Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych was a Ukrainian composer, choral conductor, and teacher of international renown. His music was inspired by Mykola Lysenko and the Ukrainian national music school. Leontovych specialized in a cappella choral music, ranging from original compositions, to church music, to elaborate arrangements of folk music.

Leontovych was born and raised in the Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine).

He was educated as a priest in the Kamianets-Podilskyi Theological Seminary and later furthered his musical education at the Saint Petersburg Court Capella and private lessons with Boleslav Yavorsky. With the independence of the Ukrainian state in the 1917 revolution, Leontovych moved to Kiev where he worked at the Kiev Conservatory and the Mykola Lysenko Institute of Music and Drama. He is recognized for composing "Shchedryk" in 1904 (which premiered in 1916), known to the English-speaking world as "Carol of the Bells" or "Ring, Christmas Bells".

He is known as a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian Church, where he is also remembered for his liturgy, the first liturgy composed in the vernacular, specifically in the modern Ukrainian language. He was assassinated by a Sovietagent in 1921.

During his lifetime Leontovych's compositions and arrangements became popular with professional and amateur groups alike across Ukraine. Performances of his works in western Europe and North America earned him the nickname "the Ukrainian Bach" in France. Apart from his very popular Shchedryk, Leontovych's music is performed primarily in Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora.

Biography

Early life and education

Mykola Leontovych was born on Dec 13 [O.S. Dec 1] 1877 in the Monastyrok community, near the village of Selevyntsi, in the Podolia region of Ukraine (then a part of the Russian Empire). His father, grandfather, and great grandfather were village priests. His father, Dmytro Feofanovych Leontovych, was skilled at singing and playing cello, double bass, harmonium, violin, and guitar, in addition to directing a school choir. Leontovych received his first musical lessons from him. His mother, Mariya Yosypivna Leontovych, was also a singer.

Other members of Leontovych's family also grew up to have careers in music. His younger brother became a professional singer, his sister Mariya studied singing in Odessa, his sister Olena studied fortepiano at the Kiev Conservatory, and his sister Victoriya also knew how to play several musical instruments.

In the summer of 1879, Mykola Leontovych was moved to a new parish located in the village of Shershni in suburbs of Bar, Ukraine in Bar's district, where he would spend his childhood. Then in 1887, Leontovych was admitted to Nemyriv gymnasium. Due to financial problems a year later, however, his father transferred him to the Sharhorod Spiritual Beginners School, whose pupils received full financial support. At the school Leontovych mastered singing, and was able to freely read difficult passages from religious choral texts.