On October 5, 2026, a guest lecture titled “In the Dimensions of Mykola Leontovych’s Sacred Choral Music” was held for students of the Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Primary and Pre-School Education and Management of Educational Institution at the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian University. The speaker was Iryna Dikun, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Art Disciplines of the Bar Mykhailo Hrushevskyi Humanities and Pedagogical College.
The lecture provided an in-depth examination of the origins of Mykola Leontovych’s sacred musical heritage, a realm that served as the natural environment for his artistic development. Hailing from a priestly family in the Podillia region, the composer absorbed long-standing family traditions that laid the foundation for his liturgical composition works deeply rooted in the Podillia style of church singing. Beyond his family background, the spiritual education he received at the Sharhorod Theological School and the Kamianets-Podilskyi Theological Seminary played a pivotal role in his professional and intellectual growth.
The lecturer focused specifically on the source-critical aspects of the research. Although the earliest examples of Leontovych’s seminar arrangements of sacred chants have not survived, the composer’s music archive contains a substantial body of unattributed manuscripts that require further scholarly investigation to establish authorship. In this context, the choral miniature “Song to the Most Holy Mother of God in Bar-Grad” was presented to the audience; based on stylistic characteristics, it is hypothesized to be one of the composer’s early creative attempts.
The lecture was distinguished by a high level of scientific and methodological quality and depth of presentation, and it helped expand the future educators’ professional knowledge regarding the spiritual aesthetics of Mykola Leontovych’s legacy. We sincerely thank the esteemed Iryna Dikun for an insightful, inspiring session and for fruitful academic collaboration!
Sofiya Chovriy,
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor,
Associate Professor of the Department of Pedagogy, Psychology,
Primary, Pre-School Education and
Management of Educational Institution
