Asters

Kupalo songfolkComposerArranger

Mar 19

Written By andrew waller

Translated Text

Score Ukrainian

Score Transliterated

Asters | Айстри | Ajstry

Composer: Zenoby Lawryshyn | Зеновій Лавришин
Lyricist: Oleksandr Oles | Олександр Олесь

Written in 1905, Asters (”Айстри”) is one of the earlier poems of Oleksandr Oles, the renowned writer, poet and playwright born as Oleksandr Ivanovych Kandyba. The text uses imagery of flowers that bloom only to wilt with the winter as an expression of the hope of rising nationalism in Ukraine being destroyed by political turmoil. Oles studied at a veterinary institute, but became interested in literature at an early age. A defining moment of his literary career occurred when he travelled to Poltava for the unveiling of a monument for Ivan Kotlyarevsky, where he met contemporary writers and poets, including Borys Hrinchenko, Michael Kotsyubynskyj and Lesia Ukrainka. Oles spent the latter half of his life exiled in Western Europe, which infused his writing with a longing for his homeland. His son was also a poet, as well as a political activist, Oleh Olzhych. Zenoby Lawryshyn, a prolific Ukrainian Canadian composer based in Toronto, Canada, was born in 1943 in Rudnyky, Ukraine. He emigrated to Canada with his family in 1949. As a composer, Lawryshyn’s works are varied. They include two Masses, a Requiem, individual liturgical pieces, Christmas music, two symphonies, chamber music, incidental music for plays and music for three films. He has collected and edited works of songs of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Over the years, Vesnivka has included classical works composed to the poetry of great literary figures, including Oleksandr Oles, in many of its concerts. Canadian-Ukrainian composer Zenoby Lawryshyn composed the music for this lyrical poem specifically for Vesnivka's concert tour in Ukraine in 1991.