Gentle spring nights

Kupalo songfolkComposerArranger

Mar 19

Written By andrew waller

Translated Text

Score Ukrainian

Score Transliterated

Gentle spring nights | Лагідні веснянії ночі зористі | Lahidni vesnjaniji nochi zorysti

Composer: Zenoby Lawryshyn | Зеновій Лавришин
Lyricist: Lesia Ukrainka | Леся Українка

Lesia Ukrainka wrote this poem as part of a cycle entitled "Seven Strings" circa 1890. One of Ukraine's best-known poets and writers and the foremost woman writer in Ukrainian literature, Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka (1871-1913) assumed the pseudonym Lesia Ukrainka at age thirteen because at that time publications in the Ukrainian language were forbidden. Diagnosed with tuberculosis of the bone at an early age and often house-bound, her writing became the main focus of her life. Due to her illness, she spent extended periods of time in Germany, Austria, Italy, Bulgaria, Crimea, the Caucasus, and Egypt. Knowing that her life would be short often led her to share her joy in nature, as well as her regrets and anguish, through her poetry. 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.

This classical song is set to poetry by Lesia Ukrainka. Vesnivka commissioned Zenoby Lawryshyn to write the music to the wrenchingly personal words of Lesia Ukrainka, which had its premiere in the fall of 2013 at a concert commemorating the 100th anniversary of her death. Vesnivka's music archives include classical works drawn from poetry from many of Ukraine's great literary figures, including Lesia Ukrainka, foremost woman writer in Ukrainian literature.