Abstract: 

If the Ukrainian national opera – despite significant similar difficulties – developed fruitfully in the second half of the 19th century through the efforts of Semyon Hulak-Artemovsky and Mykola Lysenko and his artistic followers, then the appearance of the national ballet as a formed musical and stage genre had to wait much longer, until the turn of 1920– 1930s.

But what has been said in no way means the absence of deep traditions of folk dance culture in Ukraine. Dances were an important component of folk games, including the popular «Kozy» and «Malanka». Dance art also developed on the stages of the Ukrainian serf theaters of the richest landowners of the second half of the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries.

The article examines the contextual circumstances that preceded and accompanied the formation of the ballet genre in Ukrainian music. The role played in this process by artists composer Mikhail Verikovsky and prominent researcher of Ukrainian folk dance Vasyl Verkhovynets is characterized. Attention is paid to the characteristics of the very first national ballet, Pan Kanevsky. These contextual incidents proved complex. Ukraine had a well-developed and profound folk dance culture. But due to the lack of national opera and ballet theatres, which was a consequence of the long oppression of Ukrainians in the Russian Empire, the formation of ballet did not take place for a long time. Another factor also complicating the formation of ballet was the position of some representatives of music criticism, claiming that classical ballet was not necessary for musical culture at all.

But the creation of a national ballet became an urgent requirement of the time. And it finally became «Pan Kanevsky» by Mikhail Verikovsky, then the conductor of the Kharkov Opera and Ballet Theatre. The composer completed the ballet in 1930. The libretto was composed by Verikovsky and Yuriy Tkachenko. The plot basis of the ballet is the Ukrainian folk song «About Bondarevna», which refers to the historical events of the 18th century. The direction of the ballet combined features of classical choreography and Ukrainian folk dance.

In 1931 the ballet was staged in Kharkov (conducted by the author himself) and in Kiev (conducted by Nikolai Radzievsky), and in 1932 in Dnepropetrovsk (conducted by Vladimir Yorish). The productions were a great success with the audience.

Thus, the genre of ballet in Ukrainian musical culture was formed. The creative traditions of Pan Kanevsky were continued by Konstantin Dankevich in the ballet Lileia and Mikhail Skorulsky in the ballet Forest Song and other Ukrainian composers.

Keywords: балет, українська музика, танцювальний фольклор, творча спадщина М. Вериківського, мистецькі надбання В. Верховинця.

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