{{short description|17th-century Ukrainian/Russian composer}} {{use dmy dates|date=November 2025}} {{use shortened footnotes|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Mykola Pavlovych Dyletsky<!-- defaults to article title when left blank --> | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | native_name= Дилецький Микола Павлович | native_name_lang = uk | birth_date = {{circa|1630}}<!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = probably Kyiv (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) | country= | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = Moscow (Tsardom of Russia) | other_names = | occupation = choir director, composer, music theorist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = ''A Musical Grammar'' | signature=Diletsky signature.jpg | signature_size = 270px }} '''Mykola Pavlovych Dyletsky''', also '''Nikolai Pavlovich Diletsky''' ({{langx|uk|Дилецький Микола Павлович}}, {{langx|ru|Николай Павлович Дилецкий}}), {{circa|1630}}{{ndash}}{{circa|after 1680}}) was a choir director, music theorist, and composer born in the Kiev Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and active in the Tsardom of Russia. There is evidence he died in Moscow. Little information about his life is known. He was widely influential in late 17th-century Russia with his treatise on part song, ''A Musical Grammar'', of which the earliest surviving version dates from 1677. Dyletsky's followers included the Russian composer Vasily Titov.
==Life== Little is known about Mykola Pavlovych Dyletsky, who at various times during his life lived in Vilnius, Kyiv, Smolensk, and Moscow.{{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov |2011}}.
===Kyiv=== Ioannikii Trofimovich Korenev, a fellow music theorist, described him as a resident of Kyiv{{sfn| Gordiychuk|Kostyuk|1989|p=416}}—({{lang|ru|zhitel’ grada Kiyeva}}){{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov |2011}}—and this remark is considered evidence of Dyletsky's Ukrainian origins. Korenev's statement is probably reliable, as they were apparently were well acquainted.{{sfn|Jensen|1992|p=310}} The pair worked together; their treatises are paired in some manuscript sources.{{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov |2011}} However, the date and even the year of Dyletsky's birth are not known, and no details on his early life have surfaced.{{cn|date=November 2025}}
===Vilnius=== [[File:Партесний концерт - остання чверть XVII ст.jpg|thumb|A group of part singers, including the Polish-Lithuanian ruler Jan Sobieski, depicted on a late 17th-century icon]] Dyletsky may have been educated at the Vilnius Jesuit High School,{{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov |2011}} where his music teachers were probably the Ukrainian musicians, Ziusky, Mykola Zamarevich, and Martyn Melchevsky. Dyletsky later was employed in the city as a choirmaster and teacher of church singing.{{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}}
Dyletsky must have moved to Vilnius (then a town in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) before 1675, because that year his {{lang|pl|Toga zlota}} ("The golden toga") was published there by the Franciscan printing press. The text is now lost.{{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov |2011}} It was written in Polish, and the surviving title page{{sfn|Jensen|1992|p=311}} indicates that it was probably a panegyrical pamphlet.{{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov|2011}} Some sources indicate that he wrote at least a more extensive musical treatise whilst in Vilnius, now lost:{{sfn|Jensen|1992|p=309}} this treatise is first mentioned in {{lang|ru|Grammatika musikiyskago peniya}} (1677), and the ''Idea grammatikii musikiiskoi'' (1679) is described as a translation of the Vilnius work in its title page.{{cn|date=November 2025}} Dyletsky is known to have produced ''A Method for Training Children'' for a choir director.{{sfn|Gordiychuk|Kostyuk|1989|p=416}}
===Smolensk and Moscow=== After Vilnius, Dyletsky lived in Smolensk, where in 1677 the first surviving version of his {{lang|la|magnum opus}}, {{lang|ru|Grammatika musikiyskago peniya}} ('A Grammar of Musical Singing'), was published. The book, written in six chapters, became the first music theory work of that time. It was a practical manual for composers, theorists, and singing teachers.{{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}}
