Choral texture in the cantata-oratorio works of Ruvim Pergament

The aim of the paper is to draw the attention of performers and researchers to the rich and understudied body of choral music created in the Republic of Karelia, particularly to the works of Ruvim Samuilovich Pergament (1906-1965), whose name is associated with the first experiments in choral texture within the cantata-oratorio genre. The methodology of analyzing choral texture remains one of the controversial areas in modern musicology and changes significantly when studying choral music of the 20th century. The analysis of choral texture in Pergament’s works was conducted according to current methodological approaches presented in the works of P. Levando, D. Khramov, N. Vasilyeva, A. Ryzhinsky, and N. Telkova. The scientific novelty of the paper lies in the fact that most cantata-oratorio compositions by composers of Soviet Karelia remain practically unknown to performers, listeners, and researchers alike, as they exist only as original handwritten manuscripts and fragments stored in the manuscript archive of the National Library of the Republic of Karelia. As a result of the study of the timbre, texture, and dramatic aspects of the choral texture in the composer’s works, stylistic features and compositional solutions were identified that demonstrate not only a proximity to the work of N. Rimsky-Korsakov, even parallels with the style of R. Wagner in some compositions, but also a high intensity of evolution in Pergament’s creative style.