This thesis is dedicated to the exploration of specifics of the formation and development of vocal art in one of Ukraine's major cultural centers – Kharkiv. To optimize existing knowledge about Kharkiv's musical culture, it is essential to investigate the specific features and role of vocal art in this city across various historical periods. Elucidating the logic behind the formation and functioning of specific aspects of professional vocal rendition of musical texts within certain chronological and cultural frameworks contributes to the understanding of both vocal art and Ukrainian musical culture as a whole. The object of this research is the musical culture of Kharkiv during the period from XIX to the early XX century. The subject matter is the specificity of Kharkiv's vocal art in the context of the city's musical culture development during the second half of the XIX century. For the first time in Ukrainian musicology, the vocal art of Kharkiv in the second half of the 19th century has become the subject of special theoretical consideration in the systematic unity of aspects of musical performance and professional vocal education. The fundamental factors in the formation and comprehension of Kharkiv's vocal art throughout the 19th century are summarized in the main spheres of its functioning: the educational environment, the city's concert practice, and opera performance. The specificity of professional vocal training cultivation in Kharkiv before the mid-19th century was determined by the pedagogical activities of kapellmeisters in the city's general educational institutions. In the process of preparing singers for collective execution of musical arts, they applied the established European methodological practices of training of signer's voices and teaching the students mastery of the vocal apparatus. The performing and pedagogical activities of European singers from the 1840s stimulated further professionalization of vocal training in Kharkiv's general educational institutions in the context of a reorientation from choral to solo singing. From the 1870s onwards, professional vocal education in Kharkiv was formed within the framework of the functioning private educational centers and structures of the Kharkiv branch of the Russian Musical Society.
In the field of private vocal training, a leading role was played by professional vocalists with experience of performing on the opera stage, who viewed preparedness of singers for opera performance as the main objective, which, for the most part, determined a craftsmanship approach to mastering vocal skills. This approach was especially advocated by opera singers E. Pavlovskaya, G. Sunnerberg, A. Kalistovsky, O. Furrer, D. Usatov and such, who temporarily worked in Kharkiv at that time. In the teaching careers of the heads of private institutions O. SiluyanovaKondyreva, A. Ralf-Agats, A. Legrain, K. Prokhorova-Maurelli, V. Tikhonov, S. Lapinsky, who worked in Kharkiv for a long time, a focus on the concept of a universal opera singer manifests through expanding involvement of ensemble and choral performance on stage in the educational process, and in directing efforts towards development of not only vocal skills, but also acting ones, with performance of opera excerpts being seen as an important practical component of combined vocal and acting performance training. Vocal training as a methodical process was reflected upon in pedagogical careers of professional artists in the educational structures of the Kharkiv branch of the Russian Musical Society, which was carried out within the framework of an established system of upbringing a universal musical artist. The pedagogical skills of K. Prokhorova-Maurelli (teacher of the Singing course from 1871 to 1888) and S. Motte (teacher of the Singing course from 1885 to 1901), brought further forth by their professionalism based on thorough vocal training and expirience on the opera and concert stage, manifested itself in the high skill level of their students, who upon finishing the course were capable both successful vocal performance and teaching the next generation of students at a sufficiently professional level. Exceptional teaching skills of K. Maurelli contributed to the further self-realisation and successful operatic career of sopranos V. Zarudnaya, K. Kolyanovskaya, S. Davidova, V. Eigen, etc., singing and teaching career of S. Motte. In turn, teaching skills of S. Motte contributed to the successful careers in opera of sopranos Y. Reider, M. Mikhaylova, M. Polyakova, mezzo-soprano E. Koretskaya, L. Kurochkyna, etc.
