МИСТЕЦЬКА ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ МАРІЇ ЛИТВИНЕНКО-ВОЛЬГЕМУТ В КОНТЕКСТІ РОЗВИТКУ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ МУЗИЧНОЇ КУЛЬТУРИ

Abstract

The article reveals the creative image of a singer, a creative representative of Ukrainian musical art, an educator, a theatrical and civic activist, Mariya Lytvynenko-Wohlgemuth, viewed against the background and in the context of the development of Ukrainian musical art.The name of the prominent singer and People’s Artist of Ukraine Mariya Lytvynenko-Wohlgemuth (1892 – 1966), is closely related to an entire era of development of Ukrainian national culture and the rise of Ukrainian national opera art. She commanded a miraculous and powerful lyrical and dramatical soprano voice with a wide range and a superb timbral colouration as well as a perfect intonation, formidable breathing, and was marked by incredible warmth and cordiality in her performance. All of these qualities have allowed her to expand and enrich the opera and concert repertoire in full. Throughout her stage career, she performed over 80 leading parts in Ukrainian, Western European, and Russian operas, created bright and unforgettable images that have become the school of mastery for many generations of Ukrainian performers.She was one of the few opera singers who, until her last days, retained the beauty, the freshness and the charm of her voice, the impeccable intonation and excellent command of sound. All of the above testified to the correct voice placement and voice utilisation throughout the forty years of her creative path.Mariya Lytvynenko-Wohlgemuth dedicated over thirty years of her career to her work as an educator, being employed at the capital’s conservatory. As she was transferring her own experience and her own art concepts to her students, she was every time rethinking her creative path and the principles that had been discovered by her intuitively, and that had been building up into a system of certain methodological rules, wherein they became invested with certain theoretical generalisations.Vocal and performance traditions pertaining to the prominent Ukrainian singer keep living in the creative works of talented maestros of the opera art even today. Her creative heritage will always be an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the future generations.