CHORAL CYCLE “PSALS OF KING DAVID” BY OLEKSANDR YACOVCHUK: PECULIARITIES OF EMBODYING THE SPIRITUAL CONTENT OF THE PSALTER TEXTS

Abstract

The article provides the initial scholarly examination of Oleksandr Yakovchuk’s choral cycle “Psalms of King David”. The importance of the composer’s spiritually oriented choral compositions is emphasized. The dramaturgical structure of the cycle, based on Psalter texts interpreted poetically by Taras Shevchenko and translated by Ivan Ohienko, is analyzed. The genre classifications of the selected verses are delineated, with particular focus on prayers of praise, supplication, and thanksgiving, along with pieces of a solemn-dithyrambic, dramatic, mournful, and pathetic nature. It is established that the idea of human spiritual perfection unites all psalms of the cycle: from the state of despair and despondency (Ps. No.11) – to the experience of spiritual enlightenment (Ps. No.2) and the awareness of the complexity of the Christian choice (Ps. No.27). Special attention is drawn to the psalms based on Shevchenko’s verses, reinterpreted by the composer through the prism of contemporary political and socio-spiritual transformations. The dramaturgy of the cycle assigns particular significance to those psalms translated by Ohienko that reveal the inner conflict of the individual on the path to God (Ps. Nos.3, 27, 1, 22–23, 2). The musical language of these works is saturated with sharp dissonances, symbolizing the ambiguity of truth and the difficulty of choosing the righteous way. An analysis of form-building principles and expressive means demonstrates that the psalms of the cycle are characterized by free structures oriented toward variations of ternary, binary, and strophic forms, a predilection for minor tonalities, and a combination of functional chordal structures of the major-minor system with coloristic cluster harmony.A distinctive feature of the choral style in the psalms is the synthesis of Ukrainian folk and liturgical polyphony traditions with techniques of imitative polyphony, which testifies to the connection between Yakovchuk’s artistic thinking and the national spiritual and religious heritage.