Concert performance of Mykola Fomenko’s works and their scientific publicistic evaluation (to the 130th anniversary of the composer’s birthday)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31318/2786-8877.8.2025.355513Keywords:
composer Mykola Fomenko, concert performance, sound recordings, scientific and journalistic evaluationAbstract
The relevance of the study is due to the attention paid to the creative life of the Ukrainian composer Mykola Fomenko (1894–1961) during his second emigration period in the USA.
Main objective of the study and its scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive coverage of the concert performance of Mykola Fomenko’s works and their scientific and journalistic evaluation.
Methodology. The following research methods were used in the article: historical-chronological method — to consider the issues of the life and work of composer M. Fomenko, covering the time period of the second half of the 20th century and the spatial dimension (Ukraine, diaspora in the world); axiological — to determine the value of the creative achievements of Ukrainian composers, poets and performers; culturological — to present the contribution of figures of musical culture to the Ukrainian treasury.
Results / findings and conclusions. The concert performance of M. Fomenko’s works and their scientific and journalistic evaluation are highlighted. For this purpose, the musicological and journalistic literature of authors from Ukraine (G. Karas, G. Prykhodko, M. Chornobai) and the diaspora (V. Vytvytskyi, P. Volyniak, D. Gordynska-Karanovych, L. Zhuk, P. Matsenko, G. Lagodynska-Zaleska, V. Revutskyi, R. Savytskyi. A. Rudnytskyi) was analyzed, which provides a general description of the composer’s work and the performance features of a particular work. It is proven that M. Fomenko’s compositional heritage was relevant in the second half of the 20th century and was performed by famous performers and groups of the Ukrainian diaspora in the USA, Canada, and Austria. It has been established that the composer’s works were in the repertoire of diaspora singers Yosyp Goshulyak, Ivan Zadorozhnyi, Lubomyr Matsyuk, Mykhailo Minskyi, Izabela OrlovskaFomenko, Lev Reynarovych, Eva Stolyarchuk-Bims, pianists Oksana Bryzhun-Sokolyk, Daria Gordynska-Karanowych, Lyuba Zhuk, Vadym Kipa, Roman Savytsky, violinists Volodymyr Tsisyk, Oksana Simowych, cellist Khrystia Kolessa, T. Shevchenko Bandurist Chapel from Detroit, choir of St. Barbara’s Church in Vienna under the direction of A. Hnatyshyn, Detroit Ukrainian Millennium Choir, Warren Symphony Orchestra. Recordings of individual works by the composer have been discovered. It has been proven that M. Fomenko’s piano collection “My Rainbow” is used in the modern pedagogical process in Ukraine. The article is dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The prospects for further scientific research on the topic of the article lie in the musicological understanding of the problems of performing M. Fomenko’s works, their actualization in concert performance and the pedagogical process.
References
Vytvytskyi, V. (1974) Mykola Fomenko pro sebe [Mykola Fomenko about himself. In: Novi dni. No. 299, Dezember, pp. 17 [in Ukrainian].
Volyniak, P. (1959) Shche odne muzychne sviato v Toronti [Another music festival in Toronto]. In: Novi dni [New Days]. No. 113, pp. 30–32 [in Ukrainian].
Hordynska-Karanovych, D. (1955) Mykola Fomenko, kompozytor [Mykola Fomenko, composer]. In: Novi dni [New Days]. February, pp. 25 [in Ukrainian].
Zhuk, L. S. Piano Works by Composers of Ukrainian Origin in Canada and the USA: PhD dissertation in Musicology / Ukrainian Free University. Munich, 2007.
Karas, H. V. (2012) Muzychna kultura ukrainskoi diaspory u svitovomu chasoprostori XX stolittia [Musical culture of the Ukrainian diaspora in the global time-space of the 20th century]: monographie. Ivano-Frankivsk: Tipovit, 1164 pp. [in Ukrainian].
Karas, H. V. (2019) Khudozhnii obraz hetmana Ivana Mazepy kriz pryzmu syntezu mystetstv ukrainskoi diaspory [The artistic image of Hetman Ivan Mazepa through the prism of the synthesis of the arts of the Ukrainian diaspora]. In: Naukovyi visnyk Natsionalnoi muzychnoi akademii Ukrainy imeni P. I. Chaikovskoho [Scientific Herald of Tchaikovsky national music academy of Ukraine]. Issue 125, pp. 77–88 [in Ukrainian].
Lahodynska-Zaleska, H. (1957). Mykola Fomenko [Mykola Fomenko]. In: Ovyd. No. 10 (87), pp. 17–18 [in Ukrainian].
Lysko, Z. (1964) Sviatkuvannia Shevchenkivskoho 150-richchia v Niu Yorku [Celebration of Shevchenko’s 150th birthday in New York]. In: Svoboda, March 28, no. 60, p. 2 [in Ukrainian].
Maksymiuk, S. (2017) Bibliohrafiia ukrainskykh zvukozapysiv 1903–1995 [Bibliography of Ukrainian sound recordings 1903–1995], ed. by Yu. Yasinovskyi. Lviv: Vydavets Taras Tetiuk. 188 pp. [in Ukrainian].
Matsenko, P. (1992). Mykola Fomenko [Mykola Fomenko]. In: Matsenko, P. Muzykoloh, kompozytor i hromadskyi diiach [Mykola Fomenko. Musicologist, composer, and public figure]. Toronto: UNO Kanady, pp. 41–43 [in Ukrainian].
Prykhodko, H. (1993) Poeziia Ivana Bahrianoho v muzytsi kompozytoriv ukrainskoi diaspory [The poetry of Ivan Bagryany in the music of composers of the Ukrainian diaspora]. In: Narodna tvorchist ta etnohrafiia [Folk Art and Ethnography]. No. 4, pp. 85–88 [in Ukrainian].
Revutskyi, V. (1955) Mykola Fomenko (Do 60-richchia z dnia narodzhennia) [Mykola Fomenko (On the 60th Anniversary of His Birth)]. In: Novi dni [New Days], February, pp. 24–25 [in Ukrainian].
Rudnytskyi, A. (1963) Ukrainska muzyka: Istorykokrytychnyi ohliad [Ukrainian music: Historical and critical review]. Miunkhen: Dniprova khvylia. 406 pp. [in Ukrainian].
Savytskyi, R. (1959) Sviatochna akademiia v 250-richchia
smerty Ivana Mazepy v Niu Yorku [Festive Academy on the 250th anniversary of the death of Ivan Mazepa in New York]. In: Svoboda. November 4, no. 213, p. 5 [in Ukrainian].
Zinkevych, O. (ed.). Tysiacholittia Khrystyianstva v Ukraini. Urochystosti 1988 roku [Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine. Celebrations of 1988]. Niu-York: Kraiovyi Komitet Tysiacholittia Khrystyianstva v Ukraini, 1992. 523 pp. [in Ukrainian].
Ukraintsi v Detroiti i v Michigani. Vidznachennia tysiacholittia Khryshchennia Ukrainy [1988]. [Ukrainians in Detroit and Michigan. Celebration of the millennium of the Baptism of Ukraine]. Detroit: Detroitskyi metropolitalnyi komitet Ukrainskoho tysiacholittia. 766 pp. [in Ukrainian].
Fomenko M. (1974) Lyst-avtobiohrafiia [Autobiographical letter]. In: Novi dni [New Days]. No. 299, December, pp. 17–19 [in Ukrainian].
Chornobay, M. (2020) Children’s piano music of ukrainian composers living abroad: preservation of the mental code. In: Európska veda: Vedecký èasopis [. Podhájska. No. 1, pp. 110–116 [In Slovak].
