Genre of the choral acapella psalm in the creativity of Hanna Havrylets

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Educational and Scientific Institute of Arts of Vasyl Stefanyk

Tetiana Maskovych, Candidate of Art History, Associate Professor

Khrystyna Kazymyriv, Candidate of Art History, Associate Professor

Abstract

The article characterizes and focuses on the uniqueness of acapella psalm genre in the creative works of contemporary composer Hanna Havrylets, who synthesizes the subtleties of traditions of liturgical singing genres with the techniques of modern poetics of choral art in a special way. The predominance of the Word in the music, and even more an opportunity to fill it with a sacred meaning, embodying the outlines of the latest undertones, transfers the images onto the plane of high art. The spiritual and sacred origin is for her deeply natural, indivisible and mentally inherited in her sense of past, present and future. Her works are full of unique national symbols, which determines the trespassing of semantics of the established genres beyond the traditional models of paraliturgical and ecclesiastical sphere by interpreting different genre concepts, where not only melodic linearity is the foundation of musical material, but also the nature of texture and acoustic space. Within the framework of genre modelling, on the basis of ancient traditions, as well as the examples of interpretation of psalm singing principle, the peculiarities of their compositional author's construction were formed. The original choral works of spiritual orientation, presented in the works of Hanna Havrylets, are an organic part of Ukrainian liturgical creativity, wonderful samples of national historical-cultural tradition, which flourished out and became practically the main factor of modern composers ' entry into the latest artistic process. The outlines of canonical forms and texts in the composer's works fascinates with special mysticism and prayerfulness, where certain inner concentration and confession are prevailing, which becomes the main feature of her compositional style as of today. Exactly in this way the sacred choral music of H. Havrylets, being so unique, flows into the general modern tendencies of today's compositional creativity.

Key words: psalms, sacred music, Hanna Havrylets, archetype.

Анотація

Оригінальні хорові твори духовного спрямування, представлені в доробку Ганни Гаврилець, є органічною часткою української богослужбової творчості, чудові зразки національної історико-культурно традиції, котра розквітла, ставши чи не основним чинником входження сучасних композиторів у новітній мистецький процес. Окреслення канонічних форм та текстів у творчості композиторки зачаровує особливою містичністю та молитовністю, де панує певна внутрішня зосередженість та сповідальність, котра стає основною рисою її композиторського стилю сьогодення. І саме в такий спосіб духовна хорова музика Г Гаврилець своєю самобутністю вливається в загальні тенденції композиторської творчості сьогодення.

Ключові слова: псалми, духовна музика, Ганна Гаврилець, архетип.

Introduction

Formulation of the problem. When studying the works of Ukrainian composers exclusively in line with the music trends of the twentieth century and the recent period, it is possible to distinguish two distinct tendencies: one of them creates renewal of church art traditions, the other - the dominance of expressive concert direction. The novelty of the proposed study is the analysis of author's style of the contemporary composer H. Havrylets in her works of spiritual orientation, namely in the genre of acapella choral psalm.

Research analysis. In Ukrainian music, spiritual and sacred themes have been out of date and “out of fashion” for a long time. Only from the beginning of the 90s, the rapid active interest of national composers has risen in this subject. Some features, outlining the scope of problems and style of the composer can be found in the works of I. Kokhanyk, O. Korchova, G. Lunina; T Sukhomlinova, N. Kostiuk, L. Kyianovska, Yu. Puchko, M. Severinova, O. Bench-Shokalo, O. Berkiy, G. Stepanchenko were thoroughly studying the defining constants of the composer's worldview. In addition, in line with the theory of musical text, as well as its semantics, the works of M. Aranovskyi and V. Zaderatskyi proved to be extremely important. The word interrelation (canonical sources and musical creativity) are covered in the works of O. Syroyid, Kokhanyk, S. Lebedeva in a very accessible and meaningful form.

The purpose of the study is highlighting the genre of choral acapella psalm in the works of Hanna Havrylets. Analyzing the author's stylistic interpretation and identifying form-creating and stylistic mechanisms of sacred factors action in the composer's creativity.

