IMPLEMENTATION OF UKRAINIAN FOLK VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL MELOS IN THE WORKS OF VASYL BARVINSKY AND SERHII OREL

Abstract

The article is dedicated to defining of methods of using Ukrainian national-song and instru-mental melos in the works of two composers of different generations and creative directions: Vasyl Barvinsky (1888–1963) and Serhii Orel (1952–2017). The classification of features of the national melos and analysis of the ways of its expression in musical texture is an important part of the study of the works by Vasyl Barvinsky, who was one of the most prominent representatives of the Ukrainian national composer school of the first half of the twentieth century, and Serhii Orel – a phenomenal violinist and interpreter of folk music, the author of numerous orchestral processing, the creator of his own works of different genres and styles. By summing up the data of the musical and textual analysis of the string quartet “For youth” of Vasyl Barvinsky, we conclude that the composer used such a method of implementation of the national melos, the main principle of which is a stylization of music in the spirit of concrete genre folk patterns with the use of appropriate intonational-rhythmical, texture, timbre, tessitura, drama-turgic and partly form-generating techniques. As a result, he achieved the desired aesthetic-emo-tional result, concretized by the general character of music, by the form-generation and texture. As a composer, Serhii Orel realized himself basing on the concept of universal use of the possibilities of each orchestral instrument, which consisted in the complex identification of the traditional violin and, wider, instrumental and song folklore of the Carpathians. The availability of national features are showed most of all in the thematism of the composer’s works, as their melody has direct signs of Ukrainian melos, dividing into authorial, quoted or synthesizing folk themes. The musical forms of compositions of S. Orel (through-composed, three-part, variational, etc.) are developed according to the principle of comparing of thematism of different levels of contrast, or monothematical variative-variational development. The musical texture of the works of the artist is worthy of astonishment, given the absence of an official composer’s education, S. Orel was able to achieve filigree, multifunctional texture decisions, which affirms him as a remarkable melodic, harmonic and polyphonic talent. Implementing of the Ukrainian national melos, V. Barvinsky and S. Orel used different appro-aches, although dedicated with an orientation on one primary source – the treasury of national folklore musical creativity. Vasyl Barvinsky in his string quartet "For Youth" skillfully combines the genre traditions of the European chamber music with strongly-pronounced melody, texture and dramaturgic characteristics of the national folklore. Serhii Orel, with no official composer’s education, but having been formed in the ambiance of powerful instrumental and song traditions, processing a high professional violin playing mastery and a genious artistic intuition, has formed his own composer’s style, directed to reproducing characteristic features of the national folklore in the concert-scenic and representative forms, reaching, in our opinion, not only quantitative (more then 3000 written-fixed works), but also qualitative achievements.