Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych was born in December 1877 AD in the Ukraine, fourth generation in a family of village priests. He was murdered in his family’s home in Tulchyn in January 1921 – either by a common burglar or by an agent of the Cheka (Soviet State Security), depending on which “official” version is believed. Between those dates, Leontovych would become the most influential Ukrainian composer, choral master, music teacher, and icon of the Ukrainian nationalist movement.

After a somewhat checkered school career, Mykola began his theological studies in 1892 at the seminary in Kamianets-Podilskyi, where he took up the violin. He also began writing musical pieces and choral arrangements. When the seminary’s choir director died, Leontovych was offered the post and added secular music – primarily Ukrainian folk songs – to the repertoire.

Upon graduation in 1899, Leontovych turned from the priesthood to be a teacher in private and public schools in Kiev and elsewhere to make a living. These stints of employment were broken by periods of study in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It appears that he also turned his hand to composing new pieces based upon Ukrainian themes. His works from this period – including the famous 'Shchedryk' (better known to most as “The Carol of the Bells”) in 1904 – are considered to be masterful creations.

Then things got messy in Imperial Russia. With the outbreak of revolution and the declaration of the independent Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1918, Leontovych moved his surviving family to Kiev. But with the capture of the city by the White Russians, noted Ukrainian leaders in the arts and sciences began having “accidents.” Leontovych moved to backwater Tulchyn in late 1919; there he began work on his first symphony. But he didn’t get very far, becoming a Ukrainian martyr instead.