A Russian music director sends a solidarity message to Ukraine
OperaVladimir Jurowski, music director of Bavarian state Opera, has gathered a cast from the upcoming War and Peace to commemorate the anniversary of the Russian invasion.
The musical greeting they are sending to Ukraine is a Cossack song ‘Їхав козак за Дунай’ which caught on in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century as ‘Schöne Minka, ich muß scheiden’, with music by Ludwig van Beethoven.
https://twitter.com/emeriticus/status/1629150757235613701
Yes, it’s astoundingly juvenile but they do know the intellectual level of their audiences.
Seems to be one of the few “good ones”.
Anyone with a Ukrainian or Russian background knows this song very well. It’s in the repertoire of many choruses throughout Russia, Ukraine and in the diaspora. My guess is the Russian diplomat, Count Razumovsky, must have introduced it to Beethoven in Vienna. Chaliapin worked for a time in a Ukrainian operetta company and learned many Ukrainian folk songs and even recorded a few of them in Ukrainian. Ivan Kozlovsky sang both Russian and Ukrainian romances and folk songs. The late Joseph Kobzon and Alexander Gradsky sang Ukrainian songs. My point is Russian and Ukrainian music
is comfortably shared between both groups. For those Gershwin aficionados, the Cossack song that Mr. Lebrecht posted was appropriated by GG, with some changes, as Cossack Love Song(Don’t Forget Me), in the stage musical The Song of the Flame, and his name is listed as the sole composer on the sheet music. So, you can say, in a manner of speaking, we’re listening to a Gershwin tune.
Count Razumovsky Ukrainian, brother of the last hetman
Absolutely sublime…..Brought me to tears.Thank you!!!!!
Beautiful and very moving. All great singers, but for me the real discovery is the mezzo from the second stanza, Alexandra Yangel. Stunning voice.