«16 Waltzes for solo bassoon» by F. Mignon: genre and stylistic transformations
Background. The article is devoted to the genre and stylistic specificity of music for solo bassoon on the example of «16 Waltzes for solo bassoon» by Francois Mignon. The emergence of works for solo bassoon in music performance and composition practice is one of those processes, which reflects the specifics of modern music art. Moreover, the increasing interest in woodwind performance is also reflected in the emergence of various competitions, festivals, scientific conferences, and the emergence of a great deal of wind instrument performers’ communities. Objectives. The whole complex of musical processes has always been important for the bassoon performance, i.e. not only the original repertoire, but also the improvement of the structure and the corresponding change in sound settings; the emergence of competing constructional traditions (German and French); activity of individual performers, teachers, educators; compositional innovations; artistic needs of new musical trends and directions; the emergence of scientific literature on the bassoon. The current situation in solo bassoon performance is marked with genre and stylistic richness of the original repertoire; but these phenomena of music art do not receive enough scientific attention. The purpose of the article is to identify the ways of genre and stylistic transformations in the context of solo bassoon performance. The object of the study is music for solo bassoon of the second half of the 20th century; the subject of the research is genre and stylistic transformations of the waltz on the example of «16 Waltzes for solo bassoon» by F. Mignon. Methodology. In the musical science of wind instruments the most significant works are written by G. Abajian, V. Apatsky, L. Belenova, V. Berezin, V. Bogdanov, N. Volkov, V. Gromchenko, Yu. Dolzhikov, V. Lebedev, N. Karaulovskaya , S. Levin, V. Leonov, V. Popov, I. Pushechnikova, B. Stark, J. Usov. In foreign musicology there are a few complex theoretical studies devoted to the bassoon, they mainly concern the history of the instrument and its constructive evolution or teaching methods of playing the bassoon. The relationship of the bassoon perfection and the impact of technical and artistic possibilities of the instrument and need for practice caused a wave of interest in bassoon performance. Many composers of the second half of the 20th-21st centuries, e.g. F. Mignon, M. Allard, G. Jacob, W. Waterhouse, S. Gubaidulina and others, turned to the solo bassoon music. Works created by them represent a wide range of genre and style decisions. The repertoire for solo bassoon includes several works that are particularly important in performance and composition practice, for example, «16 Waltzes for solo bassoon» by F. Mignon. Results. This composition is one of the first original pieces for solo bassoon and one of the most popular among performers and listeners. The composer reveals the full potential of the instrument realized in the palette of genre-style Waltzes projections. Waltz is one of the most popular musical genres in Brazil, which moved from functional music to the professional one and became a kind of genre "icon" of Brazilian professional music. Waltz has undergone a certain cultural change in Brazil, having become an integral part of musical culture of this country. The main characteristic of the Brazilian waltz is that it was not designed for dancing, but was performed outside as "background" music. Waltzes have become for Brazilian music a universal genre prism through which composers and performers embody a whole range of different images, marked with the national colour. The study shows that F. Mignon interprets precisely this genre prototype in his «16 Waltzes for solo bassoon». This is reflected in explanatory notes to the plays, in their improvisational nature, in the presence of solo fragments (personal statements), use of rubato and so on. The forms of waltzes are also interesting in view of evaluating the whole cycle and revealing a variety of forms used by the composer. The pace of all pieces from the cycle does not differ dramatically (Waltz is mostly a mid-tempo dance). The means of expression is not the tempo but strokes, intonation, specific features of sound production, form. Most of waltzes are written in minor keys, which helps to lyricise the characters, create a particular atmosphere associated with the origin of serestas. Conclusion. As a result, we face waltzes, which are a kind of encyclopaedia of sounding bassoon and its figurative expressive possibilities. Thus, skilful use of various methods of musical expression, such as register-play, variety of strokes, dynamic swings, different melisms and overall unique character, open up a vast world to self-realization for the artists, and at the same time a world to imagining many characters and both composer’s and performer’s intent for listener. The genre reading, based on the national colour, mentality, tone colour of the bassoon, shows a bright palette of genre and stylistic transformations of the waltz