The role of the Kharkiv Wagner’s Society in the promotion of modern musictheatrical culture
Authors: Serdiuk Oleksandr 
Published: August 2024

Statement of the problem. Richard Wagner’s creative legacy today remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration not only for creators of modern music-theatrical art, but also for music lovers and art critics. The emergence of the Wagner’s Society in Kharkiv was caused by the interest in the work of the German master, which manifested itself in different ways: through the initiation and implementation of concert and musicaltheatre projects, the organization of various musical and educational events, in particular, of joint viewing of video recordings of the most interesting musical and stage interpretations R. Wagner’s operas and their discussions, the generalization of this experience in scientific research, the preparation for participation in leading opera festivals, etc. The experience of live creative communication of musicians, accumulated over the 26 years of the Wagner Society’s existence, needs scientific understanding and generalization. Recent research and publications. It must be stated that the study of the experience of the Wagner’s Society in Kharkiv is at an initial stage. The vast majority of published materials belong to the author of this article (the reference to them see: Cherkashyna-Hubarenko, & Klekovkin, 2022: 392). Marina Cherkashyna-Hubarenko (2021: 8) briefly touches on the history of the Wagnerian Societies of Kharkiv and Kyiv, and the analysis of musical pieces by Kharkiv composers dedicated to R. Wagner was carried out in a certain context by Iryna Drach (2022: 204–208). Thus, today there are no published scientific studies that would be focused on the proposed topic. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The research uses a complex approach, which joints the following research methods: historical and cultural, philosophical and aesthetic, structural and semantic, textological and semiotic, and comparative one. This work is the first attempt to characterize in detail the main directions of scientific and educational work of the Wagner’s Society in Kharkiv, to determine its role in the popularization of modern music-theatrical culture. Research results and conclusion. The features of the origin of the idea of creating the Wagner’s Society in Kharkiv and the development of cultural contacts between Kharkiv artists and the Wagner’s Opera Festival in Bayreuth are considered. The role of the Kharkiv foundationers of the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth in the study, scientific understanding and popularization of the creative heritage of the German master is demonstrated. The results of twenty-six years of activity of the Wagner’s Society in Kharkiv are summarized, the main directions of scientific and educational work are characterized (various projects, reports, discussions, Olympiads, which relate to Wagner’s musical theatre and his creative followers). Special attention is paid to interpretive approaches to Wagner’s opera texts, mainly in the Bayreuth Festival Theatre over the last 40 years. The main vector of stage directorial searches is defined: from an all-inclusive idea to a postmodern concept, from a deep philosophy of subtext (Ch&#233;rot – Boulez, Kupfer – Barenboim) to provocative irony (Kirchner, Rosalie – Levine) and postmodern simulacrum (Flimm, Wonder – Fisher, Castorf – Petrenko, Schwartz – Meister) in the frames of such trends as reduction and deconstruction, demythologizing and de-romanticization and their intersection in the counterpoint of meanings and approaches. The main features of comprehending Wagner’s heritage by creative youth both in performing practice and through its theoretical understanding are outlined. The role of Wagner’s Society activists in the creative project of Kharkiv National Opera and Ballet Theatre – the ballet performance “Pandora’s Mysteries” with R. Wagner’s music was noted. As a conclusion, the significance of the results of the Society’s activities for more than a quarter of a century of its existence in Kharkiv in the matter of popularizing not only Wagner’s legacy, but also modern music and theatre culture in its various aesthetic manifestations is emphasized. In particular, in creating conditions for understanding a wide variety of directing and scenographic research in modern musical theatre as musicologists and performers, as well as music lovers, expanding opportunities in cognition of Wagner’s creative heritage, both in performance practice and in its theoretical understanding. The consistent acquaintance with the parameters of postmodern music and theatre aesthetics contributes to the enrichment of personal cultural experience, the music and theatre thesaurus, to the formation of a more flexible artistic perception and thinking, the adequate renewal of artistic and aesthetic ideals and tastes.