The scientific task of the dissertation is to characterize the song heritage by I. Karabyts in the context of the development of the Ukrainian vocal variety art. An analysis of the composer’s pop songs both from the standpoint of academization of the musical variety art and from the standpoint of characterizing the creative personality of an master who had an ambiverted nature (according to L. Kyianovska) became productive for characterizing the song genre in I. Karabyts’s work. As one of the personal determinants of the creative individuality of I. Karabyts, ambivertism characterizes his pop song creativity. We define ambivertism as a special quality of the compose’s pop songs, which presupposes their simultaneous focus both on a wide audience («mass music») and on professional connoisseurs («elite music»). The ambivertism inherent in the songs on the intonational-stylistic and musical-dramatic levels becomes obvious in the musical performance practice: the songs by I. Karabyts sound equally organically on the academic and pop stage.
Hit becomes one of the basic concepts in the study of I. Karabyts’ pop song creativity. Note that not all the works of the composer can be defined as hits, but the most famous songs of the master, such as «Parental threshold», «Dnipro living water» («Dnieper water»), «Madonna Ukraine», «My Kyiv», «My land – my love», «Song for good» and others were very popular in their time, which was shown by their numerous publications in songbooks and musical supplements of newspapers and magazines of the 1970s–1980s. Also, these works are still in the repertoire of Ukrainian pop performers.
In the context of our research, it is productive to introduce the concept of «academicized variety art», which meets the sociocultural conditions in which the pop songs of I. Karabyts were created. Song creativity by I. Karabyts, covering the 1970s–1980s, is consistent with the principles of the academicized variety art, cultivated in the USSR. Considering that the composer did not belong to the classical avant-garde, for him academicized pop music became one of the forms of postmodern artistic synthesis. In the pop song work by I. Karabyts, the following features are revealed that bring it closer to academic art: 1) orientation in pop songs to the academic type of vocal; 2) the gravitation in the songs to the end-to-end drama while maintaining the basic verse (with the refrain) form; 3) detailed piano accompaniment with elements of polyphonic texture, bringing pop songs closer to classical romances, or exquisite instrumentation in their orchestral versions. In the pop songs by I. Karabyts, the features of academicism are clearly expressed, and the pop component is realized primarily through an appeal to the intonation fund of the then popular music.
Analysis of the pop song heritage by I. Karabyts showed that the interaction of the pop and academic components occurs both at the intonational-style and musical-dramatic levels. The ambivertism in the songs, defined by the composer as pop, is presented to varying degrees. «Pure» ambivertism presupposes a proportionate ratio of academic and pop traits in the song. Among such works we include the songs «Where the wind cuddles the earth», «Dnieper water», «There are only cherries beyond the river», «Our mother is a gray turtledove», «My land – my love», «I am heart with Kyiv». Ambivertism as a special quality of song works opens up the possibility of their successful performance both on the academic and pop stage. If the ambivert features of a song work are not fully represented, then in the cultural and artistic space it functions as academic («Apples are ripe») or pop («Song for good»).
An analysis of academic and pop interpretations of I. Karabyts’s pop songs of different years showed that transformations of the author’s text are possible in performing practice. The melodic, rhythmic, tempo and dramaturgical components of a song piece, as well as its vocal and general sound, can be transformed. Changes in the musical text of the song are associated with the specifics of pop performance, where in the foreground is not the composer, but the artist interpreter.
Among the research prospects are the development of the theoretical foundations of the interaction of academic and pop music, the identification of ambivert features of the Ukrainian academicized variety art of the 1950–1980s, the characteristics of the creativity of Ukrainian academic composers who worked in the pop song genre, the definition of the style determinants of I. Karabyts’ music, based on his academic and pop musical heritage.
