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Mykhailo Starytskyi (2 (14) November 1839, Klishchyntsi ‒ 14 (27) April 1904, Kyiv) was a Ukrainian writer, poet, playwright, theatre, and cultural figure. He was one of the leading figures of Ukrainian theatre.

He was the father of Ukrainian writer Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska.

Life

Mykhailo Starytskyi was born on 2(14) November 1839 in the village Klishchyntsi of Zolotoniskyi povit in Poltava Governorate (huberniia) (nowadays: Cherkasy Oblast). He was born in a noble family. His father Petro Starytskyi, a retired cavalry officer (Rittmeister), died when Mykhailo was eight. In 1852 Mykhailo’s mother Anastasiia Starytska died.

Mykhailo Starytskyi was orphaned early and raised by his uncle Vitalii Lysenko. During the years 1851-1856, Mykhailo attended Poltava gymnasium, which was one of the best educational institutions at that time.

In 1858, Mykhailo Starytskyi and Mykola Lysenko entered Kharkiv University. In 1860, the family moved to Kyiv. Mykhailo Starytskyi and Mykola Lysenko continued studying at Kyiv University and became members of Stara Hromada, which dealt with Ukrainian literature, Ukrainian language, music, and history. Mykhailo Starytskyi and his friends Mykhailo Drahomanov and Petro Kosach opened Sunday schools and libraries and worked there later on.

In 1862, Mykhailo Starytskyi married Sofiia, a sister of Mykola Lysenko’s cousin, who was nine years younger.

In 1865, he graduated from Kyiv University. In 1871, he began to work with Mykola Lysenko. They organized the Society of Ukrainian Stage Actors. Mykhailo Starytskyi recorded folk songs, wrote librettos to Lysenko’s operas (Chornomortsi, Taras Bulba). The first performance of Chornomortsi, Ukrainian musical theatre, was in Kyiv on 5 (17) December 1872.

Because of imperial authorities pressure, in 1878 Mykhailo Starytskyi stopped his public activity and two years later renewed it. In 1883 and 1884, the writer published two issues of the Ukrainian almanac Rada.

In August 1883, Mykhailo Starytskyi, primarily as a philanthropist, was invited to lead the first national professional troupe, better known as the Theatre of Coryphaei. In 1885, for a number of reasons, Mykhailo Starytskyi left the troupe and founded a new one of young actors. In 1895, he was involved in literary work.

Mykhailo Starytskyi died in Kyiv on April 27, 1904. He was buried at Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv.

Creative work

The first works of Mykhailo Starytskyi were published in 1865. He was a teacher of young Ukrainian writers and was a significant figure in the organization of literary and social life in the 1890s.

Mykhailo Starytsky altered the plays written by other authors and staged prose works mainly at the time when he headed the Ukrainian professional troupe.

Poetry and translations

Mykhailo Starytskyi translated Serbian songs poetry of Oleksandr Pushkin, Mykhailo Lermontov, Mykola Nekrasov, Heinrich Heine, George Byron, Adam Mickiewicz. In the meantime, he wrote original poetry, publishing his works in Galician periodicals. Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales in his translation (pseudonym M. Starychenko) were published in Kyiv in 1873.

Mykhailo Starytskyi’s publication of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in 1882 was of great significance. His poetic heritage includes civic poetry with expressive social and patriotic motives (Shvachka), which glorifies the heroic past of Ukraine (Morituri). Some of Mykhailo Starytskyi’s poems became folk songs.

Drama

Having started with the staging of prose works and adaptations of plays, Mykhailo Starytskyi wrote many original dramatic works (Talan, Marusia Bohuslavka). The history of Ukrainian drama describes Mykhailo Starytskyi as an outstanding artist of intense dramatic situations and strong characters.

Prose

In the last years of his life, despite his illness, Mykhailo Starytskyi wrote the historical novel Oborona Bushi (1894).

Commemoration

The Mykhailo Starytskyi Museum has been operating in Kyiv since 2002, where the playwright has lived with his family for the last three years of his life. There are streets named after Mykhailo Starytskyi in many cities of Ukraine.