Author
Korniy Lidiya
a Doctor of Art Studies, a professor, a chief research fellow at the Department of Screen-Stage Arts and Culturology of the NASU M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology
Ukrainian School Christmas Drama of the XVIIth–XVIIIth Centuries and Puppet Nativity Play Theatre: Problem of Adaptation and Interpretation of a Musical Factor
Abstract
The article states that the Ukrainian baroque art has become differentiated into the high, middle and lower stylistic levels. There were certain connections between them, and new art genres appeared on the verges of these levels. The problem of the connection between distinct stylistic levels of the Ukrainian musical baroque has not yet attracted the attention of researchers. The study examines the links between the Ukrainian school Christmas drama of the XVIIth– XVIIIth centuries and the puppet Nativity play theatre.
It is noted that for the first time a comparison of these two kinds of theatrical art is drawn in terms of the use of a musical factor in them. It is established that the first act of the Nativity play drama is related to the high style of Ukrainian Christmas school drama. This is revealed on the basis of analysing the dramatic functions of a Choir in both school drama and Nativity play drama. A choir in these spectacles took an active part in revealing the Christmas story, playing the role of a character. What they had in common was the genre of spiritual chant with the syllabic versification. Despite its association with the high style of school drama, the Nativity play drama was a quite new theatrical genre that belongs to the middle stylistic level. Focusing on the folk environment, authors of the Nativity play drama intelligibly conveyed to a wide audience the sacred plot. It is noted that in the second act of the Nativity scene were adapted interludes of school dramas, which represented the lower stylistic level of the Baroque. In this act, a funny line came to the fore, and a musical component is marked by influences of the Ukrainian musical folklore with a predominance of its dancing variety. The interaction of folklore with the lower version of the Baroque had a great potential for the further development of the Ukrainian national theatre. Due to the fact that music was an integral part of the puppet Nativity play drama and played an important dramatic function, this theatrical spectacle, like some school dramas, had the features of the drama with music genre. Thus, school drama and Nativity play drama created the foundation, on which in the XIXth century, the Ukrainian dramaturgy emerged, with a significant role of the musical factor in it, which was essentially a drama with music.
Keywords
nativity play, school drama, interludes, chants, adaptation, singing of a Choir, baroque style levels.
References
- Acts and Documents Relating to the History of the Kyiv Theological Academy. Section II (1791–1795). Preface-authored and annotated by Nikolay PETROV. Kyiv: Ivan Ivanovych Chokolov Printing House, 1907, vol. 4, XXXV + 393 pp. [in Russian].
- Archives of Southwest Russia: in 37 Volumes. Kiev: University’s Printing House, 1904, pt. 1, vol. XI: Acts Relating to the History of the Lviv Stauropegion Brotherhood (1586–1881), 772 pp. [in Russian].
- GALAGAN, Hryhoriy. Lesser Russian Nativity Play Drama. In: Feofan LEBEDINTSEV, ed.‑in‑chief, The Kyivan Past: A Historical Periodical. Kyiv: Hryhoriy Korchak-Novytskyi Printing House, 1882, vol. 4, bk. 10: October, pp. 1–38 [in Russian].
- SKOVORODA, Hryhoriy. The Garden of Divine Songs. In: Leonid USHKALOV, ed., Complete Academic Collected Works of Hryhoriy Skovoroda. T. Shevchenko Institute of Literature; H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy et al. Edmonton; Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies: Kharkiv: Maydan, 2011, pp. 51–85 [in Ukrainian].
- The Gospel of St. Luke. The Bible, or the Books of Scripture of the Old and New Testaments. Kyiv: Ukrainian Bible Society, 1992, pp. 70–112 [in Ukrainian].
- KORNIY, Lidiya. Ukrainian School Drama and Spiritual Music of the XVIIth to the First Half of the XVIIIth Century. Kyiv: NAS of Ukraine’s Institute of Ukrainian Archeography, 1993, 184 pp. [in Ukrainian].
- KORNIY, Lidiya. The History of Ukrainian Music (Latter Half of the XVIIIth Century). Part 2: A Manual. Kyiv; Kharkiv; New York: Marian-Pavlo Kots Publishing House, 1998, pp. 355–377 [in Ukrainian].
- MARKOVSKYI, Yevhen. The Ukrainian Nativity Play Drama. Studies and Texts: in Four Issues. Kyiv: All‑Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1929, iss. 1, 202 pp. [in Ukrainian].
- MARKOVSKYI, Yevhen. The Ukrainian Nativity Play Drama. Studies and Texts. A Musical Addendum. Sheet Music from a Manuscript of the Ukrainian Theatrical Museum. Kyiv: All‑Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1929, pp. 1–40 [in Ukrainian].
- MAKHNOVETS, Leonid. The Nativity Play Drama. In: Yevhen KYRYLIUK, editorial board’s chair, The History of Ukrainian Literature: in Eight Volumes. AS of Ukraine’s Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature. Kyiv: Scientific Thought, 1967, vol. 2: Formation of New Literature (Latter Half of the XVIIIth to the 1830s), pp. 81–88 [in Ukrainian].
- MARKEVYCH, Mykola (collector and compiler). Customs, Beliefs, Cuisine, and Beverages of Lesser Russians. A reprint of the 1860 edition. Kyiv: Voluntary Society of Book Lovers of the Ukrainian SSR, 1991, pp. 27–64 [in Russian].
- PETROV, Mykola. Kyiv Academy (On the Occasion of the Past 300th Anniversary of Its Existence). In: Pavlo ZAYTSEV, ed., Dmytro BAHALIY, ed.‑in‑chief, Proceedings of the Historical and Philological Department of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Kyiv, 1919, bk. I, pp. 3–17 [in Ukrainian].
- SOFRONOVA, Liudmila. The Ancient Ukrainian Theatre. RAS Institute for Slavic and Balkan Studies’ Cultural History Department. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 1996, 327 pp. [in Russian].
- SULYMA, Mykola. The Nativity Play Drama. In: Mykola SULYMA and Vira SULYMA (scientific editors). The History of Ukrainian Literature: in Twelve Volumes. NAS of Ukraine’s Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature. Kyiv: Scientific Thought, 2014, vol. 2: Ancient Literature (Latter Half of the XVIth to XVIIIth Centuries), pp. 704–711 [in Ukrainian].
- HUDZIY, Mykola (prefaced and edited by). Ukrainian Interludes of the XVIIth–XVIIIth Centuries. Textually prepared by Leonid MAKHNOVETS. Kyiv: UkrSSR’s Academy of Sciences Press, 1960, 238 pp. (Monuments of Ancient Ukrainian Literature Series) [in Ukrainian].
- FEDAS, Yosyp. The Ukrainian Folk Nativity Play Drama (in Studies of the XIXth–XXth Centuries). Kyiv: Scientific Thought, 1987, 183 pp. [in Ukrainian].
- SCHRÖER-TKACHENKO, Onysiya (compiler and annotator). A Reader of the Ukrainian Pre-October Music. Kyiv: Musical Ukraine, 1974, pp. 101–126 [in Ukrainian].