«24 Children's Pieces for Piano» by Viktor Kosenko in the European Music History for Children
Authors: Shamayeva Kira 
Published: November 2023

Relevance of research. The long-awaited comprehensive study of the work of the classic of Ukrainian music V. S. Kosenko led to the appeal to "24 children's pieces for the piano" not only as (with the approach still widespread in musicology) to the object of children's, purely oriented on didactic-methodical tasks of musical literature, but as a deeply meaningful work of art. A scientific novelty is the use of comparative intonation analysis of Kosenko's and Chopin's music. The goal is to introduce the piece to the broadest context of European piano music. The research methodology is also based on the application of historical and comparative methods, source analysis, elements of complex musicological analysis, etc.

The history of how musical literature FOR children of didactic purpose was replenished with the characteristics of musical literature ABOUT children was considered. The library created by I. S. Bach (small preludes, two- and three-part inventions, "Little Books") and sheet music compiled by L. Mozart to teach children (the first stage of their own) profession, were enriched with music about life situations, dreams, and feelings of children of the times of R. Schumann ("Album for Youth") and P. Tchaikovsky ("Children's Album").

"24 children's pieces for the piano" by V. Kosenko are written for children and about children of a new, modern author's era. The work is dedicated to "young pianists of our flourishing socialist Motherland." The heroes of the plays, like children of all times, have children's fun, toys, fantasies, fairy tales, lullabies in the family circle, and also life in a large team, hiking with pioneer songs, playing their contemporary heroes. Therefore, the dances "Waltz", "Mazurka", "Polka", "Ballet scene" are perceived as imported from another life -small in size, melodious, elegant, elegiac-dreamy pieces, moreover, they are all written in minor keys - dances that did not exist in the everyday life of that era. This music is a memory of one's own childhood, of the lost past.

Conclusions. The main innovation that distinguishes the work from previous children's literature is the use of 24 tonalities laid out in parallel major and minor on the circle of fifths. The cycle "24 Preludes" by F. Chopin, the favorite composer, the companion of Viktor Kosenko's entire musical life, was written according to the same principle. The comparative analysis of monotone pieces (№№ 4, 6, 8, 11, 15, 19, 20, 22) of the two composers, making impossible the opinion about the external similarity and randomness of the organization of the musical material, proved the depth of the Ukrainian artist's understanding of the "creative spirit" of the Polish genius.

Kosenko's appeal to Chopin's music is multifaceted. Often this is the appearance in children's plays of Chopin's intonation — the shortest melodic turn or expressive interval that carries the emotional idea of the work and performs this function in Kosenko's plays. Viktor Kosenko re-intonates, transposes, rhythmically changes the intonations of Preludes. They become elements of polyphony, enrich the harmony, the organization of phrases appears to be similar in the works, the metrorhythm, saturation of the texture is the same.