“Theatre of the Future”: Interdisciplinary Problems in Ukrainian Musicology

Author

Nemkovych Olena

a Doctor of Art Studies, a professor, a head of the Musicology and Ethnomusicology Department of M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0006-5720

“Theatre of the Future”: Interdisciplinary Problems in Ukrainian Musicology

Abstract

A monograph by the prominent contemporary scholar, academician of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine Nelli Korniienko, titled “Theater of the Future – The Trajectory of a Quantum. Order, Opened to Randomness (Theater Studies of Other Dimensions)” (Kyiv: Spirit and Letter, 2025, 464 pp.) has been published this year. It represents the culmination of a major stage in the authoress’s scholarly path and encapsulates the distinctive features of her scientific thinking –philosophical depth, engagement with a broad range of exact and humanitarian sciences, unconventional approaches to the analysis of selected phenomena. As a result, this monograph contains a wealth of innovative ideas focused on the fundamental principles of studying artistic culture. Thus, their understanding is significant for various humanities. 

Thepurpose of the submitted article is to consider only one group of interconnected problems analyzed in this book, within the context of the history of Ukrainian musicology, including its contemporary stage. There are the dominance of descriptive research methods in contemporary art studies, which, according to the authoress, fail to reflect the current state of artistic culture; the widespread tendency in current scholarship to examine artistic phenomena without understanding artistic culture as an integral whole; the search for new directions in art studies by incorporating data from the other sciences, and others among them. The understanding of culture as a holistic self-organizing system is considered as their unifying factor.

All mentioned issues have deep historical roots in Ukrainian musicological scholarship and remain highly relevant today. Their current rethinking is associated with fundamental methodological principles and the worldview foundations of musicological research.

Keywords

Nelli Korniienko, holistic understanding of artistic culture, interdisciplinary issues, research methods, musicology.

References

1. ALSHVANG, Arnold. Rhythm and Meter. Music, 1923, no. 6–7, pp. 13–18 [in Ukrainian].
2. HRINCHENKO, Mykola. History of Ukrainian Music. Kyiv: Union, 1922, 288 pp. [in Ukrainian].
3. KYZYMA, Volodymyr. Culturology and Modern Methodology of the Humanitarian Cognition. Bulletin of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2001, no. 5, pp. 13–25 [in Ukrainian].
4. KORNIIENKO, Nelli. Theater of the Future – The Trajectory of a Quantum. Order, Opened to Randomness (Theater Studies of Other Dimensions). Kyiv: Spirit and Letter, 2025, 464 pp. [in Ukrainian].
5. KOTLYAREVSKY, Ivan. Musical-Theoretical Systems of European Art Studies. Kyiv: Musical Ukraine, 1983, 158 pp. [in Russian].
6. KRYMSKY, Sergei, Boris PARAKHONSKY, Viktor MEIZERSKY. Epistemology of Culture. Kyiv: Scientific Thought, 1993, 216 pp. [in Russian].
7. LYOTARD, Jean-François. The Postmodern Situation. Translated from English by Yurii DZHULAI. Philosophical and Sociological Thought, 1995, no.5–6, pp. 15–38 [in Ukrainian].
8. NAVROTSKYI, Borys. Speech Intonation and Music. Music, 1923, no. 6–7, pp. 20–28 [in Ukrainian].
9. NEMKOVYCH, Olena. Ukrainian Musicology of the 20th Century as a System of Scientific Disciplines. Kyiv: Steel, 2006, 534 pp. [in Ukrainian].
10. PRITSAK, Omelian. Historiosophy of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi. In: Pavlo SOKHAN, editorial board’s chairperson. Hrushevskyi M. History of Ukraine-Rus: In Eleven Volumes, Twelve Books. Kyiv: Scientific Thought, 1991. Vol. 1: To the Early 11th Century, pp.41–76 [in Ukrainian].
11. CHERKOV, Heorhii.The First Films of the Lumière Brothers. Factual Basis and the Emergence of the Mythical Image. Scientific Bulletin of the Ivan Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television. 2024, issue 34, pp. 72–81 [in Ukrainian].
12. YAVORSKY, Boleslav. Structure of Musical Speech. Materials and Notes. Moscow: G. Aralov Printing House, 1908, parts 1–3, 100 pp. [in Russian].