The choir’s repertoire included many church songs, which were always performed during the first act of the concert. Just like clergymen, former church choral singers were sent to the camps. It was immensely popular abroad in the 1920-30s, which was a period when the Soviet power cruelly fought the church and traditional choral culture, largely represented by sacred music.
There was one more reason for long-time ignorance. This is not surprising, as the former Communist system forbid mentioning this extraordinary artistic group in any publications for decades. Until very recently there was scant information about the Don Cossack Choir, which used to “make the whole world go crazy” according to one of its contemporaries. That is why they were eagerly invited by conductors of various emigrant choirs, which emerged at the time in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia and other countries. Thanks to them, audiences on different continents had the opportunity to enjoy the achievements of the Slavic choral culture, in the midst of which Ukrainian singing stands out with its specific beauty and melodiousness. Amongst the native art groups that were scattered over the world by the dramatic 20th century, the greatest popularity in prewar and postwar Europe, and beyond, was obtained by the famous choirs conducted by Oleksander Koshetz (1875-1944), Serge Jaroff (1896-1985), Nikolay Kostriukov (1898-1966), Dmytro Kotko (1892-1982), and Nestor Horodovenko (1885-1964).
0 kommentar(er)
