"Iphigenia in Tauris" by Kyrylo Stetsenko: Musical Dramaturgy in the Web of Mnemosyne

Abstract

The article presents an in-depth interpretation of the musical dramaturgy of the mono-opera Iphigenia in Tauris (1921) by Kyrylo Stetsenko, based on the dramatic scene by Lesya Ukrainka. The study focuses on the internal mechanisms of thematic development that embody the heroine’s reflective consciousness, unfolding within the dimension of memory. Memory functions not merely as a narrative element but as a structural principle shaping the opera’s intonational, modalharmonic, and compositional organization.

The purpose of the article is to interpret the opera’s musical dramaturgy as a unified psychological process in which the conflict between fatal obligation and the vital force of remembrance becomes the main driving force of development. Particular attention is given to the interaction between the planes of present reality and the idealized homeland, to the transformation of the leitmotivic complex, and to the expressive role of modal variability, polyphonic texture, and timbral symbolism.

The research demonstrates that the principle of retrospection operates at multiple structural levels, culminating in the cathartic reinterpretation of thematic material in the reprise. The monoopera reveals a synthesis of neoclassical orientation and modernist psychological intensity, positioning the work among the most significant achievements of Ukrainian opera in the first third of the twentieth century.