Mark Lukych Kropyvnytskii ( uk, Марко Лукич Кропивницький; russian: Марк Лукич Кропивницкий, translit=Mark Lukich Kropivnitsky; 7 May 1840 – 21 April 1910), commonly known as Marko Kropyvnytskyi, was a Ukrainian writer, dramaturge, composer, theatre actor and director. Over his career Kropyvnytskyi wrote 40 plays, played in over 500 roles of various repertoire, as well as wrote several songs.Kropyvnytskyi, I.
Ukrainian Shakespeare (Український Шекспір)
'. Newspaper "Den". 20 May 2010. In 1875, he was invited by Theophilia Romanovich to the theatrical society "Ruska Besida", and is attributed to be one of the founders of the first professional Ukrainian theatre, The Ruska Besida Theater.

Early years

Marko Lukych Kropyvnytskyi was born on 7 May 1840 in Bezhbayraky village (now

Kropyvnytske Kropyvnytske ( uk, Кропивницьке) is a village located in Novoukrainka Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast, Ukraine. It is the birthplace of Marko Kropyvnytskyi in whom the village is named for. Kropyvnytske belongs to Hannivka rural hromada, one ...

), in what was then Kherson Governorate of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, 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 th ...

, into the family of nobleman Luka Ivanovych and Kapitolina Ivanivna (née Dubrovynska) Kropyvnytskyi.Shepel, L.F., Gruzin, D.V.
Marko Kropyvnytskyi
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine

Early career

In 1862 as an audit student, Kropyvnytskyi attended classes at the Law Faculty of Kiev University. Deeply impressed by a melodrama he saw in Kiev Theatre, he wrote the play "Mykyta Starostenko, or You do know when disaster will awake" ( uk, Микита Старостенко, або Незчуєшся, як лихо спобіжить, italic=yes). He later criticized this work as it was an attempt by inexperienced author. Now the play is known in the version, that has undergone numerous fundamental revisions. Kropyvnytskyi had not completed his education for various reasons; yet he constantly complemented to his knowledge independently, especially after he moved to Elisavetgrad, where there was a library. There, he had a chance to get acquainted with Robert Owen, John Stuart Mill,

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

, Heinrich Heine, Alexandre Dumas, George Sand, and

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his Satire, satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair (novel), Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portra ...

, among other writers. In his government service, Kropyvnytskyi was rarely promoted, and often completely lost his earnings, due to his devotion for art and amateur performances. In 1871, Kropyvnytskyi joined the troupe of professional actors, and agreed to work in the company of Count Morkov, in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrat ...

. He gained a great theatrical experience after spending over ten years in the Russian theatre troupe; he thoroughly studied the specific rules of theatre genre and learned the place of theatre in society. In 1872 the Odessa newspaper "Novorossiysk Telegraph" published two musical comedies by Kropyvnytskyi: ''Reconciled'' and ''God will protect an orphan, or Unexpected Proposal''. In 1875, Kropyvnytskyi went on tour in Galicia, where he worked as an actor and director of the theatre company "Ruthenian talk"; he has made some effort to change the repertoire and artistic style of the theatre in bringing it to the realism and national character.

Creating the Coryphee Theatre

In 1881, the ban on Ukrainian theatre was abolished. Though there still were many limitations and restrictions, Ukrainian troupes emerged in

Kyiv 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 ...

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.Mykhailo Starytsky troupe, and Marko Kropyvnytskyi became a leading director there. A new era in the history of Ukrainian professional theatre began. Many famous actors played in Kropyvnytskyi's troupe, such as Maria Zankovetska, Mykola Sadovsky, later M.Sadovska-Barilotti, Panas Saksahansky, and Ivan Karpenko-Kary. In his early days, Kropyvnytskyi wrote mainly comedy pieces: ''Reconciled'' (1869), ''God will protect an orphan, or Unexpected Proposal'' (1871), ''Actor Sinitsa'' (1871), ''A revision'' (1882), ''Mustache'' (1885) and others. Kropivnytsky's grave

