The poetics of Borys Lyatoshynsky’s solo singing in terms of timbre personification of the singing voice
Authors: Xiong Yahuan 
Published: September 2023

The substantiation of the topic. In performing creativity, there is a wellknown problem of the repertoire selection in terms of correspondence of the type of the singing voice to the author’s idea of a vocal composition. The relevance of the topic of the research of Ukrainian chamber and vocal lyrics for Chinese singers lies in the search for intellectual mechanisms of co-creativity with the European «compositional stock». For the author the «key» to understanding is the concept of a symbol, present in Chinese poetry and the leading one in the musical thinking of B. Lyatoshynsky. The absence of the latest sources on compositional and performance poetics and, in particular, the role of the singing voice, with the presence of the latest musical notes editions (editor I. Savchuk, 2013) stipulates the focus of the researcher’s attention on the figure of the Ukrainian artist as an urgent task of musicology of the 20th century. The purpose of the research is to reveal the role of the timbre personification of the singing voice in the system of compositional poetics of B. Lyatoshynsky’s solo singing. The material of the research: the chosen solo songs by B. Lyatoshynsky for the female voice: to the poetry of Taras Shevchenko («There are brown eyes», 1927), of Ivan Franko «Why don’t you ever laugh?» op. 31), and of Maksym Rylsky («Lullaby» op. 39). Research methods. Among the interpretative approaches to the analysis of vocal compositions there is: the semantic one, which interprets poetic meanings and their musical embodiment in the unity of a symbolic form of thinking; genre-stylistic – determines the specificity of the interpretation of a certain typical model of the genre in the context of the composer’s style; structural-functional – reveals the hierarchical organization of the composition in the unity of theme of the vocal and instrumental parts, poetry and the logic of the composition. Analysis of recent publications on the topic. The subject studies such as the general characteristics of the genre of solo singing in the creative work of B. Lyatoshynsky were revealed (V. Samohvalov, 1974; T. Bulat, 1992; B. Filts, 1915). The role of the founder of the new Ukrainian compositional school is clearly outlined in the works of O. Kozarenko. The dissertations of Wang Xi (Lviv, 2013) and Wang Zuo (Kharkiv, 2015) contain a semiotic analysis of the composer’s solo songs. Interpretology, which is related to the methodology of the analysis of the timbre personification of the singing voice, is presented in the works of L. Shapovalova, Y. Nikolaievska and O. Aleksandrova. The presentation of the main material. The entry of foreign-language singers into the «semantic field» of concert-chamber music (as a rule, of a lyrical direction) revealed the problem of symbolizing the parameters of the musical language, which is aimed at an adequate embodiment of the poetic original source. The timbre potential of the lyrical hero (age, gender, social status, as in general and for the opera character-role) is laid down in the symbolism of the poetic text, but hisher timbre personification in the musical composition, as evidenced by the concert practice of the last half century, can vary. The composer’s intentions always include the choice of timbre (at least the instructions and voice type). However, none of the specialists who studied the problem of music and speech (including on the basis of the theory of the symbol) connected the unfolding of the meaning of the vocal composition as a symbolic form directly with the timbre of the singing voice. Interpretology focuses on the function of the singer through timbre personification to represent the lyrical hero in the integrity of his/her being: in the mirror of the author’s spiritual reflection (on the one hand), and in the conditions of modern communication with the listener (on the other hand). Ukrainian composers, being excellent pianists (M. Lysenko, Y. Stepovy, V. Kosenko, N. Nyzhankivsky, B. Lyatoshynsky) understood well the nature of the vocal language, which must be «decorated» with full-fledged piano thematism (often of a virtuoso nature), which becomes not just an accompaniment for the singer, but also an expressive dramaturgical lever for revealing poetic symbolism in musical and intonation projection. Owing to this, the pretended, at first sight, simplicity of the genre of solo singing is revealed in the multifaceted consonance of vocal-poetic and instrumental sounding. In this process, composers pay great attention to co-creativity with vocalists, and at the first stage of realizing their idea, to choosing a timbre that represents the «portrait» of the lyrical hero. The solo song «There are brown eyes» (a poem by T. Shevchenko) contains all the elements of B. Lyatoshynsky’s style, which will develop and be consolidated as a linguistic and stylistic sign system in subsequent compositions. The image of a woman is illuminated by the love of a man. The contrast is the lyrics of the solo song «Why don’t you ever laugh?» to I. Franko’s poetry – this is an image of love which remains without answer. In the «Lullaby» op. 39 (to the words of M. Rylsky) the spiritually exalted image of the Mother is voiced as a symbol of the national archetype of God’s love. The generalization of the vocal melos in other «female» solo songs by B. Lyatoshynsky to the poetry of I. Franko testified to the presence of a chant-declamation synthesis: on the one hand, movements of thirds, movement plasticity due to gradualness, undulation; on the other – systemic features of recitation (absence of chants, jumps to fourths, fifths, which are perceived as a sign of activity, the tension of an ascending movement followed by a fall). Conclusions. The vocal music of the 20th century is the most sensitive «barometer» of thoughts, moods, psychological aura of society through the prism of author’s creativity (of a poet and a composer) as a spiritual reflection. At the same time, singing timbre is a unique tool for representing poetic symbols and concepts in chamber and vocal music; it does not lend itself to «artistic translation»; it cannot be transposed, like a melody, find analogues, replace. Any such modification with timbre leads to the loss of the «internal form» of the composition as an artistic whole. The timbre of the singer’s voice in the process of interpreting the composition becomes a tool for «portraying» the spiritual essence of music, its symbol. The role of a high-pitched female voice in B. Lyatoshynsky’s solo singing consists in the timbre personification of the heroine: from the gradual «unfolding» of a musical-poetic symbol to its «folding» in an integral portrait (the representation of a lyrical sound image). In other words, the timbre is the «folded symbol» of the lyrical hero, his/her «sound body». If in romances based on poems by Chinese poets, op. 17, it concerned musical sound writing (sound imitation of the sounds of nature, birdsong), then in solo singing to the texts of Ukrainian poets, the national analogue of musical romanticism was reproduced: the theme of tragic love (Margarita from «Faust» by J. V. Goethe). Another example of a spiritually exalted symbol of a woman-Mother («Lullaby»). The singer’s mission is to absorbfigurative and symbolic meanings «into herself» and to represent her «heroine» in intonation and timbre personification. The perspective of further development of the topic. On the basis of a large body of compositions, it is planned to compile a typology of female images in Ukrainian chamber lyrics of the 20th century. The anthology of the genre of solo singing will include compositions by V. Kosenko, B. Lyatoshynsky, P. Haydamaka, Y. Meitus, I. Shamo, A. Kos-Anatolsky, V. Bibik and V. Ptushkin for the female and male voices. Their analysis will reveal the gender component of modern performance, embedded genetically in lyrical vocal compositions.