Shchedryk (song)

1916 song by Mykola Leontovych

This article is about the song. For the choir, see Shchedryk (choir).

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"Shchedryk"

Disc label for the 1922 recording of "Shchedryk" by the Ukrainian National Choir

Song
Released| 1916 (1916)
Songwriter(s)| Mykola Leontovych

"Shchedryk" (Ukrainian: Щедрик, from Щедрий вечiр, "Bountiful Evening") is a Ukrainian shchedrivka, or New Year's song, known in English as "The Little Swallow". It was arranged by composer and teacher Mykola Leontovych in 1916, and tells a story of a swallow flying into a household to sing of wealth that will come with the following spring. "Shchedryk" was originally sung on the night of January 13, New Year's Eve in the Julian Calendar (December 31 Old Style), which is Shchedry Vechir. Early performances of the piece were made by students at Kyiv University.

"Shchedryk" was later adapted as an English Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells", by Peter J. Wilhousky following a performance of the original song by Alexander Koshetz's Ukrainian National Chorus at Carnegie Hall on October 5, 1921. Wilhousky copyrighted and published his new lyrics (which were not based on the Ukrainian lyrics) in 1936, and the song became popular in the United States and Canada, where it became strongly associated with Christmas.

Conceptually, the Ukrainian lyrics of this song meet the definition of a shchedrivka, while the English content of "The Little Swallow" identifies it as a kolyadka.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 1.1 Origin
* 1.2 Arrangement by Leontovych
* 1.3 "Carol of the Bells"
* 2 Lyrics
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 Sources
* 6 Further reading

## History[edit]

### Origin[edit]

The ostinato motif of "Shchedryk"

Shchedryk ("Bountiful Evening") is a Ukrainian shchedrivka, or New Year's song, known in English as "The Little Swallow". It tells a story of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the plentiful and bountiful year that the family will have.[1] The title is derived from the Ukrainian word for "bountiful". The song is based on a traditional folk chant whose language was thought to have magical properties. The original traditional Ukrainian text used a device known as hemiola in the rhythm (alternating the accents within each measure from 3/4 to 6/8 and back again). The chant based on an ostinato four-note pattern within the range of a minor third is thought to be of prehistoric origins and was associated with the coming New Year which in Ukraine before the introduction of Christianity was originally celebrated in April. Conceptually, the Ukrainian lyrics of this song meet the definition of a shchedrivka, while the English content of "The Little Swallow" identifies it as a kolyadka.

With the introduction of Christianity to Ukraine, the celebration of the New Year was moved from April to January and "Shchedryk" became associated with the Feast of Epiphany also known in Ukrainian as Shchedry vechir, January 18 in the Julian calendar. It was originally sung on the night of January 13, New Year's Eve in the Julian Calendar (December 31 Old Style), which is Shchedry Vechir. In modern Ukraine, the song is again sung on the eve of the Julian New Year (January 13).

### Arrangement by Leontovych[edit]

"Shchedryk"

A recording of "Shchedryk", with the original words in Ukrainian, performed by the "Ukrainian National Choir" (Ukrainian Republic Capella} in New York in 1922

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The four-note melody over a minor third of the chant was used by Ukrainian composer and teacher Mykola Leontovych as an ostinato theme in a number of arrangements he made. It is the most famous of all his songs.[2]

"Shchedryk" is generally said to have been first performed by students at Kyiv University on 25 December 1916. However, it was first performed on 29 December 1916 in the Kyiv Merchants' Assembly Hall, now part of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine.[3] The arrangement for mixed voice choir a cappella was popularized by the Ukrainian Republic Capella directed by Oleksander Koshetz when it toured of Europe in 1920/21. The first recording was made in New York in October 1922 by Brunswick Records.[4]

### "Carol of the Bells"[edit]

Main article: Carol of the Bells

"Shchedryk" was later adapted as an English Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells", by Peter J. Wilhousky of NBC Radio, following a performance of the original song by Alexander Koshetz's Ukrainian National Chorus at Carnegie Hall on October 5, 1921. Wilhousky copyrighted and published his new lyrics (which were not based on the Ukrainian lyrics) in 1936, and the song became popular in the United States and Canada, where it became strongly associated with Christmas.

