(Pol. Lwów; Ger. Lemberg).
City in Ukraine. From 1349 to 1772 it belonged to Poland; from 1772 to 1918 the city was the capital of the Austrian province of Galicia. Between 1918 and 1939 it was part of the newly independent Poland, and from 1939 to 1991 it was the capital of the Ukrainian SSR (under German occupation, 1941–4).
From the Middle Ages onwards the city was a major cultural centre, reaching its peak between the 16th and early 18th centuries. Marcin Leopolita (1540–89), one of the most significant composers of the Polish Renaissance, was a native of the city and returned there after serving at the court of King Zygmunt August in Kraków. From the late 16th century, the city became an important centre for printing, publishing and bookselling. The ensemble of singers at the Dominican monastery created at the end of the 16th century (to which instruments were later added) had a high reputation. From the second half of the century polyphony was gradually introduced in the Orthodox churches.
Significant Polish composers connected with the city from the late 17th century were S.S. Szarzyński, who was active at the turn of the 18th century, J. Staromiejski, who was at the Dominican chapel in the years around 1740, and Adalbert Dankowski (b c1760), who moved to the city in 1792. In 1793 a university, named after King Stefan Batory, was founded as a successor to the Jesuit academy which had existed since 1661.
After 1772, when the city came under Austrian rule, there was a rapid influx of musicians. Two theatre companies were established, one German (1776–1872), and one Polish (1780), and L'viv became an important centre for drama and opera. Noted Kapellmeister at the Polish theatre included the composer Józef Elsner (1792–9) and the virtuoso violinist K.J. Lipiński (1810–14). Operas, Singspiele and vaudevilles were given by the Polish theatre company, whose most influential directors were Franciszek Bull (1789–94) and Wojciech Bogusławski (1795–9). The latter did much to develop a national theatre, and encouraged local composers, including Elsner and K.K. Kurpiński, to write operas. Subsequent directors of the Polish theatre included Henryk Jarecki (1873–1900) and Stanisław Niewiadomski (1886–7 and 1918–19).
During the 19th century the cultural life of the city developed along with its institutions. Significant events in the concert life of the city were the founding of the Philharmonic Society by Elsner, the public concerts organized by Johann Mederitch (1803–12 and 1817–30), and the founding in 1826 of the Cäcilien-Verein by F.X.W. Mozart (known as Wolfgang Amadeus the younger), who lived in the city from 1808 to 1814 and from 1822 to 1838. The focus of Polish intellectual and cultural life in the city during the years of Austrian rule were the theatre, the university (re-established in 1817) and the publishing house Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich (the Ossoliński National Institution), founded by J.M. Ossoliński in 1817. One of the most important 19th-century societies was the Gesellschaft zür Beförderung der Musik in Galizien (1838), successively renamed the Galicyjskie Towarzystwo Muzyczne (Galician Music Society, 1848) and the Polskie Towarzystwo Muzyczne we Lwowie (Polish Music Society of Lwów, 1919); the society financed the conservatory (from 1870), several choirs and an amateur symphony orchestra. Eminent musicians associated with the society included Karol Mikuli, a student of Chopin, who was the society’s artistic director from 1858 to 1887 and a director of the conservatory; Stanisław Niewiadomski, a professor of theory and history of music at the conservatory from 1887 to 1914; Mieczysław Sołtys, director of the conservatory from 1899 to 1929; Henryk Melcer-Szczawiński, a professor at the conservatory from 1897 to 1899; Józef Koffler, who taught classes in composition from 1928 to 1941; and Adam Sołtys, son of Mieczysław, director of the conservatory from 1929 to 1939. Under the direction of Adam Sołtys the conservatory choir became the best in Poland.
In 1864 the Ukrainian Theatre was founded in the city; it was supported by Lavrivs'ky, Anatol' Vakhnyanyn and other Ukrainian musicians. Under the successive direction of Jarecki (1874–1900), Tadeusz Pawlikowski (1900–06) and Ludwik Heller (1906–18) the Polish theatre in L'viv became, after Warsaw, the most important Polish opera house. Internationally famous singers who started their careers there included Salomea Krusceniski, Adam Didur and Aleksander Myszuga. Having achieved success at La Scala, Didur returned to the city in 1932 and became director of the Opera and professor of singing at the conservatory. In 1900 a new building was opened, the Teatr Wielki (Grand Theatre), which during the interwar period was one of three opera houses in Poland (along with Warsaw and Poznań) to remain permanently open.
At the end of the 19th century two important choirs were founded: Lutnia (1880) and Echo-Macierz (1887). These two choirs inspired the formation of similar choirs in other Polish cities and in Polish communities abroad, and helped to maintain a sense of national identity during the period of foreign occupation. Ukrainian choirs were also founded, notably Bojan (1890) and Bandurzysta (1905). In 1902 the Philharmonic Orchestra was founded under the direction of Henryk Melcer; this survived only a short time but was revived in 1921. In 1902 the Karol Szymanowski Music School was opened as a successor to the Lwów Music Institute, and in 1903 the Lysenko Music Institute (Ukrainian) was founded. From 1913 the Stefan Batory University opened a department of musicology, directed until 1941 by Adolf Chybiński. With Zdzisław Jachimecki in Kraków, Chybiński was responsible for establishing Polish musicology as a modern scientific descipline.
