Vasyl' Kuzmych Shevchenko ( ua, Василь Шевченко; 1882–1964) - was one of the most active Ukrainian bandurists and torbanists at the turn of the 19-20th century.

Biography

Very little is known about Schevchenko. We do know that he was a high school teacher in Moscow teaching singing, having also worked as a stagehand at the

Bolshoi Theater The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

. In 1904 he traveled to

Poltava Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administratively ...

province and recorded '' dumy'' (sung epic poems) from the kobzars, in particular

Mykhailo Kravchenko Mykhailo Stepanovych Kravchenko (1858-1917) was regarded as one of the most outstanding kobzars of Poltava province of the late 19th early 20th century. Biography Kravchenko was born in Velyki Sorochyntsi, Myrhorod county in 1858. At the age ...

, and performed with his bandura in

Myrhorod Myrhorod ( uk, Ми́ргород, ) is a city in the Poltava Oblast (province) of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Myrhorod Raion (district), the city itself is administratively incorporated as a city of oblast s ...

, Reshetelivka and other cities. From

Mykola Lysenko , native_name_lang = uk , birth_name = Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko , birth_date = 22 March 1842 , birth_place = Hrynky, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire , death_date = 6 November 1912 (aged 70) , death_place ...

's letters it can be seen that at one time negotiations were taking place for Shevchenko to teach bandura at Lysenko's music school 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 ...

, however it does not seem that they came to an understanding. In 1912 Shevchenko organized a bandura ensemble in Moscow associated with the musical and dramatic group "Kobzar" which popularized the bandura amongst the general Muscovite population. In 1914 he published a bandura handbook. It was originally planned in five parts, however the final two sections were not published. The manuscript of Shevchenko's "Bandura Primer" is currently located in the Central Museum of Musical Culture named after M. Glinka in Moscow, which also preserves his torban.

References

* Mishalow, V. and M. - Ukrains'ki kobzari-bandurysty - Sydney, Australia, 1986 * Kyrdan, B - Omelchenko, A - Narodni spivtsi-muzykanty na Ukraini - Kiev, 1980 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shevchenko, Vasyl 1882 births 1964 deaths Kobzarstvo Bandurists Torbanists Ukrainian musicians 20th-century Ukrainian musicians Musicians from the Russian Empire