V. O. Bohdanov – an outstanding researcher of the history of wind art in Ukraine: his life and creative career
Authors: Ovchar О.P. 
Published: March 2020

Background. The question of a comprehensive assessment of certain musicians’ work has both artistic and aesthetic, sociocultural, and ethical projections associated with the evaluation of the creativity and activity of the musician both during their lifetime and after their passing. This issue also continues to be acutely relevant in the area of studying and shaping the scope of cultural knowledge about traditions and innovations in all spheres of musical art, about the role of an individual in the historical and cultural process both in the national and in the civilizational, globalizational aspects. Another important aspect is the study of one’s own cultural traditions and achievements (at the national, regional and other levels.), which makes it possible to reveal something universal and particular in all areas of musical practice (composition, performance, teaching, etc.) and give them an objective assessment. In this connection, musicians – our contemporaries, whose achievements are diverse and very significant in the musical field and whose versatile contribution to the development of musical art cannot be overestimated, – need special public and scientific attention. One of such outstanding figures of modern Ukraine is Valerii Bohdanov (13/07/1939–10/10/2017), a trumpet performer, conductor, teacher, musicologist, who devoted his whole life to music art in its various manifestations, achieved the highest results in all spheres of activity and went down in the history of Ukrainian musical art as one of the rare examples of a universal musician. His performance, conducting, pedagogical, and research activities in the field of wind instruments performance are so significant that they require a complex study, which as yet does not exist, and this paper seems to be one of the first steps on this path. Objectives. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the life and career of the outstanding musician Valerii Bohdanov from the viewpoint of his contribution to the study of the history of wind performance in Ukraine. Methods. This paper employs a complex of several research methods related to the statement of the theme and its specificity: historical method, which allowed considering facts from life and work of V. Bohdanov in relation to the peculiarities of historical conditions of the time; historical and cultural method, thanks to which one can take into account the general context of music art, in particular, events and phenomena of musical practice within certain conditions of national culture, traditions and possibilities, specified amongst others at the ideological level; biographical method of research, due to which different periods of the musician’s creativity, directions of his activity, as well as their prerequisites, development paths and results are described; comparative method, associated with the comparative characteristics of stages and tendencies of Valerii Bohdanov’s work in different periods of his life; phenomenological method, featuring characteristics of unique interaction of various facets of the universal musician – the artist of music art. Results. The versatile activity of V. Bohdanov, a prominent musician, performer, conductor, teacher, researcher of the history of wind art in Ukraine, is distinguished by a special degree of interrelation of these spheres, which indicates the special quality of the universalism of Valerii Oleksandrovych’s personality as a phenomenon. According to the outlined and characterized areas of the musician’s activity all his achievements are determined, firstly, by the peculiarities of different periods of his life and career, historical circumstances and certain artistic experience, and secondly, by his personal qualities. The research and pedagogical activity of V. Bohdanov is one of the peaks of his multifaceted activity and the embodiment of the true mission, which combined the talent and experience of the practising musician, performer and conductor with pedagogical, scientific and educational work to the extent that allows speaking about a special status of a universal musician – a worker of musical art. An individual feature of V. Bohdanov’s universalism is that, being a practising musician, performer and conductor, he achieved the highest results in the scientific field, made an invaluable contribution to the study of the history of wind performance in Ukraine. Conclusions. The research findings indicate that Valerii Bohdanov’s activity is distinguished by the diversity and special status of universalism; its various facets are not just interconnected, they are interdependent and, thanks to a complex of personality characteristics, have become the basis for the outstanding result that was achieved by the musician. At the same time, the scientific side of Valerii Bohdanov’s work, dedicated to the history of wind instrument performance in Ukraine, has become a kind of pinnacle of his creative and life journey. Based on the aforesaid, we believe that the results of the presented research can be used in further scientific research related to such issues as: the study of Valerii Bohdanov’s research, performance, conducting, and pedagogical activities, as well as the work of other musicians, representatives of the wind music art of Ukraine; the characteristic of wind instruments performance schools; the search for answers to the questions faced by modern wind instruments performance, in particular, in the context of tradition and innovation, organology, genre-stylistics, repertoire, etc.