Ballet Libretto as a Subject of Conceptual Analysis of a Choreographic Work (on the Material of Ukrainian Composers' Works)

The purpose of the article is to find out the regularities and means of practical creation of a ballet performance script from the standpoint of dramatic and musical-choreographic construction. The methodology is to combine the empirical method based on the practice of professional experience in creating ballet librettos with general scientific approaches, including analogy and modelling, abstraction and concretization, arising from the conceptual foundations of the principles of a figurative-artistic embodiment of stage work. Scientific novelty. In comparison with opera libretology the general theory and practice of ballet libretto are not developed; therefore, the proposed study is one of the first to claim theoretical generalizations and reproduce a more modern view of one of the urgent problems of creating a ballet performance in our time. Conclusions. In Soviet ballet, due to the tasks of ideology and content of the drama, the role of the script increased compared to the ballets of the past. However, the desire to bring the script closer to a dramatic play (especially a typical phenomenon for the 1930s and 1950s) yielded results not only positive (in the field of spectacle drama) but also negative (violation of the laws of ballet, loss of advanced dance). The harmony of the script and musical-choreographic drama combination is possible only in performances when the scripts are created taking into account the specifics of music and choreography and their organic fusion. Due to the expansion and enrichment of modern elements of expressive means of choreography, ballet librettos became not just an extended description of stage events but their shorter and more capacious presentation; they gave a wide space for the spectator’s imagination and cognitive perception of the choreographic text. Ukrainian artistic creators focused mainly on classical ballet samples, turning to domestic and world literary classics, stories, legends, works of historical and patriotic themes. Some ballets were created for socially significant events, e. g. “Fire of Elida” by V. Zolotukhin before the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. V. Bibik’s ballet in two acts “The Gutta-percha Boy” is based on the novel of the same name by D. Hryhorovych (preserved only in the clavier). Creating the drama of a ballet performance requires much more efforts than in opera; it is distinguished from the script form tested in the opera performance by monologues, dialogues and a subtext (mostly in remarks)