Petro Semenovych Drevchenko (1863 – 1934) was also known by the surname of Drevkin and Drygavka.

Biography

Drevchenko was born in 1863 in the

Poltava Governorate The Poltava Governorate (russian: Полтавская губерния, Poltavskaya guberniya; ua, Полтавська Губернія, translit=Poltavska huberniia) or Poltavshchyna was a Governorate (Russia), gubernia (also called a provin ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(in present-day

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) to a family of servants. From the age of 12 he lived in

kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ua, кобзар, pl. kobzari ua, кобзарі) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed bandura or kobza. Tradition Kobzars were often blind and became predominantly so b ...

Hnat Honcharenko for 4 years and at 18 completed his apprenticeship and received permission to become an independent kobzar. At the age of 20 he was married. Kryst wrote that Drevchenko reminded one of his teacher - Hnat Honcharenko. He had a fidgety character and was given the name Drygavka (meaning "spinning top"). He travelled around considerably giving numerous performances. Of the kobzars of the early 20th century he made public significant sections of the Ustynski books. He often performed with lirnyk Ivan Zozulia. He participated in the XIIth Archeological Congress in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Heorhy Tkachenko Heorhiy Kyrylovych Tkachenko ( uk, Георгій Кирилович Ткаченко; 5 May 1898 in Hlushkovo, Kursk region of the Russian Empire – 1993 in Kyiv, Ukraine) was a Ukrainian bard and bandurist. Biography Tkachenko was able to com ...

Drevchenko's performance in 1922 at the opening of the Artem museum to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Hryhory Skovoroda aided significantly in raising his popularity. Drevchenko's playing technique was admired by

Mykola Lysenko Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko ( uk, Мико́ла Віта́лійович Ли́сенко; 22 March 1842 – 6 November 1912) was a List of Ukrainian composers, Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist of the late Romantic mus ...

who at one time considered him for a position to teach bandura at his music school in Kiev.

Filaret Kolessa Filaret Mykhailovych Kolessa ( uk, Філарет Михайлович Колесса; 17 July 18713 March 1947) was a Ukrainian composer ethnographer, folklorist, musicologist and literary critic. He was a member of the Shevchenko Scientific S ...

noted that Drevchenko had characteristics of stage performance in his '' dumy'' (sung epic poems) renditions but when compared to Ivan Kuchuhura Kucherenko, Drevchenko's recitations were more faithful to their archaic base. In

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

times, Drevchenko took up a number of social causes such as the right for kobzars to perform on the streets. Together with the kobzars

Pavlo Hashchenko Pavlo Ivanovych Hashchenko ( -1933) was a Ukrainian kobzar and bandura player. Hashchenko was originally from Poltava province but lived most of his life in the village of Konstantynivka, Bohodukhiv county, Kharkiv province. Among the kobza ...

, Stepan Pasiuha, H. Tsybko they created the ''duma'' “About the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

.”

Heorhy Tkachenko Heorhiy Kyrylovych Tkachenko ( uk, Георгій Кирилович Ткаченко; 5 May 1898 in Hlushkovo, Kursk region of the Russian Empire – 1993 in Kyiv, Ukraine) was a Ukrainian bard and bandurist. Biography Tkachenko was able to com ...

regarded Drevchenko to be his teacher. Drevchenko later was persecuted by the Soviet authorities. He died in 1934, possibly in Kharkiv. The circumstances of his death are not clear but it is assumed that he died during the Holodomor.

Sources

*Черемський, К. П. Повернення традиції / К. Черемський. – Х.: Центр Леся Курбаса. – 1999. – 288 с. *Черемський, К. П. Шлях звичаю / – Х.: Глас. – 2002. – 444 с. Kobzars Bandurists Ukrainian musicians 1863 births 1934 deaths {{ukr-music-stub