Church-singing collection of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery fromfonds of Institute of Manuscript of V. I. Vernadskyi NationalLibrary of Ukraine: results of scientific observations

Abstract

The purpose of the studies. Summarizing the results of scientific observations on the collection of church and singing works, which is stored in the Institute of Manuscript of the V. I. Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine and comes from the former library of the St. Michael›s Golden-Domed Monastery. Methodology. In the process of researching the manuscript collection, historical-stylistic, analytical and comparative methods were used, as a result of which it was possible to clarify the dating of the monument, identify works of earlier origin that make up a separate section, and determine the structure of the collection as a set of compatible compositions. Scientific novelty. It was found that the collection was incorrectly dated, and that the erroneous dating is indicated in the manuscript documents. This became an obstacle to the correct definition of its content and structure. It turned out that the collection contains not only the sacred works of the Classicist era, as was believed for a long time, but is a unique anthology of singing in the middle and second half of the 18th century. It contains church-singing works of the Ukrainian Baroque period, which form an independent section, and the section with sacred concerts of the Classicist period contains works of all famous Ukrainian composers of this period – A. Rachynskyi, M. Berezovskyi, D. Bortnianskyi, A. Vedel, S. Dekhtiariov. Conclusions. The set of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery is a unique manuscript source, which reflects the state of Ukrainian church and singing culture of the middle and second half of the 18th century, marked by processes of stylistic transformations. As a collection of joint works, it follows the basic principles of the collection of party manuscripts, which were formed during the 17th – first half of the 18th century, and influenced by new trends in the transition to a new style of church music in the second half of the 18th century. The dates mentioned in the manuscript documents refer to only one of the sections of the set and should not be extended to the entire collection, which is a unique anthology of Ukrainian sacred music of the middle and second half of the 18th century.