The song reminded Wilhousky of beautiful ringing bells and he captured that imagery in his lyrics. There is also an English adaptation of the original Ukrainian by Stepan Pasicznyk.[citation needed] Several other variants of English words with the same melody, mostly retaining Wilhousky's bell theme. One of the better-known variants is a 1947 set of lyrics with more explicitly Christian lyrics "Ring, Christmas Bells".[5] Although "Carol of the Bells" uses the melody from "Shchedryk," the lyrics of these two songs have nothing in common.

## Lyrics[edit]

Ukrainian lyrics[6] | Transliteration (BGN/PCGN)[7] | English translation

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Щедрик, щедрик, щедрівочка,
Прилетіла ластівочка,
Стала собі щебетати,
Господаря викликати.
Вийди, вийди, господарю,
Подивися на кошару.
Там овечки покотились,
А ягнички народились.
В тебе товар весь хороший,
Будеш мати мірку грошей.
В тебе жінка чорноброва.
Хоч не гроші, то полова,
В тебе жінка чорноброва.

Shchedryk, shchedryk, shchedrivochka,
Pryletila lastivochka,
Stala sobi shchebetaty,
Hospodaria vyklykaty:
Vyidy, vyidy, hospodariu,
Podyvysia na kosharu,
Tam ovechky pokotylys,
A yahnychky narodylys.
V tebe tovar ves khoroshyi,
Budesh maty mirku hroshei,
V tebe zhinka chornobrova,
Khoch ne hroshi, to polova.
V tebe zhinka chornobrova.

Bountiful evening, bountiful evening, a New Year's carol;
A little swallow flew into the household
and started to twitter,
to summon the master:
"Come out, come out, O master,
look at the sheep pen,
there the ewes have given birth
and the lambkins have been born
Your goods [livestock] are great,
you will have a lot of money, by selling them.
You have a dark-eyebrowed beautiful wife
If not money, then chaff from all the grain you will harvest
you have a dark-eyebrowed beautiful wife."

## See also[edit]

* Koleda
* Malanka
* List of Christmas carols

## References[edit]

1. ^ Almond, B.J. (16 December 2004). "Grad student traces origin of 'super holiday hit'". Houston, Texas: Present Rice University. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2008.
2. ^ Wytwycky, Wasyl. "Leontovych, Mykola". Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
3. ^ Vysotska 2019, p. 78.
4. ^ Malko 2021, p. 41.
5. ^ Nobbman 2000, p. 91.
6. ^ "Щедрик". Ukrainian Songs. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
7. ^ "Стандартна українська транслітерація" [Standard Ukrainian transliteration] (in Ukrainian). Webmezha. Retrieved 2 December 2022.

## Sources[edit]

* Malko, Victoria A. (2021). The Ukrainian Intelligentsia and Genocide: the struggle for history, language, and culture in the 1920s and 1930s. London: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-14985-9-679-4.
* Nobbman, Dale V. (2000). Christmas Music Companion Fact Book: The Chronological History of Our Most Well-Known Traditional Christmas Hymns, Carols, Songs And the Writers & Composers Who Created Them. Anaheim Hills, California: Centerstream Publishing. ISBN 1574240676.
* Vysotska, Kateryna (2019). Brodz, Olena; Koshelnyk, Maryna (eds.). "Микола Леонтович: музична легенда Поділля" [Mykola Leontovych: a musical legend of Podillia] (PDF). Materials of the Scientific and Practical Conference for the 140th Anniversary of the Birth of M. D. Leontovich, December 13, 2017 (in Ukrainian). Vinnytsia, Ukraine: Vinnytsia Regional Museum of Local Lore. Retrieved 17 November 2022. (English text version)

## Further reading[edit]

* McCoy, Tatiana (15 January 2022). "Сумна доля веселого «Щедрика»: ім'я Леонтовича замовчується, а етика ігнорується" [The sad fate of the cheerful "Schedryk": the name of Leontovych is silenced, and ethics are ignored] (in Ukrainian). Radio Svoboda. Retrieved 2 December 2022.

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