Soprano as a phenomenon of artistic representation of the human image in European and Chinese traditions
Authors: Xiong Yahuan 
Published: April 2024

Statement of the problem. The study of the singing voice is a “point of reference” for the scientific cognition of vocal art, which is relevant both in the historical and the modern aspects. In particular, it has turned out that its history and status such voice as soprano in modern performance culture is not obvious, even for experts. The specificity of the timbre and pitch range of soprano singers, their demand on the stage remains an actual topic that has not yet been fully covered. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to highlight the history of the soprano as a type of singing voice in the aspect of phenomenology of creativity based on the material of a comparative analysis of the national traditions of vocal art in Europe and China. The specificity of the material, which is the singing voice – the natural instrument of the vocalist, is revealed by the comparative-interpretive method (Zhiwei, Zhou, 2012) as a component of the cognitive approach to the study of the singing voice (Shapovalova, 2014), which is considered as an analogue of the image of a person. The choice of methodology is determined by the phenomenological understanding of the role of the singing voice, conditioning of its specificity by pitch range, timbre qualities, which are also related to the stage image. These questions are still not fully covered in theory, and it is they that make up the content of the comparative-interpretive concept dedicated to the female singing voice – the soprano, which is an innovative component of this study. The analysis of recent publications on the topic. The theoretical works of Chinese (Yin Pin, Wu Jing, Zhang Ke, Cui Baoya) and Ukrainian (O. H. Stakhevych, O. D. Shulіar) scientists reveale how Chinese vocal art seeks a balance between European experience and the preservation of national traditions. A certain part of scientific work is devoted to the methods of comprehensive training a singer covers a system of professional knowledge about singing technique, genres and styles of vocal art (W. E. Brown, S. Cotton, L. Man&#233;n, E. Giudici, F. Thomas, P. Tosi, Qi Mingwei, Yu Hengyuan, Jiang Huamin, Zhao Shilan & Guo Jianmin). Research results. A comparative-phenomenological approach were used to clarify the issue of what are the cardinal differences in the functioning of female soprano voices in the professional and artistic environment of China and Europe, and whether there are “points of intersection” between carriers of different national traditions of singing in the field of vocal-professional standards. The aspects of the history and modern functioning of the soprano as a phenomenon of vocal art are consistently highlighted: its genotype, technology, typology, repertoire, stage component, national-mental features in the culture of China and Europe. The components of singing technology (breathing, resonators, articulation) were compared; the specificity of the techniques inherent in Chinese coloratura singing was revealed attracting the examples of song repertoire for coloratura soprano: Shan Dei’s songs “July Pastures”, “Festival of Torches”, Hu Tingjiang’s “Spring Ballet”. Certain attention was paid to the typology of the female soprano, its repertoire, stage component. The presentation of the soprano as a carrier of “human image” in culture space is related with the concept of “timbre-role” (Avramenko, 2020; Mityushkin, 2020) based on the accordance between the natural qualities of the voice and the characteristics of opera personage. The phenomenon of "timbre-role" is evaluated as the instrument for creating vocal and stage semantics, as well as the indicator of the type of nervous system of singers, their temperament. Conclusion. Owing to the timbre, range, stage image, the singer performs the function of personifying the image of a human as the embodiment of the aesthetic ideals of the national cultural tradition. The primary difference between the two national traditions of soprano performance is the aesthetics of singing. The type of singing voice is a valuable object that embodies the image of a human, revealing its meaning in the system of national tradition. After having compared the European and Chinese performing arts through the "focus" of the functioning of the soprano (as a type of female singing voice), it can be argued that these are two separate, historically independent "branches" of the world musical theatre. At first glance, the differences between them prevail, although in the conditions of globalization, the vocal and performing style of the East is increasingly moving from centuries-old isolation to active creative interaction with the West. Common for sopranos of both national traditions is the creation of the image of a human in his female hypostasis as the personification of the spiritual beauty The author sees the prospect of further developing the topic in the implementation of the historical-interpretative analysis method as a component of phenomenology of the soprano – the science on the performance interpretation of the spiritual essence of a human and their art.