Individual Style Research Articles

Democratic Leadership Style and Corporate Performance in Selected Food and Beverages Manufacturing Companies in South-West Nigeria

Leadership plays a prominent role in contributing to the effectiveness of organisations carrying out business in competitive environments. Democratic leadership encourages collaborative decision making in organisations involving superior and subordinates. However, an organisational environment characterised by poor management and planning hinders successful application of democratic leadership. This study investigated how democratic leadership style affected the performance of selected food and beverages manufacturing companies in South-West, Nigeria based on a review of extant literature that indicated the need for more studies in this regard. The study was conducted based on a survey research design. The questionnaire was used for data collection. Slovin’s formula was used for obtaining the sample size while stratified sampling technique was the basis for classifying the employees into levels – top management, middle management, and low-level workers. Simple random sampling was adopted in collecting data from each level. The predictor and outcome variables were measured on a four-point Likert scale that ranged from strongly disagree, 1, to strongly agree, 4. The results of the study indicated that democratic leadership produced positive effect (β = .422, t = 8.663, p < 0.05) on corporate performance. The implied potential to boost the sales of the studied companies. However, the value of the coefficient of determination, .167, indicated the need for improving planning activities as a means of enhancing the potential of achieving increases in corporate performance through variation in democratic leadership style. It was indicated in the conclusion of the study that it was necessary for future research to incorporate more leadership styles into the model of this study. This would enable the companies to determine the potential contribution of individual leadership styles to corporate performance as well as their collective contribution.

Optimizing the Potential of Technology-Based Learning Increases Student Engagement

Technology-based education has developed rapidly in recent years. The use of technology in learning environments provides an excellent opportunity to increase student engagement, enhance their learning experience and prepare them for the demands of an ever-changing digital world. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential of technology-based learning to increase student engagement. First, this article presents various technology tools and platforms that can be used for learning. In an age dominated by digital devices, there are many tools and apps that can help create engaging and interactive learning experiences. For example, smartphone apps, interactive learning software and online learning platforms can be used to create rich content, realistic simulations and better student collaboration. In addition, this article examines the importance of paying attention to the diversity of student learning styles in a technology-enabled curriculum. Every student has unique learning preferences, and technology is enabling teachers to create learning experiences tailored to individual learning styles. For example, instructional videos, interactive simulations, and online discussions can be used for a variety of student learning needs. In addition, this article highlights the importance of involving students in making decisions about technology-based learning. By giving students the opportunity to actively participate in determining content, methods and learning objectives, they feel more involved and responsible for their learning. Through active participation, students can develop the critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills needed in a changing society. Lastly, this article emphasizes the importance of continuous assessment and progress in technology-based learning. To ensure the effective use of technology, it is necessary to continuously assess its impact on student learning. In addition, continuous efforts must be made to further develop and update the technology used in learning so that it can continue to meet the growing needs and demands of learning. In short it can be said that the use of technology in teaching offers excellent opportunities to increase students' willingness to learn. Through the use of different technology tools and platforms, accommodating the diversity of student learning styles, involving students in decision-making, and continuous evaluation and progress, the potential of technology-based learning can be optimized to create more dynamic, engaging and important learning experiences for today's students.

The role of verbal painting in Leonid Leonov’s novel “Russian Forest”

L.M. Leonov dreamed of becoming an artist and the painter’s talent was embodied in his prose. His landscapes, portraits, portraits against the background of a forest in the tradition of, for example, M.V. Nesterov play an important role in the internal form of his works. The novel “Russian Forest” is indicative in this regard. The purpose of the study is to explain the functions of pictorial allusions and ekphrasis in this novel. The following tasks are solved: identify the most common allusions and ekphrasis in the paintings of Russian artists, which were popular at the time of Leonov painting training, and were subsequently paraphrased in the novel; explain the functions of recognizable paintings by masters of fine art in word painting; argue for the special role of pictorial ekphrasis in the formation of the genre diversity of the novel. As a result, some essential features of the writer’s individual style in the novel under study are clarified: the prose writer’s special attention to the descriptive component of the work makes it possible to assert that his appeal to analogies with fine art is deliberate, since they contribute to the creation of not just a scientific-production or abstract-philosophical novel, but builds a whole series of genre lines, which are supported by recognizable pictorial visualization, on the one hand, and, on the other, forms a deep socio-psychological and lyrical plan of the work. Comparisons of specific paintings transformed into ekphrasis in prose provide scientists with rich material for drawing conclusions about the synthesis of painting and prose.

