THE SPECIFICITY OF REFLECTING HEROISM IN UKRAINIAN AND CHINESE MUSICAL AND MENTAL PICTURES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF WORKS BY KYRYLO STETSENKO AND XIAN XINGHAI)

Abstract

The article presents a comparative analysis of the reflection of the heroic in Ukrainian and Chinese musical and moral pictures on the example of works that, in the author’s opinion, demonstrate the specifics of the national thinking of these peoples. These are the cantatas «On a Sunday on a Holy» by Kyrylo Stetsenko and «Huanghe» by Xian Xinghai. The purpose of the article is to identify the specific features of the reflection of heroism in Ukrainian and Chinese musical and moral pictures on the example of the cantatas «On a Sunday on a Holy» by Kyrylo Stetsenko and «Huanghe» by Xian Xinghai. Research objectives: 1) to analyse the embodiment of the heroic knightly archetype in the cantata «On a Sunday on a Holy» by Kyrylo Stetsenko in the context of the Ukrainian national and moral picture; 2) to characterise the cantata «Huanghe» by Xian Xinghai through the prism of the reflection of Chinese heroic imagery and the corresponding musical and moral characteristic; 3) to draw conclusions about the specifics of the embodiment of heroism in these works. The research methodology is based on a combination of cultural and comparative methods and holistic musicological analysis. Scientific novelty. The article analyses the reflection of heroism through the prism of a comparative approach, relying on the Ukrainian and Chinese mental specificity. Conclusion. The Ukrainian cantata «On a Sunday on a Holy» by Kyrylo Stetsenko, based on a poem by Taras Shevchenko and written in the style of the national duma, vividly depicts the social unity of the Cossacks, which is reflected in music as a collective national heroism, with brotherly greatness interpreted as the spiritual basis of the Cossacks. However, this collective primordiality is shaded through the category of the individual – the hero’s state of mind, heartfelt feelings about the benefit of the community and personal ethics of serving the Cossack brotherhood. This is the developed individualism and subtle sensuality that, at the deepest Sophia-border-centric level, are present in the picture of the national mentality and pass through all its musical reflection, in this case realised by romantic expressive means. In Xian Xinghai’s Chinese cantata «Huanghe», the national-heroic is presented as a generalised collective, symbolised by the Great Yellow River, which causes constant destruction as a result of water overflowing its banks, but at the same time, the floods of the «Huanghe» make the land fertile, thus giving the possibility of harvests. But above this is a higher semantics – the national unity of the Chinese lands from Tibet to the Yellow Sea by the Great River, which is reflected in the cantata by a combination of romantic and expressive impressionistic means, which has its origins in the mental and contemplative tradition, driven by the Tao idea.