Arkady Filippenko
Encyclopedia
Arkady Dmitriyevich Filippenko (8 January 1912 – 24 August 1983) was a Soviet
Ukrainian
composer
.
). As a pre-schooler, he spent a great deal of time outdoors with his grandfather, a shepherd who played and made pastoral pipes akin to those of the Swiss. The shepherd's pipe was the first instrument he learned to play. In grammar school, he learned the guitar, mandolin and balalaika and played in the school orchestra.
In 1926 at the age of 13, Filippenko began vocational school and completed a course in river transport. After graduation he began working at a shipbuilding factory. In his spare time, he played and directed amateur theatricals and came to the attention of the composer Ilya Vilensky who was director of a local music school. Vilensky invited Filippenko to attend the school, and it was there Filippenko learned to play the piano and studied music theory and composition, all while still working as a metal turner at the shipbuilding factory.
As he progressed quickly, Vilensky sent him on to the Lysenko Music Institute, the most important music school in the Ukraine
and the forerunner of the Kyiv Conservatory. Filippenko began as a night student but eventually obtained permission to study full-time. His main teachers were Lev Revutsky, Victor Kosenko and Boris Lyatoshinsky. After graduating from the Institute in 1939, he was immediately drafted into the Red Army, where he remained in a military orchestra throughout the Second World War.
After the war, Filippenko returned to Kyiv where he pursued a career as a composer, winning the USSR State Prize
in 1948 for his Second String Quartet which evoked the struggles of the Soviet people during the war. Filppenko helped organize the Ukrainian Composers Union and in the mid-1950s served as its executive secretary and vice-president. He wrote for nearly every genre and left several symphonies, an opera, nine works of chamber music (including three string quartets), and more than 500 songs. He was perhaps best known in the Soviet Union
as a composer for the cinema.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
He was born in the small village of Pushcha-Vodycia, now a suburb of Kyiv (KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
). As a pre-schooler, he spent a great deal of time outdoors with his grandfather, a shepherd who played and made pastoral pipes akin to those of the Swiss. The shepherd's pipe was the first instrument he learned to play. In grammar school, he learned the guitar, mandolin and balalaika and played in the school orchestra.
In 1926 at the age of 13, Filippenko began vocational school and completed a course in river transport. After graduation he began working at a shipbuilding factory. In his spare time, he played and directed amateur theatricals and came to the attention of the composer Ilya Vilensky who was director of a local music school. Vilensky invited Filippenko to attend the school, and it was there Filippenko learned to play the piano and studied music theory and composition, all while still working as a metal turner at the shipbuilding factory.
As he progressed quickly, Vilensky sent him on to the Lysenko Music Institute, the most important music school in the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and the forerunner of the Kyiv Conservatory. Filippenko began as a night student but eventually obtained permission to study full-time. His main teachers were Lev Revutsky, Victor Kosenko and Boris Lyatoshinsky. After graduating from the Institute in 1939, he was immediately drafted into the Red Army, where he remained in a military orchestra throughout the Second World War.
After the war, Filippenko returned to Kyiv where he pursued a career as a composer, winning the USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
in 1948 for his Second String Quartet which evoked the struggles of the Soviet people during the war. Filppenko helped organize the Ukrainian Composers Union and in the mid-1950s served as its executive secretary and vice-president. He wrote for nearly every genre and left several symphonies, an opera, nine works of chamber music (including three string quartets), and more than 500 songs. He was perhaps best known in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as a composer for the cinema.