and it was grandiose, in fact, their triumph begins already after the premiere in paris, because then it is belgium, the netherlands, great britain, germany, poland, spain, that is, countries where there are simply queens, ministers, and presidents went to ukrainian concerts and enthusiastically supported and admired them. long live ukraine at all these concerts. fame gave the chaplains determination. once, while walking around brussels before a concert, the choristers went to the royal palace to invite the queen. the porter shook his head, but called to the queen announced our wish. the queen

said by phone that she could not receive us because she was busy talking with a countess. however, when we wish for something, we can put our wishes in writing. we needed and needed this. we now sat down at the table. the queen of belgium, elizabeth responded boldly in favor. a request she attended one of the choir's concerts in brussels, left an autograph in the commemorative book and came to talk with ukrainians. she came up to me, asked if i was a cat and started talking to me. by the way, said: "all my sympathies are on the side of your people. i know how hard it is for them to gain their freedom, but we - monarchs - are slaves of politics. you

sang one of the best compositions - shchedryk with his four notes was unsurpassed, they praised the song leontovich in switzerland, it was translated into various languages ​​of the world, foreign choirs included it in their repertoire, in the morning after the concert they were woken up by the cries of newspapermen, well, those who walk the street sell newspapers, but we hear that these are not the names of newspapers, he writes in his memoirs , sing generously, generously, and that without stopping. sleep

we can’t anymore, we get dressed with a friend , we go to the hotel dining room, have breakfast, at the common table, we hear again schedrik, schedrik, somewhere on the street the opposite old lady unexpectedly ran up to us and also, schedrik, schedrik. having received the last portion of state funding, the chapel started the second tour in france, in the famous theater of the champs-elysées, the cream of french society was present at the performances, the ballerina isadora duncan entered the memorial book of the "bravo" chapel. on january 23, 1921, there was a sumptuous

final concert, blaring out songs beloved leontovich, none of the viewers even guessed that on this day a murder took place in the ukraine occupied by the russians. on the night of january 23, an agent of the district cheka hryshchenko killed the priest's son with a rifle shot. killed, at this time in paris the triumphant performance of the ukrainian republican chapel, the intelligentsia of paris on the business meets, as they say, euphoria, success, here, a young man follows leontovich's body, and in a hoarse voice from... sings it, blizzard, blizzard,

good. the name of the ukrainian state does not come from european sleepers. surnames košice stetsenko leontovych are becoming in demand in the musical life of europe. did anyone think then that the new occupying power was exterminating them in ukraine, and the members of the triumphal choir had no chance to return home. what awaited them in ukraine, execution, repression, prison awaited them, well, how could they return, the choristers of the chapel simply continued to carry the mission of establishing their state, this business of building ukraine,

it captivated many people, and it was impossible to just leave it to refuse, that is... despite the fact that we lost, our country was occupied, but this one he kept the fire burning inside. the european tour of the ukrainian republican chapel lasted from may 1919 to april 1922. the choristers gave more than 200 concerts in the best halls of 45 european cities, and received more than half a thousand praises in the press. at first, when they went to europe, they asked to go to these european stages, well , they punched their visas, and then they gave them visas for them, which means impresarios

ran after them, i heard the ukrainian national choir in five different european countries , and every time they got such a standing ovation that i... rolled. i decided, america should know this beautiful art. the famous american impresario max rabinov signed a contract with the band for performances in america. in september 1922, having never gained international support for ukraine,... the choir of oleksandr koshyts set sail for the usa , leaving europe forever. in a few months , the bolsheviks will announce

the creation of a new russian empire (ussr) in the occupied territories, the premiere of the ukrainian band is scheduled for october 5. in 1922, the legendary carnegie hall in new york was announced at the tour level the biggest world stars. thousands of people willing to listen to ukrainian singing flocked to the concert hall. it was cool. so if some rock band from ukraine went abroad and immediately filled the stadium. it would be great. the same thing happened with the košice chapel. one of the most amazing and best songs that i had the chance to hear at my age was sung generously for an encore. the ukrainian choir triumphed once again, but ukraine

was no longer on the political map of the world. the ukrainian government could not support the overseas tours of oleksandr koshitsa's choir. and the russians did not let the ukrainians relax. according to the instructions of the impresario , the ukrainian national anthem was no longer sung at the choir's performances. vocal numbers of two russian opera soloists were added to the program. in some brochures, the project was positioned as rushen vocal art. this territory was still perceived as united russia, that is, everything from this part of the world was perceived as russian, and it would not be very difficult for someone to distinguish, it is russian, not russian, well, in american reviews, the ukrainian choir began to be called

a representative of little russia, and ukrainian singers - russians, choristers had no choice but to whitewash themselves publicly, making statements in your newspapers call us russians, but they are wrong. we are ukrainians, even though the soviets rule our country. night and south america, the ukrainian national choir toured from october 1922 to may 1924 , continuing to establish the brand of ukraine. this was a kind of cultural triumph, the cultural triumph of the ukrainian people's republic. otherwise, this is not the name of, say, the ukrainian people's republic anymore in fact, it wasn't, but she was singing. she sang. in the usa, mexico, argentina, uruguay, brazil, canada and cuba. all the time

