The scientific objective of the research is to summarize information about the specifics of musical dramaturgy of children's operas by Ukrainian composers based on the musicological analysis of the operas by I. Shcherbakov “The Trap for the Witch”, R. Smolyar “Little Red Riding Hood”, Yu. Shevchenko “King Drozdoborod”.
In the dissertation, basic concepts are formulated that reveal the specifics of this research. Based on the study of theoretical sources on the theory and history of music, the history of musical theater, genre theory, problems of opera dramaturgy, methods of analyzing opera works, the history of children's music, reference literature, children's opera (or synonymously – opera for children) is a kind of classical opera, with themes designed for children, but designed for professional performance. The characteristic features of children's opera include: the corresponding thematicism, containing the educational potential; active development of musical and stage action; laconic and vivid means of musical expression for the individualization of musical images.
The concept of “musical dramaturgy of a children's opera” has been updated and supplemented. By it we mean “the logical embodiment in the music of a children's opera of a set of various components: the deployment of the plot, stage action, the emotional state of the characters based on comparison techniques, conflict with the approval of the idea of the victory of good over evil by musical and stage means. An integral part of the musical dramaturgy of children's operas is the contrasting alternation of acts, paintings, mass and solo scenes. Children's perception is activated when using various musical forms, solo singing (arias, ariosos, recitatives of various kinds), ensembles, choirs, as well as orchestral intros and interludes. Among the means of musical expressiveness of children's opera, the following are distinguished: clarity of the integral structure; simplicity and logic of the development of musical themes and their repetition; bright, simple musical constructions for the embodiment of contrasting images.
From the historiography of children's opera, various stages of its development are highlighted. The initial stage (from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century) is characterized by the appearance of the first works with a gradual specification in plot-figurative, intonational and rhythmic constructions of various national schools and compositional and dramatic solutions. The second stage in the existence of children's opera is characterized by a very contradictory character, but with the largest number of children's operas being written (from the middle of the 20th century to the middle of the 1990s). The beginning and end of the 1990s and the 21st century, children's opera is in an active search for both themes and means of expression.
Summing up the development of world children's opera from the end of the 19th century to the 21st century, the diversity of the libretto's themes is proved: fairy tales, fables, historical, fantastic plots, sea, space adventures with corresponding images. Composers choose stories based on the age of the audience. The musical dramaturgy of children's operas is based on melodies that are easy to reproduce and remember. For developmental activity, contrasting shaped spheres are clearly distributed.
Children's operas by contemporary Ukrainian composers (I. Shcherbakov “A Trap for a Witch”, R. Smolyar “Little Red Riding Hood”, Yu. Shevchenko “King Drozdoborod”) clearly demonstrate the development of figurative and semantic lines of juxtaposition and interaction between good and evil. All components of musical works are subordinated to the disclosure of their ideological content. A holistic system of means of expression forms compositional completeness, which reveals the main conflict of the work, and in all three operas of these composers, the plot basis is a fairy tale. A type of conflict dramaturgy with opposition, interaction and struggle of opposing camps of characters or images is inherent in the fairy tale.
The musical dramaturgy of the analyzed children's operas is subject to general dramatic laws with the corresponding stages of development: exposure, setting, development, culmination, denouement. The musical dramaturgy, defined on the example of children's operas, is realized in the characterization of musical images by the principles of similarity and contrast. Repetition becomes an obligatory component in musical material, which helps the young viewer and listener to understand the development of stage actions and the general meaning of the works.
For children's operas, including Ukrainian composers, contrast is characteristic as the basis for the development of musical dramaturgy of works. Contrasting juxtapositions of images, scenes, means of musical expression provide dynamic development of form at all levels.
