Dies Ire as a code of cultural memory in Prelude and Fugue No. 4 E minor from the cycle “24 Preludes and Fugues” by Vsevolod Zaderatskyi

Section 1. Modern Revisions of Musical and Historical Heritage

Abstract

Statement of the problem. The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the diptych "Prelude and Fugue" No. 4 in E minor from the cycle "24 Preludes and Fugues" by Vsevolod Petrovich Zaderatsky, which is a unique phenomenon of Ukrainian musical culture of the 20th century and at the same time a mystical and psychological diary of the composer’s concentration camp experience. The choice of the theme is posed by the value of the diptych as a means of conveying the mental and psychological experience of those imprisoned in existential and borderline situations of camp reality, and the need of revealing the symbolic formulas of the musical text, which are cultural codes of national identity and traumatic memory of the Ukrainian people. The reconstruction of such works from the positions of art history, cultural studies, psychology and theology allows us not only to understand the logic of musical presentation, but also the encrypted deep psychological reality that could not be expressed in words. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. For the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the diptych “Prelude and Fugue” in E minor No 4 as the page of the psychological “diary” “24 Preludes and Fugues”by Zaderatskyi from the point of view of musicology, philosophy, cultural studies, theology and psychology, identifying ways to reproduce the traumatic transformation of the “I” of the repressed generation has been carried out. This approach allowed us to discover symbols in the musical text that tell about the personal experience of the composer, as well as the experience of the split “I” of the prisoners.

Research results. The following tasks resolved in the study: to analyze the structural and thematic features of the diptych; to explore the symbolism of the bell in the context of individual and collective cultural memory; to reveal the traumatic experience of the hero’s “I” through the psychological dimension of the diptych; to combine musicological, philosophical, cultural, theological and psychological approaches for a holistic understanding of the “Prelude and Fugue” in E minor No. 4. It is emphasized that the cycle “24 Preludes and Fugues” became “a place of memory”, where the encrypted images of the native home and the traditional values create a psychologically safe space for meeting one’s own pain and fearthanks to which the composer managed to maintain psychological health in the terrible conditions of the camp reality. The bell is considered as a symbolic figure of time and memory that preserves and transmits the cultural and spiritual traditions of the Ukrainian people. As the tragic composer, Vsevolod Zaderatskyi skillfully recreates the suffering of broken "I" through musical language, allowing the modern listeners, thanks to sound formulas, to feel the composer’s existential experiences, comparing them with their own ideas about life, death and moral choice in crisis situations.

Conclusion. The diptych No. 4 in E minor is one of the darkest and most mystical works in V. Zaderatskyi’s cycle “24 Preludes and Fugues”, which combines classical polyphonic mastery with deep psychological and spiritual expression. A comprehensive approach to its study allows not only to comprehend the artistic logic, but also to reconstruct the spiritual world of the composer, which serves as evidence of the life and cultural experience of the generation that survived repression. Musical images of the diptych, in particular, the symbolism of the bell, are carriers of cultural memory and national identity, making this work extremely valuable both for musicology and for interdisciplinary research in the fields of psychology, cultural studies and theology. The diptych “Prelude and Fugue” in E minor No. 4 is extremely relevant for the modern study of Ukrainian music, cultural identity and the history of psychical traumatism in the 20th century.