Res Humanitariae

Research into the specificity of the personal and artistic formation of the contemporary composer Victor Stepurko based on material from the early stage of his work is relevant. It is important to research not only specific issues from the personal side of his artistic growth, but also those that present themselves to Ukrainian society as a whole: the revival of traditions and the awareness of originality at a national level. In the wider context of European art, these features mark the stylistic specifics of Stepurko’s choral music.

The article deals with Sergei Bortkiewicz form, structure and functional experiments on sonata cycle in Sonata for Violin and Piano op. 26. The date of creation of the work is clarified. The article provides an overview of the history of development of the sonata cycle genre invariant. Comprehensive analysis of the work by Bortkiewicz provides tracing influences of West-European and Russian composing traditions. Different approaches to the interpretation of the composer’s idea are presented, which allows to explain the specific construction of the cycle.

The article investigates the specifics of the musical and poetic consistent patterns of the ancient Ukrainian monody. An important role in the incarnation of the sacred meaning of the chants is played by a verbal-poetic text. Hence the need for a structural analysis, that combines the methodological achievements of literature and musicology. Integrated approach to the study of monody gives us the possibility to realize the value of the liturgical text and trace the logic of its musical development.

The article considers the scholarly legacy of Volodymyr Hoshovsky in general, and more specifically his research into musical dialects. The scholar created his musical and dialectological method on the theoretical foundations of Filaret Kolessa, Bella Bartok, and other researchers of folk music from 1955. This study of musical dialects is based on the folk songs of Ukrainians in Transcarpathia.

We have to define at least three different regional folk singing traditions in the central part of Dnipro river localities in Ukraine. They are located in the territory of contemporary Cherkasy district. We have Podillia region with much more archaic folk songs genres and enough clear their musical stylistic features. We also have Naddniprianshchyna and Poltavshchyna regions with colourful and various way enriched polyphonic features of regional folk singing traditions. The main goal of our ethnomusicological activities we see here in recording continuity of such singing folklore traditions from all Cherkasy district followed by their scientific research studies in their style, genre, rhythmic and melodic typology aspects, as well as mapping of particular macro- and micro-zones in various mentioned above parameters.

The article presents and analyses the ethnomusicological terminology used by Professor Mykolas Biržiška (1882–1962), an outstanding scholar, publicist, and researcher of traditional Lithuanian songs. The scientific activity of M. Biržiška was very extensive. He researched old Lithuanian literature, wrote textbooks, and published many articles. They include ‘The Life and Writings of Donelaitis’, ‘Textbook of Lithuanian Song Literature’, ‘The History of Our Literature’, ‘Our Ancient Writings’, ‘Old Vilnius University’, ‘Lithuanian Geography’, and others. He was particularly interested in the history of traditional Lithuanian culture, and tried to systematise Lithuanian literature, provide a general overview of it, and systematise all collected Lithuanian folk songs. He drew attention to various important features of Lithuanian folk songs in his writings. An important part of this research was devoted to the analysis of the composition of Lithuanian folk songs and the development of a system for their classification. In Biržiška’s times the dictionary of Lithuanian ethnomusicological terminology had not yet been formed, so he had to create new terms and propose new concepts for these terms. His works on the creation of ethnomusicological terminology are also of interest to contemporary scholars: ethnomusicologists, folklorists, and researchers of traditional Lithuanian singing and instrumental folklore.

The article presents the picture of the Christian angel in a genre of Lithuanian folklore, legends. The texts in question reveal the attitude of traditional Lithuanian society to angels as acting in the divine and earthly spheres. The research and the identification of the most popular scenes have revealed that the most important features of the legendary angel are the fulfilment of God›s will, and the protection of man and his soul. The article concludes that the legends of Lithuanian peasants about the activities of angels strengthened religion, promoted behaviour according to the norms of the community, and ensured a sense of security.

For the first time in Ukrainian and world musicology, based on previously unexplored archival materials, information on one of Yakiv Yatsynevych’s most popular works – arranging of the folk song “Susidka” has been reconstructed and supplemented. In the process of research in Central State Archives Museum of Literature and Arts of Ukraine (Kyiv) were found out many valuable sources. Among them, more than twenty letters which are the correspondence of composer’s wife – Iryna Yatsynevych with the musicologist Leonid Kaufman; a letter to I. Yatsynevych from her brother, Methodiy Pavlovsky and from the editorial office of the vocal literature of the State Musical Publishing House; articles from the periodicals and posters of concerts, which inform about the performance of the work, original musical manuscript of “Susidka”. As a result of work, all founded documents were included to scientific circulation. The materials give an opportunity to supplement the history of the creation of work, to determine its place in the stage life of the twentieth century, to find out the “detective” story by I. Yatsynevych about the appropriation of the composer’s work by another artist and to establish that Y. Yatsynevych’s “Susidka” is not just a processing of folk song, but almost original author’s composition.

In the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, an opposition between official medicine and folk medicine, partly based on ethnic aspects, formed in Lithuania. The article analyses the alternation in the ‘self-other’ opposition in the choice of treatment. Folk medicine traditions existed alongside standard medicine in the town of Aukštadvaris, which was characterised as multi-confessional in the first half of the 20th century (despite the tensions, Lithuanians, Poles, Jews and Tartars lived together harmoniously). Faith healers with extraordinary qualities or powers were classified as ‘other’. So the choice of treatment reveals two aspects: the concept of ethnicity, and mythical perception (when dealing with those engaged in other activities). Studies have shown that in a disaster or illness, the ‘self-other’ opposition declines. An opposition between official medicine and folk medicine did not form in the Aukštadvaris area.

The aim of this article is to analyze the demographic changes that have taken place in Kaunas since the mid. 20th century – the end of the 20th century. The main source of research is field research material, collected in Kaunas during 2018, using the author‘s ethnographic questionnaire. Empirical material was collected using classic field research methods: participatory observation, interview, in-depth, structured and semi-structured interviews. Also the analysis of statistical and historical data was performed. The article is based on oral history theory. The results of the research revealed the participants‘ attitudes and beliefs related to urban changes and demographic trends during the Soviet period in Kaunas.