The Imagosphere of Myroslav Skoryk's Opera Moses¹

Drawing on the Scriptures and their interpretation by Franko, Skoryk takes up one of the ‘eternal’ literary imagemes of all time and all nations, namely, the Biblical parable. The imageme of Israel as the Promised Land and as the generalised image of the fatherland plays a crucial role in the opera, recurring as a leitmotif which, in the work's complex structure, becomes the leading theme of the entire composition. It should be explained that Skoryk's Moses comprises six leitmotifs present in the first three scenes. Together they make up a wide array of musical images, symbols, and metaphors. The leitmotif of Israel, associated with the part of Moses, recurs at key moments in the opera, for instance when the prophet presents the moral derived from the parable of the trees (No. 8, sect. 9).

Moses tells his people a fable about trees that elected their king. Stately and splendid trees rejected the crown, which was eventually accepted by the shabby and inconspicuous blackthorn. Moses compares this bush to the people of Israel, who fail to understand their high and noble mission.

The leitmotif of Israel subsequently recurs in the full tripartite exposition of Moses’ arioso (No. 12, sect. 17), in which the protagonist abandons his nation, lamenting its arrogance and obstinacy. For the last time we hear the Israel theme in Scene Four (first in the Moses part, later in the orchestra) as Moses struggles to drive away Yokhaveda (Jochebed), the evil tempter-spirit of the desert (No. 10, end of sect. 10).

The national character of Skoryk's musical themes finds its expression in one of the opera's main musical imagemes – that of the Ukrainian melodic type. The typically Ukrainian melodiousness, derived from lyrical romances and various kinds of folk music, gains prominence in many solemn passages of the opera, in particular – in Moses’ aria with the parable of the trees (No. 7) and in the chorus ‘It Was Moses in His Prayer’ (No. 20, sect. 15). The tradition of Ukrainian folk duet is evoked by the composer in the duet of two young Jews, Liya and Yegoshua (Joshua) (No. 1).

Skoryk also draws on the tradition of operatic arias, choral scenes, and Ukrainian folksong arrangements as initiated by the classic of Ukrainian art music, Mykola Lysenko (Nos 4, 7, 20). On the instrumental level one may find another musical imageme related to Oriental melodic patterns (No. 1), particularly in the extensive ballet scene (dance in honour of Baal, Nos 13–16).

The central dramaturgical conflict of this opera is the test to which the protagonist's faith is put. The multi-aspectual nature of this conflict was represented through binary opposites, each of which can function as one of the most powerful imagothemes present in (particularly Ukrainian) culture: the spiritual leader vs the nation; freedom vs slavery; good vs evil; human vs God; faith vs its lack; the material vs the spiritual, etc.

The first of these imagothemes in particular, ‘the spiritual leader vs the nation’, represents not only the multidimensional personality of the prophet Moses, but also the situation of conflict between his followers and opponents. This conflict is reflected on the musical and dramaturgical level, where Moses and his adherents stand out in melodic-harmonic terms (as in chorus No. 4 ‘Blue Jordan Beyond Yon Mountains’) and their appearances are accompanied by modulations to remote keys. Musical portraits of Moses’ opponents, on the other hand, lack characteristic motifs. The phrases sung by Aviron (Abiram) and Datan and their orchestral settings are built on chords based on tritones. Their melodic lines are generally awkward, which, in combination with restless triplet rhythmic patterns, bestows a tense and ominous character on the rebels’ parts. The chorus only repeats some phrases from Aviron and Datan's parts or recites the text on a single note.

The imagotheme of ‘freedom vs slavery’ manifests itself most prominently in an analysis of the opera's system of leitmotifs. Of the six leading themes mentioned above, two come in the prologue. These are the slavery theme (which Kyianovska refers to as ‘the motif of those bound in chains’

Kyianovska, ‘“Moisei” na porozi novoho stolittia’, pp. 11–12.

The leitmotif of freedom, conversely, is free, vast, and melodious, exhibiting hymnal qualities. Performed by the Poet and the choir with orchestral accompaniment (sect. 13 and 14) it symbolises the belief that Israel will regain its freedom.

The imagotheme of ‘good vs evil’ is represented through Moses’ contacts with the mystical spirits of the desert, embodiments of evil, coupled with a motif that can prominently be heard in Scene Three (at the beginning of No. 8). This bipartite theme consists of a tremolo in the strings based on radically unstable chord combinations and its melodic development in the part of the muted trumpet.

It is against the backdrop of this splendid leitmotif, akin to an adder's hiss, that Azazel the desert spirit accuses Moses of following his boundless pride. By leading his people out to wander in the desert, he claims, the prophet abandoned the right path. The spirits’ leitmotif recurs later towards the end of No. 19.

The imagotheme of evil is related to that of fear, built out of a harmonic progression of four descending chromatic chords. The motif of fear first makes its appearance in No. 4, in the part of the chorus of Moses’ followers (choir 2) engaging in a dispute with the rebels (choir 1), who reject the idea of heading for the Promised Land. Moses’ supporters remind the latter that they provoke Jehovah's anger (sect. 11). Notably, the musical motifs of slavery and fear undergo various modifications and may sometimes be combined in different ways.

