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O n the W ay to The Netherlands P aris, g ian t of 8 millions, clasped by Seine’s bending, dash ed a l i ne of suburbs around her. A lthough th e stre e ts fan out like spokes in a wheel, leaving by car is not easy. Living in th e n o rth you have tw o problem s. If your nerves and your car are in good shape you choose a sh o rter w ay th ro u g h th e city, bristled by crossroads w ith red lights. In case you are tired or in a bad mood, tak e th e o uter boulevard, w hich has few er crossroads. The ro u te is longer, b u t you can de velop speed. Luck w as w ith us. A lthough our w ay led fu rth e r n o rth th a n n o rth ern P aris, in 10 m inutes we w ere in its suburbs. The m agic of P aris w as behind us. The ugly suburban arch itectu re, th e d irty pavilions shocked m e w ith th e ir box shape featu res, cast in sm all patches of anaem ic gardens. The co n tra st w as too m uch to bear. My disg u st overw helm ed me. Soon we reached th e softness of th e new highw ay. L eaving th e a irp o rt Bourges, and th e la st pa vilion, our eyes greeted th e firs t green w ith joy. The la st cross road sparkled its yellow e y e ; th e half-ruined house to our rig h t blinked its dark windows; and our w ay ra n evenly n o rth up th e B elgian fro n tier. My eyes drank th e lig h t green of th e young rye, th e d ark er con to u r of th e grasses along th e road, and th e ruby-red drops of th e poppies. The g ian t city, whose charm forever holds you in its grasp, w as fa r behind. W e are separated from it by th e green e a rth and space, w hich im bued us w ith its stre n g th and gave us happiness. T hree h u n dred m iles of th is quiet green lay before us. T hrough our car window, th e wind entered, to rem ind us of our goal: th e N etherlands. How m any tim es had we been th ere already ? I t is h ard to rem em ber. B ut every tim e we w ent in th is sam e joyful mood. T his country builds up w arm , exciting m em ories in our h ea rts. A lthough ad m iring its fineness and w ishing to see our old friends th ere, its g re a te r a ttra c tio n rem ains th e B yzantine Choir in U trech t. W hen did we firs t g et ac quainted? In 1954, w hen th e Choir gave its firs t concert, w hich proved to be so g re a t a success. A day to rem em ber! An afternoon quiet hovered over th e canals of U trech t, w hen we ra n g th e bell a t D r. M. A ntonovych’s ap artm en t. The conductor of th is renow ned new choir greeted us w ith a smile. W e talked a t once about th e choir itself. The choir grew out of th e n a t ural love of singing. D r. A ntono- vych a t th a t tim e conducted th e A lum nus Choir of th e P rie s t’s sem inary in K olem bourg. This Choir delighted m any N e th e r lands people. B ut, w hen th e Sem inary m oved to Rome and D r. A ntonovych w as assigned to th e U niversity of U tre ch t some of his D utch listeners asked him to found a choir, using U krainian songs. A t firs t it seem ed im possible. How could th e D utch sing U krainian songs ? B ut th e song lovers b e g g e d ; and th e conductor, who could not live w ith o u t singing asked him self: could I not try it? So he g ath ered D utch singers of d iffe ren t backgrounds and re ligions. The singing and th e ir desire to glorify a rem ote coun try by its beautiful songs united them . To m eet th is Choir, to h ea r its firs t attem p ts D r. A ntonovych invited us to a rehearsal, held in th e basem ent of th e old city hall of U trech t. T here, in th e cool v aults of th e building, a lighted p latfo rm w ith a piano, in th e d ark of th e auditorium — only we tw o am id th e bulk of em pty chairs. The Choir w as studying a new song. It is im possible to sing a song w ith o u t understanding its m ean ing. So th e conductor explained it thoroughly. The pronunciation is a problem . A fte r acquiring a certain proficiency in it th ey sta rte d singing. It w as difficult, and accom plished only by these song-loving people by sacrificing th e ir every spare m om ent. The re su lt w as g ratify in g . They studied a new song and afterw ard s sang songs th ey al ready knew . The ancient vaults echoed w ith m elodies from th e rem ote p a st of our ancestors. T hey sang w ith such love and passion th a t we fo rg o t th e fo r eign C ity Hall, and th e D utch singers. O ur te a rs stream ed. T his endeavor, th is zeal w as not fo r fam e or applause, b u t fo r th e very love of th e songs, and fo r us, th e tw o rep resen tativ es of our hom eland. L ater, as our car halted, I re alized th a t we had reached th e Belgian border. A fte r a few fo r m alities we passed over and w ere in a new country. The grey stone buildings and th e ir chaotic site disappeared. E qually dull, red brick houses accom panied us along our way. The asp h alt h ig h w ay changed to th e “cath ead s” th a t rem inded us of U kraine. T he cities and villages followed each o th er so closely it w as im possible to know w here one end ed and th e n ex t began. W e re m em bered, fro m our school days th a t Belgium has th e densest population in th e world. A fte r th e p erfect zoning sys tem in F ran ce one had difficulty in not g ettin g lost am id w hite inscriptions on th e blue, along th e way. A fte r p assing several very sim ilar villages we came in to a less populated a r e a ; and m y th o u g h ts, as I gazed on th e green woods again re tu rn ed to th e B y zantine Choir. In ten years of assiduous w ork th is Choir acquired a prom inent place in th e religious and cu ltu ra l life of th e N etherlands. T here is alm ost no solem n M ass or im p o rta n t concert w ith o u t th e ir perform ans. T hey perform about 300 concerts a year. The radio and TV tra n sm it th e ir songs to hundreds of thousands of listen ers. T hey re p resen t th e N e th e r lands abroad; and th ey do it НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ЛИПЕНЬ-СЕРПЕНЬ, 1964 17
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