Yury Falik’s “Liturgical Chants”: The Problem of Cyclicity

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of cyclicity of Yu. Falik’s choral composition “Liturgical Chants”. The relevance of the topic is associated with the increasing importance of spiritual music in the sphere of national culture, with the creation of musical works in a variety of genres and forms, oriented both to liturgical and concert performance.

The novelty of solving the problem is determined by the consideration of this cyclic work in the context of the genre typology of the works of Russian sacred music, which includes a triad of traditional genres, mixed genres and non-traditional genres. The choir cycle of Yu. Falik, consisting of 15 chants for canonical texts for choir a cappella, belonging to different services, different church holidays, refers to the genres of mixed type.

The article deals with the features of the dramatic construction of the choral cycle, the use of musical expressiveness means, the image-thematic content, which is based on the liturgical idea, consonant with the main Orthodox divine service — Liturgy: purification, enlightenment, soul’s transformation through the Eucharist, adoption of the Holy Communion. An important observation of the article’s author is the presence of systematicity in succession of the chants that are not associated with a specific church service or holiday. In the first part of the cycle, before the Cherubic Song, the theme of repentance prevails, in the second — the theme of hope for salvation, the glory of the Lord.

Finally, the author draws a conclusion about the characteristic features of this work, which is, on the one hand, close to the cantata-oratorio genre, on the other hand, it bears the features of the liturgical and singing tradition.