Musicologica Olomucensia X:X | DOI: 10.5507/mo.2025.002
The Semantic Space of Ukrainian National Universals in Olena Lys’ Choral Diptych “By the Stairs to Heaven…”
Since 2014, the work of Ukrainian composers has held a mirror up to the events of the Russo-Ukrainian war. A piece from early 2014 by contemporary composer Olena Lys is considered in this article. The piece begins with the composer’s reflection on the events of Maidan in winter 2014 in the form of a choral diptych based on Vasyl Dovzhyk’s poem “By the Stairs to Heaven…”. In its two parts, it illustrates the death of the Maidan defenders (in the first part) and the mother’s prayers for her dead son (in the second part). The present article focuses on a semantic analysis of Ukrainian symbols in both the libretto and the musical text, ultimately suggesting that Olena Lys and Vasyl Dovzhyk do not reconstruct the past: they comprehend the spiritual values of the Ukrainian people in the contemporary context in a new way.
Keywords: Olena Lys’ works; Vasyl Dovzhyk’s work; the poetic text; choral music; the image of mother
Accepted: September 18, 2025; Prepublished online: December 3, 2025
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