The dissertation is devoted to the theoretical study of the genre of Neapolitan song – a phenomenon associated with stable patterns of perception. Until recently, Canzone Napoletana seemed a definite layer of vocal culture with specific characteristics, due to its popularity in the field of salon and "light music" from the late 19th century until the 1970s, when other non-pop forms of Canzone Napoletana were pushed out of musical context. "Santa Lucia", "O 'Sole Mio", "Torna a Surriento" along with other examples of poets S. Di Giacomo, L. Bovio, E. Murolo, composers T. Cottrau, E. di Capua, L. Denza, and others, with their characteristic melodramatic content, emphasized by cantilena melodies, spicy harmonies and Neapolitan dialect, were considered a classical canon and almost the only form of 9 Neapolitan song, which began to take shape only in the 1830s. However, in a situation of maximum clarity, a number of questions remained unsolved, the most important of which is the next. What are the origins of this phenomenon? What genre varieties of Italian folk song during its centuries-old history have influenced the formation of a canon that is recognized as classical? As an example of the artistic synthesis of professional / composer and folk / amateur traditions, Neapolitan song, whose chronological affiliation is clearly defined in reference books (late 19th – early 20th centuries), needs a new look, more systematic and comprehensive. It is this approach that can solve the problem of "white spots" on the origins of Canzone Napoletana, its genre varieties, which are put forward in the process of historical evolution. These provisions determine the relevance of the proposed topic, allow to summarize the achievements of scientific thought and to attract still unexplored musical material. The object of study is the genre of Neapolitan song. The subject of research is the process of genre evolution depending on the musical-historical context, stylistic attitudes of the epoch and individual creativity of the composer. The aim of the study is to understand Neapolitan song as a holistic genre phenomenon in the process of its historical evolution: from the origins of folk and urban culture of the Middle Ages, varieties of Canzone Napoletana in different musical eras to the recognized canon of "Neapolitan song" at the turn of 19–20 centuries. The generalization of the results of scientific research on the features of Canzone Napoletana as a genre phenomenon has shown that the information field development on Canzone Napoletana is extremely weak in Ukrainian, Russian and Chinese musicology, despite some steps in this direction (S. Burygin, O. Moskvin, Fang Yahong, Chang Jing Ge). Information on this topic is concentrated mostly in foreign sources, as well as the musical samples themselves, which are a bibliographic rarity even in Italy. This led to recourse to the study of foreign sources, mostly Italian researchers. It is established that the preconditions of modern scientific thought aimed at studying the musical folklore of Naples first appeared in Italy in the 19th century (F. Cirelli, G. Ungarelli, C. Blazis and others). In the 10 context of Romanticism's interest in folk culture, musicological explorations were more of a practical nature: the collection and recording of texts of Neapolitan songs, the musical notation of samples of verbal art. The first in this direction was the collection "Passatempi musicali" (1824) by G. L Cottrau, which over the next 50 years gave rise to a whole wave of creation and publication of collections of Neapolitan songs in the 19th century (F. Florimo, T. Cottrau, W. de Mello, L. Chiuratsi). At the same time, based on the results of scientific research and own analytical observations, there is a lack of coverage in the scientific literature on the chosen topic of the period of existence of Canzone Napoletana from the Middle Ages to Romanticism. It is proved that the first mention of the song culture of the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula dates back to the 13th century, available for study audio and musical material – ones to the 15th century.
