Модални аспекти на хармоническата функционалност в музиката на Петко Стайнов (върху примери от хоровото творчество на компози-тора)
Modal Aspects of the Harmonic Functionality in Petko Staynov’s Music (On Examples from the Composer’s Choral Work)

Summary/Abstract: This article is an attempt to elucidate the role of natural diatonic modes as a source of harmonic decisions incorporating modality in music written by Bulgarian composer Petko Staynov (1896 – 1977). It studies Staynov’s specific two-faceted harmonic system based on modal compositional techniques, i.e. a modally coloured tonality, where modal pursuits are not only in evidence alongside regularities of tonal functionality, but are also specifically realized through them. Typical of this earliest form of neo-modal thinking, which has its analogy in the creative work of many composers in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries (Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rimsky–Korsakov, Grieg etc.), is the escape from standard functional chord progressions and their replacement with unusual (from the viewpoint of tonality) substitutes. The relaxation of tonal centralization and the activation of a changeable functionality in the conditions of natural diatonic modes, the presence of natural dominants without leading tones, as well as the increased role of plagality provoke significant modifications in the character of tonal functionality. In order to indicate the result of these modifications, I have introduced the concept of quasi-tonal functionality – a term capable of expressing the tendencies towards convergence between common tonal–functional spaces, the functional autonomy of all consonant triads, tonal–functional polysemy, multistage gradation of sonances, and emphasized modal colour. Particular non-classic modes of tonality interpreted on a broad scale have also been brought to light, which require a new manner of listening to P. Staynov’s music.

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