THE CREATIVITY OF OLEKSANDR PYLYPOVYCH MYSHUGA (1853–1922) IN THE CONTEXT OF THE TRADITIONS OF THE UKRAINIAN VOCAL SCHOOL

Abstract

The article examines the figure of the famous Ukrainian performer of the 19th – early 20th century – Oleksandr Myshuga (1853–1922) in the context of the formation and development of the Ukrainian vocal school, which followed the traditions of European vocal schools, primarily the Italian vocal school. The article emphasizes that during the long evolution of European musical culture, the capabilities of the vocal apparatus of singers were improved, and the methods and principles of musical performance were improved. The most famous Italian school of singing in Europe and the world was formed during the 17th–19th centuries, thanks to which the standard of classical sounding of the voice was developed – the bel canto technique, which is still followed by representatives of many national vocal schools. The article notes that the powerful influence of the Western European vocal tradition on the Ukrainian singing school of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Appeared in relief in the work of Oleksandr Myshuga – one of the most educated musicians of his time, an opera and concert-chamber singer, an outstanding teacher of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, whose name belongs to the galaxy of performers of world fame – a Ukrainian singer O. Myshuga (stage name Filippi-Myshuga) at the end of the 19th century was considered the “king of tenors” and the owner of a beautiful lyrical timbre. O. Myshuga's performances graced the opera and concert stages of Rome, Milan, Turin, London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Krakow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv. Thanks to the performing professionalism of O. Myshuga, the expansion of the genre range of performed parts in his work, the tendency of the development of the Ukrainian vocal school of opera and chamber performance to “Europeanization” has become especially relevant, in the context of the meaningful diversity of creative individualities of composers and singers.