On the Dating of the Seventh Issue of Mykola Lysenko’s “Collection of Uk- rainian Songs”

The last, seventh issue of “The Collection of Ukrainian Songs” by M. Lysenko was published without a date, therefore in musicological literature two conjectural dates are now mentioned: some give the year 1896, others the year 1911. None of these controversies, separated by a time distance of a decade and a half, are supported by references to indisputable documentary evidence and appear to be subjective as- sumptions devoid of a factual basis, therefore one of them or even both may currently not correspond to actual reality. With complete obviousness, the first, older date ap- 47 pears absolutely impossible in itself, since it clearly contradicts generally known his- torical events, and it must disappear immediately and forever from the creative bio- graphy of the outstanding composer and ethnomusicologist, and at the same time be entirely erased from the annals of the history of Ukrainian music. By contrast, the other date, the year 1911, although it too is everywhere given without any substantia- tion, without any reference to specific sources, nevertheless must be recognized as entirely authentic. It is one hundred percent verified by a state bibliographic docu- ment, the registration in the Book Chronicle of the Main Administration for Press Affairs. At that point, the problem of dating this seventh issue can be considered re- solved. This was indeed the last lifetime publication of M. Lysenko, his folkloristic swan song, which he managed to make public one year before his departure from this world and in such a miraculous manner as if framed the scientific and creative path he had traveled, begun more than forty years earlier, in 1868, with the first issue of his epoch-making “Collection of Ukrainian Songs”. As for the year 1896, it most likely indicates not the date of publication of the seventh issue, but the time of its creation, well known to the composer’s close circle. Moreover, at that very time, in the middle of the 19th century, he collaborated intensively with his correspondent S. Vengrzhe- novskyi, who actually provided his materials not only for the seventh issue but also for another collection of songs from Podillia, which remained unprocessed due to the censorship ban on its publication. Keywords: problems of dating undated sources, Mykola Lysenko, seventh issue of the “Collection of Ukrainian Songs”, S. Vengrzhenovskyi, manuscript of Mykola Lysenko’s collection “Songs from Podillia”.