ROSTYSLAV HENIKA: PERFORMING-PEDAGOGICAL AND COMPOSING ACTIVITY

Abstract

Rostyslav Henika (1859–1942) was all-around gifted figure in music art between XIX–XX centuries. He was an extraordinary performer, caring and demanding teacher, interesting and erudite presenter of the concerts, musical journalist and composer, one of the founders of Kharkiv piano school. Piano art had always been a centre of attraction for Rostislav Henika. As a performer, R. Henika had always amazed listeners and colleagues by his courage and original skill for interpretation. This field of music art can be considered to be basis for all his theoretical, historical and musical critical generalizations and conclusions, and for his practical activity as a performer, a teacher and a composer. Having graduated from M. Rubinstein’s class of the Moscow conservatory, R. Henika conscientiously continued to apply traditions received from the teacher, including repertoire. In particular, it were compositions by J. S. Bach, G. Handel, D. Scarlatti, L. van Beethoven, K. M. Weber, F. Liszts, F. Chopin, R. Schuman, M. Musorgsky, P. I. Tchaikovsky and other composers. The objective of the study is to analyze different aspects of Rostyslav Henika’s creativity, to elucidate the personality’s talent universalism, scale of his piano performance activity as his main characteristic feature. The information about R. Henika as a performer is very poor and is taken mainly from reviews to his concerts where he was a soloist and a member of the ensemble. Music critics of that time always approved R. Henika’s creativity in performance, emphasizing his innovation, courage, interpretation individuality, mastery and versatility of his creativity points of view. Methodology of this article is based on historical, biographical, genre-stylistic analysis and analysis of archive and source information. Scientific novelty of the article consist in elucidating R. Henika’s figure as a performer and a teacher within reviews and criticism of the source information knowledge and panorama of Kharkiv life between XIX–XX centuries. Basic genre of R. Henika’s composing piano activity is analyzed, that is transcription, represented by the composition “Concert paraphrase” according to “Kupava’s complaint” motif from P. I. Tchaikovsky’s music to the O. Ostrovsky’s play “Snow Maid”. In conclusion we emphasize that R. Henika’s basic specialization was playing piano. While understanding pianism as musical aesthetic phenomenon, many-sided and deep understanding of musical art essence appeared and in general, it was peculiar to him as a musician-enlightener. The musician took himself as a “universalist” who can master any music profession – a performer, pedagogical or research activity. As a result, further study of R. Henika’s creativity and critique works will surely touch other fields of music art (opera, chamber music and so on).