Bohdan Vesolovsky ( 30 May 1915 – 17 December 1971) was a Ukrainian composer and songwriter.Ukrainian music encyclopedia

Biography

He was born in Vienna. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

his family moved to

Stryi Stryi ( uk, Стрий, ; pl, Stryj) is a city located on the left bank of the river Stryi in Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine 65 km to the south of Lviv (in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains). It serves as the administrative ce ...

, then occupied by

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. He studied at the Faculty of Law of

Lviv University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

(graduated in 1937) and Stryi branch of Mykola Lysenko Higher Music Institute. He also graduated from the Consular Academy in Vienna in 1939. At the age of 16 he started writing music, at the age of 22 he wrote one of his most popular songs - "''There will come another time''" (''Прийде ще час''). Already the first musical works brought Bohdan Vesolovsky fame. In the 1930s, together with the violinist Leonid Yablonsky and the accordionist

Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky Anatoliy Yosypovych Kos-Anatolsky (; 1 December 1909 – 30 November 1983) was a Soviet and Ukrainian composer. People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1969) and winner of Shevchenko National Prize (1980). Deputy of Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Un ...

, he was a member of Jablonsky Jazz Chapel (Yabtso-Jazz; the soloist was Iryna Yarosevych). The jazz band was a great success at parties of Lviv youth of the interwar period, in particular at corporate balls. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he was an officer in Austria-German boundary. Since 1949 lived in Canada. In Canada Bohdan Vesolovsky worked as a chief-editor of Ukrainian version of

Radio Canada International Radio Canada International (RCI) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Prior to 1970, RCI was known as the CBC International Service. The broadcasting service was also previously referred to as ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

. In 1960 Vesolovsky was allowed to visit USSR. Vesolovsky died in Monreal were was buried. Upon 20 years reburied in Stryi according to his testament.

Legacy

According to Bohdan Vesolovsky, the immediate impetus of his composing skills was the lack of Ukrainian entertainment music. At that time, Polish music dominated. Only quality could compete with it.Lukanov The song heritage of the composer includes more than 130 works. Songs of the first (Lviv) period are mainly

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

foxtrot The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a ti ...

, light

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...

. The lyrics of these songs was mostly about love. In the following years, the songs acquired a bright civic sound ("Fly, sad song" and "Charm of the Carpathian Mountains"). After the World War II songs by Vesolovsky were forbidden in USSR, though were performed anonymously. The revival of Veselovsky's music in Ukraine rises in 2000s. In 2001, with the participation of the composer's wife Olena Vesolovska (Zalizniak), the first collection of Vesolovsky's songs was published, which included 56 works. Late a famous Ukrainian singer

Oleh Skrypka Oleh Yuriyovych Skrypka ( uk, Оле́г Ю́рійович Скри́пка, Oleh Yuriiovych Skrypka, ; born 24 May 1964) is a Ukrainian musician, vocalist, composer, and leader of the group Vopli Vidoplyasova. Biography Oleh Skrypka was born i ...

recorded two albums based on Vesolovsky's songs found in Toronto - "My Heart is Vulnerable" (2009) and "Dahlia" (2011). Since 2015 an annual Music festival in memory of Vesolovsky took place in Ukraine.

References

Sources

Bondi Vesolovsky and Yabtso Jazz: swinging Lviv in the 1920s-30s
* Ostash, Ihor. (2013
Бонді, або повернення Богдана Весоловського
ondi or Bjhdan Vesolovsky's returning Duliby. * Lukanov U. (2000
Піонер легкого жанру
ioneer of light genre Day. * Symonenko, Volodymyr (2004). Ukrainian encyclopedia of jazz. Kyiv, page 24 * Ukrainian music encyclopedia (2006). Rylski Institut. Kyiv. page 344 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vesolovsky, Bohdan Ukrainian composers 1915 births 1971 deaths Polish emigrants to Canada Ukrainians in Poland Musicians from Vienna Ukrainian people in the Austrian Empire Canadian people of Ukrainian descent News editors Radio editors Canadian radio producers