Violin miniature in creativity by Liudmila Shukailo: features of the genre interpretation
Authors: Melnyk A.O. 
Published: December 2019

Background. Rapidness of information flows of contemporary life enforces to concentrate a significant amount of information in small formats. This fact meaningfully increases social and practical significance, cultural and aesthetic value of miniature genres, in particularly, in the musical art. The violin miniature is a historically developed, typologically settled genre of professional musical creativity designed to solo music-making in the conditions of chamber or concert performance. Relevance of the genre is also due to its active inclusion in the programs of competitions and festivals. To the violin miniature genre the such outstanding masters of past were addressing as N. Paganini, H. Wieniawski, P. Tchaikovsky, E. Elgar, J. Sibelius, F. Kreisler, as well as the Ukrainian composers – M. Lysenko, V. Kosenko, L. Revutskyi, B. Liatoshynskyi, etc. True renaissance of violin miniature in Ukraine began in the 70’s of the XX century: about 30 miniatures were created by Yu. Ishchenko, I. Karabits, E. Stankovich, O. Kiva, V. Homoliaka, L. Bulhakov, S. Kolobkov and others. At the end of the XX century the Ukrainian artists written about a dozen miniatures and cycles, among the authors &#8210; V. Sylvestrov, M. Skoryk, M. Karminskyi, K. Dominchen, H. Havrylets, O. Krasotov, V. Manyk. The 2000s years for the violin miniature genre became even more productive. Let us note the creative achievements of M. Skoryk, O. Hnatovska, I. Albova and M. Stetsiun. The miniatures by famous Kharkiv composer Liudmila Shukailo, who created a cycle of 10 plays, were an important contribution to the violin repertoire. The objective of the article is to consider the peculiarities of the genre interpretation of violin miniatures in the L. Shukailo’s creativity on the example of her collection «10 pieces for violin and piano». At the present stage the study of the genre of Ukrainian violin miniature is insufficient; in particular, L. Shukaylo’s miniatures were not considered by researchers. The methodological basis of this study is the concept of the genre of miniature by K. Zenkin (1997), E. Nazaikinskyi (2009), N. Ryabukhа (2004), L. Sviridovska (2007), N. Govar (2013), O. Harhai (2013), V. Zaranskyi (2009). The research results. Miniature is a genre that embodies a variety of lyrical emotions and subtle nuances of mental states and also presupposes clearness of a form, laconism and concentration of thought, the elegance of means of artistic expression and the chamber conditions for performance. The latter contribute to the passing of depth of its content and special intimacy of utterance. In the works of L. Shukailo all the characteristics of miniature genre are the means realization the composer’s artistic idea. There are a lot of miniatures for various instruments among her works. This genre attracts the artist with its exceptional feature: it is necessary to outline a specific laconic image without «blurring». Working on the violin miniature, the author seeks to achieve maximum effects by minimal means, taking into account the performing convenience and mobility of the chamber type of music. Creativity by Kharkiv composer Liudmila Shukailo, who for several decades has been working in the Kharkiv Middle Special Music School, attracts the attention of performers and art critics. All the time communicating with children, the composer creates a lot of various pieces for young performers. Thus, the original author’s solution demonstrates in the collection «10 pieces for violin and piano» formed on the principle of «school of playing», that is the increasing of degree of complexity. Most of the pieces have the names corresponding to different style traditions: Baroque (Passacalia), Romanticism (Elegy, Scherzino, Waltz, Intermezzo, Burlesque), some of plays are emphasized separately – «Ballet scene», «Variations» and «Spring duet». It is the contrast of genre attributes that promotes to join diverse miniatures into a cycle. The author traditionally prefers the genre of descriptive (programmed) miniature, because in it, in her opinion, it is easier to specify the content and create the vivid image that is very important for young musicians. The first piece of the collection, “Passacalia”, is stylized in the same named genre (moderate tempo, triple meter, elements of basso ostinato, etc.), however L. Shukailo uses the method of stylization creatively: she interprets this genre in the context of a new round of historical and stylistic development, with