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The Carol of the Bells: The Story of a Christmas Carol

EVERYONE HAS HEARD THIS CHRISTMAS MELODY, BUT FEW KNOW THE COMPOSER KILLED BY BOLSHEVIKS

During the Christmas season, everyone has heard this melody at least once — it plays in stores, on the streets, in churches, and even in theaters. It's one of the most popular and recognizable melodies worldwide.

Nikolai Dmitriyevich Leontovich, a Ukrainian composer, choral conductor, public figure, and educator, wrote this melody. He is also known for his widely acclaimed arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs for choir, including "Shchedryk," "Dudaryk," and "Kazaka nesut." His arrangement of "Shchedryk" is globally renowned as the Christmas carol "Carol of the Bells."

Today, "Carol of the Bells" is known worldwide — it features in advertisements, soap operas, and films. It can be heard in TV shows like "The Simpsons," "South Park," and "Family Guy," as well as in the iconic comedy "Home Alone" and the blockbuster "Die Hard." Dozens of famous performers have interpreted it, ranging from classical renditions to rock, pop, and even heavy metal styles.

Nikolai Dmitriyevich perished at the hands of the Cheka-Ogpu-NKVD operatives.

Nikolai Dmitriyevich Leontovich was a talented composer, choral conductor, folklorist, educator, and public figure, deeply knowledgeable about folk culture. He carved a bright chapter in the history of Ukrainian music. Nikolai Leontovich was born on December 13, 1877, in the village of Monastyryok in the Bratslavsky district of Podolia (now Vinnytsia region) into a family of a rural priest. From childhood, he loved folk singing. His father played various musical instruments, while his mother knew many Ukrainian songs and skillfully performed them.

Nikolai Dmitriyevich Leontovich

According to family tradition, Nikolai was supposed to become a priest - that's what his parents wanted for him. Therefore, they sent him to study at the Shargorod Spiritual Seminary and then to the Kamianets-Podilskyi Theological Seminary. At these institutions, he was primarily drawn to music notation and choral singing. Here, he began to transcribe folk songs for the first time and sang in the choir. During this period, he diligently learned to play the piano and violin, studied musical literature, and became acquainted with the biographies of outstanding composers. He was particularly drawn to the choral arrangements of folk songs by Nikolai Lysenko. Leontovich's musical development was also influenced by the vibrant cultural life of the administrative center of Podolian Governorate - Kamianets-Podilskyi. Theater troupes visited the city on tour, staging operas by Verdi, Bizet, Glinka, and Tchaikovsky. Although the seminary authorities did not encourage seminarians' interest in theater, Nikolai seized every opportunity to attend performances.

The musical successes of the young seminarian were quite significant, allowing him to become the choirmaster of the seminary choir even before receiving his diploma. His talent developed rapidly. He was not only a choir conductor but also tried his hand at composing - it was here that he began to write his first spiritual works. The choir members, who were impressed by the young musician, presented him with the score of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera "The Slippers" with a dedication: "To the future famous composer, an unforgettable choirmaster from the choir singers." After graduating from the seminary in 1899, N. Leontovich declined the priesthood and worked for several years as a singing, arithmetic, and geography teacher at the Chukov Dual School. However, as before, music remained at the center of his interests. He directed the student choir, organized a symphony orchestra whose repertoire consisted of works by Western European and Russian classics, pieces by Ukrainian composers, as well as his arrangements of folk songs. In 1902, Leontovich moved to Vinnytsia, where he became a teacher at the Church-Teacher School. Like in Chukov, he created a student choir and conducted a spiritual orchestra. He arranged folk songs for the choir members. These beautiful arrangements of Ukrainian songs have become part of the Ukrainian musical heritage. An eternal teacher and eternal student - these words precisely define Leontovich the educator and Leontovich the artist. The composer paid special attention to self-education. The need to systematize and consolidate the knowledge he had acquired independently led him to the St. Petersburg Court Chapel, where during the school holidays of 1903-1904, he passed exams for the title of choirmaster of church choirs.

Nikolai Dmitriyevich Leontovich

Nikolai Leontovich became a teacher for a whole generation of Ukrainian musicians because, through the force of his talent, he condensed in his work the choral and song practice of the people and the artistic opinions of his predecessors and contemporaries. Folk art revealed to him the subtle features of the national character, the beauty of his creative spirit, and forever shaped Leontovich's civic creed. In some of his writings, he emphasized that the life goal of a true artist should be to work to the fullest extent under any circumstances. Through personal example, the composer demonstrated the inseparable unity of word and deed, boundless dedication to the cause to which he dedicated himself.

