Spiritual chants for the female choir a cappella by IrynaAleksiichuk: features of the interpretation of canonical text

Abstract

Background. The choral creativity of a modern Ukrainian composer Iryna Aleksiichuk is multifaceted and diverse. It includes spiritual chants, cycles of arrangements of Ukrainian and Balkan folk songs, choral works on poetry of Ukrainian and foreign poets (“Letters from the shell” and “Otherworld’ Games” on the verses by O. Stepanenko, “How Volodya flew quickly from the mountain” on the words by D. Harms), etc. The objective of this study is to find out the features of interpretation the canonical text in spiritual chants for a female choir a cappella by I. Aleksiichuk. Methods of studying. The holistic musical-theoretical analysis is applied to determine the figurative content of the work, to identify the peculiarities of form-building and the use of compositional ways of expressiveness (the intonational structure of the basic elements of the form, the tonal-harmonic plan, the methods of development of the thematic material). In the analysis of music the method of comparison was used (to identify correspondence between the means of musical expressiveness and the features of the canonical text). Results. The material of the analysis are four chants (“The King of Heaven”, “Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”, “My voice to the Lord”, “Holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth”), which are united in the cycle “Spiritual chants for female choir a cappella”. In the process of researching the algorithm of sequence of the chants in the cycle is revealed, as well as the correspondence of musical means of expressiveness to canonical text. It is concluded that all chants expressly convey the meaning and the features of the canonical text. Musical structures clearly correlate to verbal. The greatest number of repetitions in the chants the stable formulations of the canonical text acquires: “Lord have mercy”, “Hallelujah”, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit”, “Holy Lord”. The semantic significance of the canonical text is reproduced through the rich harmony and inventional polyphony, through the changes of time signatures, text repetitions, the wide choir range, dramatic development and contrasts of all means of expressiveness. Four abovementioned spiritual chants for the female choir a cappella on the canonical texts were written by I. Aleksiichuk in different times during 2002–2011. The order of the canonical text and the logic of the deployment of the musical material allowed the composer to combine them into a fourpart concert for a female choir. The cycle begins with the evening prayer “The King of the Heaven” (prayer to the Holy Spirit). This prayer is а part of the early and evening Church rules. Anumber of services that are performed during the day in the Orthodox Church opens by the evening Divine service, since the day, according to the Church’s Charter, begins in the evening. That is why in first the evening service is, which included the repentant prayers for everyday sins and gratitude to God for this day. The chanting begins and ends with the sound of the bells that by and by go silent. The similarity of the finale to the introduction, the repetition of the musical and verbal texts contributes to the roundness of the musical form and helps to its holistic perception. The music of the incantation “Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” reproduces his exalted character. Applied by the author the ways of expressiveness correspond to the canonical text, which glorifies the God in his three hypostases. The definitive feature of the musical work is the presence of a genre sign characterizing of Orthodox worship, the bells. This feature is reproduced in the homophonic-harmonic texture of the composition relying on the main harmonic functions, singing the repeated sounds, etc. In this chant, I. Aleksiichuk is working on three small parts of the canonical text: “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit”, “now and always and forever” and “Hallelujah”, giving each of them the certain musical themes. The complete formula of prayer sounds in the work three times gaining dynamic development. In the third chorus, “My voice to the Lord”, verses from Psalm 141 are used. This Psalm is the prayer of David to the Lord in the cave in time of his persecution by Saul. Of the seven verses of David’s Psalm, I. Aleksiychuk used four – 1, 2, 4, 5, in which the main content of the work is concentrated. The last part of the cycle is the hymn “Holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth” performing finale function. This prayer is a part of the Eucharistic canon and it sounds in the most important section of the Divine Liturgy – the Liturgy of the Faithful. The chant begins immediately with the glorification of the God. Conclusions. An analysis of spiritual chants with canonical texts for the female choir a cappella by I. Aleksiichuk illustrates the following. All the songs very clearly express the meaning and features of the canonical text. I.Aleksiichuk choses three-part forms with reprise, in which clearly, according to the text, the musical structures built; the stable formulations of the canonical text “Lord have mercy”, “Hallelujah”, “Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”, “Holy Lord” are most often repeated; at the end of the three chants (except «My voice to the Lord»), the final confirming formula of the prayers “Amen” sounds; means of expressiveness (changing of meter signatures, repetitions of the sounds, a wide range of the choir, singing of the main sounds of melody) are designed to create the illusion of chime that is the genre sign of the Orthodox worship; the semantic meaning of the canonical text is passing through the rich harmony, in which dissonances and chromaticism aggravate the expressiveness of the spoken words, through the dramatic development of the words of praise (“Hallelujah”, “Glory to the Father, and Son”), poly-timbre sounds, contrasting of all means of expressiveness, etc.