of Ukraine

Nikolai Vitalievich Lysenko was born on March 22, 1842 in the village of Grinki in the territory of modern Poltava region, died of heart attack November 6, 1912 in Kyiv. Great Ukrainian composer, conductor, pianist, teacher, active public figure and collector song folklore.

8 services of Nikolai Lysenko to the Ukrainian people.

1. Nikolai Lysenko – founder and at the same time legend and pinnacle of Ukrainian classical music , the same as Taras Shevchenko for Ukrainian literature,

The name of Mykola Lysenko in the history of Ukrainian culture is closely connected with the era during which the formation of Ukrainian music took place as a professional activity of creative people. In most cases, Lysenko is perceived precisely as a composer, but his contribution to the development Ukrainian theater and cultural education is truly enormous. Among the main merits of the landmark for all of Ukraine creative person The following points can be mentioned:

2. The most virtuoso pianist Ukraine of its time. The skill that Lysenko possessed amazed his contemporaries not only among his compatriots. Foreign critics gave the maestro's performance the highest rating. A clear proof of his high mastery of the keys is the complexity of the piano works written by the composer. Amazingly melodic, meticulously thought out works enjoy consistently high popularity not only on Ukrainian territory;

3. Nikolai Lysenko is the greatest teacher of Ukrainian classical music. In 1904, he opened the doors of his Music and Drama School in Kyiv. Except directly music education, in this educational institution there were departments of Ukrainian and Russian drama. Also in this school worked the first in the entire territory Russian Empire game class on folk instrument. At Lysenko's educational institution, teachers taught the basics of playing the bandura (the first graduation of students, despite difficulties in organization, took place in 1911).

The school opened by the composer then grew into the Music and Drama Institute, which was named after Lysenko. Over the period from 1918 to 1934, this educational institution was the leader among others, where the basic principles of creativity were taught. Graduates of the Music and Drama Institute became the founders of Ukrainian art and the authors of the main cultural achievements of the 20th century.

4. A "musical revolutionary" ahead of his time. His innovations are other other luminaries European music began to be used only 10-20 years after their appearance in Lysenko’s works.

Art critics argue that Nikolai Lysenko, as a virtuoso pianist, not only formed the foundations of professional musical performance with his creativity, but tried in every possible way to bring his own listeners “from the farm environment into the widest European world.” The “Ukrainian Suite” written by the master created a real sensation. Until this time, no composer had combined folk art and canonical dance forms.

The basis for this work are elements of folk art, Ukrainian folk songs. But after cutting by the jeweler-composer, every facet, every single musical intonation shone with a unique light. Then the musicians, evaluating the work, argued that the suite could not be called an adaptation of folk art, since it was a full-fledged original musical creation.

5. Lysenko glorified Ukrainian national music throughout the world. His works are still performed at opera houses and theater stages all over the world. Operas, symphonies, rhapsodies and other works of his remain relevant many years after the composer's life.

6. Lysenko – one of the first leaders of the “Ukrainian Club”, who defended Ukrainian independence (of course, within the framework Tsarist Russia The club's program requirement was the autonomy of Ukraine) and the democratization of political life. He laid down his own life on the altar of the struggle for the revival of the Ukrainian national spirit and consciousness. One of his strongest desires was the unification of the nation with its subsequent struggle for the right to be itself, to speak freely native language and cherish your own traditions.

7. Lysenko made a huge contribution to the ethnographic heritage of Ukraine, collecting hundreds of samples of folk art ( folk songs, rituals), which he actively used in his musical works. Working with choral groups made it possible to collect data on folk art of different Ukrainian regions. In 1874, he published a book with an analysis of Cossack dumas from the repertoire of the famous bandura player Ostap Veresai.

8. Lysenko is one of the founders of the Ukrainian National Opera Theater in Kyiv. Significant event In the life of not only the composer, but also the entire Ukrainian art world, there was the joint work of Lysenko and his second cousin, playwright Mikhail Staritsky, on the operetta “The Night Before Christmas” based on the work of Gogol. For the first time this work was performed on the stage of the Kyiv City Theater by an amateur theater club January 24, 1874. This day is inscribed in the history of Ukrainian art as the date of birth of the opera theater in Ukraine.

The organizing committee that staged the operetta includes significant personalities for Ukraine - Mikhail Drahomanov, Pavel Chubinsky, Fyodor Vovk, the Lindfors family and other persons. In Kyiv, which was under imperial rule, they openly declared their own clear pro-Ukrainian position.

The scenery created for the production replicated the interior of a Ukrainian rural hut. Before the eyes of the spectators, on one of the beams supporting the roof, the date of the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich by the tsarist troops was carved. It is equally important that the premiere itself took place exactly 200 years after the tragic event for Ukraine. After this production and until the end of his days, Nikolai Vitalievich was closely watched by the watchful eye of the Tsar’s policemen.

It is safe to say that some of the most convincing evidence of the recognition of Nikolai Vitalievich as a genius and hero Ukrainian people is not only the memory of him in the hearts of grateful descendants, but also the performance of his works as national anthems.

Lysenko is the author of the music of 2 works, without which it is impossible to imagine Ukrainian nation, these songs affirm the spiritual greatness of an individual and an entire nation. The composer created music based on the words of the famous work Ivan Franko "The Eternal Revolutionary". For quite a long time after it was written, this creation was used for propaganda purposes without any justification. Soviet power, although it actually glorifies the spiritual revolution and has nothing to do with the communist takeover.

Another famous creation of the composer is the music for the poem “Prayer for Ukraine” by Alexander Konisky, better known as the spiritual anthem of Ukraine “God, Great, One.” In 1992, this work officially received the status of the anthem of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate. At the end of the 20th century, the song was perceived as a second National anthem independent Ukraine.

Just by writing musical works life path Lysenko does not limit himself. He paid great attention to the development vocal art. It is Nikolai Vitalievich who is the founder of the professional creative education in Ukraine.

Lysenko’s creative path is often called a continuation of the feat of Taras Shevchenko. Since student years, one of the main directions of his activity was preserving Shevchenko’s cultural heritage for descendants. Lysenko dedicated a number of his works to the unforgettable Kobzar; some of the poet’s work, set to music by the composer, then took its rightful place in the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian nation.

It is known that he was directly involved in organizing the reburial of Taras Shevchenko; this fact received documentary confirmation only in the 21st century. But this is not the only trace of Lysenko’s participation in the fate of the most famous Ukrainian poet; Lysenko continued and developed the cultural and educational work that Shevchenko was engaged in during his life.