Presentation of the main material

«The peculiarity of modern composers' sacred music is combining the national church traditions with the inlination to European integration. The appeal the Christian foundation of the European cultural continuum confirms the Christianity topicality in Ukraine in its multi-confessional dimension. The combination of the musical language of church genres of the Middle Ages with the innovative compositional techniques (serial technique, aleatoric music, sonorism, extended tonal sphere, polyphonic- imitation technique, poly-stylistic techniques, symphonization of choral texture) are the means of renewing of sacred music, today's blossoming of which is the indicator of longevity of the national church cultural tradition» (Afonina, 2012: 217-218).

In liturgical practice, psalms are used along with the traditions of church reading, but only some texts are acceptable for singing in certain singing genres (for example - antiphons of the Liturgy). Most of them are used as separate verses in microcyclical sequences: the poly-balm of the Matins (hymns from the psalms - № 135 - “Confess to the Lord” and № 134- “Praise the Name of the Lord”) or in the form of chants to prokimny, stykhyr etc.

As N. Lozovska notes, the transformation of style in the genre of psalm is linked with the important stylistic shifts from the expressed applied use to the plane of secular concert art. In these compositions, the problem of interaction of factors of “canon and style” is intensified, as well as “choir singing and concert singing”, and the decision is only possible if stylistically we can define a place for each modern psalm work. Given the significant stylistic changes in the psalm genre that have occurred in the genre history in the twentieth century, we suggest giving a psalm the following definition: psalm is a genre of Biblical sacred poetry, which is historically and musically differently interpreted (Lozovska, 1997: 115).

As a genre of modern composer's creativity, a psalm appears in the context of genre innovations, based on the aesthetics of canonical church art and stylistically-clearly involved in the concert branch of sacred musical art. The prerequisites for this were formed in composer's creativity of the nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth century, in line with both maintaining the traditions of church singing and quite active experimenting with them. At this time, only the ones, canonically defined for church singing, were subject to musical interpretation; the factor of possibility of using in church services played a restraining role. Instead, in the art of the late twentieth - early twentieth century, the absence of such regulations ensured a wide space for psalm crystallization of primarily as a non-liturgical genre, dependent on the canon much less than on the individual comprehension of sacred semantics of the Old Testament texts.

Chamber music, spiritual saturation and simplicity, intimacy and emotional restraint... This is how we can describe the genre of choral acapella psalm by contemporary composer Hanna Havrylets. “A prayer - a conversation with God - is a completely personal process, not allowing any elements of game or falsehood. In addition, in this genre it is very easy to cross the line between high tone and cheap exaltation <...> A prayer must contain humility, tolerance, despite the fact that we all suffer from a lack of such qualities» (Lunina, 2015: 137-138).

Original psalms in the creative works of Hanna Havrylets are independent works, written in 2000 to participate in contest “Spiritual Psalms of the Third Millennium” as a part of choral festival “Golden- Domed Kyiv-2001”. These are different and united by a single motif of the psalm at the same time - “Blessed is he who cares for the poor” (Psalm 41) for the female choir, “To Thee I raise my soul, oh Lord” (Psalm 25) for the male choir and “My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Psalm 21) for the mixed choir; later on this “family” was joined by another (last) written opus, (although chronologically distanced off from the previous ones, and is a kind of result of sacred content, thematic «reprise» of recumbence motives - “Only in God the peace of my soul” (Psalm 61) for the mixed choir (2004). Listening to all these psalms performed by professional choirs from Ukraine and abroad, you involuntarily feel unsurpassed lyricism and sincerity, truthfulness and secrecy, which suggest bright signs of the national singing prayer tradition if combined with psychologically-subtle mood detailing.

