Texture and harmony parameter of the vocal and performance style (a case study of G. Sviridov’s works)
Authors: Sun Bo 
Published: April 2019

The article is devoted to the study of the role of harmony and texture in the process of forming the singer’s performance thinking. The relevance of the research topic is to justify the texture and harmony set of G. Sviridov’s vocal compositions as the basis for the formation of performance thinking. The problem for a vocalist lies in the fact that in the conditions of the complication of the musical language of chamber and vocal music of the 20th century, it becomes difficult to build a hierarchy of artistic image in the unity of vocal and instrumental framework. For a soloist, the texture as a principle of the composer’s organization of a text comes down to their solo melodic line; this is an instrumental category, the measurement of the piano part. Together with melos, instrumentalism constitutes artistic unity expressed through the texture and harmony set. How does the monody in the vocal part interact with the instrumental texture (homophony and harmony)? This aspect is a “stumbling block” for the vocalists who study vocal styles of music by composers of the 20th century. The purpose of the article is to reveal the texture and harmony features of the vocal compositions of G. Sviridov, taking into account their implementation in the performance process. Analysis of the recent studies and publications. In the monograph by A. Sokhor, the main attention is focused on the coverage of the biography in connection with creative activity. The harmonic language of G. Sviridov’s works was analyzed by V. Tsendrovsky [11]. In the works of O. Aleksandrova, the aspects of modern musicological methodology are presented when studying the compositional style of G. Sviridov [2]. However, in the above scientific sources, the issues of the texture and harmony organization that are important for the formation of the performance thinking of singers (including those from China) are not systematically presented and therefore should be the subject of scientific reflection. Discussion. For the baritone, the composer created a multi-genre palette of images in various chamber and vocal compositions of a cyclic type. The works of G. Sviridov are distinguished by deep national basis and the originality of the musical language. The composer inherited a connection with folk-song sources, modal expressiveness, vivid imagery, courage of harmonic principles of thinking. The texture and harmony arrangement of vocal parts is characterized by a combination of common European and folklore parameters. From the arsenal of modern methods of compositional technique, he applies the phonic interpretation of the vertical, pays special attention to timbre intonation as a sound image, speech declamation in the synthesis with the song manner. The melodics in G. Sviridov’s vocal compositions is the leading factor of the style, influencing the texture and harmony and timbre parts of the sound image (the unity of the vocal and instrumental intonation). Together with melos, the instrumentalism constitutes artistic unity, expressed through the texture and harmony set. The substantiation of the concept of texture and harmony set in the context of the singer’s activities as melodic self-identification is seen as important. The main parameters of the texture and harmony set in G. Sviridov’s vocal compositions form the basis for the implementation of the composer’s vocal style. Hence there is a need to include understanding of the foundations of the composer’s text (melodics, mode and harmony, texture) in the performance poetics (timbre, articulation, dynamics, agogics). Examples from certain compositions of Sviridov are indicated: “Spring” from the cycle “Four songs” to the verses of A. Blok as an example of polyharmony (introduction of the side tones into the chords of the tertian structure). The melody of baritone romances is almost always strictly monomodal or pentatonic. The stability of harmony is typical, holding one mode or oscillating around it, tinted by additional tones, comparisons or deviations with the dominance of the tonal basis. Sometimes a multicomponent tone system is complicated by the side tones. Second “overtones” included in such consonance create the effect of a bell manner, a sense of spatiality. The approach to folklore as a special system of thinking emphasizes the national mentality of musical images (Eternity, House, Path, Nature) of G. Sviridov’s works, creating a “close-up” where the poet creates an objective lyrical and epic song on behalf of his Self. Harmony is the basis of composer’s thinking: the colorfulness of the texture and vertical sets determines the instrumental phonism (piano). It entails the need for deep comprehension of the composition foundations (melodics, mode and harmony, texture) through the performance specifics (articulation, dynamics, agogics). The given examples confirm the importance of the texture and harmony parameter in the process of the formation of melodic pitch in the works of foreign-language singers. Having considered the parameters of the texture and harmony set in G. Sviridov’s vocal compositions, it can be argued that without understanding their role in recreating the singer’s figurativeness, the true height of interpretation of the composer’s vocal style is impossible.