Paying tribute to the memory of Taras Shevchenko, Lysenko became the founder of a new concert form - a mixed concert. As part of these events, which were organized annually since 1862, the composer performed as a pianist and choral conductor. The concert program included not only his adaptations of folklore and his own works, but also the work of other authors dedicated to Shevchenko, poems by the great poet and fragments of theatrical productions based on his works. After many years, such concerts can no longer surprise the viewer, but this form originates from the Shevchenkiade, which was organized by Lysenko.

The work of Nikolai Lysenko as an integral part of Ukrainian culture.

Researchers of the composer’s work state that he turned to Shevchenko’s works about 100 times. In Lysenko’s works there is an interpretation of them both in the form of solo performance and in more monumental forms - vocal scenes or even cantatas, choirs with musical accompaniment or a cappella, vocal ensembles. It is noteworthy that some works from “Music for the Kobzar” by Lysenko through short time after creation they received eternal life and became folk songs.

Shevchenko's work became Alpha and Omega for the composer. Lysenko called the music for “Zapovit” written at the request of the Lvov association “Prosvita” his first work. Literally on the eve of the day of his death, the composer wrote the choir “God, with our ears we hear your glory” based on the text of Shevchenko’s 43 “Psalm of David.”

In addition to 3 cantatas and 18 choirs based on poems by Shevchenko, the vocal and choral part of Lysenko’s creative heritage also includes 12 original choral works based on texts Ukrainian poets. It should be noted that among the 12 choirs there are 2 works also dedicated to Shevchenko - “March of Pity” to the words of Lesya Ukrainka and the cantata “Until the 50s of the death of T. Shevchenko”, dedicated to the anniversary of the death of the brilliant poet.

Over the 70 years of his life, Lysenko wrote 11 operas, in addition, in collaboration with theater groups, the founders of the Ukrainian theatrical arts, created musical arrangement for 10 more productions. The stories of the creation of the composer’s operas are very different, some of them, according to music critics, cannot be considered elements of Lysenko’s work. For example, "Andrishiada" is a combination of popular melodies from other classical operas, a kind of “cabbage”. Critics doubt that the composer created “Natalka-Poltavka”, since the handwritten score with Lysenko’s autograph has not been found.

Lysenko did not like to write works on spiritual themes. Music critics argue that the reason for the composer’s reluctance to create in this genre is explained by the desire to avoid the need to write music for words in Russian, which the composer did not do on principle. Despite the small number of works created by Lysenko in the spiritual genre, the works on the list are truly masterpieces. For example, a popular religious song is his choral concert “Where will I go before your face, Lord?”, which is performed not only in Ukraine, but also by members of the diaspora abroad.

In choral works and the work of a conductor, according to experts, Lysenko reached heights of mastery unprecedented for his time. His work “The Fog Lies with Flights” (a fragment of the opera “Drowned”), even after many decades after writing, is considered a pearl choral creativity. The composer’s students, Alexander Koshits, Kirill Stetsenko and Yakov Yatsinevich, also became famous choral conductors.

Lysenko never saw the opera Taras Bulba, which he created over the course of 35 years, staged, although Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky offered to use his connections and get the work staged on the Moscow stage. Mikhail Staritsky then assumed that the reason for the refusal was that the composer did not want to present his brainchild to the public in a non-native language.

It should be noted that Lysenko moved away from the classic Gogol plot in his opera. He presented the person of Taras primarily as a patriotic Cossack, strong and persistent. One of the main storylines The work revolves around the conflict between the sons of a Cossack, Ostap and Andrey, and the problem of their national self-identification.

The composer’s son recalled that Nikolai Vitalievich considered himself an impractical person, with a complete lack of administrative spirit. But this did not stop Lysenko from gathering around himself the best teachers of his time in a school where mainly children of poor and middle-income people studied. There were no subsidies for training; sometimes the composer was forced to go into debt to pay teachers' salaries. After a fairly short time, the school brought together talented students from all over Ukraine who continued the maestro’s life’s work.

In the last years of his life, the composer headed the first legal Ukrainian socio-political organization, the Kiev Ukrainian Club. In 1906, he created the “Joint Committee for the Construction of a Monument to Taras Shevchenko,” which received charitable donations from Australia, Canada, the USA and European countries. The last public event in Lysenko’s activities was the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Shevchenko’s death.

Due to oppression by the tsarist regime, the events were forced to move from Kyiv to Moscow. As a result, the police filed a case regarding the closure of the Kyiv Ukrainian club and “bringing the council of elders, headed by music teacher Nikolai Lysenko, to responsibility for anti-government activities.” 4 days after the initiation of a criminal case, the composer dies of a heart attack.

The main point of Lysenko’s musical and educational activities was that working with choirs made it possible to travel all over the country and gather people who were special in many respects into the choir. Beginning with the choir of Kyiv University students created by the composer in 1862, all his life he gathered in choirs “not just basses or tenors, but first of all, conscious Ukrainians.”

In police reports, spies reported that Lysenko did not lead a choir, but “a circle that is the most harmful politically.” It was precisely this absurd accusation that at one time caused the cessation of the activities of the Choral Association, founded by the composer in 1871-1872. But only in his own choir did he gather people in whom he saw potential for the subsequent revival of the Ukrainian nation.

Around national idea he actively united creative youth wherever there was an opportunity to do so. The place for such a gathering of patriotic intellectuals was the Kiev Literary and Artistic Association, created in 1895 as a kind of outpost Russian culture. Over time, the members of the association changed the original character at their own discretion, turning the organization into a center for promoting the Ukrainian idea and national culture, which was the reason for its closure in 1905.

WITH light hand Maestro also created the “Young Literature” circle, better known to the Ukrainian public as the “Pleiad of Young Ukrainian Writers.” From this “nest” we flew to big world Lesya Ukrainka, Lyudmila Staritskaya-Chernyakhovskaya, Maxim Slavinsky, Vladimir Samoilenko, Sergei Efremov and many other writers and public figures of the early 20th century.

Biography of Nikolai Lysenko.

Perpetuating the memory of Nikolai Lysenko.

As can be seen from the photo, users of the Yandex search engine were interested in the query “Mikola Lisenko” 24 times in November 2015.