Evil as an imagological category is richly and variously represented in Skoryk's opera. For instance, the parts of Azazel and the voices of the desert, featuring triads with augmented fifths, restless triplet rhythms, and ‘slithery’ chromaticisms, are akin to the parts sung by Moses’ opponents. Both are equally unattractive and hostile. These extraordinary, gloomy images may undergo transformations depending on the situation and context. This happens, for instance, in the part of Yokhaveda, claiming to be the soul of Moses’ mother, who attempts to persuade the prophet that his efforts are futile. Unlike the parts of other antagonists, hers is quite elaborate, with some lyrical qualities. Within its closed tripartite formal structure (No. 21), it contains third-and-sixth progressions, interplays of single-third scales, a barcarolle-like accompaniment, as well as wonderfully orchestrated strings and harp. Endowing images of evil with external beauty and attractiveness has its counterpart in the music of Alfred Schnittke.

In this context, one may refer to the role of the tango in Schnittke's works: his Concerto for Viola and Orchestra and the cantata Historia von D. Johann Fausten. In the course of its development, this element betrays its negative essence and destructive power.

Evil is represented in Skoryk's operas by genres other than those attributed to the good side. It is characterised by dance-like and march-like qualities. March rhythms first emerge in the orchestra when Aviron mocks Moses’ tale and suggests that the prophet should volunteer as a babies’ nanny (No. 9, sect. 11). The dance quality comes to the fore after Moses has abandoned his people (Nos. 13–16). The extensive ballet scene depicting the pagan cult of the Golden Calf and Baal as the god of wealth and power is dominated by syncopated rhythms and strangely ragged melodic contours. The dance episode (No. 14) features an interesting synthesis of composition techniques: one line develops into two- and subsequently three-part polyphony, combined with jazz-derived elements of thematic work such as syncopation, divergence of rhythmic and metrical accents, playing ‘around’ the same motif, etc. No. 15 is a slow dance delighting the ear with beautiful orchestral ideas, such as the silvery streams of harp notes, virtuoso percussion and brass solos, as well as ‘exotic’ multi-note chords. Elements of dance (punctuated rhythms in particular) can also be found in the musical characterisation of the evil desert spirits (No. 23, sect. 19).

The opera's main imagotype is that of the nation's spiritual leader. Moses’ part, most important in this composition, is extremely complex, with a wealth of melodic and harmonic solutions. It contains extensive recitatives, closed numbers such as a tripartite arioso on a diatonic base, daring modulations with unexpected enharmonic transformations, etc. Moses also has his own leitmotif, which can be referred to the motif of the prophecy (an augmented second and a triad in the trumpet against the background of timpani).

This leitmotif opens the second scene and recurs twice more as a reminiscence in Nos 9 and 11, in which Moses prophesies the death of his adversaries, Aviron and Datan. The same leitmotif recurs towards the end of the opera (in No. 27, sect. 13), where Moses’ prophecies finally come true. Episodes that represent the protagonist's suffering and tormented soul are linked to melodic structures featuring ‘dark’ flat keys (such as B-flat minor and E-flat minor in No. 17), whereas in the brighter moments when he is praying to God the tonal palette changes (for instance, to C-sharp minor, which dominates in No. 19).

Faith and the love of freedom are one of Moses’ main imagotypes. The opera's plot leaves out the events that preceded Moses’ liberating the Jewish nation from slavery in Egypt on orders that he received from Jehovah in a revelation. The image of God is nevertheless constantly present in the composition, and His name is uttered with awe not only by the prophet and his followers, but also by his adversaries, and even by the evil spirits. The moment when Jehovah's voice is heard

A microphone was used to amplify and thus enhance the extraordinary mystical effect.

Jehovah's part, like that of the protagonist, is entrusted to a bass voice. It starts in that voice's top register and gradually descends until it reaches the lowest note. Notably, this concept of intonation already appears earlier in what we call the leitmotif of Israel, when Moses prophesies to his people that they would be punished by God (No. 8, sect. 9). The similarity of rhythm, intonation, and text in these two episodes is of symbolic significance. Moses, who guides his people in earthly life in accordance with God's will, here seems to sense his own tragic fate.

From the time of Stepan Hulak-Artemovsky, it has been a tradition in Ukrainian opera to attribute to the romantic operatic couple not only mutual affection, but also a great patriotic love of the fatherland.

In this context one could mention Andriy and Oksana, the lyrical protagonists of Semen Hulak-Artemovsky's Zaporozhets za Dunayem.

The person of the Poet stands out in the opera, as separate from the main dramaturgical conflicts and lines of development. It appears in the prologue and the epilogue. The composer entrusted this character with one of the work's loftiest and most optimistic themes: the recurring motif of freedom (cf. musical example No. 4). In Skoryk's opera the Poet's function is much more complex than in other works where such a figure appears as an element binding the individual sections of the composition and organising its poetic-philosophical framework. In Skoryk's Moses, the Poet is an intertextual element introducing both the image of Franko as the author of the opera's prototype and of the composer himself. At the same time, the Poet serves as a kind of ‘transmission belt’ between the Biblical events and the modern society with its anxieties. In the Lviv Opera production of Moses, this special role and meaning assigned to the Poet was also highlighted on the visual level. As a reviewer observed, ‘his modern European suit stands out from the archaic costumes of the choir members, pointing at the time when Franko wrote his poem and emphasising the topicality of the events presented on the stage.’

Y. Kuryshev, ‘“Moisei” M. Skoryka: vira ta znevira’ [‘“Moses’ by M. Skoryk: Faith and Despair’], Muzyka, no. 1–2, 2002, p.14.