ЕErnest Chausson: periodization of artistic path in the context of the style formation

Abstract

Statement of the problem. In the history of French music the work of Ernest Chausson (1855–1899) played a connecting role between the late romanticism of S. Franck and the early impressionism of C. Debussy. The personality and work of the French composer are sufficiently deeply studied in European and American musicology; it is natural for Ukrainian researchers to join the process of this study. Despite the outstanding importance of the composer’s work in both French and world music, there are no problematic studies devoted to the study of his legacy in domestic science. The music of the French master, in particular, vocal music, remains little-known in Ukraine. One of the debatable issues of studying the work of E. Chausson is the periodization of his legacy, since the discrepancies existing in the works of researchers hinder the understanding of his creative evolution. After all, the chronological distribution of the artist’s work takes into account complex historical, socio-psychological and artistic processes, as well as the specificity of his creative method and related stylistic changes. The purpose of the article is to summarize the known periodizations of E. Chausson’s work and to develop synthesized one in order to remove existing disagreements. Solving this innovative task required the study of a number of works of foreign scientists using historical, historiographical, comparative approaches, as well as genre and style analysis when referring to the creative work of E. Chausson.Information on the periodization of E. Chausson’s creative heritage is provided both by encyclopedic publications (Warszawski, 2005; Latham, 2009, etc.), and by some scholars who refer to the music of E. Chausson (Chiang, 2006; Moroncini, [2022]; Hanon, 2022). At the same time, certain chronological differences can be traced in the information provided by scientists. Results and conclusions. The application of the basic position of domestic musicology regarding the change of the “intonational image of the world” as a criterion for distinguishing historical periods (Chekan, 1997) and the experience of foreign scientists made it possible, as a result, to prove the feasibility of dividing E. Chausson’s work into three periods: early (1877–1886), where tangible lateromantic influences of J. Massenet, S. Frank and R. Wagner, middle, mixed, (1886–1889), marked by the interaction of late-romantic and impressionistic traits, and the final (1889–1899) stage of formation of the composer’s individual style. Such a periodization, without excluding existing ones, will contribute to a clearer understanding of E. Chausson’s creative evolution, which should facilitate the work of a musician-performer.