In 1908, Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych was forced to flee his job as a singing teacher at a railway school in Hryshyno, Donetsk Oblast, after ongoing pressure from local authorities for his participation in riots during the Russian Revolution of 1905. After fleeing, he settled in the town of Tulchyn in his native Vinnytsia Oblast, where he took up teaching and composing choral works based on Ukrainian folk songs, including “Shchedryk.” The song that would become famous for harmonizing mul