Page "Alexey Razumovsky" Paragraph 2

Oleksiy Rozum was born on March 17, 1709 ( NS: March 28 ) on the farm Lemeshi near Chernihiv in the family of a registered Ukrainian Cossack, Hryhory Rozum.

In his youth he was a shepherd ; then he was taught to read and write by the rural sexton.

Having a fine voice he sang in the choir at the village church.

In 1731, Colonel Vyshnevsky, one of empress Anna Ivanovna ’ s courtiers, while passing through the village on his way back to the Russian capital from a mission to Hungary, was wonder-struck with his vocal ability, and took him to St. Petersburg where he joined the choir of the Ukrainian palace chapel.