The typological and the individual in P. Hindemith’s choral fugues.
The aim. The article is meant to detect the typological and the individual in the choral polyphony of P. Hindemith, using his choral fugues #1 from the Oratorio Eternal and #7 from the Requiem “When in the yard in front of the house, a lilac was blooming this spring” as the examples. Though P. Hindemith’s creative work was considered in the monograph of T. Lyova-O. Leontieva and in P. Kiselyov’s thesis (such aspects as general stylistic peculiarities of choral art and dramaturgy of long forms), nevertheless his choral fugues have been studied to a lesser degree. Due to a great performance interest, a poor theoretical basis concerning the choral polyphony of the German composer proves that the topic of the research is urgent. Research methodology. The author applied the structural-functional and comparative methods. The performance approach to the study of P. Hindemith’s fugues reflects the specifics of choral art. Results. The parity of the typological and the individual was detected by the analysis of the fugues in the creative manner of the German Maestro. Components known for their being universal can be separated from those whose nature is caused exceptionally by the composer’s writing style. The typological in the music language became apparent not only in the polyphonic forms, the thematic unity principle, and a variation development taken as the basis of a composition but, first of all, in the revival of the baroque conceptual idea. The composer’s individual creative manner has to do with a synthesis of a thematic character and a harmonic system of the main tone, polyphonization of the texture, and architectonics of the whole. The abovementioned choral fugues appear as two classic in their forms examples, at that each of them has its peculiarities. The fugue from the Oratorio “Eternal” consists of an unfolded opening with an intense polyphonic development, a double common exposition of two themes, a rather unfolded middle part, and a dynamic reprise. The composer used the principles of variation of a music material with essential contrapuntal transitions. The fugue from the “Lilac” Requiem involves an introduction, a separate exposition of two themes, a middle part, an unfolded reprise, and a magnificent choral coda. The comparative analysis of the themes in these fugues by P. Hindemith revealed their complex interval-intonational and rhythmic-articulation structures. The development of the musical thematic character is realized by means of variation of its separate elements, a contrapuntal transition of choral voices and orchestra layers, while a choral polyphony is pushed aside with an orchestra texture sounding with an ostinato’s important role. P. Hindemith demonstrates the specifics of a choral polyphony as a performance unit on the maximum of the tessituradynamic capabilities, a variety of articulation techniques and abundance of voice leading. Novelty. The analysis of P. Hindemith’s fugues detected the parity of the typological and the individual in the musical language which helps to comprehend the specifics of the composer’s artistic thinking. Practical significance. The 20th-century choral music very often complied with the logic of its creators’ polyphonic thinking. The grounding of the parity of the typological and the individual in P. Hindemith’s choral polyphony will enable interpreters to adopt the objective-historical continuity as a musical universal. In this very context, a development of different forms of a choral polyphony will occur as in the first half of the 20th century (creative work of I. Stravinsky, D. Shostakovich, P. Hindemith, G. Ligeti, B. Lyatoshynsky), so in its latter half (creativity of V. Bibik, I. Karabits, O. Shchetynsky). The studying of these forms of a choral polyphony makes a novel scientific discourse in music studies of the 21st century.