And according to the graph, you can see how Yandex users’ interest in the query “Mikola Lisenko” has changed over the past two years:

Nikolay Vitalievich Lysenko(ukr. Mikola Vitaliyovich Lisenko; March 10 (22), the village of Grinki, Kremenchug district, Poltava province (now Globinsky district, Poltava region) - October 24 (November 6), Kyiv) - Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, collector of folklore songs and public figure.

Biography

Nikolai Lysenko came from the old Cossack elder family of Lysenko. Nicholas's father, Vitaly Romanovich, was a colonel of the Order Cuirassier Regiment. Mother, Olga Eremeevna, came from the Poltava landowner family of Lutsenko. Nicholas was homeschooled by his mother and famous poet A. A. Fet. Mother taught her son French, refined manners and dancing, Afanasy Fet - the Russian language. At the age of five, noticing the boy’s musical talent, they invited a music teacher for him. WITH early childhood Nikolai was fond of the poetry of Taras Shevchenko and Ukrainian folk songs, a love for which was instilled in him by his great-uncle and grandmother, Nikolai and Maria Bulubashi. After completing his home education, in preparation for the gymnasium, Nikolai moved to Kyiv, where he studied first at the Weil boarding school, then at the Geduin boarding school.

N.V. Lysenko was buried in Kyiv at the Baikovo cemetery.

Kyiv addresses

• st. Reitarskaya, No. 19 (lived during 1888-1894).
• st. Saksagansky, No. 95 (lived during 1898-1912), now here is the House-Museum of Nikolai Lysenko.

Memory

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Monument to Nikolai Lysenko near the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv

• Streets in Kyiv and Lviv, the Lviv National Academy of Music, the Kharkov State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (since 1944) and the Kiev Secondary Specialized Boarding School are named after N.V. Lysenko.

• In 1962, the string quartet of the Kyiv State Philharmonic was named after N.V. Lysenko. In the same year, a music competition named after Nikolai Lysenko was organized, which had national status until 1992, and since 1992 it has become international.
• On December 29, 1965, a monument to N.V. Lysenko was unveiled next to the National Opera of Ukraine on Theater Square. Sculptor A. A. Kovalev, architect V. G. Gnezdilov.
• The monument was erected in the composer’s homeland, in the village of Grinki.
• In 1968, a television film-play was released "Introduction" , dedicated to the life and work of N.V. Lysenko. The role of Lysenko was performed by the artist P. S. Morozenko.
• In 1983, the Znamenskaya Music School was named after Nikolai Lysenko.
• In 1986, at the film studio named after A. Dovzhenko, director T. Levchuk shot a historical and biographical film “And the memory will respond in sounds...” , showing pages from the life of Nikolai Vitalievich Lysenko. The role of the composer in the film was played by the artist F. N. Strigun.
• A memorial museum has been opened in the Kyiv apartment of N.V. Lysenko at 95 Saksaganskogo Street.
• In 1992, the Ukrainian Post issued a postage stamp and an artistic marked envelope with an original stamp dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of N.V. Lysenko.
• In 2002, on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the composer's birth, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a commemorative coin with a face value of 2 hryvnia. The obverse of the coin depicts a musical excerpt from the composition “Prayer for Ukraine” (1885), and the reverse shows a portrait of N. Lysenko.
• Ukrainian musicians are annually awarded the Nikolai Lysenko Prize.

Creation

While studying at Kiev University, trying to acquire as much as possible musical knowledge, Nikolai Lysenko studied the operas of A. Dargomyzhsky, M. Glinka, A. Serov, and became acquainted with the music of Richard Wagner and Robert Schumann. It was from this time that he began collecting and processing Little Russian folk songs, for example, he recorded a wedding ceremony (with text and music) in Pereyaslavsky district. In addition, he was the organizer and leader of student choirs, with which he performed publicly.

While studying at the Leipzig Conservatory in October 1868, Lysenko published “A Collection of Ukrainian Songs for Voice and Piano” - the first release of his arrangements of forty Ukrainian folk songs, which, in addition to their practical purpose, have great scientific and ethnographic value. In the same 1868, he wrote his first significant work - “Testament” to the words of a poem by T. G. Shevchenko, on the anniversary of the poet’s death. This work opened the “Music for the Kobzar” cycle, which included more than 80 vocal and instrumental works of various genres, published in seven series, the last of which was published in 1901.

N.V. Lysenko was at the center of the musical and national-cultural life of Kyiv. In 1872-1873, he became a member of the directorate of the Russian musical society, took part in his concerts held throughout Little Russia; led a choir of 50 singers, organized in 1872 at the Philharmonic Society of Lovers of Music and Singing; worked in the “Circle of Music and Singing Lovers”, “Circle of Music Lovers” of Y. Spiglazov. In 1872, a circle led by N. Lysenko and M. Staritsky obtained permission to publicly stage plays in the Little Russian dialect. In the same year, Lysenko wrote the operettas “Chernomortsy” and “Christmas Night” (later transformed into an opera), which were included in the theatrical repertoire, becoming the basis of the Ukrainian national opera art. In 1873, his first musicological work on Ukrainian was published. musical folklore- “Characteristics musical features Little Russian thoughts and songs performed by kobzar Ostap Veresay.” During the same period, Nikolai Vitalievich wrote many piano works, as well as symphonic fantasy in Ukrainian folk themes"Cossack-Shumka".

During the St. Petersburg period, Lysenko took part in concerts of the Russian Geographical Society, led choral courses. Together with V. N. Paskhalov, he organized concerts of choral music in the “Salt Town”, the program of which included Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Serbian songs and works by Lysenko himself. He develops friendships with composers " Mighty bunch" In St. Petersburg he wrote the first rhapsody on Ukrainian themes, the first and second concert polonaises, and a piano sonata. There, Lysenko began work on the opera “Marusya Boguslavka” (unfinished) and made the second edition of the opera “Christmas Night”. His collection of girls’ and children’s songs and dances “Molodoshi” (“Young Years”) was published in St. Petersburg.

In 1880, he began work on his most significant work - the opera “Taras Bulba” based on the story of the same name by N. V. Gogol with a libretto by M. Staritsky, which he completed only ten years later. In the 1880s, Lysenko wrote such works as “The Drowned Woman” - a lyric-fantastic opera based on “May Night” by N. Gogol with a libretto by M. Staritsky; “Rejoice, unwatered field” - cantata to poems by T. Shevchenko; third edition of “Christmas Night” (1883). In 1889, Nikolai Vitalievich improved and orchestrated the music for the operetta “Natalka Poltavka” based on the work of I. Kotlyarevsky, in 1894 he wrote the music for the extravaganza “The Magic Dream” based on the text by M. Staritsky, and in 1896 - the opera “Sappho”.

