CHAMBER AND VOCAL CREATIVITY OF PAVL SENYTSIA IN THE CHALLENGES OF UKRAINIAN MUSICAL ART OF THE FIRST THIRD OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article examines the evolution of the chamber and vocal works of the prominent Ukrainian composer Pavlo Senytsia (1879–1960) in the context of the socio-political changes of the first third of the 20th century. The composer’s path to becoming a professional, typical for artists from Ukraine, is noted: outstanding abilities and a desire to engage in music provided the opportunity to study and graduate from the Moscow Conservatory, and then to stay and work there. It is noted that, despite living in the capital of the empire, and later the Soviet Union, P. Senytsia was always closely connected with Ukraine, primarily with Kharkov. The chamber and vocal works that he wrote throughout his life reflect the changes that took place in the national culture of the period in terms of content and style. The first solo songs to the words of T. Shevchenko were created while studying at the Vozdvyzhensky Brotherhood School. These compositions demonstrate the traditional national-romantic style of composition characteristic of M. Lysenko and representatives of this trend of the early 20th century. Studying at the conservatory and the influence of the culture of the “silver age” affected the composer’s appeal to decadent images and modern means of composition. These are solo songs to the words of K. Balmont, L. Kosunovych, F. Sologub, O. Chumina, including poems of similar moods by Ukrainian poets M. Kichura, M. Shapoval. After the 1910s, in his chamber and vocal work, the composer turned exclusively to the texts of Ukrainian poets (O. Kovalenko, O. Oles, V. Sosyura). In the 1920s, solo songs and songs by P. Senytsia were dedicated to the celebration of joyful life in the new socialist country (A. Dykyi, Ya. Mamontov, M. Rylsky, V. Sosyura, P. Tychyna). However, the composer remains true to himself, he is concerned with the issues of human dignity, sincerity of feelings, the existence of Ukraine. Many chamber and vocal compositions in the 1920s and 1930s were written on the verses of “unreliable” poets P. Golota, M. Kichura, O. Kovalenko, O. Nepritsky-Hranovsky, O. Oles, M. Filyansky, M. Shapoval and others. Romances and songs by P. Senytsia on his own texts are mainly landscape-imaginative in nature.