Mykola Markevych

Mykola Markevych was of Ukrainian Cossack descent. He was born in Dunaiets, Chernigov Governorate, Russian Empire (now in modern-day Ukraine) on 7 February 1804. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Pedagogical Institute from 1817 to 1820, before studying piano and composition under John Field in Moscow.

Markevych served as an officer in the Russian Imperial army from 1820 until 1824. He collected historical materials on Cossack history and Ukrainian folk songs at his estate and in central Ukraine. He wrote works on Ukrainian folklore, and foods from the region. He wrote on the Zaporozhian Cossacks, most notably on two Ukrainians, the military leaders Yakov Barabash and Martyn Pushkar. Markevych's works influenced the Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol, as well as two friends, the writer Alexander Pushkin and the poet Wilhelm Küchelbecker. His collections Elegies and Jewish Melodies and Erotic Poems and [a translation of Byron's poem] Parisina were published in Moscow in 1829, followed in 1831 by Ukrainian Melodies.