UKRAINIAN-BELARUSIAN CULTURAL TIES IN THE 1920S ON THE EXAMPLE OF COOPERATION OF THE MAGAZINE «MUZYKA» (“MUSIC”) WITH YULIAN DREJZIN
Authors: Sheremeta Iryna 
Published: March 2021

The study of Ukrainian-Belarusian cultural ties has significant research potential due to typologically similar processes of cultural and national formation of the two neighboring nations, which was especially pronounced in the 1920s. One of the important factors in this was the Bolshevik strategy of indigenization in the national regions of the Soviet Union. Almost simultaneously, there was a surge in literature and art in both republics. The lack of special studies that would cover these joint processes in the field of music culture, actualized the disclosure of this topic. The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of cooperation between the editorial board of the magazine «Muzyka» (“Music”) (publisher – a determining factor in the development of Ukrainian musical culture of the 1920s – Mykola Leontovych All-Ukrainian Music Society) and a leading Belarusian musicologist, one of the founders of Belarusian historical musicology Yu. Drejzin and explore their correspondence as an example of close UkrainianBelarusian cultural ties in the 1920s. To achieve this goal, historical, biographical and source research methods were used. In the autumn of 1924, P. Kozytsky, the editor of the Music, and Yu. Masyutin, the secretary, took the initiative to establish contact with Belarusian artists. The following year, communication began with Yu. Drejzin. His works include the study «Music and Revolution» (1921), the dictionary «Musical Terms» (1926), the libretto of M. Aladov’s opera «Taras on Parnassus» (1927), scholarly and critical articles, a huge number of Belarusian translations from ancient Greek literature, as well as texts from Western European vocal works. Ukrainian musicologists of that time were interested in similar tasks. Cooperation with Ukrainian colleagues coincided with the beginning of Drejzin’s active critical and journalistic activity. His investigations into Belarusian music and the work of contemporary composers were published in the Ukrainian magazines “Muzyka” (1925) and «Radians’ka Muzyka» («Soviet Music») (1933), and in the Kyiv newspaper “Proletars’ka Pravda” («Proletarian truth») and the Belarusian magazine “Polymya” (“Flame”) (both in 1926) – posts about the existence of Belarusian songs in the repertoire of the band “Dumka”. According to the correspondence, Yu. Drejzin was initially irritated by misunderstandings that occurred in his collaboration with magazine “Muzyka”. He complained about the delay of magazines with his articles, had complaints about the amount of royalties. However, after the secretary of the magazine told him in detail about the catastrophic financial condition of the publication, Yu. Drejzin completely changed his mind: he admired the fantastic dedication of the editorial board and even envied the ideology of Ukrainian artists. The collaboration of the Ukrainian magazine “Muzyka” with the Belarusian musicologist Yu. Drejzin is an organic part of the Ukrainian-Belarusian cultural cooperation, which was significantly intensified during the national upsurge of the 1920s. Drejzin’s interest in the cultural ties between the two republics was reflected in the magazines of the time, in which he published his musicological research. Peculiarities of Drejzin’s cooperation with the magazine “Muzyka” are documented in correspondence with the secretary of the magazine Yu. Masyutin. The value of these letters lies both in their factual content and in reflecting the evolution of the Belarusian scientist’s attitude to Ukrainian colleagues and his willingness to borrow the professional experience of Ukrainians.