1745–1777
Maksym Berezovskyi
Composer of the opera Demofonte
His name is written in gold letters on a wall of the Bologna academy, and his Demofonte is the first opera by a Ukrainian composer. Maksym Berezovskyi, a singer from Hlukhiv, helped create the Ukrainian choral style in sacred music and wrote the concerto Do Not Forsake Me in My Old Age.
Key accomplishments
- The opera Demofonte (Livorno, 1773), the first opera by a Ukrainian composer
- Academician-composer and member of the Bologna Philharmonic Academy (1771)
- The choral concerto Do Not Forsake Me in My Old Age
- A cycle of liturgical chants and a sonata for violin and harpsichord
- The Symphony in C major, one of the first symphonic works by a composer from the russian empire
A voice from Hlukhiv
Did you know that the “Ukrainian Mozart” had the same teacher as the real one? But it all began in Hlukhiv, then the hetmans’ capital, where Maksym Berezovskyi was born to a Cossack family in 1745. He studied at the Hlukhiv singing school and at the Kyiv Academy, where he began to compose, and he sang in the choir and orchestra of Hetman Kyrylo Rozumovskyi. Even so, the basic facts of his life are still in doubt, and no portrait of Berezovskyi has ever been found.
A singer at the imperial court
In 1758 the young man became a singer in the court choir at Oranienbaum near Saint Petersburg, and in 1759–1760 he performed as a soloist with the Italian opera company. At the same time he studied composition with the Italian maestro Francesco Zoppis.
The Bologna academician
Later Berezovskyi went to study in Italy. In Bologna he was taught by Padre Giovanni Battista Martini, who also taught the young Mozart. In 1771 Berezovskyi earned the title of academician-composer and became a member of the Bologna Philharmonic Academy. In 1773 his opera Demofonte was staged in Livorno, the first opera written by a Ukrainian composer.
The return
In the mid-1770s Berezovskyi returned to Saint Petersburg, but his talent was not valued there. He died in 1777, aged 31. The circumstances of his death are not known for certain. Most of his works have been lost.
Why it matters today
Maksym Berezovskyi proved that a musician from Hlukhiv, the hetmans’ capital, could hold his own in the musical Europe of his day. He became one of the creators of the Ukrainian choral style in sacred music, and his Demofonte is the first opera by a Ukrainian composer. In his best-known concerto, Kyivan church chant and folk song speak the language of European Classical music. Anyone who hears Ukrainian choral music hears his part in it, and rediscovered symphonies are bringing back music that seemed lost.