Musical journalism in the city blossomed during the 1920s and 30s. Notable periodicals included Wiadomości artystyczne (‘Arts news’, 1896), Gazeta muzyczna (1918), Lwowskie wiadomości myzyczne i literackie (‘Musical and literary news from Lwów’, 1925–34) and Echo (1936–7). Leading music critics between the wars were Seweryn Barbag, Józef Koffler and Stefania Łobaczewska. The most important musical institutions founded during this period were the Związek Muzyków we Lwowie (Lwów Musicians’ Union, 1919), the Polskie Towarzystwo Muzyki Współczesnej (Polish Society for Contemporary Music), which was affiliated to the ISCM from 1930, and the Lwowskie Towarzystwo Miłośników Muzyki i Opery (Lwów Society for Lovers of Music and Opera, 1933), which organized regular concerts.
In 1939 the city was invaded by the Soviet Red Army and incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR. Education was reorganized along Soviet lines; this led to the fusion of three institutions (the conservatory, the Lysenko Music Institute and the Szymanowski Music School) into the Lysenko Conservatory. Among the professors of the reconstituted conservatory were Adam Sołtys, Józef Koffler, Zofia Lissa and Adolf Chybiński.
The establishment of Soviet power in L'viv, although a mixed blessing culturally, strengthened Ukrainian aspirations not only by introducing a strong music education system, but also by financing the Philharmonic Society (with its symphony and chamber orchestras) and the opera house and establishing the L'viv branch of the Composers' Union of the USSR, into which Stanislav Lyudkevych, Adam Soltys, Filaret Kolessa and A.J. Kos-Anatols'ky were integrated. However, Vasyl' Barvyns'ky, an important creative force, was arrested during the purges of 1948 and imprisoned for ten years in a Mordovian labour camp before returning to L'viv. In the 1960s L'viv's cultural and musical activities produced two important new voices, those of Andry Nikodemowich and Myroslav Skoryk, and in the 1980s Yury Lanyuk began to create the highly refined works that have brought him international attention.
Musical life in L'viv centred on three institutions: the conservatory, the Philharmonic Society and the opera house. During the 1960s and 70s L'viv had an excellent secondary music school system, producing many superb musicians, among them the pianist Aleksandr Slobodianyk and viola player Yuri Bashmet. Since 1991 the principal music school has been the L'vivs'ky Vyshchy Derzhavny Muzychny Instytut imeni Lysenka (the Lysenko High State Music Institute, in L'viv), formerly called the Lysenko Conservatory (formed in 1939). In the year 2000 the name was changed to the L'viv Music Academy. The activities of the Philharmonic Society (founded in 1939, then re-established in 1944) include concerts by the symphony orchestra, the Trembita choir, a chamber orchestra and various folk ensembles. The existence of a state symphony orchestra was vital in developing an orchestral repertory by western Ukraine's composers. The opera house has always been an important cultural focus in L'viv. In 1939 the Grand Theatre was renamed the L'vivs'ky Derzhavny Teatr Opery ta Baletu (L'viv State Theatre of Opera and Ballet) and reopened on 21 September 1940, staging 11 works. Productions continued during the German occupation, when the theatre was known as the L'vivs'ky Operny Teatr. Ironically, it was during this period that Ukrainian opera was relatively free of external artistic interference. With the return of Soviet rule, it again became the L'viv State Theatre of Opera and Ballet and in 1956 was renamed the L'vivs'ky Akademichny Teatr Opery ta Baletu imeni I. Franka (Franko Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet) and, together with similar theatres in Kiev, Kharkiv and Odessa, became one of the most important in Ukraine. Premičres of Ukrainian operas there have included Vitaly Kyreyko's Forest Song (1958), Yuly Meytus's Stolen Happiness (1960) and Rikhard Zorge (1976), the revised version of Borys Lyatoshyns'ky's The Golden Ring (1970), Volodymyr Zahortsev's Mother (1985) and Mark Karmins'ky's One Day Left (1987).
Since independence, L'viv's musical institutions have had to overcome many crises in the post-colonial world. A variety of new programmes are being tried and important archival collections have been established; prominent among these is the Lyudkevych Musical Memorial Museum, opened in 1995 as a branch of the Solomiya Krushel'nyts'ka Musical Memorial Museum, begun in 1991. In 1996 the museum acquired the archives of Modest Mentsyns'kyi and the unique collection of gramophone recordings of the early 20th century of the violinist Yaroslav Hrytsay. International exchanges and tours are encouraged, and a number of festivals have been firmly established, two of them attaining international recognition: Virtuosos (annual since 1990), and the international contemporary music festival Contrasts (annual since 1995).
O. Palamarchuk and T. Eder: L'vivs'kyy teatr opery ta baletu imeni Ivana Franka [L'viv Ivana Franko theatre of opera and ballet] (L'viv, 1987)
O. Palamarchuk and V. Pylypiuk: L'vovskiy gosudarstvennďy akademicheskiy teatr operď i baleta im. Ivana Franko [L'viv Ivana Franko state academic theatre of drama and ballet] (Kiev, 1988)
For further bibliography see Ukraine, §I.
JOLANTA GUZY-PASIAKOWA (1), VIRKO BALEY (2)