The stork

Kupalo songfolkComposerArranger

Mar 19

Written By andrew waller

Translated Text

Score Ukrainian

Score Transliterated

The stork | Лелека | Leleka

Composer: Judif Rozhavska | Юдіф Рожавська
Arranger: Zenoby Lawryshyn | Зеновій Лавришин

The theme of this song, the longing for one's homeland represented by migrating storks, is common in Ukrainian music. This piece, originally written by Judif Rozhavski, was arranged for women's choir by Zenoby Lawryshyn, a prolific Ukrainian Canadian composer and pianist based in Toronto, Canada. As inspiration, many Ukrainian composers have tapped into the vast repertoire of Ukrainian traditional folk music, much of which had been orally passed down through generations. Most of the music from the Ukrainian folk song genre falls within two main areas: music that reflects the important stages of a person’s life, such as carefree youth, unrequited love, courtship, marriage, motherhood, and music that reflects the seasonal cycle of a predominantly agrarian society. Ukrainian folk song tradition is rich with imagery and conveys an array of emotions.

This is an example of the vast amount of music arranged for Vesnivka by Toronto composer Zenoby Lawryshyn.