Five preludes of Mykola Roslavets in the reflection of academic and avant-garde trends of his time

Abstract

The article considers a set of problems related to the study of piano art of the early XXth century and, in particular, the piano work of Mykola Roslavets. It provides the characteristic of the main vectors of piano miniature development, its genre and construction diversity. It emphasizes the composers' creative search in the early XXth century, the desire to embody new, not yet tested compositional techniques. The article notes the influence of traditional and avant-garde trends on the compositional style of that time and their synthesis in a single author's style. It describes five preludes for piano by Mykola Roslavets as one of the most significant achievements of the mature period of the artist's work, which fully reveals the key features of the composer's sense and desire for syntheticity and a new, intellectual, system of sound organization. The five preludes are stated to not have an accidental cycle structure reflecting the influence of many styles and compositional techniques, accumulating the achievements of previous musical epochs and sprouts of the latest, quite important musical trends in piano music. The author notes undoubted influence of Mykola Roslavets' work on the further development of musical art, its relevance and modernity. The proposed analysis should contribute to a more complete understanding of the history of piano music of the first third of the XXth century, elucidate the origins of innovative composers, undeservedly overlooked by musicologists, performers and listeners, and replenish the performing repertoire with piano works by Mykola Roslavets.