The performance fate of the Liturgies by O. Koshyts

Statement of the problem. In the early twentieth century, almost all Ukrainian composers were turning to the genre of liturgy. Oleksandr Antonovych Koshyts (1875–1944) is the author of five liturgies that were composed in emigration between 1922 and 1938. The Soviet government restricted the activities of churches and the performance of spiritual works by Ukrainian composers, and the works of O. Koshyts were banned altogether. Thanks to the activities of leading conductors and choirs, the names and works of a number of Ukrainian composers of the early twentieth century were revived. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. Among the significant musicological studies on the liturgy genre there are the works by N. Sereda (2004), N. Kostiuk (2016, 2021), O. Tyshchenko (2011), O. Kozarenko (2001), O. Zasadna (2014), and T. Teslia (2016). In recent years, a number of dissertations have also appeared (Pater, 2021; Perepeliuk, 2020). N. Kalutska and L. Parkhomenko (2012), M. Antonovych (1975), and N. Sereda (2004) have studied O. Koshyts’s life and creative activity, in particular, his liturgies. However, the being of O. Koshyts’s spiritual works in the concert and church performance spaces is completely unexplored, so the chosen topic of the article is relevant and new not only for musicologists but also for performers. The purpose of the article is to study the performance fate of O. Koshyts’s liturgies. The specifics of the work led to the use of the following research methods: cultural-historical and biographical to cover the period of creation of the liturgies and their performance path; searching to identify the necessary information regarding the performance versions of O. Koshyts’s liturgies or their fragments; systematic and analytical one for systematizing, adapting, and comprehending the information obtained from various sources, as well as for drawing generalizing conclusions. Results and conclusion. In liturgical practice, O. Koshyts’s choral liturgical works are rarely performed and occupy a secondary place in the repertoire. This means that the composer’s works are still less wide spread than those of K. Stetsenko and M. Leontovych, who have become firmly established in church use. For example, “In the Kingdom” by M. Leontovych and “Bless” by K. Stetsenko are gems of Ukrainian liturgical singing. Undoubtedly, due to the educational activities of prominent Ukrainian conductors and choirs, the positive changes already rear. Musicians need to make an effort to ensure that not only the First Liturgy but all five O. Koshyts’s liturgies will be performed in full.