Mykola Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky (Russian: Николай Овсянико-Куликовский, 1768–1846) was the purported author of a famous musical

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

Symphony No. 21 (Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky), perpetrated by

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and violinist

Mikhail Goldstein Mikhail Emmanuilovich Goldstein (russian: Михаил Эммануилович Гольдштейн, also transcribed as Michael Emmanuilowitsch Goldstein, he, מיכאל גולדשטיין; pen name: Mykhailo Mykhailovsky; 7 September 1989), was ...

. In 1948, Goldstein announced that he had discovered the manuscript of a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

by Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky in the archives of the

Odesa Conservatory Odesa National Music Academy named after AV Nezhdanova ( uk, Одеська національна музична академія імені А. В. Нежданової) or Odesa Conservatory is a Ukrainian state institution of higher music educ ...

where he worked. The G minor work, numbered 21, was said to have been written in 1809; it bore the inscription "for the dedication of the Odessa Theater". The discovery caused a great deal of excitement in Soviet musical circles, for it was seen as proof that Russia had been able to produce a symphonist of comparable stature to

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

. Furthermore, the symphony contained Ukrainian folk songs and ended with a

Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

dance, showing that the composer had a nationalist awareness. This piece was subsequently proven to be a fake.Taruskin, Richard (1996). ''Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works Through Mavra,'' p. 161. University of California Press, Association for Recorded Sound Collection (1994). ''ARSC Journal'', Volume 25, pp. 42-43.

Description

#Adagio – Allegro (G minor) #Romance. Adagio (G major) #Minuet (G minor, with trio in G major) #Finale. Kazachok (G major)

Purported composer

Little is known about Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky's life besides his dates of birth (1768) and death (1846). A native of

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast ( uk, Херсо́нська о́бласть, translit=Khersónsʹka óblastʹ, ), also known as Khersonshchyna ( uk, Херсо́нщина, ), is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine, currently claimed and partly occupied ...

, he is known to have been a landowner and patron of the arts; in 1810 he presented his orchestra of

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

s to the Odessa Theater. No evidence has yet come to light to suggest that he was active as a composer. He was the grandfather of the linguist Dmitri Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky.

Hoax discovery

The piece was performed in Odessa and in Kyiv in 1949, and was published by the state music publishers in 1951. It was also quickly recorded for Melodiya by Yevgeny Mravinsky, and was soon the subject of treatises by two Soviet musicologists. One of the musicologists to study the work was a composer and Kyiv conservatory professor named

Gleb Taranov Gleb (Russian and be, Глеб) or Hlib ( uk, Гліб) is a Slavic male given name derived from the Old Norse name ''Guðleifr'', which means "heir of god." According to another version, the name Gleb comes from the name Olaf. It is popular in Rus ...

, who was asked to examine the manuscript of the symphony. Upon completing his examination, he concluded that neither Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky nor

had written the symphony. Goldstein, however, stated that the symphony was in fact his own work. He had been stung when a communist party functionary savaged his use of Ukrainian themes in one of his own pieces, claiming that as a Jew he could not understand Ukrainian culture and had no right to use it in his music. When Goldstein replied that Beethoven also made use of Ukrainian themes in his " Razumovsky Quartets" the functionary said bluntly that "Beethoven was not a Jew." The symphony, then, was written as an act of revenge, to prove that he could, in fact, write "Ukrainian" music. Vsevolod Chаgovets, a philosemitic Ukrainian musician-friend of his, made the suggestion to ascribe the symphony to "Ovsianniko-Kulikovsky". Goldstein was branded a liar and a traitor to Soviet culture for his actions; he emigrated from the USSR in 1964 and lived in West Germany from 1969. He spent his remaining years teaching and working as a musicologist in Hamburg. The hoax was not acknowledged in some later publications. The work continues to be taught in courses on Ukrainian music at the major conservatories in Ukraine.

Publication

Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky: Symphony No. 21. full score, 22.2 x 30 cm 79pp. Moscow, Muzgiz, 1951. 480 copies printed.

Recording

The Melodiya recording of the symphony has recently been reissued. MELODIYA - MEL 1000933 Evgeni Mravinsky Glazunov & Ovsianiko-Kulikovski :Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra :Evgeni Mravinski, conductor *Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936) Symphony No. 4 in E flat Major en, op. 48 *Nikolai Ovsianiko-Kulikovski (Michael Goldstein) Symphony No. 21 in G minor :1 CD - ADD - TT: 55' 42 :Recorded in 1948 (Glazunov) & 1954 (Ovsianiko-Kulikovski)

References

External links

Ukrainian music of the nineteenth century
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky, Mykola 1768 births 1846 deaths Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire Musical hoaxes Ukrainian composers People from Novorossiya Governorate