SELECTED SONGS FROM GAETANO DONEZETTI'S CYCLE “SUMMER NIGHTS IN PAUSILIPPE” (“NUIT D'ÉTÉ À PAUSILIPPE”) (AN ATTEMPT AT A MUSIC-THEORETICAL ANALYSIS)

Abstract

The relevance of the article is due to the need to study the chamber-song heritage of Italian composers of the first half of the 19th century to enrich the concert repertoire. Therefore, we turn to the song heritage of Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) in the light of the author's own interpretative interpretations, since at the present stage of creative contacts between the East and the West, the knowledge and study of European cultural traditions seems to be a necessary area for expanding artistic horizons. The focus is on the music-theoretical analysis of three songs from the cycle “Summer Nights at Pausilippe” (“Nuit d'été à Pausilippe”): “Il crociato” (“Romanza”) – “The Crusader” (“Romance”), text by Guaito; “A mezzanotte” (“Arietta”) – “Midnight” (“Arietta”); “Le crepuscule” (“Romanza”) – “Twilight” (“Romance”), text by V. Hugo, which are an example of the composer's bright creative talent in this genre, which, of course, arouses the interest of performers of his song heritage and researchers of the artist's activities in the field of compositional achievements. The research methodology is dictated by the nature of the problem under study and consists in using a combination of methods – theoretical, textological, descriptive- analytical and traditionally musicological, which make it possible to identify the specifics of the composer's song genre. In the chamber works of G. Donizetti, based on a detailed music- theoretical analysis, we reveal the features of the composer's bright melodic gift, his deeply poetic talent and sense of theatricality. In each of the analyzed songs, there are expressive signs of genre differentiation, as well as the obvious influence of the artist's opera aesthetics, bel canto stylistics and methods of form formation. The problem is studied for the first time from the position of music- theoretical analysis of the declared works. The performance aspect is expressed taking into account the peculiarities of the quality of the voice and its training, since most of the songs of the cycle are quite complex both technically and in terms of performance. The prospects for further scientific research lie in continuing the study of the rich song heritage of the outstanding Italian composer G. Donizetti through the prism of music-theoretical analysis and the performance process.