REGIONAL IDENTITY IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN THE 1930S-1990s OF THE KARAGANDA CITY

This article is intended to analyze architectural changes in the residential development of the city of Karaganda in the period from 1930 to 1990 with an emphasis on identifying regional identity. The work pays attention to the characteristic features of the architectural style, taking into account the influence of natural, socio-economic and cultural factors. The research methodology includes an analysis of historical experience, a comparison of architectural approaches at different stages of development, as well as a review of academic literature and projects. It is emphasized that regional identity in architecture is considered as an open system capable of adapting to changes in the environment and time, including local characteristics and the individual style of architects. In the context of residential development in Karaganda, regional identity is expressed through the creation of comfortable conditions, taking into account contextual features and a critical look at traditions. Urban architecture combines elements of cultural heritage with modern approaches, making it unique and expressive. The individual approach of the architects gives the city's landscape a special character. Ultimately, Karaganda's architectural identity reflects its rich cultural heritage and ability to adapt to changes in environment and time, while maintaining its uniqueness and character. This unique interaction of architecture with history and modernity makes the city of Karaganda not only a place to live, but also a valuable historical and cultural heritage that its residents and guests are proud.

Evaluation of English Language Material for the 9th Grader Student at SMP Nurul Islam Ngemplak Boyolali

Teaching language in this global era demands mostly the creativity of the teachers, this is because in 21th century, students need to be critical thinkers, creative, communicative and collaborative. Therefore, the creativity of the teacher is manifested by evaluating the multiple resources and adapting or adopting them based on the contextualized learning situation including individual differences, styles and learners needs. It is also essential for the teacher to integrate the four macro skills in teaching language in order to make the students more communicative and collaborative. Hence, this paper presents the evaluation of the language teaching resources before and during applying them to the classroom contexts. The data were collected by document review and interview with the secondary school teacher. The data were analyzed qualitatively through interactive model. There is variation of the results based on the techniques of data collection. The interview shows that theoretically the teacher is creative to make the materials for students. Meanwhile, the document review findings show that there is a need of improvement on the way to evaluate and use the English materials based on the context. Finally, in evaluating the textbooks in order to adopt or adapt by adding or removing some materials to make English textbooks match with students’ contexts.
 Keywords evaluation, adapting, adopting, macro skills, English language teaching.

Layers of Folkloric Variation: Computational Explorations of Poetic and Narrative Text Corpora

Variation is a core feature of folklore that plays a part in configuring the processes of folkloric communication, transmission and creativity. Computational analysis of large folklore collections offers new outlooks on the study of variation. The article explores the nature of folkloric variation on the basis of folk song and fairy tale text corpora from the Estonian Folklore Archives. Our enquiry into regional variation in Estonian folk song showed different patterns of geographic variation for metre, repertoire and language. To investigate further the possibilities to disassemble the components of variation we turned to a smaller corpus of fairy tale texts from the distinct Seto language community. The results of stylometric analysis of fairy tales collected within the close language community as a rule found that word usage patterns in stories told by the same storytellers were closer to each other than stories with the same content (i.e. tale types). However, other factors, such as collectors’ individual styles, recording time, length of text, and storyteller’s place of origin contributed notably to similarity as per stylometric scores. The study has shown that the individual features and aspects of such a complex phenomenon as folklore can follow its own variation patterns. Computational analysis of the variation in large text corpora helps us get a better understanding of the functioning of variation, and the processes of folkloric creation. However, the layers of folkloric variation are not that easy to disassemble, one must be aware of the biases in text corpora and keep in mind the effect of the linguistic variation on the results.