Dyletsky moved during the 1670s to Moscow to work as a choirmaster and teacher.{{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}} There the subsequent two versions of the work appeared in 1679 and 1681.{{cn|date=November 2025}} The book appeared in four editions in Vilnius, Smolensk, Moscow.{{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}} He was probably the director and conductor of the Moscow choir of Grigory Dmitriyevich Stroganov, as he dedicated the Moscow edition of his treatise ''A Musical Grammar'' "To the noble, to the illustrious, to his illustrious master, Gr. Dm. Stroganov."{{cn|date=November 2025}} However, no evidence has emerged to support the theory that he worked for the Stroganov family.{{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov |2011}}
Nothing further is known about Diletsky's life from 1681 onwards, and it is generally assumed that he died shortly afterwards. His date of birth is projected from this hypothesis.{{sfn|Jensen|1992|p=310}}<!-- "Oleksandra Tsalai-Iakimenko and Oleksandr Zelin'skii, "'More neprebrannoe' (Novoznaidenii avtograf tvoru Mikoli Dilets'koho)," Zhovten' no. 7 (1966): 109–116, suggested that Diletskii died in the third decade of the 18th century, based on their belief that Muzei ukrainskoho mistetstva 87/510804, dated 1723, is an autograph. They propose a correspondingly later birth date, in the 1650s. This hypothesis, taken up in their later works, was refuted in Vladimir Goshovskii and I.A. Durnev, "K sporu o Diletskom," Sovetskaia muzyka no. 9 (1967): 138."</ref> --> His name is mentioned in a source produced in the 1690s that states he was a "well-known master at the tsar’s court’" ({{lang|ru|tsarstvennïy preslovushchiy master}}), without making it clear if he was still alive at that time.{{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov |2011}}
==Works== [[File:Musical grammar by Nikolay Diletsky 18c GIM.jpg|thumb|An 18th-century manuscript copy of Dyletsky 's ''A Musical Grammar'' (1675), State Historical Museum (Moscow)]] Although several of his compositions survive, Diletsky's fame rests chiefly on his composition treatise, ''Grammatika musikiyskago peniya'' (''A Grammar of Music[al Singing]''), which was the first of its kind in Russia. The three surviving versions bear different names, but the content is roughly the same with some important differences.{{sfn|Jensen|1992|p=307}} The treatise is in two parts. The first teaches the rudiments of music theory, "relying heavily on Western terminology and theoretical precepts, especially the hexachord", and the second teaches composition of a cappella concertos, a genre that came to Russia through Ukraine and of which Diletsky was one of the first exponents.{{sfn|Jensen|1992|p=307}} Diletsky provides a wide variety of examples, both from his own work, including an 8-voice setting of the Divine Liturgy that he composed in Smolensk specifically to illustrate the ''Grammatika,''{{sfn|Jensen|1992|p=312}} and from that of contemporary Western composers, particularly the Poles Marcin Mielczewski and Jacek Różycki. Apart from the tremendous influence it had on subsequent generations of Russian church composers, the ''Grammatika'' is of particular interest for having the first known description of the circle of fifths, one that antedates Western examples by several decades.{{sfn|Jensen|Vorob'yov|2011}} The ''Grammar'' is recognized by musicologists as an outstanding music theoretical treatise, which summarized almost a century of practice of part song.{{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}}
==List of works== In both his compositions and writings, Diletsky used {{Ill|Kyiv notation|uk|Київська нотація}} exclusively.{{sfn| Gordiychuk|Kostyuk|1989|p=416}}
===Writings=== thumb|A sample page from ''Idea grammatiki musikiyskoy'' (Moscow, 1679) *''Grammatika musikiyskago peniya'' (''Грамматика муcикийского пения'', "A grammar of musical song", Smolensk, 1677){{sfn|Gordiychuk|Kostyuk|1989|p=416}}
*''Idea grammatikii musikiyskoy'' (''Идея грамматикии муcикийской'', "An idea of musical grammar", Moscow, 1679),{{sfn|Gordiychuk|Kostyuk|1989|p=416}} *''Grammatika peniya musikiyskago'' (''Грамматика пения муcикийского'', Moscow, 1681)
===Music=== Dyletsky's music is polyphonic in style. It replaced the chant that had prevailed for centuries:{{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}} In 2013, the musicologist Natalya Plotnikova published previously unknown information about 36 four-part concertos by Dyletsky.