"New System of Sound Organisation" and Chamber-Ensemble Work (with the Participation of the Cello) of Mykola Roslavets

Abstract

The purpose is to reveal the specifics of the implementation of the system of ‘new organisation of music’ (synthetic chord) in chamber and ensemble works with the participation of the cello by M. Roslavets and its influence on the formation of instrumental relationships in the ensemble. Methodology. To solve this goal, biographical, historical and cultural methods and the method of music-theoretical analysis were used. Comparative and hermeneutic methods were used to characterise the figurative and semantic load of M. Roslavets’ music. The use of historical and comparative, systemic, axiological research methods made it possible to determine the role of works with the participation of the cello in the artist’s chamber and ensemble heritage. Scientific novelty. The specifics of the introduction of the ‘new system of sound organization’ (synthetic chord) in chamber and ensemble works with the participation of the cello of M. Roslavets and its influence on the formation of instrumental relationships in the ensemble, which was not the subject of a separate work in Ukrainian musicology, are revealed. Conclusions. It has been established that the synthetachord technique was created by M. Roslavets in parallel and independently of the serial dodecaphony of A. Schoenberg. Such synchronisation of searches indicates certain pattern of the historical process both in the exhaustion of the possibilities of the tonal system and in attempts to create alternative pitch systems at the beginning of the 20th century. Chamber and ensemble compositions with the participation of the cello of M. Roslavets from the early 1920s reflect the stylistic and genre transformations of the composer’s individual manner. It is noted that in comparison to the small volume of early pieces or cycles of miniatures, in these years there is a predominance of large forms, instrumental texture and harmony are highlighted, and rhythmic organisation is complicated. This is clearly demonstrated by the music of two cello sonatas (1921, 1922) and ‘Meditations’ for cello and piano (1921), created during the Kharkiv period of the composer’s life. It is noted that in both polyphonic and dodecaphonic techniques, the presentation of all voices is based on their parity, therefore, the functional load of instrumental parts in chamber and ensemble works by M. Roslavets is based on an equal partnership in the ensemble. Due to the extraordinary technical complexity of the works, each of the instrumental parts is equal to a solo, but the composer’s sense of permissible limits in technical experiments testifies to his excellent knowledge of instruments and their expressive capabilities. Despite the fact that the works of M. Roslavets were not known and were not performed until almost the end of the 20th century, the appeal to the mixed harmonic technique, used by the composer primarily in ensemble works with the involving the cello, to some extent served as the basis for the musical concepts of Ukrainian artists in the last third of the century.