Mykhailo (Mykola) Domontovych ( uk, Михайло (Микола) Домонтови) (Zlobintsev) (1875? – 1933?) Mykhailo (in Yemetz he is noted as being Mykola) Domontovych's real name was Mykhailo Zlobintsev. He was a graduate of Kiev University, where he completed his studies in mathematics (1909). He used the stage name Domontovych inspired by the fact that he came from the town of Domontiv, not far from Lubny in the Poltava Governorate (province) of the Russian Empire. In

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

he organized one of the first bandura ensembles, which performed to great acclaim in 1906 for the Shevchenko Festivities there. In 1909 he graduated and moved back to Zolotonosha, where he taught mathematics at the men's gymnasia there. He became one of the first authors of a bandura textbooks which he had published in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

in 1913–14. It seems that Domontovych was influenced greatly by the music played by the '' kobzar''

Tereshko Parkhomenko Terentiy (Tereshko) Makarovych Parkhomenko (1872–1910) was one of the most respected kobzars of the late 19th and early 20th century. Biography He was born 10 September 1872 in the village of Voloskivtsi, Sosnytsia county, in the Chernigov Go ...

. He may have been a student of his guide boy

Vasyl' Potapenko Vasyl' Potapenko (1886–1934) born in Berezna, Mensk region, Chernihiv province was the guide-boy for the blind kobzar Tereshko Parkhomenko. As a guide-boy he was a participant of the ХІІth Archeological congress held in Kharkiv in 1902. ...

. From descriptions of his bandura technique it seemed that he played in a style that was reminiscent of T. Parkhomenko. Domontovych was a prolific author of poetic and various textbooks in Ukrainian. Some 50 books and pamphlets were published by him on various aspects of Ukrainian culture. He taught mathematics in Zolotonosha and organised a bandurist ensemble there in the 1920s where all of the instruments were made by the members of the ensemble. After 1928 we have no information about him. It is thought that by this date he may have been arrested and sentenced or executed.

Sources

*Мізинець В. – ''Микола Домонтович'' // "Bandura", 1986, No.17/18, (С.55-57) *Мішалов В. і М. ''Українські кобзарі-бандуристи'' – Sydney, Australia, 1986 - 106с. *Мішалов В. ''Бандурист М. Домонтович – Михайло Олександрович Злобінцев'' // «Гнат Хоткевич – Бандура та її репертуар» // Харків: Фонд національно-культурних ініціатив імені Гната Хоткевича, 2009 – С.243-255. Kobzars Bandura makers Bandurists Ukrainian musicians 1870s births 1930s deaths Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Musicians from the Russian Empire {{Ukraine-musician-stub