Museum of Boris Lyatoshinsky. Musicologist in the Province: the Life after the Conservatory.
Thirty-seven years have passed since the ceremonial awarding of diplomas for the graduation of the Kharkiv Institute of Arts, named after I. P. Kotlyarevsky I have felt myself as a full representative of my own, a rather rare, compared with others, profession. The destiny has developed in such a way that it was necessary to work in big, “conservative” cities, where the concert life was swirling, where there were sections of the Union of Composers, and where there were departments that led active scientific activity. Then the questions about how and what to do just did not arise – everything was organized and clear. The knowledge, which we had generously been granted by almamater, made it possible to perform professional duties easily and pleasantly. However, most of my life I had to work in my hometown, where I was born, as well as five generations of my ancestors, and therefore the feeling of “native land” and the duty to serve it revealed especially strongly. Zhytomyr, like all long-standing cities, has its own character, habits, unwritten rules. It is “conservative”, as Sergei Zhukov have said, a famous composer, a native of Zhytomyr, who now lives in Moscow. So, in order to work the way I was taught in the conservatory, I had to “find an approach to it”, which turned out to be very, very difficult. It`s not just the great change of generations has happened since the time that has passed since the graduation till today. Everything has changed substantially – the state, the society, the education, the values ...Only the profession remained unchanging – a favorite, deliberately chosen, acquired during the years of training by mentors, whose education and devotion to the point is still the “flashlight” that illuminates the path through the darkest nights of consideration, disappointment, search for the solutions. Now all this is much easier, because there is confidence in myself and in that what I do, and in my youth everything was different. Our beloved teacher Galyna Oleksandrivna Tyumenyeva had said to us at the day of graduation in her foreword: “The city you are coming to work should feel that You have came.” Great words, wonderful edification. However, unfortunately, nobody waits for musicologists in the province. There is no department of the theory or the history of music in any of the educa-tional institutions of Zhytomyr. There is also no branch of the Union of Composers, because only one professional composer lives and works in the city... That`s why, I had to overcome the circumstances and find the slightest opportunities to remain a musicologist: in the 80’s and 90’s, with great desire, I could work as a journalist for newspapers and radio. In the 90s I had to co carry out exploration in the field of regional musicology. At the same time, the opportunities for international cooperation were opened, one of which was the activity of the chamber ensemble, which set itself the goal of finding, publishing and performing music written in the territory of the Great Volhynia. In addition, the favorite fuild of activity has begun the performing of the instrumental music that had been created for the Catholic church in the cathedral of St. Sophia in Zhytomyr. The Interest to the national history is being embodied in the projects that I couldn`t even dream about before. For Zhytomyr, it was the opening of the Museum of Boris Mykolayovych Lyatoshynsky. For five years of its existence, it has become a real field of professional activity for musicologist. All the constituents of the profession are avail-able: education, lectures, researches and publications. The Department of Music History is seventy years old! I am just a little bit younger than it. From the hands of its teachers, I have received the best in the world profession. Five years of training have gone as one moment and have remained the brightest part in my life. Galyna Oleksandrivna Tyumenieva, its founder and headmaster, personi-fied the profession and impressed with intelligence and humanity. Maryna Romanivna Cherkashina-Gubarenko, who had been consulting us, entrants back in 1975, had said: “The most important thing is to know music well”. One should agree, this is truly the most important thing and not just for the entrance exams. During all the years of my work I considered this formula to be the basis of the profession. Yuriy Leonidovych Shcherbinin sowed a grain of interest to the regional musical culture and it sprouted many years later, unexpectedly for me. I can`t remember the indifferent or ordinary teachers. All of them were personalities, it was interesting and curious on their lectures, every single one of them has left a trace in my memory and professional life. Particular attention should pay young people. I assert: during all the years of study there was not any “superfluous” subject. Everything we had studied was needed in the work, everything worked on the result - to be a musicologist even there, where, at first glance, there`s absolutely no conditions for that. The age of a person and the age of a scientific institution is similar and not similar at the same time. I am summing up. The department is moving forward with the joint efforts of representatives of three generations of the scientists, the way it should be in areal scientific school. Once Galyna Oleksandrivna said that she dreamed of a time when the department would combine wisdom and youth`s ardor.