Управління професійним становленням майбутнього менеджера на початковому етапі університетської освіти

The article analyzes the structure of the process of professional formation of future manag-ers, identifies the components of the characteristics of a future specialist that ensure effective man-agement of professional formation. The concept of professional formation of the individual, which is considered by scientists as the formation of professional orientation, competence, socially signifi-cant and professionally important qualities and their integration, readiness for constant personal and professional growth, is defined. The main directions of professionalization are singled out: pro-fessional training, professional self-determination, self-affirmation and self-improvement, develop-ment of intellectual potential in the field of professional activity, spiritual, aesthetic and moral de-velopment. The initial stage of university education should provide future managers with basic theo-retical knowledge about the analysis of management phenomena, develop the skills and abilities in-herent in this process, thinking and a creative approach to business, and ensure the formation of a professional worldview. The content of the academic discipline "University education and academic writing" is characterized as an important component of the management process of professional de-velopment of future managers. The content modules of the discipline "Content of professional train-ing in higher education", "Academic writing as a type of academic (scientific) communication" were analyzed. They ensure in the first years of studying at the university that students form a system of knowledge about the specifics of a manager's professional activity, typical tasks of his activity, de-velopment of skills in planning a system of activities aimed at supporting academic integrity, which is the basis of the functioning of any educational institution. Based on the analysis of literary sources, the criteria for a student's professional development have been determined: awareness of the goals of professional activity, the desire to know one's business, to master all professional func-tions; assimilation of basic knowledge, requirements of the profession for a specialist, awareness of one's capabilities; readiness for the practical realization of the set professional goals, the search for one's own individual style, optimization of the process of business communication, free performance of professional activities, professional improvement, mastery and creativity.

INDIVIDUAL STYLE OF PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY OF FUTURE PSYCHOLOGISTS: ESSENCE AND WAYS OF FORMATION IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF A HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION

The article examines the problem of the individual style of professional activity of future psychologists. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the essence, the component composition of the individual style of professional activity of future psychologists, the ways of its formation in terms of the educational environment of a higher education institution. It has been shown that an individual style is a factor of professional success, and therefore the specificity of its formation depends on the type of professional activity. The stages of formation of an individual style of activity have been specified. It covers, firstly, the development of professional activity with already worked out schemes and procedures, and secondly, the deviation from normatively approved work samples. The individual style of professional activity of future psychologists is presented as an integral personal formation that determines the individual strategy and tactics of organizing psychological activity and ensures productivity and optimal solution of professional tasks. The components of the individual style of professional activity of future psychologists have been defined. The content of the individual style of future psychologists’ professional activity includes motivational-value (a system of motives, and value attitudes); cognitive (a set of knowledge about the essence and structure of the individual style of professional activity of future psychologists, ways of its formation); personal-active (methods, techniques, procedures, productive technologies, and tools of implementing psychological knowledge in work by specialities); reflective-evaluative components (an ability to professional and personal reflective). It has been emphasized that the individual style of professional activity is not formed by itself, but requires painstaking and systematic work on oneself, performing the function of adaptation to the requirements of professional activity and is a system of individually unique methods that ensure successful performance of the work of a practical psychologist. The methodological aspects of the formation of the individual style of professional activity of future psychologists have been identified. It is a set of systemic, functional, synergistic, axiological, and personally oriented approaches. It has been substantiated that the formation of the individual style of professional activity of future psychologists requires the modelling of the content of each educational component of the educational program in the specialty 053 Psychology according to the logic of the tasks of future professional activity; the use of practically oriented learning technologies (dialogic-discussion, game, training, project, and case ones, as well as training, exercises, web quests, webinars, workshops, etc.). Emphasis is placed on the need to involve students in various practical activities for the implementation of professional initiatives in cooperation with partners of higher education institutions and employers. An interesting experience of acquiring personal professional experience by future psychologists through involvement in end-to-end practice, in particular the practice of the “Supervision Studio”, has been revealed. The prospect of further research is found in the study of the problems of organizing the self-educational activities of future psychologists for the development of the individual style of professional activity.

