The traditions of Halychyna divine service choir performing in the cultural and musical practice of the chamber choir “Credo” (Ivano-Frankivsk)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is determined by the need to highlight the cultural and artistic activities of the first professional liturgical choir of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) and to study (in retrospect) the significance of this activity for enriching the Halychyna traditions of liturgical performance. The methodology of the study is to combine cultural and musicology methods. This methodology allows forming a holistic view of the spiritual musical culture and choir singing of the Ukrainians. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the need to improve the study and the evaluation of the scale of cultural and artistic activity of the bishopric chamber choir "Credo" in all-Ukrainian and world musical and scientific contexts, to prove the relation of his activity to the historic processes of the formation and development of the liturgical choir art of Halychyna. Conclusions. The spiritual musical culture of the Ukrainians has been formed for many centuries. It has been closely connected with Christianity for more than a thousand of years. Spiritual choir singing has undergone a few stages in its development, from the ancient monody to the modern polyphony. It was removed from practice for a long time but during the years of Independence of Ukraine, there arose new tasks for its revival. The bishopric chamber choir "Credo" takes an important place in this process. It is the first professional choir organized in the central cathedral of the UGCC in Ivano-Frankivsk. Thanks to the initiated professional liturgical practice of the choir, the process of church singing renaissance were introduced in the region. The chamber choir "Credo" is not only the representative of the Halychyna church liturgical traditions, but also a propagandist and integrator of the national musical culture in the world cultural space by means of performing, recording, and publishing. The choir popularizes national musical culture at all the stages of its creative activity.