Operas on Gogol’s plots in the compositions of contemporary composers: from libretto to the problem of plotology

Abstract

Research objective is to identify the genesis of opera creativity based on Gogol’s plots in the context of defining and substantiating the historical conditions and theoretical parameters of the phenomenon of plotology. This necessitated the development of a typological aesthetic approach to opera plotology, typological criteria for the study of thematic opera content. The methodology of the work is determined by the interaction of theoretical and historical approaches to opera plotology; musicological analytical, aesthetic-psychological, historical, semiological and textological approaches are noted as presenters. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that it offers a comprehensive description of operas based on Gogol’s plots as an actual trend in musical art. Along with this, the article examines the problem of an artistic plot in the light of opera issues and in projection onto the structural and compositional logic of the opera text. Conclusions. The embodiment of N. Gogol’s works in the opera genre is becoming an established trend in the development of this genre sphere in the context of the evolution of world opera. The creative heritage of N. Gogol has attracted and still attracts the attention of representatives of various national composing schools and different generations. Today, the history of the development of musical gogoliana has more than a century and a half, and we can confidently speak of its significant influence on artistic and cultural trends and the musical and historical process in general. On the basis of the analysis of literary studies devoted to the issues of plot and plotology, the interdependence and dependence of the artistic plot on the compositional principles of constructing the composition becomes indisputable. It should be noted that this interdependence can take different forms in different types of art, at the same time it also has common dominant artistic and ontological features, which are most pronounced in literary and musical works. These forms and their dominant features should be understood as a system of functioning of iconic complexes and the principle of organizing individual parts as part of a whole composition, including a comparison of plot episodes, and the order of reporting the course of events, and the distribution of these events in time.