M. Leontovych’s Creative Heritage in the Context of Ukrainian National Culture

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to systematise and give a comprehensive assessment of M. Leontovych’s creative heritage as an integral component of Ukrainian national musical culture. The research methodology is based on the application of an interdisciplinary approach to the studied issue. The author has used the following methods: comparative, analytical, cultural, source studies, and structural-logical. The scientific novelty consists in an attempt to comprehensively investigate the main parameters and characteristics of the creative heritage of M. Leontovych, an outstanding Ukrainian composer. Our tasks were also to reveal the multifaceted nature of his compositional activity, to analyse the methods of processing folklore works, to determine his contribution to the treasury of Ukrainian musical culture. Conclusions. M. Leontovych’s creative heritage is characterised by individuality, originality, and a high level of compositional skills. The artist entered the history of music as a brilliant creator of choral musical culture. The bases of his heritage are choral miniatures-arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs, which are still unsurpassed and are performed by the best national and diaspora choirs. Based on Ukrainian folk melodies, the composer created original choral compositions and gave them a unique sound. The themes of the composer's choral works are very diverse. These are ceremonial, spiritual, historical, humorous, playful, and everyday songs. The composer fruitfully continued both the centuries-old national choral traditions of brilliant famous and unknown secular and church musicians, as well as the classics of Ukrainian music. M. Leontovych managed to bring the Ukrainian song and choral singing to the world level, the works in his arrangements sound on all continents, demonstrate the beauty and originality of Ukrainian national folk music.
 Key words: choral singing, folk song, spiritual music, Ukrainian musical culture.