{{sfn|Plotnikova|2018|p=38}} * Three settings of the Divine Liturgy for four to eight voices ("Kyivan Chant", "Proportional", and "Resurrection Canon"){{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}} * Two sacred concertos ({{lang|ru|Izhe obra "Tvoemu"}} for four voices, {{lang|ru|Voshel esy vo tserkov}} for eight voices){{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}} *Resurrection/Easter kanon, 8vv<ref name="Ger">{{cite web |last1=Gerasimova-Persidskaya |first1=Nina Oleksandrivna |author1-link=Nina Herasymova-Persydska |title=Микола Дилецький. Духовні твори Диск 1: Про альбом |url=https://kyivchoir.com.ua/album/mykola-dyleczkyj-duhovni-tvory/ |website=Kyiv Choir |publisher=Atlantic |access-date=30 November 2025 |language=uk |format=CD notes |date=2003 |trans-title=Mykola Dyletsky. Spiritual Works Disc 1: About the album}}</ref> * A eucharistic setting {{lang|ru|Tlo Hristovo priymyte}}{{sfn|Dytyniak|1986|p=45}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |last1=Dytyniak |first1=Maria |title=Ukrainian Composers: А Віо-bibliographic Guide |date=1986 |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta |location=Edmonton, Canada |isbn=|oclc=1037378780 |edition=|series=Occasional Research Reports |url=https://archive.org/details/14dyty/page/n3/mode/2up|language=uk |chapter=Дилецький Микола Павлович |quote=|trans-chapter=Mykola Pavlovych Dyletsky |trans-title=Ukrainian Composers – A Bio-bibliographic Guide – Research report No. 14}} * {{cite book |last1=Gordiychuk |first1=M. |last2=Kostyuk |first2=O. |title=Історія української музики |date=1989 |publisher=M. Rylsky Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnology |location=Kyiv, Ukraine |edition=|volume=1 |url=https://andrijbondarenko.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/d093d0bed180d0b4d196d0b9d187d183d0ba-d09c.d09c.-d09ad0bed181d182d18ed0ba-d09e.d093.-d086d181d182d0bed180d196d18f-d183d0bad180d0b0d197d0bdd181d18cd0bad0bed197-d0bcd183d0b7d0b8d0bad0b8.-d0-2.pdf |language=uk |trans-title=History of Ukrainian Music}} * {{cite journal |last1=Jensen |first1=Claudia R. |title=A Theoretical Work of Late Seventeenth-Century Muscovy: Nikolai Diletskii's "Grammatika" and the Earliest Circle of Fifths |journal=Journal of the American Musicological Society |date=1992 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=305{{ndash}}331|publisher=University of California Press|doi=10.2307/831450 |jstor=831450 }} * {{cite Grove|last1=Jensen|first1=Claudia R.|last2=Vorob'yov |first2= Yevgeny|title=Diletsky [Dїletsky, Dilezki], Nikolay [Nikolai] (Pavlovich) [Dylecki, Mikołaj]|id=07795|date=2011}} * {{cite journal |last1=Plotnikova |first1=Natalya Yuryevna |title=Тексты четырехголосных концертов Николая Дилецкого: вопросы происхождения и классификации вербальных источников |journal=PSTGU Bulletin |date=2018 |issue=29 |pages=38{{ndash}}55 |url=https://periodical.pstgu.ru/pdf/files/article/en/article_1191_date_1525257890.pdf |ref=|series=5 – Questions of the History and Theory of Christian Art |trans-title=The texts of Nikolai Diletsky's four-voice concertos: questions of origin and classification of verbal sources |language=ru}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Morawska |first1=Katarzyna |author1-link=Katarzyna Morawska |title=Encyklopedia muzyczna PWM |date=1984 |publisher=Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne |location=Kraków, Poland |isbn=83-224-0223-6 |pages=510{{ndash}}512 |edition=|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/encyklopediamuzy0000unse/page/510/mode/1up?q=Myko%C5%82a+Dylecki |ref=none |language=pl |chapter=Dylecki, Mykoła |trans-title=PWM Music Encyclopedia}} * {{cite journal |last1=Viskova |first1=I. V. |title=Марцин Мельчевский И «мусикийская Грамматика» Николая Дилецкого |journal=PSTGU Bulletin |date=2020 |issue=38 |pages=51{{ndash}}61 |doi=10.15382/sturV202038.51-61 |ref=none |series=5 - Questions of the History and Theory of Christian Art |trans-title=Marcin Melchevsky and the “Music Grammar” of Nikolai Diletsky |language=ru}}
==External links== {{commons}} * {{IMSLP|work=Musikalische Grammatik (Diletsky, Nikolay)|cname=''Граматика Музикальна '' [''Musikalische Grammatik''] (Diletsky)|descr=text}} (a 1970 facsimile of the 1723 manuscript, in Ukrainian) * [https://w.histrf.ru/articles/dileckiy-nikolay-pavlovich-2 The article about Dyletsky] in the online version of the {{Ill|Russian Historical Encyclopedia|ru|Российская историческая энциклопедия|italic=yes}} * {{Spotify artist|0lckqmnN93ExdkmjwlM0lM}} (performed by the Partes Ensemble) * [http://www.lab.openopera.com.ua/en/direct-2.html An article about Dyletsky and the historic development of the Ukrainian partes singing (part song)] from Open Opera Ukraine
{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}} {{Authority control|state=collapsed}} {{Music theory|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyletsky, Mykola}} Category:1630s births Category:17th-century deaths Category:Ukrainian Baroque composers Category:Classical composers of church music Category:Russian classical composers Category:Russian male classical composers Category:Russian music theorists Category:Ukrainian classical composers Category:17th-century classical composers Category:Russian Baroque composers