Струнные квартеты С. И. Танеева в аспекте взаимодействия фактуры и жанра

The article is devoted to the analysis of texture as the most important constituent of the style of Sergei Taneyev’s string quartets. Up to the present time in Russian musicology texture in the composer’s chamber instrumental music has not formed a subject for special study, which is what especially stipulates the relevance of the chosen theme. The aim of the article is to define the specificity of the genre revealing itself on the textural level of the quartet’s artistically organized integrality, which may shed light on the sphere of its evolution in Taneyev’s music. The following issues are resolved in correspondence with the aim: to establish the correlation of the texture with the form, to research the means of this interaction with the thematicism, to disclose the most characteristic indications of the individual authorial style, having examined them in the aspect of the processes of form-generation. The author arrives at conclusions about the formation of the styles of the quartets. It is indicated that the compositions absorb into themselves various types of polyphonic and homophonic expounding of the musical material, the varieties of its strata, as well as the modulation processes in the sphere of texture based both on the suppleness of its transitions and on the effects of suddenness and unexpectedness. Both types of textural modulations present a distinguishing feature of Taneyev’s artistic manner that is connected with the stages of formation of form.

РЕТРОСПЕКТИВА И ПЕРСПЕКТИВА: ИСТОРИЯ МОДЕЛИ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО РАЗВИТИЯ КИТАЙСКИХ УЧИТЕЛЕЙ

The teacher professional development model is an important part of teacher education and the key aspect in developing teacher’s individual style, consolidating their professional knowledge, and improving their teaching methods. In retrospect to value connotations, the article explores the evolutionary characteristics of the macro design from governmentled to multi-subject collaboration, the development of teacher groups from scattered groups to integration, and the development of individual teachers from passive to active professionals. As for the prospective view, the authors claim the need to deepen the reform of the teacher professional development model by innovations from the governmental macro-regulation of teacher professional development policies, strengthening the integration concept of teacher professional development model, and integrating the elements of the teacher professional development model, as well as improving teachers’ knowledge, teaching techniques, and reflection on teaching

Semantic aspects of musical language

Music is a multifaceted phenomenon: it carries the mission of aesthetic education and enlightenment, performs therapeutic functions and is not only a source of information, but also the subject of filling human consciousness with a sense of joy, drama, and a high spiritual beginning. All the above is provided due to the many components that constitute the whole picture of musical art. These include intonation and rhythm, tempo and dynamics, timbre and texture, and more voluminous components: genre and form. Each of its elements represents a certain category, which, in turn, carries a semantic load or semantic aspect belonging to it. Having a centuries-old history of existence, music and, accordingly, its components have undergone considerable evolution. The purpose of the study is to show the semantic aspects of musical language as an integral system in their continuous dynamics of development, updating, and complication of content. The history of sound creativity is a vivid picture of styles and techniques of writing, images, and themes inherent in a particular era. The above is inextricably linked with the deep evolution of semantic aspects that convey the content and importance of all the leading categories of music. They represent, regardless of the period, an integral system of elements, the transformation of which is discussed in this article. The definition of the boundaries of "evolution" in relation to music, the disclosure of its action at various levels (the evolution of musical thinking, the evolution of national style, artistic area, the evolution of individual compositional style), the development of the theory of evolution in the field of functioning of musical phenomena – these and other problems are priorities for modern scientific musicology and art criticism. Realising the complexity and globality of the problem posed, the basis of which is the consideration of musical phenomena in the aspect of the theory of evolution, this article includes one of the possible approaches to solving this issue, involving the "general theory of systems" created in the 20th century. For that reason, this publication is relevant. It combines the most important theses of researchers investigating the problem of the semantics of the musical language in the context of such disciplines as pedagogy, quantum physics, medicine, social science. The study searches for the materials on the studied subject, their systematisation, and provides a panoramic display of the analysis of the semantic aspects of musical art. The author also shares the prospects of analysis of the mentioned phenomenon. The need for this research is conditioned by the essence of the subject, since it constantly changes, gets enriched with new qualities, actively responding to what is happening in real-time.

Princess Olga’s Wars With the Derevlyans. Publication of the Fragment According to the Ostroh (Khlebnikovski) Copy With Poetological Commentary

The purpose of the article is to at least partially fill in some gaps in the study of the Kyivan Rus’ literary heritage. Firstly, the author proposes to consider fragments of the Tale of Bygone Years ( PVL) as independent literary works that deserve a separate study. These works may have their own textual history and distinct individual style. In order to clarify the textual history of the work, we use both direct evidence (manuscripts of the Tale of Bygone Years) and indirect evidence, in particular, the paraphrase‑translations of Jan Długosz, Maciej Stryjkovskii, and seventeenth‑century Old Ukrainian authors. Secondly, the article makes accessible for the first time a complete fragment of the PVL published from the Ostroh (Khlebnikovsky) manuscript only, including the accentuation, which is of great importance for the study of the textual history and literary formation of the PVL. Thirdly, the article provides a detailed poetologic analysis of the Tale of Olga’s Wars with the Derevlyans, shows its compositional independence from the subsequent stories about Olga, and explores its complex poetic form, built on rhetorical repetitions of the series of vocabulary, as well as on the counting of syllables and accents.