The composer did not accidentally choose the choir members, where she had the opportunity to experiment with the variability of timbre palettes and “increasing” their density in musical fabrics. Also, the author does not repeat the thematic certainty: there is a smooth transition from “blessed”/“recumbent” to tragically repentant. No wonder that Hanna Havrylets singles out one, two or three verses from many verses of each psalm - it is done for maximum concentration of the author's idea (as a rule, the beginning of theses). As for the verbal basis of the psalm, it is the initial single verse for the female choir (“Blessed is he who cares for the poor, the Lord will save him in the day of trouble!”); for male choir (partly three lines - the first, second and fourth) - “To Thee I offer, oh Lord, my soul. / My God, I trust in You ... / Let me know Your ways, oh Lord, guide me on Your paths...”). And in the psalms for mixed choir the composer uses as many as two verses: choral art havrylets mysticism liturgical

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (1^st line)

“My God, I cry during the day, but You do not reply, I call at night, I have no peace!” (2^nd line)

and

“My soul is resting only in God, my salvation only from Him”

(1^st line)

“Only He is my stronghold and my Savior, my Protector,

I won't change my mind any ever” (2^nd line).

The peculiarities of Hanna Havrylets' composition of psalms are conditioned by general tendencies, which were formed within the framework of genre modeling on the basis of ancient traditions and samples of interpretation of psalm-singing principles in the creativity of prominent composers of the past. Striving for the fullest possible embodiment of the main idea of each psalm and pursuing the goal of preserving and detailed transmitting the richness of emotional experience of prayer's condition, the composer individualizes the composition and achieves the exceptional unity of stylistic solution in each case.

The psalm “Blessed is he who cares for the poor” is a large-scale composition of 79 takts. The correlation between the components of poetic basis and musical text is diverse: the verbal line grows into a musical phrase or sentence, and its individual components sometimes serve as an independent motive (for example, in “he who cares” in the eighth takt), till the extent of which the submotives sometimes grow (word “who” in the soprano part). The musical fabric of the work shows a perfect mastery of subvocal chants possibilities. The development of three- chord motifs in the first part of psalm occurs rather gradually, firstly on the basis of variational renewal, secondly - a fairly free variety of melodic contours in a clearly tape unfolding of separate voices and textured layers. The undertones of reflections, largely due to the diversity of tonal palette, are enriched in the sequences of 13^th--14^th takts. This trend continues for a short time in the next “phase” of musical image development: the musical fabric “takes over” the fluidity of linear melody by extending to the entire textured plane (18-21 takts). The final three-takt of the first part returns the original textural model, based on a kind of modification of the echo principle, creates the impression of fading and ful peacefulness in the assertion of the main psalm idea.

The “germination” of themes of the second part gives the composition the features of a complex three- part variation-variant form on the basis of modified strophicity. At the same time, activity is manifested hereby. The contrast enhancing between the parts is enhanced by speeding up the tempo (Piumosso) and changing the rhythmic pattern. The main material is developed by the same principle of free variantness; the similarity also affiliates the parts in the preparation and implementation of the climax and subsequent stabilization ofthe musical flow by the texture rarefaction principle in the downward pitch direction. The final part of the psalm clearly shows the signs of synthetic reprise, but the tone of emotional expression ofthe truth “The Lord will save him!” reaches the maximum peak and lasts until the work end.

The same stylistic principles are followed in the psalm for the male choir “To Thee, oh Lord, I raise my soul” (Ps. 25: 1, 2, 4). His opening unison phrase, pertaining to the basso part, contains tetrad intonations and formula of step-by-step chanting within the mediant. Such intonational contour reveals a combination of emotional impulse, which embodies the semantics of words “I raise” and humble self-absorption, thus creating the basis of imagemood colors of the work. Here the concentration of some types of church singing is clearly revealed: the responsive chant of the leading voice is picked up by the choir singers, and later - all the people, present in the church. The second musical stanza, based on the same text, develops intonation-texture models of the first, but the revival of tempo (Conmoto) and appearance of chromatisms with “oscillations” of major-minor chords clearly indicate the expression “individualization” under the conditions of strict chorality; while in the plane of emotional color - even a certain restlessness or instability of the state of mind. But in the next, middle part of the psalm, this “shakiness” is overcome: the text “My God, I trust in You” becomes the basis for creating a long zone of stabilization of emotional feelings, where, however, there arise no less different undertones by enriching syllabic singing by neumatic one and usage of undertone elements.

