Genre and stylistic complex of “Three Pieces in C Major” for piano by M. Karminskyi: compositional and performing aspects
Authors: Bilokur Svitlana 
Published: January 2021

Background. In modern musicology, the issues of composer creativity for children are far from enough covered. This applies to both Ukrainian and foreign musicological literature. Aesthetic issues prevail in studies of children’s piano music, while the issues of composer and performing techniques related to the interpretation of such works become the object of study only occasionally. Still there aren’t special works devoted to piano music for children of Kharkiv authors, and information about this music is dispersed in publications of review or monographic plan, for example, such as the brochure by K. Heivandova (1981) about M. Karminskyi. This article proposes the consideration of the cycle (triptych) of children’s piano miniatures by Mark Karminskyi as a representative of the Kharkiv school from the point of view of the unity of composer and performing aspects and the specifics of their connection. The purpose of the article is to identify the features of embodiment the genre of children’s piano miniature in M. Karminskyi’s composer interpretation using the example of “Three Pieces in C Major”. The main objective of the study is to consider the genre stylistics of the pieces, reflected through the means of thematism, texture and harmony. In a methodological aspect, the article contains elements of a new scientific approach to the study of texture-harmonic complex as the main indicator of the style of children’s piano music, including in the aforementioned work of M. Karminskyi. From a practical point of view, the study can be of help to performers who turn both to the triptych of M. Karminskyi and to other works in the genre of children’s piano miniatures. The results of the study. Piano miniatures, including children’s ones, obey the laws of poetics of this genre, in which, according to E. Nazaikinskyi (2003), the principle of reflection of “big in small” is the main one. Among the other features of this genre, as the main one, we single out the desire of miniatures to unite into groups, cycles of a special kind in which the principle of “identity of the modus and the genre” operates (E. Nazaikinskyi, 2003, p. 372). This means the music pieces of same type follow each other without highlighting any special functions in the form-making. In children’s piano miniatures, such a grouping is normative. However, they also have their own specifics: the contrast, based on which any musical cycle is built, should be combined with the same type of pieces by genre signs and the presence of certain connecting moments, except for a common genre name. For example, the designation “Pieces” typical for cycles of children’s miniatures may have program subheadings aimed at deciphering the emotional and figurative content, which is especially important for children’s perception. In the cycle “Three Pieces in C Major” by M. Karminsky, almost all typical signs of children’s piano miniatures are presented. As a master, in whose work the theme of childhood and youth was one of the leading ones, M. Karminskyi worked intensively in the genres corresponding to her. These were songs and song collections, as well as three children’s piano cycles – the programmatic “Children’s Album”, “Three Pieces in C Major” (discussed here), as well as the cycle “27 plays in a triple meter”. In constructing a cycle of three plays, united by the key in C Major, the figurative and emotional content of each of the numbers is the main thing for the composer. The pieces have programmatic names: No. 1 – “Carelessness”; No. 2 – “Playfulness”; No. 3 –“Fervor”. These names actually correspond to the three main modes-states that are characteristic of the children’s psyche and behavioral reactions. Their reflection in the thematic complex, texture and form of each of the plays puts before the composer the task of harmonizing imagery with the writing technique. It seems that the method of realizing this task for M. Karminskyi is, first of all, the texture in its close connection with harmony – “texture-harmonic complex” (G. Ignatchenko, 1984). The textural-harmonic formulas used by the composer in each of the triptych’s numbers reflect not only their emotional and figurative content, but also belong to various “stylistic inclinations” (according to E. Nazaikinsky, 2003) that are accessible to children’s perception. First, this refers to the unifying moment – the key of C Major, which is presented differently in each of the plays, and these differences are directed towards complication. The same can be said about the texture, as well as the form of the parts of the triptych. With the external similarity and even the same type of compositional solutions (the basis of all the plays is a three-part model of the ABA type, but with different intonation content), individual numbers, as well as sections within them, differ in the features of textured techniques. This is connected, not least, with didactic tasks set by the author that gradually becoming more complicated. The composer sequentially acquaints young pianists with the features of the piano texture, using and combining elements of traditional homophony, various types of sub-voice polyphonic writing, contrasting and imitation polyphonic combinations. Such, at first glance, the “kaleidoscope” texture is ordered, however, by the criterion of ease of performing, which the author takes care of, even taking into account the peculiarities of children’s stretching of fingers in verticals: intervals and chords. Conclusions. The analysis of the plays of the cycle presented in the article proves that it is an original work intended, on the one hand, for performance by young pianists; on the other hand, M. Karminskyi’s triptych reflects the general tendencies of “adult” pianism in the genre of piano miniatures and the cycle of miniatures. According to the style of “Three Pieces in C Major”, they belong to the neoclassical trend, as evidenced by a complex of expressive means: tonality, harmony, texture, and performing attributes – dynamics, articulation, agogics. M. Karminskyi interprets C Major as the “starting point” of various modal and tonal transformations, from the major-minor variable modus in the first play to showing the twelve-tones version of this tonality in the finale piece. There is a similar tendency in the field of texture in the cycle: from stylization of “minuet” homophony in the first piece to polyphony on the constant bass in the second and “stratum” polyphonicity in the finale. The composer acquaints young musicians with the texture and harmony means of piano music from different eras, which makes this cycle a peculiar short textbook of pianistic formulas in their artisticfigurative embodiment. Prospects for further research on this topic lie in the coverage of a largerscale material relating to children’s piano music, not only M. Karminskyi, but also other composers of the Kharkiv school. We can also add the performing aspect: after all, children’s piano music is always updated in interpretations, often with an eye to a concrete performer or performers.