Formation and development of female choral performance in Ukraine

Abstract

Statement of the problem. Ukrainian women’s choral performance has long traditions. Today, there are women’s choirs in Ukraine that adequately represent the musical culture of our country. Nevertheless, in scientific research, the issues related to female choral performance do not attract enough attention: there are only isolated works on the activities of female choirs, therefore a systematic study of the genesis of female choral performance is relevant. Recent research and publications. Currently, there is only one textbook in Ukraine: Theory and Methods of Working with female Choirs (Kravtsova, Patskan, & Shkilnyuk, 2010). There are separate articles by K. Davydovskyi (2016), T. Martyniuk 92017), Yu. Olach (2017), and N. Kryzhanovska (2009), which study the activities of the female choirs and their conductors. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the study is to trace the process of formation of female choral performance in Ukraine, to determine its ways of development at the present stag, which is carried out for the first time in national art history. The study is based on the principle of historicism, systematic and complex approaches to the subject under consideration, and uses cultural, source studies, biographical and local studies, executive and interpretive research methods. Research results. Female choral singing has a long tradition that is closely linked to pagan rituals. The origins of professional women’s choral singing are associated with the founding of nunneries in Ukraine. Institutes for noble girls, diocesan schools and private boarding houses appeared in the second half of the XIX century. 13 women’s diocesan schools existed in Ukraine between 1854 and 1917. Singing in the church choir used to bean important element of education in these institutions. First female gymnasiums that appeared in Ukraine were called Mariinsky. They functioned in Kyiv (from 1859), Kharkiv (from 1860), and Odesa (from 1868). Education in Ukraine underwent significant changes after the revolution of the 1917. Most monasteries were destroyed and institutions for noble girls ceased to exist. The choral art of the first decades of the Soviet period was represented by the activities of amateur groups at factories and plants. Professional female choral singing continued to exist thanks to the emergence of music departments in pedagogical colleges. Nowadays, such collectives as S. Fominykh Choir (Mykolaiv, conducted by T. Ostrovska), the Women’s Choir of the R. Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy of Music (conducted by H. Horbatenko), and the “Pavana” Women’s Choir of the Drahomanov National Pedagogical University (Kyiv, conducted by L. Baida) bring to us outstanding examples of the female choral performance. The activity of bright female choirs in the contemporary space encourages composers to create highly artistic choral music. The works of L. Dychko, V. Stepurko, H. Havrylets, V. Poliova, I. Shcherbakov, V. Zubytskyi and others adorn the concert programs of many female choirs in Ukraine. Conclusions. The state’s gender policy has led to a significant spread of the female choral performance. Contemporary female choral performance is divided into amateur, educational, and church. Today in Ukraine there is not a single female choir that has the status of a professional one, but the performance skills of some educational groups actually put them on the level of professional choirs.