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Anthems, Rusyn National
PULS
Anthems, Rusyn National
During the
period of Czechoslovak rule in *Subcarpathian Rus’, Carpatho-Rusyns had
their own national anthem, which was played and/or sung at Rusyn
cultural events and at some official state functions. Although performed
in Subcarpathian Rus’ and the *Prešov Region from the early 1920s, it
was not until 1937 that the Czechoslovak government issued a decree
calling for the Rusyn anthem to be played in Subcarpathian Rus’
following the state (Czech and Slovak) anthem.
The text of the Rusyn national anthem was “Podkarpatskiy rusynŷ/Ostav’te
hlubokii son,” a poem attributed to the nineteenth-century national
awakener Aleksander *Dukhnovych. Although it is not certain whether the
poem was actually written by Dukhnovych, the music for “Podkarpatskiy
rusynŷ” was composed by Shtefan *Fentsyk in May 1919 during his trip to
Prague to participate in the formal proceedings connected with the
unification of Subcarpathian Rus’ with Czechoslovakia. The text and
music (melody only) were published by Fentsyk in the first volume of his
collection, Pîsny Podkarpatskykh rusynov (1921), and again by him in a
harmonized version with texts in both Rusyn and Hungarian, Gimn
karpatorussov/Kárpátorosz himnusz (1939). An alternative melody in a
march-like style was sung by Rusyn-American immigrants in the United
States and harmonized by the Galician Russophile, Elias I. Tziorogh/Iliia
Tërokh, Podkarpatskiji rusyny: hymn i marš (1927). The Rusyn national
anthem was not performed in public during the post-World War II
Communist era; it continued to be sung, however, among Rusyn immigrants
and their descendants in the United States, and since the fall of
Communist rule in 1989 it is sung at some Rusyn-related events in
Subcarpathian Rus’.
Even more popular is another melody based on the most famous poem
written by Aleksander Dukhnovych that begins with the words: “Ia rusyn
bŷl, iesm’ i budu.” First published in 1851 under the title “Vruchanie,”
it appeared a second time in 1857 under the title “Pîsn’ narodna russka”
(A Rusyn National Hymn). Set to music soon after its appearance (the
composer remains unknown), it was sung at Rusyn-related events during
the second half of the nineteenth century. Fentsyk published the melody
for “Ia Rusyn bŷl” in his 1921 collection, and it was subsequently
harmonized by Elias Tziorogh (1927), O. Kyzyma (1928), Mikhail Goer
(1942), and Vinko *Žganec (1946, 1996), among others. This “second”
Rusyn national anthem is especially popular among American Rusyns and it
is also known to the Vojvodinian Rusyns and Lemko Rusyns. During the
Communist era, “Ia Rusyn bŷl” was banned from public performance in the
European homeland (with the exception of the *Svidník Folk Festival
during the Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring of 1968). Since the collapse
of Communist rule, it has been performed at Rusyn events in Ukraine and
Slovakia, although it has no official status.
A few melodies have become so popular in certain Rusyn-inhabited regions
that they have taken on the status of local “national anthems.” These
include for the Lemko Region Iaroslav *Trokhanovskii’s “Na Lemkivshchyni”
(In the Lemko Region) based on a poem by Ivan *Rusenko, and for the
Vojvodinian Rusyns Iakim *Sivch’s “Ruzhi, cherveni ruzhi” (Roses, Red
Roses, 1962) originally composed for and sung at the annual *Chervena
Ruzha Cultural Festival.
Bibliography: “Natsional’nyi gimn i prapor Podkarpatskoi Rusi,”
in Russkii narodnyi kalendar’ Obshchestva Aleksandra Dukhnovicha na god
1927 (Uzhhorod, 1926), pp. 147-151.
Paul
Robert MAGOCSI
PULS
Professional folk ensemble within the *Dukhnovych
Theater in Prešov, Slovakia. The song-and-dance ensemble was created in
1956 as the Dukla Ukrainian Folk Ensemble/Pidduklians’kyi ukraïns’kyi
narodnyi ansembl’. Its goal was to help preserve and propagate the
musical and dance culture of the Rusyns of eastern Slovakia, who at the
time were officially designated as Ukrainians. In the 1960s and 1970s
PULS toured numerous times to various countries in both eastern and
western Europe (in particular France and Germany), and eventually North
America. While PULS popularized Rusyn folk music and dance at home and
abroad, it did so under the rubric “Ukrainian.” In the post-Communist
era the ensemble has ceased to identify itself as Ukrainian and has
reduced its name to PULS, derived from the Slovak-language acronym (PUL’S)
of its original Ukrainian name. Among the company’s artistic directors
and choreographers have been Iurii *Kostiuk, Shtefan *Ladizhins’kŷi,
Iurii *Tsymbora, and Melánia Nemcová. Two of its singers—Mariia *Machoshko
and Rudolf Smoter—have through performances and recordings successfully
popularized Rusyn songs throughout the former Czechoslovakia.
Bibliography: Mykhailo Drobniak, ed., PUNA/PUL’S (Bratislava and
Prešov, 1980).
Paul Robert MAGOCSI |
