Musical Intonations in N.S. Leskov’s Tale “The Left-Hander” and their Embodiment in the Opera of the Same Name by R.K. Shchedrin

Abstract

The article is devoted to the manifestations of musicality in N.S. Leskov’s works and its influence on other artworks created on the writer’s plots (specifically, in the genre of opera). The author focuses on the tale “The Left-Hander”, using as examples phrases of one of the characters, Ataman Platov.The approach proposed by the author is based on a structural, genre and intonation-rhythmic analysis of the primary source text, with documentation of its features. The potential intonation and rhythmic variants of reading individual literary phrases, recorded using conventional musical notation, allow not only to visually compare the shades of their semantic content, but also to correlate them with the musical versions presented in R.K. Shchedrin’s opera “The Left-Hander” (2013). The correlation of the graphic schemes of intonation structures of textual and melodic phrases allows to substantively determine the correspondences and discrepancies in them. In addition, the article notes such musical expressive means that make it possible to convey the intonation of characters’ speech and to outline the characteristic features of their image, such as timbre, tempo, dynamics, etc.Basing on the conducted research, the author makes a conclusion about the influence of text intonations on the formation of perception of characters’ image and the melody of their “musical” speech.The method of intonation-rhythmic analysis of a prosaic literary text, proposed by the author, is a new development in the field of studying the problems of the mutual influence of literature and music; it can find wide application in research in this direction.