THE IMAGE OF PRINCESS EUPRAXIA IN THE SYMPHONIC SUITE FROM THE BALLET “EUPRAXIA” BY OLEKSANDR KANERSHTEIN

Abstract

The article reveals the peculiarities of the embodiment of the image of the Kyivan princess Eupraxia in the symphonic suite from the ballet “Eupraxia” by the Ukrainian composer of the second half of the twentieth century Oleksandr Kanershtein, written after the novel of the same name by Pavlo Zahrebelnyi. Based on the study of reference, scientific and journalistic literature, the history of the creation of these opuses is highlighted, and the genre originality of their literary source is determined. On the basis of a detailed study of the orchestral score of Eupraxia, the structure of this work and the principles of its dramaturgy are characterized, two contrasting figurative and intonational spheres are defined, the system of leitmotifs is singled out, and the role of timbre dramaturgy is clarified. The specifics of the embodiment of the image of Eupraxia are revealed, the means of musical expression by which the composer reproduced the evolution of the heroine's emotional experiences and her tragic fate are determined; the directions of further research of the problem are outlined. The article uses a number of general scientific methods: biographical (to study the life and work of O. Kanershtein); method of historiographical analysis (to comprehend scientific, reference and journalistic literature on the studied issues); descriptive (to systematize the collected material and characterize the object under study); historical and cultural (to determine the artistic and aesthetic foundations of the development of Ukrainian music in the second half of the twentieth century); methods of holistic and genre-stylistic analysis of a musical composition. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time in Ukrainian musicology, O. Kanershtein's suite from the ballet Eupraxia for symphony orchestra is analyzed in detail, the structure and principles of the dramaturgy of this work are determined, the system of leitmotifs is outlined, the role of timbre dramaturgy is clarified, and the peculiarities of the composer's embodiment of the image of the Kyivan princess Eupraxia are revealed.