MAXIM BEREZOVSKY IN THE MUSICAL CULTURE OF THE UKRAINIAN DIASPORA

Abstract

The life and work of the great Ukrainian composer Maxim Berezovsky (1745–1777), which is multifaceted in the musical culture of the Ukrainian diaspora over the last two centuries, remains a little-covered topic, which is the purpose of our article. First of all, this is the performance of his spiritual works by choral groups in all countries of the world. The composer’s works were published by the Scientific and Theological Institute of the UOC in Bound Brook (USA) under the editorship of V. Zavitnevich, as well as by the «Musicus Bortnianskii» institution (Canada) under the arrangement and editing of M. Maksimiv. Leading foreign musicilogists dedicated their publications to M. Berezovsky’s work: F. Steshko (Czechoslovakia), P. Matsenko (Canada), A. Rudnytsky (USA), R. Savitsky-Jr (USA), O. Pytsko (Great Britain). In the German-language monograph by M. Antonowycz (Holland) «Ukrainische geistliche Musik. Ein Beitrag zur Kirchenmusik Osteuropas» (1990) an overview of the choral church music of M. Berezovsky as a Ukrainian composer was carried out. In his monograph in Dutch «Oekraїne en de Byzantijnse ritus» M. Berezovsky is also mentioned. Therefore, the introduction of M. Antonowycz’s monographs in foreign languages to the scientific field expands the Ukrainian discourse of church music in the international musicological space. The greatest achievement of the musicilogical thought of the diaspora was the monograph by V. Vytvytsky (USA) about the life and work of M. Berezovsky. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the comprehensive coverage of M. Berezovsky’s creativity in the musical culture of the Ukrainian diaspora. The research methodology is based on a combination of general scientific and special art studies methods, in particular historicalcultural and phenomenological. The specified methodological approach allows us to consider the presentation of M. Berezovsky’s creativity in the musical culture of the Ukrainian diaspora as a result of the efforts of representatives of various fields of musical art (choral groups, musicologists, publishers) and a unique phenomenal phenomenon.