Among N. Lysenko's authorial achievements, it is also necessary to note the creation of a new genre - national children's opera. From 1888 to 1893 he wrote three children's operas based on folk tales on the libretto of the Dnieper-Chaika: “Goat-Dereza”, “Pan Kotsky (Kotsky)”, “Winter and Spring, or the Snow Queen”. “Koza-Dereza” became a kind of gift from Nikolai Lysenko to his children.

From 1892 to 1902, Nikolai Lysenko organized tours around Ukraine four times, the so-called “choral travels,” in which mainly his own choral works based on Shevchenko’s texts and arrangements of Ukrainian songs were performed. In 1892, Lysenko’s art historical research “On the torban and the music of Vidort’s songs” was published, and in 1894 - “Folk musical instruments in Ukraine."

In 1905, N. Lysenko, together with A. Koshits, organized the Boyan choral society, with which he organized choral concerts Ukrainian, Slavic and Western European music. The conductors of the concerts were himself and A. Koshits. However, due to unfavorable political conditions and lack of material resources, the society disintegrated, having existed for little more than a year. At the beginning of the 20th century, Lysenko wrote music for the dramatic performances “The Last Night” (1903) and “Hetman Doroshenko”; in 1905 he wrote the work “Hey, for our native land" In 1908, he wrote the chorus “The Silent Evening” to the words of V. Samoilenko, in 1912 - the opera “Nocturne”, created lyrical romances to texts by Lesya Ukrainka, Dniprova-Chaika, A. Olesya. In the last years of his life, Nikolai Vitalievich wrote a number of works of sacred music, which continued what he had founded back in late XIX century “Cherubic” cycle: “The Most Pure Virgin, Mother of the Russian Land” (1909), “I will go from Thy presence, O Lord” (1909), “The Virgin is giving birth to the Most Essential One today,” “By the Tree of the Cross”; in 1910, “David’s Psalm” was written based on the text by T. Shevchenko.

In 1880, being already mature composer, Nikolai Lysenko performed in Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) with a big concert, which was a stunning success, as reported by the then press. During the concert, the overture to “Christmas Night”, the Ukrainian rhapsody “Dumka-Shumka”, and romances were played.

