“Whimsical Tales of Mr. Schoenberg” – theatrical performance by the artist and director Bohdan Polishchuk

The performance is inspired by and dedicated to the figure of Arnold Schoenberg. Who is he?
He is an outstanding Austrian composer, conductor and music theorist who had a significant impact on the development of world music in the 20th century. He is known primarily as the founder of dodecaphony and one of the key directions of atonal music. His revolutionary ideas changed the idea of ​​harmony and composition, which had an echo in the Ukrainian musical environment.

What is dodecaphony?
Dodecaphony is a system of composition in which all 12 sounds of the chromatic scale are used equally, without the dominance of any one tone, which creates the effect of “atonality”. Schoenberg sought to free music from the traditional tonal system, giving the composer a new space for creative experiments.

Influence on Ukraine and Ukrainian composers
Despite the fact that Ukraine in the first half of the 20th century was under the influence of Soviet censorship, where avant-garde music was often banned, Schoenberg’s ideas penetrated Ukrainian culture. His works and musical philosophy became a source of inspiration for composers who were looking for new ways of developing the musical language. Schoenberg influenced such Ukrainian figures as Borys Lyatoshynskyi, Valentin Sylvestrov, Leonid Grabovskyi and Svyatoslav Lunyov. It is interesting that for several years Schoenberg was also the teacher of the first Ukrainian female composer Stefania Turkevich.

Schoenberg as a symbol of creative freedom
Schoenberg’s ideas had deep ideological significance, because they were aimed at destroying stereotypes in art. For Ukrainian artists, his work became a symbol of freedom of expression and individual search, especially in the conditions of strict restrictions of the soviet era.

The composer left a significant mark on world music culture, and his influence reached Ukraine as well, stimulating the development of avant-garde music and the search for new musical forms. Although his system of dodecaphony was not widely used in Ukraine, Schoenberg’s ideas inspired Ukrainian composers to create unique and bold works, and us to create performance.