Semen Hulak-Artemovsky was not only a composer but also a distinguished operatic baritone who sang on leading stages. But he entered history above all as the creator of “Zaporozhets za Dunayem” (A Cossack Beyond the Danube, 1863) — the first Ukrainian opera, for which he wrote both the music and the libretto, and in which he himself performed the leading role of Ivan Karas.
This comic opera about Zaporozhian Cossacks in Turkish captivity fused folk humour, Ukrainian song, and European operatic form. It became the cornerstone of Ukrainian musical theatre and remains in the repertoire to this day. Hulak-Artemovsky proved that the Ukrainian language and folk melos could live in the lofty genre of opera, opening the way for Lysenko and the entire national school that followed.