Stella and I were stunned into silence, deeply shocked by Isidora’s story... Of course, we were probably still too young to comprehend the full depth of the meanness, pain and lies that surrounded Isidora at that time. And probably our children's hearts were still too kind and naive to understand the horror of the test ahead of her and Anna... But something was already becoming clear even to us, so small and inexperienced. I already understood that what was presented to people as the truth did not mean at all that it was true, and could in fact turn out to be the most ordinary lie, for which, oddly enough, no one was going to punish those who invented it, and For some reason no one had to answer for her. People took everything for granted, for some reason everyone was completely happy with it, and nothing in our world was turned “upside down” by indignation. No one was going to look for the culprits, no one wanted to prove the truth, everything was calm and “calm”, as if there was a complete “calm” of contentment in our souls, not disturbed by crazy “seekers of truth”, and not disturbed by our fallen asleep, forgotten by everyone, human conscience ...
Isidora’s sincere, deeply sad story deadened our children’s hearts with pain, without even giving time to wake up... It seemed that there was no limit to the inhuman torment inflicted by the callous souls of the ugly executioners on this amazing and courageous woman!.. I was sincerely afraid and anxious, only just thinking about what awaited us at the end of her amazing story!..
I looked at Stella - my warlike friend was frightenedly huddling close to Anna, not taking her shocked, widened eyes off Isidora... Apparently, even she - so brave and not giving up - was stunned by human cruelty.
Yes, Stella and I probably saw more than other children at 5-10 years old. We already knew what loss was, we knew what pain meant... But we still had to go through a lot to understand even a small part of what Isidora felt now!.. And I only hoped that I would never have to experience this to really experience...
I looked in fascination at this beautiful, brave, amazingly gifted woman, unable to hide the sorrowful tears welling up in my eyes... How did “people” dare to call themselves PEOPLE, doing this to her?! How did the Earth even tolerate such criminal abomination, allowing itself to be trampled on without opening up its depths?!
Isidora was still far away from us, in her deeply wounding memories, and I honestly didn’t want her to continue telling the story any further... Her story tormented my childhood soul, forcing me to die a hundred times from indignation and pain. I wasn't ready for this. I didn’t know how to protect myself from such atrocity... And it seemed that if this whole heart-tearing story didn’t stop right away, I would simply die without waiting for its end. It was too cruel and beyond my normal childhood understanding...
But Isidora, as if nothing had happened, continued to talk further, and we had no choice but to plunge with her again into her distorted, but so high and pure, unlived earthly LIFE...
I woke up very late the next morning. Apparently the peace that the North gave me with its touch warmed my tormented heart, allowing me to relax a little so that new day I could meet with my head held high no matter what this day brought me... Anna still did not answer - apparently Caraffa had firmly decided not to allow us to communicate until I broke down, or until he had some kind of big idea in this need.
Isolated from my sweet girl, but knowing that she was nearby, I tried to come up with different, wonderful ways to communicate with her, although in my heart I knew very well that I would not be able to find anything. Caraffa had his own reliable plan, which he was not going to change, in accordance with my desire. Rather, it’s the other way around - the more I wanted to see Anna, the longer he was going to keep her locked up, not allowing the meeting. Anna changed, becoming very confident and strong, which scared me a little, because, knowing her stubborn fatherly character, I could only imagine how far she could go in her stubbornness... I so wanted her to live!.. So that Caraffa’s executioner did not encroach on her fragile life, which had not even had time to fully bloom!.. So that my girl still has only the future...
There was a knock on the door - Caraffa was standing on the threshold...
– How did you rest, dear Isidora? I hope your daughter's proximity has not caused any trouble to your sleep?
– Thank you for your concern, Your Holiness! I slept surprisingly well! Apparently, it was Anna’s closeness that calmed me down. Will I be able to communicate with my daughter today?
He was radiant and fresh, as if he had already broken me, as if his biggest dream had already come true... I hated his confidence in himself and his victory! Even if he had every reason for this... Even if I knew that very soon, by the will of this crazy Pope, I would leave forever... I was not going to give in to him so easily - I wanted to fight. Until my last breath, until the last minute allotted to me on Earth...
- So what did you decide, Isidora? – Dad asked cheerfully. – As I told you earlier, this determines how soon you will see Anna. I hope you won't force me to take the most brutal measures? Your daughter deserves her life not to end so early, isn’t it? She really is very talented, Isidora. And I sincerely would not want to cause her harm.
– I thought you had known me long enough, Your Holiness, to understand that threats will not change my decision... Even the most terrible ones. I may die without being able to bear the pain. But I will never betray what I live for. Forgive me, Holiness.
Karaffa looked at me with all his eyes, as if he had heard something not entirely reasonable, which surprised him very much.
– And you won’t feel sorry for your beautiful daughter?! Yes, you are more fanatical than me, Madonna!..
Having exclaimed this, Caraffa stood up abruptly and left. And I sat there, completely numb. Not feeling my heart, and not being able to hold back my racing thoughts, as if all my remaining strength was spent on this short negative answer.
I knew that this was the end... That now he would take on Anna. And I wasn’t sure if I could survive to endure all this. I didn’t have the strength to think about revenge... I didn’t have the strength to think about anything at all... My body was tired and didn’t want to resist anymore. Apparently, this was the limit, after which a “different” life began.
I really wanted to see Anna!.. To hug her at least once goodbye!.. To feel her raging strength, and to tell her once again how much I love her...
And then, turning around at the noise at the door, I saw her! My girl stood straight and proud, like a stiff reed that an approaching hurricane is trying to break.
- Well, talk to your daughter, Isidora. Maybe she can bring at least some common sense into your lost mind! I give you one hour to meet. And try to come to your senses, Isidora. Otherwise, this meeting will be your last...
Karaffa did not want to play anymore. His life was put on the scales. Just like the life of my dear Anna. And if the second did not matter to him, then for the first (for his own) he was ready to do anything.
– Mommy!.. – Anna stood at the door, unable to move. “Mom, dear, how can we destroy him?.. We won’t be able to, Mommy!”
Jumping up from the chair, I ran to my only treasure, my girl, and, grabbing her in my arms, squeezed as hard as I could...
“Oh, mommy, you’ll choke me like that!” Anna laughed loudly.
And my soul absorbed this laughter, like a person sentenced to death absorbs the warm farewell rays of the already setting sun...
- Well, mommy, we’re still alive!.. We can still fight!.. You told me yourself that you’ll fight as long as you’re alive... So let’s think about whether we can do something . Can we rid the world of this Evil.
She supported me again with her courage!.. Again she found the right words...
This sweet, brave girl, almost a child, could not even imagine what kind of torture Caraffa could subject her to! In what brutal pain her soul could drown... But I knew... I knew everything that awaited her if I did not meet him halfway. If I don’t agree to give the Pope the only thing he wanted.
- My dear, my heart... I won’t be able to look at your torment... I won’t give you to him, my girl! The North and others like him don’t care who remains in this LIFE... So why should we be different?.. Why should you and I care about someone else’s, someone else’s fate?!.
I myself was frightened by my words... although in my heart I perfectly understood that they were caused simply by the hopelessness of our situation. And, of course, I was not going to betray what I lived for... For which my father and my poor Girolamo died. Simply, just for a moment, I wanted to believe that we could just pick up and leave this terrible, “black” Karaffa world, forgetting about everything... forgetting about other people unfamiliar to us. Forgetting about evil...
It was a momentary weakness of a tired person, but I understood that I had no right to allow even that. And then, to top it all off, apparently unable to withstand the violence any longer, burning angry tears streamed down my face... But I tried so hard not to let this happen!.. I tried not to show my sweet girl into what depths of despair my exhausted, pain-torn soul...
Anna sadly looked at me with her huge gray eyes, in which lived a deep, not at all childish sadness... She quietly stroked my hands, as if wanting to calm me down. And my heart screamed, not wanting to humble myself... Not wanting to lose her. She was the only remaining meaning to my failed life. And I couldn’t allow the nonhumans called the Pope to take it away from me!
“Mommy, don’t worry about me,” Anna whispered, as if reading my thoughts. - I'm not afraid of pain. But even if it was very painful, grandfather promised to pick me up. I spoke to him yesterday. He will wait for me if you and I fail... And dad too. They will both be there waiting for me. But it will be very painful to leave you... I love you so much, mommy!..
Anna hid in my arms, as if seeking protection... But I couldn’t protect her... I couldn’t save her. I didn't find the "key" to Karaffa...
- Forgive me, my sunshine, I let you down. I failed us both... I couldn't find a way to destroy him. Forgive me, Annushka...
An hour passed unnoticed. We talked about different things, without returning to the murder of the Pope, since we both knew perfectly well that today we had lost... And it didn’t matter what we wanted... Caraffa lived, and that was the worst and most important thing. We have failed to free our world from it. Failed to save good people. He lived, despite any attempts, no desires. Despite everything...
– Just don’t give in to him, mommy!.. I beg you, just don’t give up! I know how hard it is for you. But we will all be with you. He has no right to live long! He's a killer! And even if you agree to give him what he wants, he will still destroy us. Don't agree, mom!!!
The door opened, and Karaffa stood on the threshold again. But now he seemed very unhappy about something. And I could roughly guess what... Caraffa was no longer confident in his victory. This worried him, since he only had this last chance left.
- So, what have you decided, Madonna?
I mustered all my courage not to show how my voice was trembling, and said quite calmly:
– I have already answered this question to you so many times, Holiness! What could have changed in such a short time?
There was a feeling of fainting, but, looking into Anna’s eyes shining with pride, all the bad things suddenly disappeared somewhere... How bright and beautiful my daughter was at that terrible moment!..
-Are you crazy, Madonna! Can you really just send your daughter to the basement?.. You know perfectly well what awaits her there! Come to your senses, Isidora!..
Suddenly, Anna came close to Karaffa and said in a clear, ringing voice:
– You are not a judge and not God!.. You are just a sinner! That is why the Ring of Sinners burns your dirty fingers!.. I think it is not by chance that you are wearing it... For you are the most vile of them! You won't scare me, Caraffa. And my mother will never submit to you!
Anna straightened up and... spat in Dad's face. Caraffa turned deathly pale. I've never seen anyone turn pale so quickly! His face literally turned ashen gray in a split second... and death flashed in his burning dark eyes. Still standing in a “tetanus” from Anna’s unexpected behavior, I suddenly understood everything - she was deliberately provoking Karaffa so as not to delay!.. In order to quickly decide something and not torment me. To go to her own death... My soul was wracked with pain - Anna reminded me of the girl Damiana... She decided her fate... and I couldn’t help. I couldn't intervene.
- Well, Isidora, I think you will greatly regret this. You are a bad mother. And I was right about women - they are all the offspring of the devil! Including my poor mother.
- Forgive me, your Holiness, but if your mother is the offspring of the Devil, then who then are you?.. After all, you are flesh of her flesh? – I asked, sincerely surprised by his delusional judgments.

Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, collector of folklore songs and public figure.

Nikolai Lysenko came from the old Cossack elder family of Lysenko. Nikolai's father, Vitaly Romanovich, was a colonel of the Order Cuirassier Regiment. Mother, Olga Eremeevna, came from the Poltava landowner family of Lutsenko. Nicholas was homeschooled by his mother and the famous poet A. A. Fet. The mother taught her son French, refined manners and dancing, Afanasy Fet - Russian. At the age of five, noticing the boy’s musical talent, they invited a music teacher for him. From early childhood, Nikolai was fond of the poetry of Taras Shevchenko and Ukrainian folk songs, a love for which was instilled in him by his great-uncle and grandmother, Nikolai and Maria Bulubashi. After finishing his home education, in preparation for the gymnasium, Nikolai moved to Kyiv, where he studied first at the Weil boarding school, then at the Geduin boarding school.

In 1855, Nikolai was sent to the second Kharkov gymnasium, from which he graduated with a silver medal in the spring of 1859. While studying at the gymnasium, Lysenko studied music privately (teacher N.D. Dmitriev), gradually becoming a famous pianist in Kharkov. He was invited to evenings and balls, where Nikolai performed plays by Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, played dances and improvised on themes of Ukrainian folk melodies. After graduating from high school, Nikolai Vitalievich entered the natural science faculty of Kharkov University. However, a year later his parents moved to Kyiv, and Nikolai Vitalievich transferred to the Department of Natural Sciences of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kyiv University. Having graduated from the university on June 1, 1864, Nikolai Vitalievich received the degree of Candidate of Natural Sciences in May 1865.

After graduating from Kyiv University and a short service, N.V. Lysenko decides to receive a higher musical education. In September 1867, he entered the Leipzig Conservatory, considered one of the best in Europe. His piano teachers were K. Reinecke, I. Moscheles and E. Wenzel, in composition - E. F. Richter, in theory - Paperitz. It was there that Nikolai Vitalievich realized that it was more important to collect, develop and create Ukrainian music than to copy Western classics.

In the summer of 1868, N. Lysenko married Olga Alexandrovna O’Connor, who was his second cousin and was 8 years younger. However, after 12 years life together Nikolai and Olga, without officially filing a divorce, separated due to the lack of children.

Having completed his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory with great success in 1869, Nikolai Vitalievich returned to Kyiv, where he lived, with a short break (from 1874 to 1876, Lysenko improved his skills in the field of symphonic instrumentation at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov) , just over forty years, engaged in creative, teaching and social activities. He took part in organizing a Sunday school for peasant children, and later in the preparation of the “Dictionary Ukrainian language", in the Kyiv population census, in the work of the South-Western Branch of the Russian Geographical Society.

In 1878, Nikolai Lysenko took the position of piano teacher at the Institute of Noble Maidens. In the same year, he entered into a civil marriage with Olga Antonovna Lipskaya, who was a pianist and his student. The composer met her during concerts in Chernigov. From this marriage N. Lysenko had five children. Olga Lipskaya died in 1900 after giving birth to a child.

In the 1890s, in addition to teaching at the institute and private lessons, N. Lysenko worked at the music schools of S. Blumenfeld and N. Tutkovsky.

In the fall of 1904, the Music and Drama School (since 1913 - named after N.V. Lysenko), organized by Nikolai Vitalievich, began operating in Kyiv. It was the first Ukrainian educational institution that provided higher musical education according to the conservatory program. To organize the school, N. Lysenko used funds raised by his friends during the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the composer’s work in 1903 to publish his works and purchase dachas for him and the children. Nikolai Vitalievich taught piano at school. Both the school and N. Lysenko as its director were under constant police surveillance. In February 1907, Nikolai Vitalievich was arrested, but was released the next morning.

From 1908 to 1912, N. Lysenko was the chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Club society. This society carried out large public educational activities: organized literary and musical evenings, organized courses for public teachers. In 1911, Lysenko headed the committees created by this society to promote the construction of the monument to T. Shevchenko for the 50th anniversary of the poet’s death.

Nikolai Lysenko died on November 6, 1912, suddenly from a heart attack. Thousands of people came from all regions of Ukraine to say goodbye to the composer. Lysenko's funeral was held in Vladimir Cathedral. The choir that walked ahead of the funeral procession numbered 1,200 people; its singing could be heard even in the center of Kyiv. N.V. Lysenko was buried in Kyiv at the Baikovo cemetery.

Creation

While studying at Kiev University, trying to acquire as much musical knowledge as possible, Nikolai Lysenko studied the operas of A. Dargomyzhsky, Glinka, A. Serov, and became acquainted with the music of Wagner and Schumann. It was from this time that he began collecting and harmonizing Ukrainian folk songs, for example, he recorded a wedding ceremony (with text and music) in Pereyaslavsky district. In addition, N. Lysenko was the organizer and leader of student choirs, with which he performed publicly.

While studying in Leipzig

Conservatory in October 1868, N.V. Lysenko published “Collection of Ukrainian songs for voice and piano” - the first release of his arrangements of forty Ukrainian folk songs, which, in addition to practical purposes, have great scientific and ethnographic value. In the same 1868, he wrote his first significant work - “Zapovit” (“Testament”) to the words of T. Shevchenko, on the anniversary of the poet’s death. This work opened the “Music for the Kobzar” cycle, which included more than 80 vocal and instrumental works of various genres, published in seven series, the last of which was published in 1901.

