Pysarevsky, Stepan

Pysarevsky, Stepan [Писаревський, Степан; Pysarevs'kyj; pseud: Stetsko Shereperia], b 1780s in Slobidska Ukraine, d 3 February 1839 in Vovchansk, Slobidska Ukraine. Writer. He studied at Kharkiv College and served as a priest in Kharkiv, Bohodukhiv, and Vovchansk. He began to publish in 1813. Pysarevsky set some of his poems to music, and they became popular folk songs (‘Za Neman' idu’ [I’m Going beyond the Neman], ‘De ty brodysh moia dole?’ [Where Are You Roaming, My Fate?]). He contributed to the almanacs Snip and Lastôvka. He wrote an operetta, Kupala na Ivana (On Saint John’s Eve, 1840), which Ivan Ozarkevych reworked and retitled Vesillia, abo Nad tsyhana Shmahaila nema rozumnishoho (The Wedding, or There’s No One Smarter Than Shmahailo the Gypsy), and for which Mykhailo Verbytsky composed the music.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]