THE SUITE PRINCIPLE AS A MANIFESTATION OF MODERNIST THINKING IN EUROPEAN PIANO MUSIC OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY

Abstract

The relevance of the research is determined by the need to comprehend the suite principle as a manifestation of
modernist thinking in European piano music of the first half of the 20 th century. It is noted that the growing interest in
the suite among composers of that time is connected with visionarism, which is characterized by mythological thinking
and a turn toward past epochs, particularly the Baroque. It is stated that the suite principle best corresponds to the nature
and spirit of the modernist era, since visionarism is marked by the «fragmentation of reflections». Therefore, the suite
principle, with its multicentric dramaturgy, serves as a vivid example of reflecting the diversity and unity of the world.
The purpose of the study is to trace the features of the suite principle as a manifestation of modernist thinking in
the piano cycles of European composers of the first half of the 20 th century. The research methodology has a
comprehensive character, combining typological, analytical, and cultural approaches to reveal compositional models of
the suite in 20 th-century piano music and to examine their linguistic and stylistic features.
The results of the study demonstrate an increased interest among European composers of the first half of the 20
th century in the suite genre, which is associated with the symbolic nature of dances – often arranged in a free sequence;
contrast as a defining compositional principle; unity in multiplicity; the presence of a dramatic element; and dialogism.
The scientific novelty of the research lies in tracing the tendency toward the use of the suite principle in piano music of
the modernist era, which fully corresponds to the concept of modernist thinking with its «fluidity of forms and meanings».