In the paper, for the first time a holistic study of the choral culture of the Vinnytsia region in the second half of the nineteenth and first third of the twentieth century was conducted; the ways of activating and disseminating choral art in educational institutions, in particular church parish schools, folk colleges, religious schools, pedagogical courses and courses of church singing were traced. The peculiarities of the functioning of the choir collectives of the region and the role of individual figures in the distribution of choral art on the territory of the region are revealed.
In the research for the first time, on the basis of archival sources, the complex of the panorama of choral art of the Vinnytsia region was reproduced, the performance of the choir groups and individual figures in the context of the cultural life of Vinnytsia region was evaluated.
The paper consists of an introduction, three sections, which cover the main part of the research, conclusions, the list of sources and applications.
The first section analyzes and systematizes the existing scientific works in the field of studying choral art in selected regions of Ukraine. It is noted that the cultural and artistic processes of Halychyna, Zhytomyr region, Slobozhanshchyna, Chernihiv region, Poltava region, and Pryazovye attract the attention of scientists.
The source base of the research was formed on the basis of the factual material contained in the State Archives of Vinnytsia Region, the Institute of Manuscripts of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Central State Archives of Museums of Literature and Arts of Ukraine, as well as in periodical publications of both Ukrainian and regional significance (“Music”, “Music for everybody”, “Podilskyi Diocesan Information”, “The Way”, “The Word of the Podolia”, etc.). Due to the thorough a retrospective analysis of a large array of sources reproduced a coherent picture of the choral culture of Vinnytsia as a component of national choral traditions.
The second chapter marked that one of key events for determination of ways of cultural and art life of the region was the holding of the second division of Poland by Prussia and Russia in 1793, as a result of which the territory of Vinnytsia region, as part of the right-bank Ukrainian lands, departed to the Russian Empire. The revival of Orthodoxy in Russian way became the consequence of it.
The analysis of the state of choral education in church schools, folk schools, religious schools, pedagogical courses and courses of church singing, in particular the Vinnytsia Teachers' Seminary, is carried out. On the basis of archived materials, the general picture of studying choral singing has been reconstructed, the curricula and programs have been analyzed, and the methods of studying singing are outlined.
The concert and musical life of Vinnytsia, the activities of choral groups are analyzed in Section 3. It is determined the role of the Musical Society named after M. Leontovych and some individuals in the professionalization of the choral movement in Vinnytsia region.
On the basis of the discovered archival materials, the activities of the choir collectives at the district “Prosvita”, the Russian-Ukrainian proletarian choir under the leadership of I. Kedrin and the Jewish Choir under the direction of D. Pisarevsky, the District Chapel named after M. Leontovych were described. The association of the Ukrainian and Jewish chapels into one collective in 1928 coincided with the beginning of the curtailment of the process of Ukrainization, which would be the first step towards repressions against chorus artists in Vinnytsia region.
Determining the place of M. Leontovych in the choral culture of Vinnytsia, it can’t be argued that it was he who laid the foundations of contemporary professional performance. The composer’s work with the choir at Tulchyn diocesan school and the choir chaplain created by him demonstrated a professional approach to organizing the concert repertoire and training of the choir.
After M. Leontovych’s death the choral choir created by him of short duration time was headed by his student Mykola Pokrovsky, who had already left for Kyiv in autumn 1921 to study. The activity of the collective ceased practically after that, and its revival is associated with the name of Rodyon Skaletsky (1899 – 1982). R. Skaletsky’s teaching, choir-master, folklore and composer’s work is described in the paper.
H. Davydovsky’s place and role in Vinnytsia vocational choral music is described in various ways.
One of the important events in the creative life of H. Davydovsky in Vinnytsia was the premiere in the city of his choir opera “Under the Sounds of the Native Song”, which took place shortly after the first concert organized by the Artistic Chapel. However, the main contribution of H. Davydovsky to the choir culture of Vinnytsia was not so much his composer’s creativity, but the creation of it on the professional basis of the Artistic Chapel.
