Vedel legacy returns home

The 11th Golden-Domed Kyiv Festival has ended in Kyiv. Eight concerts took place, five of which were dedicated to the brilliant Ukrainian composer Artemii Vedel whose 240th anniversary we are marking this year.

The festival began at the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyivan Cave Monastery (Pecherska Lavra), where the Kyiv Chamber Choir performed Vedel’s first six religious concertos (out of 27) together with the Uman Municipal Choir, Kharkiv Philharmonic Choir, and Khreshchatyk Chamber Choir. The concert lineup also included Vedel’s Liturgy and Penance performed by the Khreshchatyk Choir, Pavana Women’s Choir (Drahomanov Pedagogical University of Kyiv), Revutsky Men’s Choir, Pokrova Choir of the Church of the Holy Protection (held at the Lavra’s Dormition Cathedral), while the Credo Chamber Choir marked its fifth anniversary with a concert at the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine on June 9.

In keeping with conductor and festival founder Mykola Hobdych’s annual tradition of featuring the works of a contemporary composer, this year Mykhailo Shukh presented his Liturgical Doxology performed by the Dumka Choir. The launch of the world’s first Anthology of Works by Artemii Vedel took place at the House of Scientists at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

However, until the very last moment no one was sure that the festival would be held in the Ukrainian capital, or even that it would have the same format. A Shevchenko Prize winner and artistic director of the Kyiv Chamber Choir, Hobdych said: “I have been the director of the Golden-Domed Kyiv Festival for 11 years, but I have never encountered such an attitude to the event as this year. A presidential edict was issued in March, and tenders were submitted in the cultural sphere. In other words, a festival can be put up for auction like 10 sacks of cement. Now anyone claiming to be a manager can say, ‘I’ll stage this festival and I’ll need 50 kopiikas less than the other bidders,’ and he may well come out the successful bidder. I can’t imagine a greater degree of incompetence! Still, our festival did take place. Twenty-seven choral concerts were supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Mayor’s Office. However, I am convinced that this edict on tenders in regard to cultural projects must be annulled. This can only be done by the Verkhovna Rada, but they are too busy right now.”

How did you conceive the idea for the festival?

Hobdych: I used to believe that I would be able to properly demonstrate to the rest of the world the grandeur of our religious music, since our choir was doing a great many concert tours in Europe and the United States. But then I realized that I couldn’t cope with the task of adequately promoting our national heritage single-handedly, even by staging 135 concerts a season. That would take a nationwide, combined effort. That was when I hit upon the idea for the festival. Every one of our festivals features two Ukrainian composers, a classic composer and a contemporary one. I make a special point of inviting leading choirs from various regions. We share music and other recordings. In other words, we’re doing our best to share our creative heritage with each other, so that it eventually finds its way to the rest of the world.

This year’s festival highlighted the works of Artemii Vedel. He was a personality of worldwide caliber. He was born in 1767 and died in 1808. Vedel was a prominent composer, virtuoso violinist, excellent tenor, and gifted choirmaster. So many talents bestowed on one person! But he had a tragic destiny. Vedel was sent to the Kyrylivka Insane Asylum in the residential district of Kurenivka, Kyiv, after being tried on false charges. He spent the remaining nine hair-raising years of his life there. A man in his prime, at the peak of his creative talent, was doomed to spend the rest of his life among mentally ill patients, unable to write a single sheet of music!

There are several versions of Vedel’s stay in Kyiv. According to one, he became a novice at the Kyivan Cave Monastery, but could not remain there. Vedel wrote in a letter to his pupil Turchaninov that he was being forced to eat and drink things that he had denied himself in his secular life. Vedel may have found the monastery lacking in the kind of integrity he had sought all his life. It is a documented fact that he could recite all the 150 psalms from memory. Some said that he was a prophet and clairvoyant. Now try to imagine what it must have cost him to first join the Kyivan Cave Monastery and then quit it of his own free will. His departure was an insult to the chief abbot, all the more so as the monastery was under tsarist Russia’s jurisdiction and received orders from St. Petersburg. So Vedel, with his public acclaim as a noted composer, could not have permitted himself such a gesture. Among his belongings a prayer book was found with a lampoon of Catherine II, allegedly written by Vedel, to the effect that the empress was murdered by her son Paul. A criminal case was engineered against retired Captain Vedel (he had completed army service with this rank under Corps General Levanidov in Kharkiv). The Russian government dealt with Vedel in a markedly cruel manner. We know that the new Russian emperor issued a number of pardons. Many people were released from jail, including political prisoners, but not Vedel. He was set free only shortly before his death. In his autobiography Turchaninov mentions that Vedel was seen “quietly praying” in his father’s orchard in Podil, near the Church of the Holy Protection.

Are there any other versions concerning Vedel’s institutionalization?

Hobdych: Tetiana Husarchuk, a Vedel scholar, claims that he was a seer; that he could foresee certain events. When he was at the Kyivan Cave Monastery, Vedel said that Catherine II would be murdered and so would her son Paul. There was no Internet or telegraph at the time, but there was a grapevine, and before long St. Petersburg got wind of his prophesy. This is an established fact, and historical events subsequently confirmed the accuracy of Vedel’s predictions (Paul was murdered on March 11, 1801). In a word, here was a man with the gift of foresight, who fell afoul of the Russian tsarist government.

Was this the end of Vedel’s tragic life story?

Hobdych: No. The performance and publication of his works were banned. It was only in the early 20th century that the noted choirmaster Oleksandr Koshyts began performing a number of his concertos with the choir of Kyiv University. Vedel’s music mostly existed in the form of handwritten copies that were transcribed by religious choir conductors, so inevitably there were mistakes. But then a publishing company in St. Petersburg released two volumes of works by Vedel and Dekhtiariov. That was also when problems started springing up. We find a number of discrepancies even in the concert music we have and can compare with the manuscripts.

Vedel’s compositions feature prominently in your programs.

Hobdych: The Kyiv Chamber Choir has focused on Vedel since its inception, Dec. 4, 1990. We haven’t had a single contest, festival, or concert tour without performing Vedel. To date we have five compact disks with Vedel compositions that will hit the stores in a week or a week and a half.