SYMBOLISM OF IMAGES IN THE OPERAS OF MYKOLA LYSENKO “TARAS BULBA” AND “NOKTURN”
Authors: Dovhan Liudmyla 
Published: May 2023

Artists of the early 21st century, unlike previous time intervals, are attracted to those stylistic trends that were characteristic of a century ago. Despite the non-symbolist manifestations in Postmodernism, which have almost completely exhausted their resources in the first decade of the 21st century, they are once again attracting the attention of not so many representatives of the art circles as art analytics, in particular, musicologists. After all, in the previous Soviet period, there was no talk of European style trends. The creativity of the founder of Ukrainian classical music Mykola Lysenko also needs a rethinking of style principles. Mykola Lysenko opera creativity directly related to the stylistic direction of Romanticism, which at the time was dominant in Eastern European culture and was indirectly reflected in the creation of his first teacher Rimsky-Korsakov. This style direction was undoubtedly dominant in the work of the composer, although it allowed him to go outside and create a wing – heroic romanticism (an example of this is the heroic-romantic opera Taras Bulba). However, the composer, as a creative personality, at that time represented another generation of artists, and therefore it was not so much his style direction as priority for him to find something new, personal in it. This is evidenced by the search for new genres in music that would make it possible to go beyond Romanticism and bring Ukrainian music to the new frontiers of styling. Such were the works of Mykola Lysenko as children’s operas, which were a personal find of the Ukrainian classic in opera as a whole. It should be noted that the end of the nineteenth century was marked by the work of Mykola Lysenko on the opera “Taras Bulba”. This work clearly traces the symbolism declared in patriotic service to its people, which completely offset the slave complex of Gogol’s protagonist, in the opera. In addition, the author of the opera muffled the clown and carnal pull in the actions and behavior of other characters, directing them into a common patriotic channel. At the same time, Christian didactics and morality are more muted in Lysenko’s opera – the protagonist’s slaughter, the compatibility of his figure with the biblical archetypal motif. Semantic components that are present in the Mykola Lysenko’s opera “Taras Bulba” related to the works of composers Symbolists. This is confirmed in the first place, the presence of these original works signs symbolism. The first of these is the presence of quartile juxtapositions in harmony, which makes them clearly unacceptable in early Christian church music. In 1912, Mykola Lysenko wrote the latest opera Nocturne. In this work, the means of naive paintings demonstrate fantastic lively portraits. At the same time, they are as household and unpretentious, as ordinary as they are in the genre. The plot of Lysenko's opera “Nocturne” is accompanied by the release of The Maid, who in no way perceives neither poetry nor dreamy singing, represented by the picturesque plasticity on stage. Mykola Lysenko’s conscious use of character symbols in the music demonstrates the final quintet, which presents “flickering” of the chords of the same name, soft scribbling, a combination of a singing ensemble of human characters and two crickets. Thus, the symbolist movements that were characteristic of European art of the 1880’s –1910’s did not go beyond Mykola Lysenko’s works. First of all, they touched upon his operatic work, in particular – “Taras Bulba” and “Nocturne”. The most revealing symbolic manifestations are the musical and expressive means of the composer – rhythmic models, declining sound intonations, quartile moves of harmonic comparisons and more. They and the composer’s stylistic formation attribute his belonging to a particular artistic direction (in this case – to Symbolism). Mykola Lysenko was the first to use symbols-signs that mark the calls to fight against enslavement, faithfulness and devotion to his people, the Orthodox faith. That is why the operas “Taras Bulba” and “Nocturne” always surprise not only Ukrainians but also other European peoples with their stylistic capacity and organic style.