Neoromantic Tendencies in the Ukrainian Piano Music of the Early 20th Century

Abstract

The article focuses on the examination of neoromantic tendencies in the Ukrainian piano music of the turn of the 20th century by the example of the waltzes by Ya. Stepovyi and nocturnes by V. Kosenko. These musical pieces are viewed in the context of the stylistic findings of the Western European and Russian composers of the fin de siecle era. The research methodology incorporates general and specific scientific methods: historical method (to analyze social-political processes of the 20th century turn); historical-cultural method (to consider the artistic-aesthetical foundations of European musical culture of that period); theoretical method of modelling (to reveal the analogies of the embodiment of the neoromantic principles in the Ukrainian and foreign music); comparative (to definesimilar and distinct genre-stylistic features of the piano pieces of the Ukrainian and foreign composers). Basing on this comparative analysis, typologically common features of Neoromanticism are defined, foreign influences are determined, distinct genre-stylistic features are considered that demonstrate the uniqueness of the neoromantic thinking of the Ukrainian composers of the turn of the 20th century