Chamber and Vocal Works Based on the Texts of Chinese Poets: On the Issue of Stage Performance Culture

The article is devoted to the analysis of the image of China in the perceptions of European artists. The author does not claim to provide an exhaustive account of the topic but focuses on the chamber genres in 20th-century European music. The article is part of numerous studies by musicologists and scholars in pedagogy on the issue of “Chinism” in the works of European, mainly Ukrainian, and American composers, demonstrating the problem’s relevance and the global interest in Chinese culture in general. The possibilities of incorporating chamber and vocal works by Western European artists into the educational process of Ukrainian schools are highlighted based on translations of Chinese poetry or stylized poetic texts. It focuses on the intrinsic musicality of Chinese poetry as an essential worldview feature, its connection with philosophical meanings, and symbolic images of nature that reflect the national worldview in Chinese culture. The text shows how the images of Chinese poetry determine specific means of musical embodiment, providing examples of the symbolism of Chinese poetry and painting projected onto the musical plane. The musical “Chinese” imagery in the works of composers widely represented in educational and methodological materials for art teachers in Ukraine is examined, such as Claude Debussy (“Chinese Rondel”), Benjamin Britten (the cycle “Songs from China”), and Albert Roussel (vocal cycles based on Chinese poems). Although Roussel is almost unknown to Ukrainian students, his works engage with the context of individual compositional style and oriental stylizations. The article suggests ways to introduce these works to Ukrainian students when teaching art. It concludes with the possibility of expanding the list of examples in the future by including other chamber and vocal works by Western European composers (A. Webern, I. Stravinskyi) and Ukrainian artists who also turned to translations of Chinese poetry (B. Liatoshynskyi, A. Rudnytskyi; M. Shukh), therefore broadening the understanding of the work of the mentioned and other Ukrainian musicians. At the same time, this encourages further research and deeper reflection on the historically established connections between Chinese and Ukrainian musical cultures and educational systems.