The Students' Brain Dominance in Learning English by Using Problem Based Learning at Vocational High Schools

In terms of intrinsic motive in learning, aptitude, need, interest, learning pace, strategy, and style, each student is unique. Each student is a distinct individual with a wide range of talents and abilities, and each is committed to lifelong growth and development. The present study investigated the student’s brain dominance from selected public and private Vocational High Schools. The participants of this study were 101 students who had learnt by using Problem Based Learning. The questionnaires were adopted from Mariani (1996), which consisted of 20 numbers with 3 choices to see the brain left/brain preference of students. In addition, most students were observed to lean slightly toward either the left or the right hemisphere of the brain. The report concludes by discussing ideas for helping educators adapt lesson plans to accommodate individual students' learning styles.

Ностальгическая тональность исходного текста как проблема перевода (на материале французского перевода сборника рассказов И. А. Бунина «Темные аллеи»)

The research aims to determine the adequacy of the techniques of rendering nostalgization means into French in I. A. Bunin’s short stories included in the collection “Dark Avenues”. Nostalgization is recognized as the leading principle of the author-individual aesthetics of Bunin’s émigré creative work, the basis of his individual style. The work is based on an approach to the literary text as a carrier of the cultural potential of the language collective, of which the author is a representative, as well as on a holistic investigation of all elements of the literary text, which allows realizing the macro-meaning of the work. The research is novel in that it is the first to examine the translation aspects of the phenomenon of nostalgization in Bunin’s texts. The paper studies the means of rendering explicit and implicit culturally relevant components of the source texts as the most obvious markers of the writer’s nostalgia. The techniques of compensation and filling in cultural background lacunae and text lacunae are revealed, some cases where the national color of the Russian texts is lost are noted. The nostalgic tonality of the source texts is also represented by the means implementing I. A. Bunin’s poetic and philosophical principle of the importance of the sensory perception of life. The rendering of these means in the French translation is characterized by a high degree of adequacy. The results show that the problem of rendering the nostalgic tonality of Bunin’s short stories was solved in the French translation within the framework of a culturally oriented translation strategy. The main technique used was compensation, which is complex in nature.

From Conversation Starters to Speech Habits: A Sociophonetic Exploration of Language Fillers

This sociophonetic study delved into the intriguing domain of language fillers, investigating their transformation from mere conversation starters to integral speech habits. Language fillers, often dismissed as mere vocal pauses, were examined through a comprehensive exploration of their sociolinguistic complexities. Employing a multidimensional approach, encompassing phonetic, phonological, and sociocultural perspectives, this research uncovered the multifaceted functions and evolving roles of language fillers in contemporary communication. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses, this study not only elucidated the linguistic mechanisms underlying the use of language fillers but also highlighted their sociocontextual variability across diverse speech communities. By shedding light on the intricate interplay between language fillers, sociophonetics, and sociolinguistic norms, this investigation contributed to a deeper understanding of how language fillers shape and reflect individual communication styles and broader linguistic practices.

Стилеобразующая функция фразеологизмов в повести Г. И. Климовской «Онка»

The aim of the research is to identify the unique features of the style of an artistic text based on the analysis of phraseological units (PUs). The work is conducted in the context of the theory of regulativity developed within the communicative stylistics of a text, using the material of the novel “Onka” by G. I. Klimovskaya. The article focuses on the analysis and systematization of both common and occasional PUs, which play a role as regulatory means in the interpretive activities of the reader. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the first-time description and systematization of all PUs in the text of the novel “Onka” as regulatory means, the selection of which reflects the author’s individuality. This work serves as a stage in the research of the writer’s individual style. No previous studies have been conducted on analyzing the texts of this author in such a context. The analysis of the text resulted in the identification of two groups of PUs: common and individually-authored. It was established that at the pragmatic level of the text, conversational PUs (pragmemes) containing an expressive component most often dominate in terms of regulativity. Individually-authored PUs combine the functions of pragmemes and informemes, as they express emotion and contain cognitive information. At the informative-meaningful level of the text, the dominance of regulativity lies with complex-component phraseological units with significant meaning transformation, as well as phraseological units where lexical replacement leads to complete meaning transformation.

