Yatsynevych, Yakiv

Yatsynevych, Yakiv [Яциневич, Яків; Jacynevyč, Jakiv], b 8 November 1869 in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv gubernia, d 25 April 1945 in Kropotkin, Stavropol krai, RSFSR. Conductor, composer, and teacher. He studied at the Saint Sophia Cathedral theological school in Kyiv (graduated in 1886), where he attended classes in music theory and violin. He also sang at the Saint Sophia Cathedral choir under conductor Ya. Kalishevsky. In 1890 he graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy, where, among others, he studied choir conducting and piano. At that time, he also took private music lessons with Mykola Lysenko. Yatsynevych served as accompanist and assistant conductor of Lysenko’s chorus in Kyiv (1891–1904), conductor of the Kyiv University Chorus (1899–1912), and musical director of several Ukrainian theaters, most notably Sadovsky's Theater (1906–17). He was affiliated with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church and in 1920 composed a Ukrainian-language Divine Liturgy. In Soviet Ukraine Yatsynevych worked as conductor of the Odesa Choral Association (1924–30), music teacher in Zaporizhia (1930–40), and folk ensemble director in Maikop, Kuban (1940–3). His works include the symphony The Year 1905, the oratorio Pietà (text by Pavlo Tychyna), instrumental music for violin and piano, choral songs (to texts by Oleksander Oles, Borys Hrinchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, and others), solo art songs (to texts by Lesia Ukrainka and others), and church music.

Marko Robert Stech

[This article was updated in 2025.]