Theoretical conditions for the analysis of the children choir repertoire in its historical retrospective (on the basis of the cantata for children «The Sun Circle» by L. V. Dychko)
Authors: Dobush Yu.V. 
Published: March 2020

Background. The topicality of the article is defined by the intention to consider the cantata for children by L. Dychko «The Sun Circle» as an example of the neoclassical interpretation of the cyclic type genre form, the semantic invariance of which is based composed on the principle of a singing/praising a certain ideal. The pragmatic angle of the problem concerns an adequate reproduction of the composer’s plan presupposing that in addition to the requirements for the technical competence of the performing, a special attention is needed to be deal to understanding of the conception of the work. The performers perception of the idea of L. Dychko’s cantata requires a special analytical technique: in the general history of musical culture, her work demonstrates, apart from the innovative position regarding classical traditions, gravitation to postmodern tendencies of cultural creativity (in particular, the idealization of national cultural traditions). It was precisely postmodernism that raised the question of updating the principles of musicology analysis, taking into account the changes in the musical chronotopos of the end of the millennium. It made impossible the appeal to certain norms or rules crystallized in certain historical-style contexts and generalized by academic theoretical thought. Moreover, the extreme autonomy of the author’s style, gained in the previous century, compel to search for the meaning of the creative idea in the depths of personal experience of an artist, in a personal spiritual achievements. Hence, understanding the theoretical conditions for the analysis of the children choir repertoire resource in its historical context, which is carried out on the material of the cantata for children by L. Dychko “The SunCircle”, makes it necessary to research the structure foundations of this work, built on a unique individual-stylistic principle of embodiment dramaturgical ideas of cyclization, in the spirit of postmodern discourse of culture. Objectives. “The Sun Circle” by L. Dychko is the composition that is authentic in all respects and indicative in view of the post-modernistic character of stylistic processes, hence, that demands the special approach to understanding its semantic structure in view of the post-modernistic model of style creation. The subject of the study is the dramaturgical peculiarities of the cyclic structural type as a special type of compositional idea, which requires its proper hermeneutic reception by performers. That is the awareness of the structural-semantic invariant of the genre form of the work is one of the basic conditions for its adequate reception. Thus, the purpose and objectives of the study, on the one hand, is an analytical excursion to the problem of the method of interpretation of cyclic structures in general and clarifying the semantic specificity of the cantata genre in particular, which involves consideration of the peculiarities the existence of cyclic type compositional forms in vocal genres; on the other, the investigation of conceptual “carcass” of L. Dychko’s cantata “The Sun Circle” at the level of general dramatic perspective of the compositional plan of the cycle and the figurative and semantic logic of the distribution of dramatic functions between its parts. Methods. The choice of research methods, namely, analytical (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, systematization, classification and generalization), comparative, systemic, phenomenological, functional, has been realized in view of the holistic approach, in spirit of the world trends. In this regard, the interpretive potential of the concepts “intonational model” and the modus nature of musical themes in the context of thinking by sound images appear methodologically appropriate: the both purposefully focus attention of the recipient on the sound «body» and the intonational «soul» of the musical matter in the integrity of the creative idea of the work, and also is didactically productive in terms of comprehension of the architectonics of the world of music as a world of musical ideas. The results, conclusions and prospects of the study. In the context of the typology of dramaturgical constructions of cyclic compositional forms, in the L. Dychko’s cantata “The Sun Circle”, we encounter a rather ambiguous situation: in the semantic field of the cantata there is no place for a “drama problem” with conflicting confrontations (as, for example, in L. Dychko’s cantata “Red viburnum”). The plot principle of cyclization (the linear-developing logic of the correlation of concept segments) also does not work, since the change of the seasons, as well as a passing of existence itself, are constant a priori – regardless of the experience a person – and this knowledge is transmitted as the experience of generations (for example, the archetypal meaning of the rite).“The Sun Circle” declares the axiological (value) verified dimension of the realities of life, for which nobody “no fought”, but they is given for granted. The dramatic method of cyclization in the L. Dychko’s cantata “The Sun Circle” appeals to the myth-poetic sources, within the frames of neoclassical tendencies, according to the mythology of the calendar ritual cycle with its logic of a circle. It follows herefrom the both, the self-sufficiency of the concept segments (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), and the merger of the latter in the entire: they consistently impersonate (according to the macro- and micro-plan) traditional ideas about the passing of the natural processes of being and their worldview sense. Significant factors in the cantata’s semantic identity are the synthesis of the Word and the Music – a musical and poetic unity, where the conceptual and semantic content of the Word itself is enhanced by musical expression, as well as the individual-style qualities of L. Dychko’s artistic thinking – by her mastery of visualization of natural phenomena, a high degree of timbre-intonational individualization of musical themes, in which the images of the poetic text are clearly recognized. The cantata is most generously decorated with metaphors, allegories and all kinds of associative artistic techniques. Moreover, it is they who create the semantic field of meaning integration necessary for the cantata’s genre form – an ordered by tradition understanding of the tide of existential life forms in their inextricable aggregate. Therefore, in the performing aspect, it is necessary to realize that the figuratively bright cantata by L. Dychko “Sun Circle” is based on folklore symbolism and folk poetical ideas about the Universe, a concept that has induced a specific mythological dramatic type of cyclization with its pantheistic origin – according to the natural principle of the circle (the mythologema “God – Sun”). It is that, which provides a clear semantic load of a cyclic form and dramatic modeling of concept segments at the macro- and micro-plan levels: the macro-plan reflects the march of the seasons, and the micro-plan specifies the content of human life and nature’s pictures in a certain time of the year (such a structure is similar to the structure, for example, of a scientific text – by sections and subsections). Thus, the issue of cyclization, cycle building, how it arises in the analysis of the cantata for children by L. Dychko “The Sun Circle”, opens up one of the prospects for the development of the theory of the genre.