Stepan Charnetskyi
Stepan Mykolaiovych Charnetskyi (January 21, 1881 – October 2, 1944) was a Ukrainian poet, translator, journalist, and theatre and music critic, who also directed and produced theatre. He wrote the famous anthem for the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, “Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow.”
He was born in Shmankivtsi, then part of Austria-Hungary (now in Ukraine). He was the thirteenth child in a priest’s family; his father, Mykola Charnetskyi, died soon after his birth. He studied in Stanyslaviv and in Lviv, where he attended the Tsisars-Royal Technical Academy (now Lviv Polytechnic) and worked as an engineer before turning to writing and theatre.
During World War I he served as Assistant Chief of the railway station No. 5 on the Lviv–Stryi line. He was part of Moloda Muza, a group of modernist writers in Austrian Ukraine. Charnetskyi edited the magazines Ukrainian Voice (1915) and Ukrainian Herald, and he was the artistic director of the Ruska Besida Theatre in Lviv (1913–1914).
He married Iryna Popovachak-Charnetska and they had two daughters, Olesia and Oleksandra. In 1913 he wrote the patriotic anthem for the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, “Oi u luzi chervona kalyna.” His poetry includes In the Hour of Twilight (1908), In the Hour of Thought (1917), and The Sad Path (1920). He also wrote about theatre, including An Essay on the History of the Ukrainian Theater in Galicia (1934). In 1936 he co-wrote lyrics for the song “There Will Come Another Time” with Bohdan Vesolovskyi, who later composed the music. He translated Adam Mickiewicz’s Konrad Wallenrod into Ukrainian from Polish.
Charnetskyi died on October 2, 1944, in Lviv. A statue in his birthplace, Shmankivtsi, was unveiled in 1991. A 2005 book, Melankholiia of Stepan Charnetskyi, tells about his life, using archival materials and memories of his contemporaries. Each year the village holds commemorations and the regional art festival “Chervona kalyna” in his honor. In 2022 Pink Floyd released a version of his anthem, titled “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!” connecting his legacy to today.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:42 (CET).