Citation prediction by leveraging transformers and natural language processing heuristics

In scientific papers, it is common practice to cite other articles to substantiate claims, provide evidence for factual assertions, reference limitations, and research gaps, and fulfill various other purposes. When authors include a citation in a given sentence, there are two considerations they need to take into account: (i) where in the sentence to place the citation and (ii) which citation to choose to support the underlying claim. In this paper, we focus on the first task as it allows multiple potential approaches that rely on the researcher’s individual style and the specific norms and conventions of the relevant scientific community. We propose two automatic methodologies that leverage transformers architecture for either solving a Mask-Filling problem or a Named Entity Recognition problem. On top of the results of the proposed methodologies, we apply ad-hoc Natural Language Processing heuristics to further improve their outcome. We also introduce s2orc-9K, an open dataset for fine-tuning models on this task. A formal evaluation demonstrates that the generative approach significantly outperforms five alternative methods when fine-tuned on the novel dataset. Furthermore, this model’s results show no statistically significant deviation from the outputs of three senior researchers.

Категорія стилю (ідіостилю) як літературознавче явище

The article summarises modern approaches to the interpretation of the essence of the concepts of «style» and «individual style of a writer». The universality and interdisciplinary nature of the definition of «style» lies in the fact that the term is used by linguistics, cultural studies, aesthetics, art studies and literary studies. And this gives rise to a certain difficulty in understanding of the term, sometimes leading to unwanted synonymy and blurring of conceptual boundaries. Various interpretations of this concept can be observed in literary studies. For example, scientists distinguish the style of a time and the style of a tendency and direction; the writer’s style and the style of a certain period of his (or her) creativity; the style of a work and the style of its individual element. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that scientists have not yet developed common approaches to the study of this category. Therefore, the most widespread thing in literary studies is the understanding of style as an individual creative manner, the «creative face» of a particular writer. The concept of «style» is widely used to comprehend the trends of the literary process, to clarify the national specificity of literatures and the creative individuality of authors. The article highlights the essence of the concept of «individual style of a writer», which is based on the works of famous literary critics. It is established that the problem of idiostyle is one of the most relevant in literary studies when researching a literary text. The correlation between general style and idiostyle is analysed. It is determined that they are generally interrelated and to a certain extent determine each other. Often, style is also considered as a display of the essence of many individual styles, united by common features. Therefore, individual style can be considered as a space of interaction between the author and the recipient, each of whom is looking for the most optimal means of expression and cognition. The style carriers and stylistic dominants laid down by the writer help the reader to «build» the «author’s image». The individual style of a writer is defined as an extremely complex phenomenon, which can be explained by a whole complex of style-forming factors. Among them literary critics distinguish socio-historical and cultural conditions, correlation of biased traditions and special innovation in a particular work of a writer or in hisentire creativity, specific generic and genre features of the work, tone of the narrative, worldview, artist’s talent, freedom of creativity, fictional truth and creative conjecture.

Concert ouverture “In the South (Alassio)” by Edward Elgar: summation of own experience and foreshadowing of upcoming innovations

