Prayer for Ukraine
"Prayer for Ukraine" is a patriotic Ukrainian hymn published in 1885, which became a spiritual anthem of Ukraine. The text was written by Oleksandr Konysky, and the music was composed by Mykola Lysenko, first with a children's choir in mind. The song became the regular closing hymn in services of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and other churches. It gained national significance when it was performed by mass choirs during the Ukrainian War of Independence in 1917–1920. The hymn was intended to be an official spiritual anthem of Ukraine. It has closed sessions of oblast councils, and has been performed at major national functions.
"Prayer for Ukraine" was performed in Kyiv in 2001 during a parade celebrating the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. It has been part of church services internationally, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 26 February 2022, the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York performed the hymn in the cold open of Saturday Night Live.
History
wrote a patriotic poem from February to 28 March 1885 in Kyiv, at a time when the Imperial Russian government suppressed the use of the Ukrainian language. The melody and a choral setting were written by Mykola Lysenko, a composer who inspired a Ukrainian national school of composition.It was printed in Lviv in the summer of 1885, intended for a children's choir. The first title read: Молитва. Гімнѣ, на жѣночи голоси. Слова О. Я. Кониського, музика Миколы Лисенка, — Львовѣ., 1885, Лит П. Прищляка, 4 с.. It came as a score, with separate parts for soprano and alto. The setting proved to be too difficult for usual children's choirs.
On August 2, Prayer was first performed in Ternopil at a literary and musical evening on the occasion of a travel of Lviv students in Podillya.
The Prayer became widespread in the beginning of the 20th century in arrangements for mixed choir made by in 1907, and Kyrylo Stetsenko and Oleksandr Koshyts in the 1910s. It acquired symbolic significance during the Ukrainian War of Independence in 1917–1920, then performed by thousands of choirs, conducted by Kyrylo Stetsenko, on Bohdan Khmelnytsky Square in Kyiv. It was sung at a national-patriotic rally on 20 December 1917, and on the occasion of the Unification Act of the UPR and WUPR on 22 January 1919.
On 14 July 1998, with an initiative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the hymn was part of the law project registered under #1229 "About the text of the State Anthem of Ukraine and the Spiritual Anthem of Ukraine". The author of the project was Anatoliy Holubchenko, a native of Mariupol and then First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine.