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The Ukrainian literature is, with the exception of the Russian and Polish, the richest of the Slavonic literatures.
The Ukrainian theatre had, at the close of the nineteenth century, a great influence over the national development. The Russian Censor unfortunately only authorised productions of a popular style, and sometimes historical plays. The plays of a more serious nature and translations were rigorously forbidden.
This oppression has caused the drama to be of a very original type. A talented group of artists has made the drama celebrated, in conjuring up the past, in showing the life and the sadness of the people, and in bringing to the fore the melancholy Ukrainian songs, and has kept alive the national sentiment.
To-day, the Ukrainian drama is undergoing a transformation. To its répertoire are being added the best works of the European dramatic literature and also Ukrainian plays, the production of which was impossible under the old régime.
The music of the Ukrainians is well known to the Slavonic races. If the Ukrainians are proud of anything, it is of their songs. The most illustrious of the Ukrainian composers is Liscenko, who has arranged the music of the greater part of the old songs, and has written a great number of original works. Various causes have hindered the expansion of the musical genius of the Ukrainian people. But everything allows us to hope that the young school of musicians which has been formed at Kiev will achieve satisfactory results.
The historical studies and technical researches conducted by the Ukrainian scholars take place at the present time with the object of disseminating a knowledge of the ancient style of architecture and painting. Though each of these arts has evidently received inspiration from Byzantium, and then from the West, they are based on a national art which is notable in the numerous motifs of original ornamentation.
