Fantaisia On Zaporozhye Themes

The present work was published by the important Moscow publisher P. Jurgenson in 1898. Album for guitarists on the 6- or 9-string guitar, composed by M. Polupayenko]. The work itself is titled: Ballads and merriments of the Zaporozhets, A Fantasia. The Zaporozhets referred to in the title is a Cossack soldier from the town of Zaporozhye in the Ukraine, a place that still today honors the military traditions of the Cossacks. As such, this music, light-hearted and aiming at a facile display of virtuosity, is a typical salon rendition of themes that purport to be based on Cossack folk melodies and dances. Indeed, this particular work was used to great acclaim by Boris Perott in his concerts in Russia in 1910, before he moved to England and achieved considerable fame as the president of the London Philharmonic Society of Guitarists and first guitar teacher of Julian Bream. As stated in the title, the work can be played on either the standard six-string guitar, or on a guitar equipped with three additional basses tuned to low D’, C’ and B’.