, the main otaman simon petliura, who was in exile at the time, followed the success of his cultural mission. dear and dear maestro oleksandr antonovych, i can assure you that here in the old world we are watching your performances, we rejoice in your glory and we are amazed. my best feelings and blessings in your irreplaceable activity for our business. at the beginning of 1923, more than 700 soldiers of the ukrainian people's republic were interned with the polish camps they were starving, lacked clothing and food. but simon petliura did not abandon the idea of ​​reconquering ukraine. now choristers from their fees... donated on the ukrainian cause, the commander-in-chief wrote letters of thanks and a report. i stopped at the idea of

​​organizing repeat courses for the chiefs of the general staff from the chapel's offerings. let the donors be certain, not a single dollar will be spent in vain, will go to important needs of national importance. this task is to carry the ukrainian idea. further continued during their american tours, and the task of recapturing ukraine from the russian occupation was still on the agenda there, kochest is an example of such a fanatic who believed in himself as a genius conductor who could not be diverted from this path, he fulfilled the tasks of petliura, and even when there was no longer... in fact , there was no one to carry out the task in the sense that

there was no longer a government of ukraine, and koshets, but simply with such maniacal pleasure, did everything he could do. they presented our country not only with the best singing, which we only have heard, but also put ukraine on the artistic map of the world, as a nation in love with... music, at a time when we considered it a desolate land of wandering kuzaks and rural people. on may 7 , 1924, after the final concert in new york, the ukrainian national choir ended its existence. two years later , simon petliura also died. simon petlyurayu. was killed on may 25, 1926, at the moment when he was returning from a small restaurant

where he used to go for lunch, at the corner of rue racine and boulevard saint-michel in paris. simon at that moment, petyurov stopped by the bookshelf, looked at the books, the killer approached him from behind, called, petliura turned to him and he fired seven shots. while in exile, petliura did not abandon his intention. to win back ukraine, he remained a dangerous opponent for the russians. the murder of simon petliura was a special operation, and, as it appears from the documents, the killer samuel schwartzbart was used in the dark. even the memory of the ukrainian leader was distorted by russia for dozens of years, hanging the jewish pogroms of the unr on a noose. after samuel schwertzbard was... acquitted, a huge information campaign was carried out with the aim of blackening

the memory of simon petlyura with pogroms, and using the decision of the french court for this, and since then it has been imprinted in the minds of many ukrainians and many europeans , that simon petlyura is a pogromist, and actually the entire ukrainian liberation movement is a pogromist. the kremlin occupation authorities dealt with... mykola leontovych. the life of simon patlyura was cut short and ruined. the only one of the choristers who dared to return to ukraine after the tour, petro stetsenko. was assassinated in 1937, they did not reach košice physically, but the fate of oblivion awaited him. despite all his efforts to return to kyiv, he remained in exile for the rest of his life. a generous man also remained in emigration. as in europe, the song

became popular in the states. especially after , in 1936, the american conductor of ukrainian origin, peter wilhovsky , wrote an english text for leontovych's work. then i needed a small essay to complete the program with my high school chorus i removed the ukrainian words about shchedryk and instead focused on the cheerful ringing of bells that i heard in the music. in... in november 1936, he published the song in the new york music publisher carl fisher, calling it carol of the bells. thus, the ukrainian shchedrivka became the american carol, and later the international christmas hymn. leontovych's masterpieces were featured in

commercials, popular tv shows, musicals, and movies. shchedryk's most popular and successful integration is the christmas film " home alone". many ukrainians heard it here leontovich's song for the first time. of course, no one even guessed about her diplomatic mission during the time of the ukrainian people's republic. this whole story, it was completely unknown. the story of this success of this song abroad, no one knew about it, that is, no one knew that ukraine, she could independently present herself in such a way that caused simply sincere astonishment and admiration of the whole world, could it be otherwise, when for so long all that was

connected with onr, petliura, kosice or even just a choir. with seven locks. for russians, who occupied ukraine for many decades, the history of its success in the world was redundant. the soviet union did everything to erase our memory. moreover, national memory, family memory, state memory. oleksandr sorochynskyi, a descendant of one of the choristers of the chapel, leontius sorochynskyi. he learned about the legendary history of his grandfather already in independent ukraine. the story of leontius in the family was a secret. what is my father, what is his sister, what is their mother, my grandmother, they said in choppy phrases: sang well and left in the 17th year

