Trutovsky, Vasyl

Trutovsky, Vasyl [Трутовський, Василь; Trutovs'kyj, Vasyl'], b ca 1740 in Ivaniv sloboda, Belgorod region, Russia, d ca 1810 in Saint Petersburg. Singer, musician, and musicologist. After training at the Hlukhiv Singing School he became (1761) a singer and husli player at the imperial court and later (1766) a chamber musician there. His outstanding contribution to music was the compilation of Sobraniie russkikh prostykh pesen s notami (A Collection of Russian Common Songs with Notes) in four parts (1776, 1778, 1779, and 1795; repub 1953). This ground-breaking work, which included Ukrainian folk songs, represented the first systematic collection of ‘Russian’ folk music. Trutovsky also scored variations on folk songs for piano as well as works of choral music.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]