Modern choral art as an artistic system (historical and stylistic dynamics and structural concepts)

Statement of the problem. The issue of studying the systemic principles of choral art is stipulated by the existing tendency to “merge” choral concert and educational practice with academic science, which studies choral performance in unity with the composer’s experience in this field of creativity. In the scientific discourse, there is a constant renewal of the concepts of choral creativity, through the actualization of the latest techniques of choral writing, the style of thinking of artists. Hence, a synthesis of history, methodology and pragmatics of modern choral studies is necessary. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the article is to clarify the historical and stylistic dynamics of modern choral art as an artistic system that is transformed in the conditions of globalization (based on the modern Ukrainian choral art). The research methods, which are systemic, historical, performing, together reveal the specifics of choral art as a “living” sonorous text. The novelty of the research results lies in clarifying the issue of actualization of choral art at the latest stage of its development through understanding the tendency to “merge” choral practice with academic science, which studies choral performance in unity with composer’s experience. Research results. The conceptual sphere of choral art is presented, as well as the structural components of its functioning: choral writing, choral intoning, wordlogos, choral texture, choral style, national choral style. A choral composition considers as a product of the composer’s thinking, and the following ontological forms of a work are distinguished: 1) internal auditory imagination, or ideation; 2) mental representation; 3) performing realization of a composition as a “living text”. The stylistic dynamics of choral art from the end of the 70s to nowadays is revealed on the example of Ukrainian choral music, where we can observe neofolkloric, neo-baroque, chamber tendencies, the “performance” theatrical style, and “nova musica sacra” direction, as well as the phenomena of instrumental treating voices, timber individualization of choral writing, and complication of choral melos. Conclusion. The historical and stylistic dynamics of modern choral practice as an artistic system that is transforming in the conditions of globalization is revealed through the recognition of the functional unity of all its subsystems (composer’s writing, performance, scientific reflection), the systemic interaction of all subjects of choral culture (composer – conductor – choir). On the basis of the study of choral works by prominent representatives of choral art in Ukraine, it becomes obvious that the not sporadic, but systemic nature of the renewal of choral writing, choral texture, and stylistic processes of composer’s creativity, which tend to integration in the conditions of a globalizing world, is not. Thus, choral music provides a unique opportunity for people of different cultures to understand the common values of existence perfectly for solving the problems of the modern world.