THE HUTSUL TOPIC IN THE REPERTOIRE OF THE HONOURED CHOIR OF UKRAINE "BOYAN" NAMED AFTER YEVHEN VAKHNYAK

Abstract

In the article we study the artistic work of the Honoured Choir of Ukraine “Boyan” named after Yevhen Vakhniak, and specifically the part which concerns the Hutsul region – the birthplace of the conductor, the People's Artist of Ukraine Yevhen Vakhniak (1912–1998). We analyzed from this angle the repertoire of the choir and its concert activity, we designated the role and the meaning of the symbols of the conductor’s birthplace in the choir performing tradition. The brief overview of Ye. Vakhniak creative career gives us the possibility to determinate the influence of the creative environments and certain personalities on the formation of personality of the artist, shows the power of his ethical principles and esthetic preferences which were mostly formed thanks to the world view of the sociocultural environment of the artist’s birthplace. At the same time, we note the influence of Ye. Vakhniak artistic work on the professional growth of several generations of the conductors and the performing manner of many choirs. The Honoured Choir of Ukraine “Boyan” named after Yevhen Vakhniak started its artistic career as a small amateur choir which became famous in Ukraine and abroad thanks to the hard work of the conductor and the chorists and received the title of Honoured Choir of Ukraine. With its concert national educational activity, the choir continued the traditions of the music association “Boyan”. As a result, in the mid-1980s, the conductor and the chorists started to name their choir “Boyan” and so they made this name, which disappeared in 1939, come back into the artistic area of Lviv. The repertoire of the Honoured Choir of Ukraine “Boyan” named after Yevhen Vakhniak is rich on the choir compositions based on the poetic and intonational material of hutsul folklore. They sing of the picturesque beauty of the hutsul land and its heroic history. These compositions make the “gold fund” of the choir’s repertoire and stay the original “artistic mark” of the group. During many years they were the part of the concert and contest programs and were recorded multiple times on the radio and television. The choir leaded by Y. Vakhniak was considered as the laboratory of Lviv composers and was the first performer of many compositions of Anatolii Kos-Anatolskyi, Mykola Kolessa, Yevhen Kozak. It is natural that the hutsul tunes are present in the choir compositions of Y. Vakhniak. The disciples of Ye. Vakhnyak Mykola Popenko and Bohdan Derevianko, who leaded the professional artistic groups of the region, also contributed a lot into development of the art of the Hutsul region. They made a big work collecting, examining and adapting the hutsul folklore. The artistic connections of the choir “Boyan” with the Hutsul region last till today. Their main part is the cooperation with the Chamber Choir “Felicio” from Nadvirna, the city where Ye. Vakhnyak was born. In 2007–2012, both choirs realized in common several artistic projects. Besides, at the initiative of the chorist Volodymyr Tymchuk born in Yasinia, the choir “Boyan” had many concerts in Trans Carpathian region (Bohdan, Rakhiv, Yasinia), started the creative cooperation with the local composer Vasyl Kalyniuk and became the first performer of some of his compositions. As conclusion, we may confirm that the Hutsul topic in the artistic activity of the Honoured Choir of Ukraine “Boyan” named after Yevhen Vakhniak takes a special place, it is repre-sented as well in the repertoire as in the geography of concerts. Figuratively saying, the healing air of Ye. Vakhnyak birthplace was giving life to the choir that he created and still does.