Recently, Ukrainian musical culture has been enriched by a new thorough scientific study – a monograph was published dedicated to the musicological analysis of specific techniques and means of folklore transformation in the orchestral work of the outstanding Ukrainian composer and teacher Lev Mykolayovych Kolodub.
Lev Mykolayovych KOLODUB (1930–2019) is a Ukrainian composer, teacher, and musicologist whose work significantly influenced the development of national academic music. The artist graduated from the Kyiv State Conservatory, later becoming a professor at this institution.
The composer's creative output includes symphonic, chamber and instrumental, operatic music, as well as music for theater and cinema. The main feature of the author's style is the combination of Ukrainian folklore with modern compositional techniques. As a teacher and scientist, L. KOLODUB made a significant contribution to the development of the Ukrainian musical school, supported young composers and actively promoted the popularization of the national musical tradition. The works of Lev Mykolayovych remain an integral part of Ukrainian musical art and continue to be performed on the stages of Ukraine and abroad, preserving and developing the traditions of the native national culture.
The author of the monograph is Lidiya Petrovna M AKARENKO - researcher, musicologist, teacher, director of the Institute of Culture and Creative Industries of the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design.
In her scientific work, the researcher reveals the main mechanisms, techniques, and patterns of adaptation of Ukrainian folk melody in the composer's orchestral works, which allows for a deeper understanding of his creative concept and contribution to the development of national musical culture.
The monograph provides a comprehensive analysis of the stylistic features of L. KOLODUB's orchestral works, in which a synthesis of traditional folk music with modern composer techniques can be traced.
Lydia MAKARENKO has carried out a deep musicological analysis of the methods of folklore transformation in orchestral work, exploring how folk intonations, mode, rhythmic and timbre features become an integral part of the composer's individual style. Particular attention is paid to the issues of stylistic evolution of the author's writing, the processes of adaptation and rethinking of traditional musical forms, which reflects the innovative approach of the composer's technique.
In her monograph, the author draws deep parallels between the European traditions of using folk melos in symphonic music and national compositional practices. Ms. Lydia focuses on the development of the Ukrainian compositional school in the context of world musical trends, revealing its uniqueness through interaction with pan-European artistic processes and modern creative searches.
The monograph fits into the broad context of modern research on folklore transformation in professional music and continues the tradition of analytical studies dedicated to the use of folk melody in the work of Ukrainian composers of the 20th—21st centuries.
The work of Lydia MAKARENKO is of great importance for the development of musicological science, as it contributes to a more thorough understanding of the peculiarities of the national orchestral tradition. The monograph is a valuable theoretical source for: students of art specialties, musicology teachers, researchers of academic music, composers working with folklore, orchestral performers and conductors.
The work of L. MAKARENKO can be used in the educational process to form analytical skills in students studying the history of Ukrainian and world music, orchestral writing, and analysis of musical works.
Thus, the monograph not only deepens the understanding of Lev Kolodub's work , but also becomes an important contribution to the preservation and development of the Ukrainian musical tradition in the modern cultural space.
Makarenko L. P. Lev Kolodub : Ukrainian folk melody and orchestra: monograph / L. P. Makarenko. – Kyiv: KNUTD, 2025. – 184 p.
28.02.2025
