Yaroslavenko, Yaroslav

Yaroslavenko, Yaroslav [Ярославенко, Ярослав; Jaroslavenko, Jaroslav; actual surname: Вінцковський; Vintskovsky], b 30 March 1880 in Jarosław, Galicia, d 26 June 1958 in Lviv. Composer, music publisher, and conductor. He studied music at the Lviv Conservatory (1898–1900) and then completed a degree (1904) in engineering (his subsequent profession) at the Lviv Polytechnical Institute. Yaroslavenko conducted two choruses in Lviv, Sokil and Zoria, and helped organize (1906) the Torban publishing house, which he directed for more than three decades. His compositions include the opera The Witch and three operettas; pieces for piano, including songs of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen; choral music to texts by Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, Uliana Kravchenko, and others; art songs to texts by Shevchenko, Franko, and others; and church music. He is best remembered in Western Ukraine for his patriotic ‘Sokil March’ and the Plast Ukrainian Youth Association’s anthems ‘Flower of Ukraine’ and ‘Hey, Plastuny.’

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