N.V. Lysenko was at the center of the musical and national-cultural life of Kyiv. Being a member of the directorate of the Russian Musical Society in 1872-1873, he took an active part in its concerts held throughout Ukraine; led a choir of 50 singers, organized in 1872 at the Philharmonic Society of Lovers of Music and Singing; took part in the “Circle of Music and Singing Lovers”, “Circle of Music Lovers” by Y. Spiglazov. In 1872, a circle led by N. Lysenko and M. Staritsky obtained permission to publicly stage plays in Ukrainian. In the same year, Lysenko wrote the operettas “Chernomorets” and “Christmas Night” (later transformed into an opera), which firmly entered the theatrical repertoire, becoming the basis of the Ukrainian national opera art. In 1873, N. Lysenko’s first musicological work on Ukrainian musical folklore, “Characteristics of the musical features of Little Russian thoughts and songs performed by kobzar Ostap Veresai,” was published. During the same period, Nikolai Vitalievich wrote many piano works, as well as a symphonic fantasy on Ukrainian folk themes “Cossack-Shumka”.

During the St. Petersburg period, N. Lysenko took part in concerts of the Russian Geographical Society and directed choral courses. Together with V.N. Paskhalov, Nikolai Vitalievich organized concerts of choral music in the “Salt Town”, the program of which included Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Serbian songs and works by Lysenko himself. He develops friendly relations with the composers of the “Mighty Handful”. In St. Petersburg he wrote the first rhapsody on Ukrainian themes, the first and second concert polonaises, and a piano sonata. There, Lysenko began work on the opera “Marusya Boguslavka” (unfinished) and made the second edition of the opera “Christmas Night”. His collection of girls’ and children’s songs and dances “Molodoshi” (“Young Years”) was published in St. Petersburg.

Returning to Kyiv in 1876, Nikolai Lysenko launched an active performing activities. He organized annual Slavic concerts", performed as a pianist in concerts of the Kyiv branch of the Russian Musical Society, at evenings of the Literary and Artistic Society, of which he was a member of the board, in monthly folk concerts in the People's Auditorium. Organized annual Shevchenko concerts. From seminarians and students familiar with musical notation, Nikolai Vitalievich re-organizes choirs in which they received beginnings art education K. Stetsenko, P. Demutsky, L. Revutsky, O. Lysenko and others. The money collected from the concerts went to public needs, for example, in favor of 183 students of Kyiv University who were drafted into soldiers for participating in the anti-government demonstration of 1901. At this time he wrote almost all of his works for piano. large shape, including the second rhapsody, third polonaise, nocturne in C sharp minor. In 1880, N. Lysenko began work on his most significant work - the opera “Taras Bulba” based on the story of the same name by N. Gogol with a libretto by M. Staritsky, which he would complete only ten years later. In the 1880s, Lysenko wrote such works as “The Drowned Woman” - a lyric-fantastic opera based on N. Gogol’s “May Night” with a libretto by M. Staritsky; “Rejoice, unwatered field” - cantata to poems by T. Shevchenko; third edition of “Christmas Night” (1883). In 1889, Nikolai Vitalievich improved and orchestrated the music for the operetta “Natalka Poltavka” based on the work of I. Kotlyarevsky, in 1894 he wrote music for the extravaganza “The Magic Dream” based on the text by M. Staritsky, and in 1896 the opera “Sappho”.

Among N. Lysenko's authorial achievements, it is also necessary to note the creation of a new genre - children's opera. From 1888 to 1893, he wrote three children's operas based on folk tales with a libretto by the Dnieper-Chaika: “Goat-Dereza”, “Pan Kotsky (Kotsky)”, “Winter and Spring, or the Snow Queen”. “Koza-Dereza” became a kind of gift from Nikolai Lysenko to his children.

From 1892 to 1902, Nikolai Lysenko four times organized touring concerts throughout Ukraine, the so-called “choral travels,” in which mainly his own choral works were performed based on Shevchenko’s texts and arrangements of Ukrainian songs. In 1892, Lysenko’s art historical research “On the torban and the music of Vidort’s songs” was published, and in 1894, “Folk musical instruments in Ukraine.”

In 1905, N. Lysenko, together with A. Koshits, organized the Boyan choral society, with which he organized choral concerts of Ukrainian, Slavic and Western European music. The conductors of the concerts were himself and A. Koshits. However, due to unfavorable political conditions and lack of material resources, the society disintegrated, having existed for little more than a year. At the beginning of the 20th century, Lysenko wrote music for the dramatic performances “The Last Night” (1903) and “Hetman Doroshenko”. In 1905, he wrote the work “Hey, for our native land.” In 1908, the choir “The Quiet Evening” was written to the words of V. Samoilenko, in 1912 the opera “Nocturne” was written, lyrical romances were created based on texts by Lesya Ukrainka, Dniprova Chaika, and A. Oles. In the last years of his life, Nikolai Vitalievich wrote a number of works in the field of sacred music, continuing the “Cherubic” cycle he founded at the end of the 19th century: “The Most Pure Virgin, Mother of the Russian Land” (1909), “I will go from Thy presence, Lord” ( 1909), “The Virgin is giving birth today to the Most Essential”, “By the Tree of the Cross”; in 1910, “David’s Psalm” was written based on the text by T. Shevchenko.

TOPIC 2. MUSICAL CULTURE

Nikolai Lysenko is an outstanding public figure, a talented composer, choral conductor, pianist and teacher. Significant place M. Lysenko’s creative heritage includes works written under the influence of the work of the Great Kobzar, in particular the monumental cycle “Music for the “Kobzar””. It was the work on music for the poet’s works that founded M. Lysenko’s professional composing career. Every year he organized concerts dedicated to the memory of T. Shevchenko, and made concert trips with the choir throughout Ukraine.

The works of N. Lysenko were played for you in every class during lessons musical art. Which ones do you remember most and why?

The source of M. Lysenko’s creativity is Ukrainian folk song. All his life he collected, recorded and creatively processed pearls of folk melodies. Ukrainian folk songs were heard in the operas “The Drowned Woman”, “The Night Before Christmas”, in the operetta “Chernomorets”, in “Fantasy on Ukrainian Themes”. The crowning achievement of N. Lysenko’s use and processing of Ukrainian folk songs is his opera “Natalka Poltavka” based on the play by I. Kotlyarevsky.

“Natalka Poltavka”, “The Night Before Christmas” and “The Drowned Woman” are the first operas written based on the works of Ukrainian classics, and the peak and best example of heroic-patriotic opera was the monumental folk musical drama"Taras Bulba". The composer also founded the genre of children's opera - he created three fairy tale operas (“The Goat - Dereza”, “Pan Kotsky”, “Winter and Spring”).