Statement of the problem. Creativity of many composers includes the works proving crucial for understanding evolution of the artist’s individual style. Usually, the scholars’ attention is drawn to the works that become a result of stylistic evolution and that become popularity amongst the audience and the performers. At the same time, it is of no less importance to study the works that became milestones on a path to upcoming achievements, especially if there are heritage lines leading to them from the previous works. This is a situation with E. Elgar’s concert ouverture “In the South (Alassio)”: on the one hand, it summarizes composer’s achievements in this genre, on the other, it is the last composer’s step before creating his First Symphony. Apart from this ambivalence of the status, the work demonstrates the process of mediation of extremities, that can be traced on the levels of genre, structure, harmonic means and approach to extramusical. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. In the studies devoted to E. Elgar’s creativity as a whole or his symphonic compositions, the role of the Ouverture in the indicated evolutionary aspect is not considered, which determines the scientific novelty and relevance of the presented research. The purpose of the study is to reveal intersection points between concert ouverture “In the South (Alassio)” with the composer’s past and future creative achievements. Based on a historical-biographical approach, the history of the Ouverture’s origin is highlighted in view of its place in the artist’s creative evolution; a comparative method was used to juxtapose “Alassio” with other works of the composer; structural-compositional, genre and stylistic, intonation types of analysis were applied to examine the sheet music text of E. Elgar’s composition in detail. Results and conclusion. The study concludes that this concert ouverture is tightly integrated both in the context of development of E. Elgar’s symphonic style and into late-Romantic symphonysm as such. This work becomes the last composer’s preparatory step prior to his First Symphony as it contains germs of its multiple innovations: in harmony, structure and orchestration. Connection between “In the South” and general symphonic context is seen at multiple levels: genre attribution (the work defined by the author as “concert ouverture” has the features of symphonic poem, genre much more relevant for that time); harmonic language (freedom of tonal structure and modulations, juxtaposition of far chords; passages whose key cannot be defined etc.); specifics of themes and thematic development (multi-thematicism, inclusion of “picturesque” episode, intonation links between the themes). But originality of “Alassio” does not allow to regard is as an epigone imitation of late-Romantic symphonic style, but makes us understand it as a new step of this instrumental tradition. At the same time, it is possible to define more traditional traits at each of these levels: despite all the diversions from the sonata-form it is not fair to conclude that it is changed by another structure or is combined with it; three out of four themes of principal part, except for “Nobilmente”, are purely diatonic both in melody and harmony; programmatic approach does not lead to a large number of illustrative episodes, as it was done later by R. Strauss in “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” or “Don Quixote”, or later by E. Elgar himself in “Falstaff”.

Semantics of Louis Durey’s vocal-instrumental cycle “Songs on Saint Léger Léger’s poems” (“Images à Crusoé”)

Statement of the problem. The article aims to investigate the semantics of the vocal-instrumental cycle “Songs on Saint Léger Léger’s poems” by Louis Edmond Durey (1888–1979), one of the representatives of the French “Group of Six”. This composition, which also has another name – “Images à Crusoé”, written in 1918, belongs to the period of formation of French modernism. The primary literary source, the poem of the same name by Alexis Saint Léger Léger, better known under the pseudonym Saint John Perce, has certain features of surrealistic aesthetics, which also influenced the musical dramaturgy of the cycle. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. Until today, this composition by Louis Durey has not been considered in domestic musicology, therefore, the task of the study is to describe the figurative sphere of the work, to identify its main intonation-semantic constructions and, ultimately, a more thorough explore of the individual style of the composer. The research was carried out using historical-contextual, comparative, and systemanalytical methods. Results and conclusion. According to his results, it was established that Louis Durey embodied not so much the content of Saint John Perce’s poetic stanzas as his personal attitude to his poetic images and metaphors. The composer operates with a whole semantic system of leit-intonemas and through- genre models (polka, lullaby, chorale, hymn) and builds semantic arches between numbers of the cycle. Cross-cutting musical and semantic elements also become components of arch dramaturgy: intonations of circles, “spindles”, bells, sighs, and the instrumental texture of all numbers of the cycle contains quarto-quint steps. Pentatonic, whole-tone and natural scales contribute to the reproduction of the atmosphere of the exotic nature of the deserted island, as well as the sound imaging techniques used by Durey. The dramaturgy of the cycle is built according to the montage principle, which is mostly subordinated to the type of verse and the semantic content of Saint John Perce’s poetry. Division of the musical form is carried out by changing the size, tempo, genre style. Thus, each number of the cycle consists of short sections connected to each other thanks to the collage technique. The rhythmic and thematic variety in the collage of episodes“frames” indicates the presence of game logic in L. Durey’s cycle. Certain influences on the music of the cycle of illustrations for Daniel Defoe’s novel “Robinson Crusoe”, created in the second half of the 19th century by Carl Offendinger, in perspective, allow us to consider the work in the context of the problem of the synthesis of arts as of a component of modernistic aesthetics.