Peculiarities of a Tonal Plan of the Polyphonic Cycle “36 Fugues for Piano” by Antonin Reicha
Peculiarities of a Tonal Plan of the Polyphonic Cycle “36 Fugues for Piano” by Antonin Reicha

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the article is to consider and analyze interaction of tonalities in three volumes of the piano polyphonic cycle of Antonin-Josef Reicha (1770-1836) ―36 fugues for piano‖ and to make a conclusion about peculiarity of a unique tonal plan as well as to show the prospectivity of projection of this cycle for the works of the subsequent composers of this genre. The methodology of the article - methods of historical and cultural, theoretical and genre-style analysis have been applied, which made it possible to highlight peculiarity and uniqueness of atonal polyphonic thinking, creative individuality of Antonin-Josef Reicha in the context of the further research of the development of polyphonic works of the composers of the XX century. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that for the first time a polyphonic creative system of Reicha is revealed. It is filled with fundamental originality originating from a composer‘s classical and romantic style. By an analysis of the polyphonic piano cycle “36 fugues”, we can state that Reicha anticipates polyphonic thinking of many subsequent composers. A creative style of the composer hasn‘t been studied in contemporary musicology. For the first time, a tonal plan of a three-volume piano polyphonic cycle of the Classicism epoch of “36 fugues for piano” (1805) by A. Reicha is analyzed. Moreover, his personality in domestic musicology was revealed only in our articles. Conclusions. Tonal thinking in the polyphonic cycle of Antonin-Josef Reicha looks far ahead. A tonal plan of a piano polyphonic cycle “36 fugues for piano” by A.Reicha is unique, and there is no such precedent. He as if combines past of the Baroque and contemporary future. The polyphonic cycle of Reicha turned out an intermediate link between polyphonists of the Baroque epoch and subsequent centuries because he absorbed the basics of the Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism and anticipated the future of the musical language of the XX century to a great extent. A very complex correlation of the tonal supports of the first degree of kinship and their interaction is formed. The article offers perspectives on the influence of this polyphonic piano cycle on similar genres of Ukrainian composers.

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