Note 20 — HISTORICAL SONGS

The Hetman Mazeppa, who was himself a Kobzar, composed this song among others. The story goes that when he was an old man he visited an Ukrainian official, set in high places, named Kotchubei. When he played on the kobza and sang of the ancient glories of the Ukraine, Kotchubei’s young daughter, like Desdemona, listened entranced, and finally asked him to marry her. He refused, saying that he was too old, but nevertheless she fled to him, bringing tragedy on her house. Ultimately she went insane, when Mazeppa took refuge with the Turks after the battle of Poltava.