Mykola Stetsiun’s creativity for bandura in the anniversary context
Authors: Mandziuk Liubov 
Published: April 2024

Statement of the problem. Recent research and publications. A significant event for the bandura community was the 80th anniversary of the Honored Artist of Ukraine Mykola Hryhorovych Stetsiun (b. 1942), whose composer’s work represents a new stage in the development of the bandura art. The artist’s professional development began in the urbanized Eastern region of Ukraine, where the folk instrumental performance was represented exclusively by the domra, balalaika, and accordion arts. The composer’s practical acquaintance with the bandura took place in his mature years in Kharkiv, which prompted him to expand the original bandura repertoire and include the timbre of the instrument in orchestral compositions. M. Stetsiun’s composer work has been covered in the number of scientific studies. His life and creative path is described by A. Vynohradova (2019), S. Bilousova (2016), and L. Shekita (2013) who characterized M. Stetsiun’s work in the context of the development of folk instrumental art. The performing interpretation some of the composer’s works is characterized in the studies of M. Tushchenko (2019) and A. Aulova (2021). I. Lisniak (2014) offered the genre style review of the composer’s work for the bandura. The relevance of the proposed study determines by insufficient research of M. Stetsiun’s bandura works. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the study. The purpose of the study is to characterize the development of M. Stetsiun’s bandura creativity in the context of the enriching the modern bandura repertoire. For the first time, the evolution of M. Stetsiun’s interest in bandura sound was traced in the context of significant for folk instrumental art the events and creative communications. Ways of formation and creative transformation of M. Stetsiun’s composer style in the field of bandura music have not yet been the object of research. A panoramic overview of the composer’s genre and style searches, aimed at expanding the performance repertoire for bandura, was carried out. The following methods was used in the research: 1) biographical to characterize significant events in M. Stetsiun’s life and work; 2) genre and stylistic to reveal the characteristic peculiarities of his music works; 3) interpretive to analyse performance tasks in the works for bandura. Research results. Thanks to the activities of V. Andrieiev and H. Khotkevich, bands of bandurists appeared in Kharkiv alongside the domra and balalaika orchestras. In 1921, the first orchestra of Ukrainian folk instruments was created. The cultural and musical environment of the Ukrainian Donbas in the middle of the 20th century was influenced the Soviet narratives. The bandura did not sound there. Therefore, since childhood, M. Stetsiun showed himself as the domra performer and talented arranger. During his studies at the Kharkiv State Conservatory (in the domra class of V. I. Mikhelis, in the composition class of I. K. Kovach), bandura performance declined. M. Stetsiun’s close acquaintance with the bandura took place at the turn of the 1980--90s, when the bandura class was renewed at the Kharkiv State Institute of Arts. There are several genre and style models to which the composer turns to in his work for this instrument: 1) vocal-instrumental compositions, 2) orchestral works with the inclusion of the bandura part, 3) arrangements for bandura solo, 4) original works for bandura, 5) compositions for the ensemble of bandurists. M. Stetsiun’s arrangements for bandura – “Elegy in Memory of Hnat Hotkevych” and “Etude-Impromtu” are very popular among the performers. The “Dance in the Form of a Rondo” stands out among his original works for bandura. Conclusion. M. Stetsiun continues the traditions of the Kharkiv school of composers, as evidenced by the bright individual stylistic appearance of most of his opuses. Conscious reception of the bandura as a national musical instrument by the composer took place in adulthood, when, thanks to the high level of compositional skill, he was able to embody organically the specifics of orchestral thinking in the solo and ensemble sound of the bandura using the traditional and the modern melodic-harmonic, textural and articulation means. The perspective of the research consists in the musicological understanding of the resent opuses of Ukrainian composers for the bandura as a complete artistic phenomenon and the important component of folk-instrumental Ukrainian art.