Dmytro Hnatiuk’s creativity as an embodiment of the Ukrainian national singing tradition
Authors: Markovych Mykhailo 
Published: February 2025

Statement of the problem. In the context of the modern history of Ukraine, the urgent task of the musical researches, in particular vocal pedagogy as a component of higher artistic education, is to rethink the heritage of brilliant singers of the past. The article offers a creative portrait of the outstanding singer of the second half of the20th century, Dmytro Hnatiuk (1925–2016), and an interpretative analysis of his song repertoire. D. Hnatiuk’s song creativity is an entire era, and today his creative work remains relevant for many new generations of ordinary listeners and professionals. Fortunately, the records with his unique voice (6 CDs, 15 gramophone records, TV shows) have been preserved. A careful attitude to tradition distinguishes a real vocal school, therefore, for a young singer, the analysis of the performance legacy of a luminary of Ukrainian culture becomes an urgent task. Оbjectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to carry out an interpretative analysis of D. Hnatiuk’s song repertoire as the personification of the national singing culture of Ukraine. Samples of the “Golden anthology of songs" were chosen as the material: “Why, why, my land”, “Do you hear, my brother”, “Nightingales laugh, cry”, “My sheep, my sheep”, etc. The absence in modern musicology of works devoted to the singer’s creative activity, considered from the standpoint of national priorities of modern culture, determines the novelty of the presented research, carried out with the involvement of historical, genre-stylistic, interpretative approaches to the disclosure of the chosen topic. Research results. The “genetic code” of the singer’s work, the milestones of his musical career have been characterized. The analysis of D. Hnatiuk’s song repertoire testified to the predominance of Ukrainian, both, the folk and the author’s lyric songs, with philosophical reflections and often dramatic (tragic) concept of being. Characteristic features distinguishing the unique singing style of the outstanding artist are singled out. &#61623; Impressive sound production technique (even sound of the voice in the full range, absence of “metallic” notes, transition zones are not felt; high register – without “locks”, the sound flows like “oil” or a solar stream; breathing is organic and almost imperceptible; perfect possession of the full spectrum of sound dynamic gradations). &#61623; The unique feeling the tempo and rhythm of the composition is the internal (not for show!) living through the melody, which the singer “leads” like the first violin of an orchestra. The laws of agogics are not spelled out in the musical text, but they govern the creative process of an artist with a big heart: the entire accompaniment obeys him, micro-oscillation energies arise “inside” the tempo waves, multiplied by the internal movement of orchestral timbres, over which the baritone soars like an eagle in the sky – powerfully, easily, virtuosic – ally unsurpassed! &#61623; Artistic charisma (masculine), which is dominated by the power of Love, trust, softness, and sincerity. The heroes of his songs have an intimate and confessional intonation, enriched by intuitions; he reveals his soul to the listener “here and now”, which characterizes, first of all, lyrical communication “from heart to heart”. &#61623; So, the most important thing is “singing by the heart” – sensitivity, emotionality – by the heart, which is the deep inner basis of the Ukrainian soul (the parallel to the “philosophy of the heart” by the Ukrainian philosopher Hryhoryi Skovoroda). Conclusion. Among the Ukrainian singers of the second half of the 20th century, who became famous throughout the world for the wonderful penetrating sound of the velvet baritone, D. Hnatiuk took the leading place. His long-term activity is characterized by creative universalism – a result of self-realization in the musical, theatrical, concert and cultural fields (he received an excellent education as a vocalist and music stage director that ensured him many years of fruitful work; the singer was a widely educated person, a humanitarian, with a conscious civic stance). The “portrait” of the artist will not be complete if we do not mention his role in the development of pop song in the 70s and 80s of the last century. Thanks to such masters of the academic stage as D. Hnatiuk, the creative realization of many composers of his time in the genre of popular pop song was possible, the latter, due to practically ideal performance, often became “a hit”. Due to its democratic nature, the genre of pop song eventually became a cult throughout the then Soviet space. The union of high-quality academic art and folk song allowed artists of different national cultures in the “international USSR” to stay themselves and create in their native language that what was, is and remains to this day not engaged perfect musical product. Thus, the work of D. Hnatiuk, especially against the background of “socialist realism” with its false artificial humanism, appears as an ideal personification of the Ukrainian national singing tradition. From today’s point of view, his song creative work appears as a “business card” of the Ukrainian national singing tradition of the second half of the 20th century.