Composer, Conductor, Teacher. His choral miniature "Shchedryk" is probably the most famous piece of music written by a Ukrainian. It is known in English-speaking countries as the Christmas classic "Carol of the Bells". Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych was born in Monastyrok, Ukraine, the son of a village priest. He studied at the seminary in Kamianets-Podilski (1892 to 1899), where he first developed his love of choral music, and earned a degree in choir conducting in St. Petersburg (1904). From 1906 he was based in the Vinnytsya Province town of Tulchyn and taught music in poor rural schools. Most of his 160 compositions are modest polyphonic arrangements of folk songs, culminating with "Shchedryk", which brought him immediate fame at its Kiev premiere in December 1916. During the brief, chaotic period of Ukrainian independence following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Leontovych accepted professorships at Kiev's Conservatory and Lysenko Institute, and became a spokesman for his homeland's culture and the autonomy of the Orthodox Church. This was reflected in his magnum opus, "The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom" (1919), along with a host of smaller religious settings. His position as a high-profile nationalist made him a target for both the Soviets and the White Guard who were warring for control of the region, and in November 1919 he sought refuge in Tulchyn. In his last months he sketched a fairy tale opera, "On the Water Nymph's Easter", which he would not live to complete. Leontovych was assassinated by a Soviet Cheka agent in the village of Markovka, where he had gone to spend the Christmas holidays with his father. He was buried in a special honor plot nearby. With the rise of Stalin his music was banned as "irrelevant" and would not be heard again in the USSR until the late 1950s. Today he is considered the Ukraine's most popular composer; his home in Tulchyn is a museum and there are memorials to him throughout the country. Contrary to Western belief, Leontovych's "Shchedryk" is not a Christmas carol. He adapted it for unaccompanied chorus from an ancient folk tune traditionally sung on New Year's Eve in the Ukraine (January 13 on the Julian calendar). The title roughly translates as "bountiful" and the original lyrics tell of a swallow that flies into a household to predict a family's prosperity in the coming year. "Shchedryk" was first performed in the West by the Ukrainian National Chorus at New York's Carnegie Hall on October 5, 1921. In 1936, conductor-arranger Peter J. Wilhousky adapted it into English as the "Carol of the Bells", providing new lyrics on a Yuletide theme. He said the mystical-sounding music reminded him of the tolling of church bells. NBC Radio began broadcasting Wilhousky's version in the early 1940s and it quickly became a favorite holiday standard. To date over 150 vocal and instrumental arrangements have been recorded. It is also known as "Ukrainian Bell Carol" and "Ring, Christmas Bells".