Peculiarities of Stepan Budnyi’s Artistic Works: Song and Musical Aspects

Abstract

The poetic, prose and memoir works of Ukrainian writer Stepan Budnyi are considered in the article. He has left a noticeable mark in the history of Ukrainian literature of the 1950s. The focus of the research includes the analysis of the song concept, used frequently by the author and designated as a genre (in his own works). Many poetic works of S. Budnyi, characterized by melodiousness, emotionally elevated mood, simplicity of expression, vivid imagery, and the presence of striking figurative details, have a musical orientation. The frequency of the poet’s use of the song lexeme is counted in the article, indicating the folk-song character of S. Budnyi’s entire poetic heritage. This is reflected particularly in the titles of poetic works, evoking musical associations simultaneously. The poet has preferred those poetic works containing musical terminology in his translations from various languages. It is revealed that S. Budnyi’s relatively small prose heritage also includes musical motifs. Similar to poetry, the song in the writer’s prose works holds a distinct place and is a leading motif throughout his entire creative output. The author’s position and understanding of the essence of beauty are traced through the expressions of the lyrical heroes in prose sketches about music, song and dance. The author’s appeals to song and music are also considered in the writer’s epistolary. Texts by S. Budnyi, set to music by various Ukrainian composers such as Yaroslav Vyshyvanyi, Oleh Herman, Bohdan Klymchuk, Bohdan and Ivan Kravchuk brothers, Faina Moldavska, Volodymyr Obukhivskyi, Mykhailo Obleshchuk, Andrii Plishka, and others, are distinguished. Attention is drawn to the linguistic features of the writer’s artistic works, emphasizing especially that the author’s neologisms, used frequently, imbue the texts with a peculiar musicality. In general, Stepan Budnyi’s poetry has an original sound, impressing with a variety of artistic means, especially the vivid metaphorical expressions.