Semantics of Taras Shevchenko‘s Poetry in Musical Interpretations of Modern Performers

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the process of transformation of semantic paradigm of musical interpretations of Taras Shevchenko‘s poetry in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The methodology of research combines general scientific methods with specific methods of musicology and literature. The use of historical and comparative methods, together with analytical method, made it possible to conduct a multidimensional analysis to identify the features of modern musical interpretations of Taras Shevchenko‘s poetry through the prism of socio-political transformations and to determine changes in them compared to previous interpretations. Scientific novelty. The analysis of musical versions of Kobzar‘s poetry in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war was carried out for the first time. Moreover, new and previously unanalysed song compositions have been added to the research related to musical Shevchenkiana. Conclusions. The creative heritage of the classics has always been a kind of tuning fork for the Ukrainian cultural space. Through the prism of the attitude towards it, it is possible to track both the internal transformations of the artists' creative worldview and the reflection of external challenges the whole country face. Тhe research demonstrates the transformation of semantics of the poetry of Taras Shevchenko in modern performers‘ musical interpretations. It reveals not only changes, but also the process which explains why such changes appeared. The work also describes how interpretations expand the paradigm of meanings not only during their creation, but also in diachrony – after a certain time, when the socio-political context changes, thus the phenomenon of "interpretation of interpretations" appears. Through updating the semantics of Taras Shevchenko‘s poetry by modern performers, a kind of intergenerational dialogue is formed. This leads to demonstration of spatio-temporal connections, which, through modern media resources, present Ukraine as a country with its own centuries-old history and unique, original culture.