Konstantin Dankevich

Konstantin Dankevich was a Soviet, Ukrainian composer, conductor, pianist, and pedagogue. He was born on 24 December 1905 in Odesa and became one of the notable musical figures of Soviet Ukraine. In 1954 he was awarded the title People's Artist of the USSR.

In 1929 he graduated with distinction from the Odessa Music and Drama Institute named after Ludwig van Beethoven, studying piano with M. I. Rybitskaya and composition with V. A. Zolotaryov, P. I. Molchanov, and N. N. Vilinsky. Vilinsky, impressed by Dankevich's pianistic talent, encouraged him to take up composition, and their creative friendship continued for decades.

From 1929 Dankevich taught theoretical disciplines at his alma mater, becoming an associate professor in 1935. From 1944 to 1951 he served as director of the Odesa Conservatory, headed its composition department, and from 1948 was a professor. He made a major contribution to restoring the institution after the Second World War. During the war he worked in Tbilisi in the Administration for Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the Georgian SSR and in 1942–1943 was artistic director of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Transcaucasian NKVD troops.

From 1953 to 1969 he was a professor at the Kyiv Conservatory. He also appeared as a pianist and conductor. From 1941 he was a member of the Union of Composers of Ukraine, and from 1956 to 1967 he chaired its board. From 1948 to 1967 he was a board member of the Union of Composers of the USSR, and from 1957 its secretary. He was also active in public life, serving as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR and participating in several Soviet cultural and public organizations.

Dankevich composed in many genres. His stage works include the operas The Tragic Night (1934), Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1951), and Nazar Stodolia (1960), the ballet Lileya (1939), and the operetta Golden Keys (1943). His orchestral output includes two symphonies, symphonic suites such as Ukrainian Folk Suite and No pasaran!, and symphonic poems including Othello, Taras Shevchenko, and 1917. He also wrote choral and vocal-orchestral works, chamber music, piano pieces, romances, around one hundred songs, arrangements of Ukrainian and Russian folk songs, and music for films and dramatic productions.

Among his honors were first prize at the First All-Ukrainian Pianists' Competition in 1930, the title Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1941, and the Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR in 1978 for the opera Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Dankevich died on 26 February 1984 in Kyiv and was buried at Baikove Cemetery. His memory was later commemorated in Odesa and Kyiv by institutions, a memorial plaque, and a street bearing his name.

Connections

This figure has 1 connection in the Music Lineage catalog.