The big task that N. Lysenko set for himself was the creation of a national music school, which would allow Ukrainian music to take its rightful place in world culture. The dream was realized in 1904, when, with the assistance of M. Lysenko, the Music and Drama School was created in Kyiv. A galaxy of outstanding representatives of Ukrainian art grew up in this school, including L. Revutsky, K. Stetsenko. Verkhovynets. The importance of this school in the training of national personnel was so significant that later the Kyiv Conservatory and the Kiev State Theater Institute were created on its basis.

M. Lysenko

Scene from the opera "The Night Before Christmas"

Title page of the opera "Taras Bulba"

M. Lysenko formed and enriched almost all existing in Ukrainian musical creativity genres, and its own pedagogical activity laid the foundations of higher specialized music education in Ukraine. Worthy followers creative principles and the traditions of M. Lysenko were M. Kolachevsky, Y. Stepnoy, N. Leontovich, S. Lyudkevich and others.

Scene from the opera “Natalka Poltavka”

A. Kovalev. Monument to M. Lisenko. Kyiv

While studying at Kiev University, trying to acquire as much musical knowledge as possible, Nikolai Lysenko studied the operas of A. Dargomyzhsky, M. Glinka, A. Serov, and became acquainted with the music of Richard Wagner and Robert Schumann. It was from this time that he began collecting and processing Little Russian folk songs, for example, he recorded a wedding ceremony (with text and music) in Pereyaslavsky district. In addition, he was the organizer and leader of student choirs, with which he performed publicly.

While studying at the Leipzig Conservatory in October 1868, Lysenko published “A Collection of Ukrainian Songs for Voice and Piano” - the first release of his arrangements of forty Ukrainian folk songs, which, in addition to their practical purpose, have great scientific and ethnographic value. In the same 1868, he wrote his first significant work - “Testament” to the words of a poem by T. G. Shevchenko, on the anniversary of the poet’s death. This work opened the “Music for the Kobzar” cycle, which included more than 80 vocal and instrumental works of various genres, published in seven series, the last of which was published in 1901.

N.V. Lysenko was at the center of the musical and national-cultural life of Kyiv. Being a member of the directorate of the Russian Musical Society in 1872-1873, he took part in its concerts held throughout Little Russia; led a choir of 50 singers, organized in 1872 at the Philharmonic Society of Lovers of Music and Singing; worked in the “Circle of Music and Singing Lovers”, “Circle of Music Lovers” of Y. Spiglazov. In 1872, a circle led by N. Lysenko and M. Staritsky obtained permission to publicly stage plays in the Little Russian dialect. In the same year, Lysenko wrote the operettas “Chernomortsy” and “Christmas Night” (later transformed into an opera), which were included in the theatrical repertoire, becoming the basis of the Ukrainian national opera art. In 1873, his first musicological work on Ukrainian musical folklore was published - “Characteristics of the musical features of Little Russian thoughts and songs performed by kobzar Ostap Veresay.” During the same period, Nikolai Vitalievich wrote many piano works, as well as a symphonic fantasy on Ukrainian folk themes “Cossack-Shumka”.

During the St. Petersburg period, Lysenko took part in concerts of the Russian Geographical Society and led choral courses. Together with V. N. Paskhalov, he organized concerts of choral music in the “Salt Town”, the program of which included Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Serbian songs and works by Lysenko himself. He develops friendly relations with the composers of the “Mighty Handful”. In St. Petersburg he wrote the first rhapsody on Ukrainian themes, the first and second concert polonaises, and a piano sonata. There, Lysenko began work on the opera “Marusya Boguslavka” (unfinished) and made the second edition of the opera “Christmas Night”. His collection of girls’ and children’s songs and dances “Molodoshi” (“Young Years”) was published in St. Petersburg.

In 1880, he began work on his most significant work - the opera “Taras Bulba” based on the story of the same name by N. V. Gogol with a libretto by M. Staritsky, which he completed only ten years later. In the 1880s, Lysenko wrote such works as “The Drowned Woman” - a lyric-fantastic opera based on “May Night” by N. Gogol with a libretto by M. Staritsky; “Rejoice, unwatered field” - cantata to poems by T. Shevchenko; third edition of “Christmas Night” (1883). In 1889, Nikolai Vitalievich improved and orchestrated the music for the operetta “Natalka Poltavka” based on the work of I. Kotlyarevsky, in 1894 he wrote the music for the extravaganza “The Magic Dream” based on the text by M. Staritsky, and in 1896 - the opera “Sappho”.

Among N. Lysenko's authorial achievements, it is also necessary to note the creation of a new genre - national children's opera. From 1888 to 1893, he wrote three children's operas based on folk tales with a libretto by the Dnieper-Chaika: “Goat-Dereza”, “Pan Kotsky (Kotsky)”, “Winter and Spring, or the Snow Queen”. “Koza-Dereza” became a kind of gift from Nikolai Lysenko to his children.

From 1892 to 1902, Nikolai Lysenko organized tours around Ukraine four times, the so-called “choral travels,” in which mainly his own choral works based on Shevchenko’s texts and arrangements of Ukrainian songs were performed. In 1892, Lysenko’s art historical research “On the torban and the music of Vidort’s songs” was published, and in 1894, “Folk musical instruments in Ukraine.”

In 1905, N. Lysenko, together with A. Koshits, organized the Boyan choral society, with which he organized choral concerts of Ukrainian, Slavic and Western European music. The conductors of the concerts were himself and A. Koshits. However, due to unfavorable political conditions and lack of material resources, the society disintegrated, having existed for little more than a year. At the beginning of the 20th century, Lysenko wrote music for the dramatic performances “The Last Night” (1903) and “Hetman Doroshenko”; in 1905 he wrote the work “Hey, for our native land.” In 1908, he wrote the chorus “The Silent Evening” to the words of V. Samoilenko, in 1912 - the opera “Nocturne”, created lyrical romances based on texts by Lesya Ukrainka, Dniprova-Chaika, A. Oles. In the last years of his life, Nikolai Vitalievich wrote a number of works of sacred music, which continued the “Cherubic” cycle he founded at the end of the 19th century: “The Most Pure Virgin, Mother of the Russian Land” (1909), “I will go from Thy presence, Lord” (1909), “The Virgin is giving birth today to the Most Essential”, “By the Tree of the Cross”; in 1910, “David’s Psalm” was written based on the text by T. Shevchenko.

In 1880, already a mature composer, Nikolai Lysenko performed in Elisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) with a large concert, which was a stunning success, as reported by the press of that time. During the concert, the overture to “Christmas Night”, the Ukrainian rhapsody “Dumka-Shumka”, and romances were played.