FROM THE HISTORY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN VASYL BARVINSKYI AND SEVERYN SAPRUN JR.

Abstract

Severyn Saprun Jr. (1922, Drohobych, Ukraine – 1977, Lyndhurst, USA), composer, teacher, organizer of artistic life, was among the students of the outstanding composer, teacher, and pianist Vasyl Barvinskyi. He was the son of Severin Saprun, a priest, conductor, teacher, composer, musical and public figure, well known in Halychyna and abroad. S. Saprun impressed with his abilities from an early age. Already at the age of 4 he began studying the piano playing, and at the age of 9 he performed at various stages of Galicia. V. Barvinsky highly noted his performance, when S. Saprun was still a student of the Drohobych branch of the M. Lysenko Higher Musical Institute. Musical education S. Saprun continued in Lviv and Kyiv conservatories. Among his teachers there was Vasyl Barvinskyi, who considered him his best disciple. S. Saprun received not only a good piano school from him, but also encouragement to the composition. Emigration interrupted the piano studio of S. Saprun at V. Barvinskyi. Severyn and his wife, Austrian singer Edith, settle in Buenos Aires, where the couple carried out active concert performances. In their repertoire, besides the world classics, there were the works by Ukrainian composers, including V. Barvinskyi’s compositions. Ukrainian songs performed by Edith with piano accompaniment of S. Saprun there were recorded on the recordings in the 50’s in Argentina. Among others, records of V. Barvinskyi’s songs were recorded. After the death of V. Barvinskyi and S. Saprun, their paths crossed over again. The piano concerto of V. Barvinskyi was found in the private archive of S. Saprun in Buenos Aires. Today, the archive of S. Saprun Jr. is in Lviv. The collection contains, among others, handwritten and printed notes by V. Barvinskyi.