Ru
EnA. Tsuker
Liya Yakovlevna Khinchin: the dramaturgy of opera – the dramaturgy of life
The article examines the connection between the academic concept of the renowned Russian musicologist and educator Liya Yakovlevna Khinchin and her personal fate. The scholar’s works are marked by a unique authorial vision, bearing the imprint of her personality, with her voice and intonation clearly discernible in them. Most importantly, they echo the dramatic moments of her life. Even the choice of objects – heroes of her research – aligns with the dramatic “plots” she experienced herself. It is no coincidence that Khinchin is drawn to composers who reflect on tragedy: Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Berg, whose operatic characters (Hermann, Katerina Izmaylova, Wozzeck) are endowed with deep inner contradictions, undergo complex psychological crises, and find themselves in extreme life circumstances. The world of the operas analyzed by the musicologist is dissonant, filled with disasters, cataclysms, unexpected intrusions, and deep conflicts leading to inevitable catastrophe. Based on this, Khinchin constructs a concept of operatic symphonism, which she calls “the logic of instrumental-symphonic generalization in opera,” meaning a concept rooted in instrumental tradition but operating within the framework of the operatic genre. She explores the processes of symphonization of dramaturgy as a method of thought, a kind of “musical dialectics,” using operas from the 18th to the 20th century as material. Through a finely tuned intonational analysis in the tradition of Asafiev, she demonstrates how polar intonational and imagistic spheres are constantly evolving, transforming, even to the point of complete opposition, revealing sharp contrasts in unity. This analysis, characterized by extraordinary insight and psychological sensitivity, considering her personal background, undoubtedly had an existential nature for Khinchin.
Key words
Liya Yakovlevna Khinchin, war, cosmopolitanism, tragic opera, dramaturgy, conflict, instrumental-symphonic generalization.
For citation
Tsuker A. Liya Yakovlevna Khinchin: the dramaturgy of opera – the dramaturgy of life. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2025. No. 1. Pp. 7–13.