From the fall of 1904, Nikolai Leontovich worked at the railway school in Grishino station (now Krasnoarmiisk) in the Donbass. In a short period, he organized singing classes there, created a choir and instrumental ensemble consisting of railway workers and their families. In 1905, fate brought Leontovich back to his homeland. He settled in Tulchyn and became a teacher at the diocesan school. Here, he worked with amateur choirs, continued to transcribe and harmonize folk songs. By that time, he had already compiled two printed collections of "Songs from Podillia."

During this period, Leontovich mastered the techniques and means of choral technique in the process of live singing. The composer did a lot to preserve the pristine nature of folk creativity for future generations, protecting it from the clichés of salon performance. By revisiting the same works for many years, Leontovich discovered new facets of the songs, imbuing them with a new and unique color. The best examples of his choral arrangements, based on folk song material, are the unforgettable "Shchedryk," "Dudaryk," "Kozaka nesut," "Oi iz-za hori kamenni," "Zashumila lishchynonka," "Malo imety odnu doch." These and other arrangements by Leontovich were widely circulated among the people and often performed at concerts by amateur and professional choirs.

The artistic credo of the master could be formulated as follows: folk art bestowed upon him its treasures, and he polished them, returning them to the creators as precious gems. However, this bright and highly original master of Ukrainian choral music was not known to the wider public until the successful performance of the folk song "Shchedryk" in his arrangement by the student choir of Kyiv University under the direction of Alexander Koshits. In 1909, N. Leontovich moved to Kyiv, where he led choral ensembles, taught at the Mykola Lysenko Musical and Dramatic Institute, worked in the music department of the Kyiv Regional Committee, and in the All-Ukrainian Arts Committee. He headed the state orchestra, communicated with prominent scholars and musicians (Professor B. Yavorsky, singer L. Sobinov, conductor-composers Y. Stepovyi, Y. Kalishch).

While actively engaged in musical organizational and pedagogical activities, N. Leontovich continued his compositional work. In addition to arrangements of folk songs, he wrote works based on the words of contemporary Ukrainian poets: "My Song," "Summer Tones," "Icebreaker," "Legend," and began working on an opera with a fairy-tale plot about "mermaids," which he NEVER finished.

The Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1920, the moment of the establishment of the Ukrainian state, was met by Leontovich with enthusiasm. It seemed that he gained even more energy and strength. Together with other outstanding musical figures and composers - Kirill Stetsenko, Yakov Stepny, Alexander Koshits - Leontovich immersed himself in the whirlwind of turbulent cultural and social life. It was during this time that their efforts led to the establishment of state choirs: the Republican Capella under the direction of Alexander Koshits, the "Dumka" Capella (State Ukrainian Mandrivna Capella) under the direction of Kirill Stetsenko; new amateur choirs were organized; the activities of the Lysenko Music and Drama Institute were expanded; concert, publishing, and music educational activities were intensified - all of this laid the groundwork for the beginning of a new stage in the development of national musical culture.

The Bolshevik occupation halted these movements. In essence, the Ukrainian revival was crushed: newly created national institutions were closed or "reorganized," prominent figures of Ukrainian culture and science were persecuted or physically destroyed. These were measures of the new policy, whose slogan became "national culture in form, but Bolshevik in content." In practice, this meant the end of cultural development, the end of national uplift, the end of Ukrainian statehood. Since 1920, after being blacklisted by the Cheka, Leontovich was persecuted by the "organs." He had to hide, often changing his place of residence. Believing that he would be safe in his father's house, he moved in with him. On the night of January 22-23, 1921, a Chekist sent by the authorities shot him in the chest.

The truth about this heinous murder became known only recently, after the opening of the archives. In Soviet times, historians officially presented Leontovich's death as accidental, the result of being shot by an unknown bandit, as an unfortunate incident. Immediately after Leontovich's death in 1921, the Public Committee in his memory was established in Kyiv, which included prominent cultural figures such as M. Verikivsky, Ya. Stepovyi, P. Demutskyi, D. Revutskyi, H. Verevka, representatives of the musical and scientific community of Kyiv and Ukraine. Later, this committee turned into the Leontovich Society, whose task was to study, publish, and promote the work of the outstanding artist. Streets, creative organizations, professional and amateur choir groups, conservatories have been named after him. Scholarships named after Leontovich have been established for the best students, museums have been created.