Concert activity of Sergey Bortekevich in the beginning of the 20th century: historiographical aspect

Abstract

Purpose of the article is to study the concert and performances of the world-famous composer and pianist Sergei Bortkiewicz, as part of the cultural development processes of the first half of the twentieth century. Methodology. Methodological basis of the research is based on the use of the historicism method, as well as structural and descriptive research methods. Appeal to the first is conditioned by the necessity of evaluating a particular segment of the artist's activity and his historical and cultural comprehension. Also, the appeal to the structural method is because the study takes a holistic understanding of the pianistic component of the creative portrait of Sergei Bortkiewicz. Thus, the descriptive method is used by us as an auxiliary method in the analysis of concerts by the composer. The scientific novelty of the study is to study the concert performance of Sergei Bortkiewicz as a pianist. For the first time within the framework of the national and world battles, a wider scholarship was applied to European periodicals of the first half of the twentieth century to study the concert activity of the artist, as well as the place occupied by his creative activity in the European cultural space of that time. Conclusions. The analysis of archival historical materials of the early twentieth century showed that the artist occupied a stable position in the European musical culture of the specified period. Despite the controversial reception of his contemporaries, he continued the concert activity as a propagator of the own works. Considering the above, we assert that the performer's and composer's activities of the artist are inalienable complementary parts of his creative individuality, which makes it impossible to further study the artistic heritage of Sergei Bortkiewicz without taking into account the concert and performance of the artist.