"Giustino" by A. Vivaldi in the Context of Didactic Pro-Church Instructions of Baroque Opera

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to understand the idea and plot sense of the "Giustino" opera by A. Vivaldi in the context of its essential typological identification as an ecclesiastical and didactic composition aimed to encourage the audience's perception of respect and admiration for the Christian virtues endowed with the leading characters of the work. The methodological basis of the study is the intonation approach of the B. Asafyev school in Ukraine, noted in the works of D. Androsova, O. Kozarenko, T. Levytska, O. Markova, O. Roshchenko, A. Sokolova, V. Shulhina and other leading scientists of schools I. Liashenka and I. Kotliarevskyi as those who initiated the musical and cultural profile of art and cultural studies. The following methods of cultural analysis of a musical artifact are distinguished: biographical-descriptive in the variant of intellectual-biographical, hermeneutic, interdisciplinary, musical-semiotic. The scientific novelty of the work is manifested in the following. For the first time in Ukrainian culture and art history, the author raises the aspect of classifying this opera by A. Vivaldi as ecclesiastical and didactic, which means that artistic features represent a significant but not decisive component of expression. For the first time in Ukraine, a cultural approach to an opera composed outside the conditions of artistic integrity of presentation is highlighted. Conclusions. The "Giustino" opera by A. Vivaldi is composed for carnival events and covers more than 4 hours of performance, that is, it goes beyond the time limits of artistic theatrical acts, fundamentally approaching mysterious events. The plot, borrowed from historical ideas about Byzantium, is filled with events that declare the unity of powerful people and the heroic actions of neophytes, whom Giustino appears in the pursuit of honour, loyalty and sincere admiration for love. The very placement in the centre of the plot of the story of the rise to higher power – the co-ruler of the emperor – the provincial Giustino through the feat and honour and help of the Most High constitutes an exemplary path for the youth. It was in the 1720s, when youth activism unfolded (personified by F. Voltaire’s radicalism in the revision of national shrines and beliefs), clearly restrained by the church principles of the conditions of the Venetian aristocratic republic.