the maximum introduction of individual musical thinking. The piece “Ballet scene” marked by bright theatricality. Its waltz theme has a cross-cutting development, creates the illusion of whirling; the accents and underscores of weak shares add to it vividness and capriciousness. The piece “Oh, verbo, verbo” (“Oh, willow, willow”) is the miniature variations on the theme of Ukrainian folk song. The first variation resembles a waltz, the second – the Ukrainian dance “Cossack” with its characteristic rhythm and the third associates with the genre of Toccata due to monotonous rapid movement. The romantic quasi-vocal “Spring duet”, a musical dialogue of violin and piano, requires the ability to «sing» on the instrument, to fill the sound with a beautiful timbre. The next piece, “Allegro”, corresponds to its tempo and characteristic designation. The choice of the tonality of the miniature (“bright” C major), “grateful” for a violinist, adds a festive flavor and reveals the author’s goal: to address the music to beginners, taking into account their perception and performance capabilities. The monotony of the “canter” technical figurations, which is maintained throughout the play, unites “Allegro” with the etude and makes it possible to use it as an etude. Semantics of the next piece, “Elegies” in D minor, fully corresponds to the genre of the sad song. Its lyrical and psychological aura outlines the multifaceted image and its tense development. The contrast to the antecedent sad mood the piece “Scherzino” presents – the miniature with a characteristic for children’s music name. The stroke of staccato, the alternation of ascending and descending melodic movements, unexpected stops create a certain comic effect. Unfolded “Waltz” marked by virtuoso-improvisational character, continues the cycle. Song and recitation “Intermezzo” is characterized by the complication of the figurative and semantic aspects. The miniature has a pronounced lyrical and dramatic orientation. Modern harmonious style is manifested in the extension of tonal-harmonic relations, the introduction of alterated tones, tone oppositions, daring shifts-modulations. The piece is marked by equality of violin and piano parts, which seize the initiative from each other creating the continuity of musical development. The last miniature – “Burlesque”, with Rondo features, performs the final function in the cycle. The piece has virtuosic orientation – fast paced, rapid passages, pizzicato, dynamic contrasts and the solo Cadenza with bright loud double notes. Interpretation of this miniature can be complete only in terms of technical assimilation of all previous material. “Burlesque”, in fact, is a test of skill and can be recommended for performances in open concerts. Conclusions. Violin miniature is a conceptual genre of musical culture, performing self-sufficient artistic function like to other genres and being able to reflect the psychology of an author’s personality. In the Ukrainian composers creativity, the genre of violin miniatures is lifted on great artistic high, as the “10 pieces for violin and piano” by L. Shukailo evidenced, which are characterized by melodicism, clarity and persuasiveness of the creative idea, the logics of the musical language. The composer uses the program descriptiveness, genre stylization and folklore sources expressing in music her own emotions, impressions and feelings. Poetic imagery that fascinates with emotion and extremely romanticized reproduction of reality, as well as interesting findings in the field of form and expressive means give the works of self-containment and artistic value. L. Shukailo’s cycle “10 pieces for violin and piano” can be recommended both, for performing as an indivisible work and for using of the pieces in isolation with a methodical purpose. The cycle is aimed at the formation of not only the technical skills, but also on the possession of the specifics of adequate reproduction of the figurative and semantic content of a musical work. Prospects. The questions of scientific understanding of the individual composer’s style of L. Shukailo require the more detailed musicological analysis. Some of the observations obtained in this article can be applied in the study of a wider range of problems of modern violin art, in particular, the use of the latest composer techniques in the genre of violin miniatures. Further development of the theme will also contribute to the enrichment of the teaching and methodical repertoire in the genre of violin miniature, to identify its new genre varieties and to attract its best samples to the violin performance.