This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” our ears will burn from the haughty and profane response of the Zaporozhy Cossacks to an ultimatum from Sultan Mehmad IV. The Sultan demanded the peaceful surrender of the Cossacks, after they had scored a glorious defeat against his Ottoman forces. To his giddy and inebriated foes, he was not exactly negotiating from a position of power.
Among Reinhold Glière’s works steeped specifically in Ukrainian lore is the symphonic poem/ballet “The Zaporozhy Cossacks,” based on the famous canvas by Ilya Repin. Glière, born in Kiev in 1875, is best known for his ballet “The Red Poppy,” with its ubiquitous “Russian Sailor’s Dance,” and perhaps for his Symphony No. 3, “Ilya Muromets.”
In 1913, Glière attained an appointment to the school of music in Kiev, which was raised to the status of conservatory shortly thereafter. Glière served as director of the conservatory from 1914 to 1920.
One of his pupils there was Boris Lyatoshinsky, who lived from 1895 to 1968. Lyatoshinsky was a student at the conservatory at the start. The first movement of his Symphony No. 1 was written as a graduation work. The other two movements followed in 1919.
The first performance of the piece took place under Glière’s direction in 1923. If you get all sweaty listening to the orchestral works of Alexander Scriabin, you certainly won’t want to miss this, an opulent work by a young man determined to impress.
I hope you’ll join me for “Steppe Lively” – classical music from Ukraine – this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
IMAGE: Ilya Repin’s “Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks” (1880-1891)
If you aren’t too squeamish, you can read more about it, with a rough (and I do mean rough) translation of the Cossacks’ reply, here:
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