Later period

In 1890s, Kropyvnytskyi called his pieces "pictures" on multiple occasions, such as his "pictures of rural movement" ("Konon Blyskavychenko", 1902, "Tough Day", 1906), "pictures of rural life" ("Old bitch and young shoots», 1908) etc. Even in his later years, forced by worsening health to settle in a farm House, Kropyvnytskyi often travelled to participate in theatre performances, he continued writing plays. Kropyvnytskyi bothered for organization of a school for farmers and their children, created two plays for children, using folk motifs (''Ivasik-Telesyk'', ''On the wave of the wand''), and worked on its staging at the farm. Kropyvnytskyi died on 21 April 1910 on his way from Odessa, where he was on tour. He was buried in Kharkiv.

Legacy

Marko Kropyvnytsky 2020 stamp of Ukraine

In July 2016 the city of Kirovohrad was renamed Kropyvnytskyi in his honour.Sweeping out Soviet past: Kirovohrad renamed Kropyvnytsky

UNIAN The UNIAN or Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News ( uk, Українське Незалежне Інформаційне Агентство Новин, УНІАН, translit=Ukrayins'ke Nezalezhne Informatsiyne Ahentstvo Novyn) is a ...

(14 July 2016)Profile Committee of the Council decided on a new name for Kirovohrad
Ukrayinska Pravda (31 March 2016)Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

(14 April 2015)Verkhovna Rada renamed Kirovograd
Ukrayinska Pravda (14 July 2016) In 2008 Marko's grandson, Ihor Kropyvnytskyi said the following, "Created by Marko Kropyvnytskyi under conditions of a brutal national oppression, the professional theatre was one of main sources of cultural revival of the yoked nation during many years, particularly considering that many of our compatriots were illiterate at that time and were not able to read wonderful poetry and stories of

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukrainian poet, writ ...

, Marko Vovchok, Ivan Franko and other Ukrainian writers. The Marko Kropyvnytskyi Theatre gave not only an extraordinary push for further development of Ukrainian culture, but also played a prominent socio-political role in the life of Ukrainians, became one of important spiritual foundations on which many decades later was built independent Ukrainian state". About Kropyvnytskyi,

Maksym Rylsky Maksym Tadeyovych Rylsky ( uk, Максим Тадейович Рильський; russian: Максим Фадеевич Рыльский; in Kyiv – 24 July 1964 ''id.'') was a Ukrainian poet, translator, academician, Doctor of Philolog ...

wrote the following, "Let's lower our foreheads: a genius was here, for people he worked and was tormented, so that the people would be treated just, so that the land would be green in garden's bloom" ( uk, Схилим чоло: тут віяв геній, Народу син творив тут і страждав, Щоб для народу домогтися прав, Щоб на землі сади цвіли зелені...).

References

External links

* Revutsky, V.
Marko Kropyvnytsky
'.

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was crea ...

* Kropyvnytskyi, I.
Father of the Ukrainian Theatre (Батько українського театру)
'. Newspaper "Den". 22 May 2008. * Kropyvnytskyi, I.
A concert in the middle of the steppe (Концерт серед степу)
'. Newspaper "Den". 15 January 2009. * Kropyvnytskyi, I.
Ukrainian Shakespeare (Український Шекспір)
'. Newspaper "Den". 20 May 2010. * Mushtenko, S.
Time of coryphées (Час корифеїв)
'. Newspaper "Den". 14 December 2007. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kropyvnytsky, Marko 1840 births 1910 deaths People from Kirovohrad Oblast People from Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire Ukrainian nobility Ukrainian dramatists and playwrights Ukrainian male stage actors Ukrainian male writers Ukrainian composers Ukrainian theatre directors Ukrainian Discourse Theatre Dramaturges Male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Ukrainian male actors 19th-century Ukrainian dramatists and playwrights 19th-century male writers 20th-century Ukrainian male actors 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century male writers