The Opera "Seleuco" in the Creative Life of Maksym Berezovsky

Abstract

The creative activity of the outstanding Ukrainian composer M. Berezovsky as an opera singer, which continued at the Small Imperial Court in Oranienbaum, was studied. It has been established that as an opera singer he participated in the performance of not two,as was generally known, but at least three opera performances. All these operas were staged in Oranienbaum, at the court of Grand Duke Peter Fyodorovych, during the years 1759-1761. Main objective of the study – introduce into scientific circulation one of the previously unknown facts of Maksym Berezovsky's biography, established on the basis of documentary sourcesduring his lifetime. The work is based on a combination of several methods: source studies - for finding everyday documents and understanding the information they contain; historical - to establishhistorical and cultural parallels and draw perspectives for further study of the highlighted issues, theoretical - to systematize musical and stylistic factors and create certain generalizations. Information about the opera "Seleuco" by F. Araja, in which M. Berezovsky sang the part of the main character, the Syrian king Seleucus, was introduced into scientific circulation. This fact was established according to a documentary source during hislifetime - the printed libretto of the specifiedopera (1761). It is proven that M. Berezovsky's performance in the opera "Seleuco" became a milestone on the way to mastering the chosen profession, related to musical art in general and Italianopera singing in particular. Written for a tenor, this part together with the opera parts of Por (1759, soprano) and Irkan (1760, contralto) gives an idea of the physiological development of the young M. Berezovsky's voice, the gradual lowering of the range, the transition from a childish to an adult register, the formation of a singing timbre . It was concluded that the parts of Pora in the opera "Alexander nell`India" by F. Araja, Irkana in the opera " Semiramide riconociuta" by V. Manfredini,and Seleucus in the opera of the same name by F. Araja, prepared and sung in Oranienbaum, correspond to the physiological age of M. Berezovsky at the time as teenager in the period of mutation: the first (soprano) part was sung at the age of 14, the second (alto) at the age of 15, the third (tenor) at the age of 16. All of the above once again confirms our position that it is necessary to study Maksym Berezovsky's creative life based on realtime documentary sources, and not to repeat information from articles of the 19th century and not to add non-existent details to the false facts presented in them.