Leonid Oleksandrovych Hrabovsky (Hrabovsky or Hrabovs'ky, ; Grabovsky in Russian) (born 28 January 1935) is a contemporary 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...

, now living in the United States.

Biography

Leonid studied economics at Kiev University

Kiev University

Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...

 (1951–1956), and from 1954 composition under Boris Lyatoshynsky

Boris Lyatoshynsky

Boris Nikolayevich Lyatoshinsky or Lyatoshynsky was a Soviet Ukrainian composer, conductor, teacher. A leading member of the new generation of twentieth-century Ukrainian composers, he was awarded a number of accolades, including the honorary title of People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and two...

 and Lev Revutsky at Kiev Conservatory

Kiev Conservatory

The Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music is a Ukrainian state institution of higher music education. Its courses include postgraduate education.-History:...

 which he graduated in 1959. His diploma work "Four Ukrainian Songs" for chorus and orchestra (1959) which won first prize in an all-union competition. Shostakovich wrote about this: ‘the Ukrainian Songs by Hrabovsky pleased me immensely—his arrangements attracted me by the freedom of treatment and good choral writing’.

In the early 1960s Hrabovsky taught theory and composition at the Kiev Conservatory. He belonged to group of the so-called Kiev avant-garde (as well as Hodzyatsky, Huba, Silvestrov, Yevhen Stankovych

Yevhen Stankovych

Yevhen Fedorovych Stankovych is a contemporary Ukrainian composer of stage, orchestral, chamber, and choral works. His works have been performed around the globe.- Biography :...

 and Zahortsev). Leonid was active as a composer, editor, and translator. He was one of the first Soviet composers to adopt minimalism. His works include Dramatic, Orchestral, Chamber, Vocal Music and music for solo instruments. Hrabovsky’s works show Asian influences.

In 1981 he moved to Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. In 1987 he worked as an editor for "Sovetskaya muzïka" magazine. In 1990 he moved to the USA at the invitation of the Ukrainian Music Society. He settled in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. Since 1990 to 1994 he was composer-in-residence at the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Operas

• The Bear (chamber opera after Chekhov; piano score) 1963.
• The Marriage Proposal (chamber opera after Chekhov
  Anton Chekhov
  Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
  
  ; piano score) 1964.

Symphonic/orchestral

• Symphonic Frescoes on a Theme of Boris Prorokov Op. 10, 1961.
• Four Inventions (transcription of Op. 11a for chamber orchestra), 1965.
• Small Chamber Music No.1 (chamber strings, 15 players), 1966. Homoeomorphy IV, 1970
• Small Chamber Music No.2 (oboe, harp, 12 strings), 1971.
• Meditation and Pathetic Recitative (string orchestra), 1972.
• Five Character Pieces (transcription of Op. 11b for orchestra), 1975.
• On St. John's Eve (symphony legend after Gogol), 1976

Chamber/instrumental

• Sonata Op.8 (unaccompanied violin), 1959.
• Four Two-Part Inventions Op.11a (piano), 1962.
• Five Character Pieces Op.11b (piano), 1962
• Trio for Violin, Contrabass and Piano (1964, rev. 1975)
• Microstructures (unaccompanied oboe), 1964.
• Constants (solo violin, 4 pianos, 6 percussion groups), 1964
• Homoeomorphies I-III (piano; III, 2 pianos), 1968-9.
• Ornaments (oboe, harp or guitar, viola; variable duration), 1969.
• Bucolic Strophes (organ), 1976.
• Concorsuono (unaccompanied French horn), 1977.
• Concerto misterioso (flute, clarinet, bassoon, antique cymbals, harpsichord, harp, violin, viola, cello), 1977.
• Fuer Elise (piano), 1988.
• Hlas I (unaccompanied cello), 1990.
• Hlas II (obituary for Dmitri Shostakovich
  Dmitri Shostakovich
  Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
  
  , unaccompanied bass-clarinet), 1994.

Vocal/choral

• Four Ukrainian Songs Op.6 (mixed chorus, orchestra; folk texts) 1959.
• Five Poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky
  Vladimir Mayakovsky
  Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
  
   Op/9 (baritone, piano) 1962
• Two A Cappela Choruses (Mayakovsky, Asseyev) 1964
• Pastels (female voice, violin, viola, cello, double bass; Tychyna) 1964, revised 1975.
• From Japanese Haiku
  Haiku
  ' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
  
  (tenor, piccolo, basson, xylophone) 1964, revised 1975.
• La Mer/The Sea (speaker, chorus, organ, orchestra; St John Perse) 1966-70.
• Marginalia on Heissenbuettel (speaker, 2 trumpets, trombone, percussion) 1967, revised 1975.
• Kogda (soprano, violin, clarinet, piano with additional percussion, strings ad lib.; Khlebnikov) 1987.
• Temnere mortem for 4-part mixed chamber chorus a cappella (Skovoroda), 1991
• I Bude Tak/And It Will Be (soprano, violin, clarinet, piano/CASIO-100 Tonebank synthesizer with additional percussion), 1993.

Music for guitar

• The Night Blues
• Tango & Foxtrot
• Homages (7 Pieces)
• 3 Pieces in an Old Style

By Hrabovsky

• "On My Teacher", memoir on Boris Liatoshinsky) in Sovetskaya Muzyka, 2, 1969;
• "Splendor And A Bit of Misery", in Sovietskaya Muzyka, 10, 1988;
• "Zauber der ukrainischen Musik", in Die Musik, 1, 1989.

Articles on Hrabovsky

• Grigori Golovinski, "Bold and Original", in Sovietskaya Muzyka, 10, 1962;
• Yuli Malyshev, "Symphonic Frescoes by L. H. " in "Ukrainian Musicology", Kiev, 1968;
• V. Baley: ‘Die Avantgarde von Kiew: ein Retrospektive auf halbem Weg’, Melos/NZM, ii (1976), 185–92
• Hannelore Gerlach, "Portrat—L. H. ", in MuG, 12, 1977.
• V. Tsenova and V. Barsky, ed.: Muzïka s bïvshego SSSR [Music from the former USSR] (Moscow, 1994)

External links

• Bio and Compositions
• Ukrainian Musicians Directory