before the revolution in america, everything, that is , this was probably invented, but... maybe we don't know anything, nobody knows anything. the example of leondius sorochynskyi is hardly unique. this is how the stories of other ukrainian emigrants could develop. for the first time after leaving, leondiy supported his sister in ukraine, then the ties were severed by force. leonti, sent her $2, well, for living. however, in the 1930s, maria was summoned by the nkvd and forced to renounce her military brother, who was in america. for the bolsheviks, for the soviet authorities, they were enemies, because they, they did not support their ideas, they did what left in the memory and

supported the idea of ​​ukrainian independence, and it is clear that it had to be liquidated, completely destroyed. at all levels, institutional and personal, all the time of the tour, the administration of the chapel collected its archive, all documentation and correspondence, every mention in the press, posters and programs of performances, even its satirical self-published magazine. many testimonies of international triumph were sent personally to simona petliuria. later , these materials were transferred to the museum of liberation struggles of ukraine. which was founded in 1925 by ukrainian emigrants in prague. in 1945 , a bomb exploded near the museum, and... the museum was destroyed, because the building was in such a state that it could not be saved. the surviving documents went to different museums, cities and

countries. unfortunately, many of these materials, including materials about the republican chapel, were stolen. they started with the soviet army after 1945, already in 1945. the arrests began, the actual taking of materials began. one of the institutions that preserved valuable documents, slavic library in prague. the original concert posters are still here, as well as the golden book of the chapel, in which the most respected concertgoers left their autographs. there is a possibility that this book was in someone's home, even in an employee's home. of the slavic library, as it was actually saved after 1945, when the russian army, actually the soviet

army, all at once arrested the majority of all ukrainian emigrants. the main mass of the archive of the choir of the unr of the soviets was moved from prague to the territory of the union. in 1952. they were transferred to storage in the central state archive of the october revolution in kyiv, today the central state archive of the highest authorities and administration of ukraine. these materials, they are not, they were brought to this archive and were actually buried alive. they did not exist, no one described them, no one collected them there by business and did not place them somewhere on the shelves, they. there was no access to them, they weren't even stamped as being secret or for special use, there wasn't even that, they were just locked in a room

such a safe, and they were stored there until the collapse of the soviet union, the generous man himself returned to ukraine in 1922, then once upon his arrival in the states, the choir of oleksandr koshyts recorded his repertoire on records. i knew about the existence of a record from 1922 with shchedryk's first recording, but before that i did not find anywhere that it was for sale, and i was not, it was something so beyond reach for me, i think it was 1922, how could it be preserved now. ukrainian collector anatoly. paladiychuk found and bought a rare record from a private person collector in the usa. i couldn't sleep

, it's not that i was worried, i think that it would arrive, that it would fly, when it was already, well, it's a chain, there it is transferred from the car to the plane, from the plane to the car by mail, that's all . when she arrived, indeed, i open, indeed, the window, it is written, first i tried another. roaches , so that, i think, suddenly i put something wrong now, it might break, i twisted another roach, phew , i understood how it plays, that everything is fine, i practiced how to set it up, because this is the first time, the gramophone is three, well, i dealt with the gramophone , and when i put the record player, the record player, put it down, and when i heard the first sounds that it really was a player, and it just happened to me...

records found by a private collector, a book that was accidentally saved: a miracle in the entire archives. piece by piece collects and returns his stolen history and rightful place in the world. is it any wonder that even after 100 years, russia is doing everything to prevent this from happening. in principle , putin did not invent anything new, he only repeats it. what the russian emigration and political circles said then, and without differences, whether it was the right, whether it was the left, whether it was the bolsheviks, they all looked the same,

as... people of imperial education, as imperials. putin did not come up with anything new. he also wants to destroy ukraine. the symbolism and parallels between the events of historical antiquity are striking. in february 2022, debris from the first russian missile that landed in a residential area in kyiv hit a house on oleksandr koshyts street. in 2020, the ukrainian song once again sounds for the whole world, the same red viburnum that once raised and carried high the world, the musical hundred of the ukrainian people's republic.

today, as 100 years ago, ukraine is fighting for independence. however, today the entire democratic world supports ukraine. and today we believe that ukraine will win. simon petliura's dream will come true, and the ukrainian song, as always, will be a triumphant echo.

boryslymoch, because my ukrainian lands are wide, let him glorify the nation of ukrainians. wholesome glory

of the wild nation, glory to ukraine, glory to yourself, you are our glory, ukraine, you led the sea. chevrons approaching victory. strength, will

and steadfastness, passed down from father to son for centuries, and i am the one who carries cossack strength and cossack glory imprinted on my heart. i am the one who carries within me the glory of the freedom-loving ancestors, whose unyielding will lives on and... i am the one who carries within me the spirit of struggle and ideas throughout the centuries, the one who will never bow down to the enemy. i am a soldier of ukraine, indomitable and unyielding. i will protect the land given to me by god.