The variant unfolding of themes in the first part takes place in the third part of the psalm. Such dynamic repriseness has far rapider opening of melodic “impulses”, undertone complication of both tenor and basso planes. Finally, the appearance of rhythmically enlarged version of chant in the opening phrase (“To Thee, my Lord, I raise my soul!”), creates an ecstatic culmination by a clearly imitative increase of texture with simultaneous strengthening of the dynamic scale - as affirmation of the triumph of unshakable faith.

A psalm for mixed choir “My Lord, why have You forsaken me?” (Ps. 22: 2, 3) is marked by a special undertone of lyrical expression. Sincere prayerfulness, defined as the main emotional content of the work in the author's original remark (Molto religioso), is manifested in deep sorrow and even repentance, perhaps even in the desire to comprehend such demonstration of God's Will through personal suffering. Its initial presentation in the soprano part against the background of the organ point in tenors and restrained laconic “support” of altos, gives the impression of special tender fragility, as if the composer seeks to recreate almost illusory hope, the last hope for God's mercy. Here the melody, opened in a significant (octave) range, is characterized by extreme cantility. The national features are not limited to this layer: “The composer's interpretation of tragic semantics of the poetic basis points to the national sources - penitential poems and psalms. The nature of the expression appeals, again, to the embodiment of this semantics by modern choral means, or more precisely, to the modern choral context” (Kostyuk, 2004: 82-93).

The limits of the expression also strengthen the ties with this layer of Ukrainian folk religious songs in the absence of wide licks within a phrase and changeability of tonal colors. The last period of the part is almost identical to the second one, it stabilizes the emotional-mood flow and creates a textural dynamic frame in a number of variations of the first part.

The central part of the work brings a significant intonation-texture and dynamic contrast by rapid impulses of elastic-dynamic appeals, which embody the emotional meaning of sacred appeal “My Lord, I cry during the day and call at night”. The sudden change in the model of rhythmic pattern, based on small ones, plays a significant role herein. These means reflect the emotional destabilization of the suffering soul best of all - “I have no peace”. And like an echo, like sadness, already hidden in the heart (decresc. for three takts), the following phrase is sounding with the leading melodic part of alto, “chorus” of tenors and basso. After this episode, the general pause with the fermata seems to restore the feeling of inner silence and simultaneously creates the colors for a shortened dynamic reprise of the psalm.

Conclusions

The integrity of stylistic principles in the elaboration of the sacred content of psalms, including the characteristic features of form-creating and dramaturgy, gives the grounds for distinguishing this genre layer from among other works on canonical themes. All of them have an active support for national traditions - genre and choral ones (variety of types of polyphony). Moderately using the elements of concert style, the composer seems to test its potential to implement a more powerful large-scale concept.

The psalms by Hanna Havrylets synthesize the traditional features of liturgical singing genres with the techniques of modern poetics of choral art. Their semantics effectively embodies not only the prayer's prevailing conditions, but also acquires new distinctive undertones that bring the imagery of the works closer to the plane of high sacred art. The semantics uniqueness is very often caused by involvement of the elements of the European stylistic system of the Baroque layer into church chants, in particular - certain rhetorical figures. Thus, the composer implements one of the basic principles of European culture of that time: “Baroque is all what is called with this non-understandable word, it is perhaps nothing more than the state of the finished word of traditional culture - collecting it in its entirety, collecting and universalizing at the tensest historical moment” (Severinova, 2000: 384). The Baroque poetics, adapted by the master in the space of modern art, is manifested in the effective mechanism of dialogic functioning of different language systems by giving a sense of rhetorical figures to semantically significant elements of musical text, bringing musical symbols into the field of individual verbal expressions and words. The link with the traditions of Baroque and classical church music strengthens the repetition of words and phrases. At the same time, the poetic text performs not only meaningful and senseforming function, but it also provides a variety of opportunities for the embodiment of its semantics by means of musical language, the elements of which, by analogy with rhetorical figures, are somewhat sacralized and acquire form-creating meaning. On the other hand, even when the genre is defined as a “psalm”, the properties of these works (in particular, balancing of musical language and expression means on the verge of concertness, the expressiveness of the support, based on the church-singing traditions) indicate their trend to monumentalization of the genre.

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