Stage model of conductor’s interpretation: independent, rehearsal and concert phases as markers of individuality

Abstract

The article substantiates a stage-based approach to the analysis of conductor’s interpretation in choral performance. Within this approach, the individuality of the choirmaster is manifested not only in the public sonic result of a performance but, above all, in the logic of transitions between the independent, rehearsal and concert phases. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that current choral scholarship, performance studies and conducting theory most often interpret the conductor’s individual style either as a set of features embodied in the final concert version or as a generalized profile of a creative personality, whereas the processual dynamics of interpretive formation, the mechanisms of revising the initial concept and the inter-stage interaction of interpretive decisions remain insufficiently described. The research has a theoretical and methodological character and combines intonational, hermeneutic, structural-functional, comparative and performance-analytical approaches with theoretical modelling of a typical analytical case. This makes it possible not only to systematize the functions of each phase of the interpretive process but also to show how the initial concept is clarified, re-accentuated or partially redefined during rehearsal work and concert realization. As a result, the specificity of the independent, rehearsal and concert phases is defined; typical indicators of the conductor’s artistic “handwriting” at each phase are outlined; an observation and documentation protocol suitable for musicological analysis, performance pedagogy and the conductor’s reflective practice is proposed; and three models of inter-stage logic are identified, namely projective-stable, adaptive-variable and situational-impulsive. It is shown that the final version of a choral work is formed through the successive selection, clarification and stabilization of interpretive decisions, while the bearer of individuality is not only a repeated technical device but also the stability of semantic priorities when the means of realization change. The scientific novelty of the article lies in specifying stage dynamics as an operational level for analysing conductor individuality, which makes it possible to distinguish between the result-oriented and the process-oriented dimensions of interpretation and to localize more precisely its stable and variable traits. The practical value of the research is connected with the possibility of applying the proposed model in the training of future choirmasters, in comparative studies of performance versions and in further investigations of the Ukrainian choral school