The flute art in Kharkiv: the performing and pedagogical traditions
Authors: Konoval K.K. 
Published: March 2020

Logical reason for research. The flute art has its own history of development, which is marked by different traditions – the performing, composing, and pedagogical. The mentioned traditions outline the ways of the development of the flute art of the present and the future; they have a certain originality of geographical and cultural orientation. Today, the flute art is the subject of the audience demand, the performing and composing creativity, and has a solid repertoire in various styles and genres of both translations and original compositions in many instrumental compounds, ranging from solo to various ensembles and orchestras. This situation in music practice requires the theoretical understanding and generalization, including those in the projection of national and cultural traditions of different countries and regions. However, we can state that, at the moment, music science addresses the performance on the flute not systematically, mostly in a methodological direction. The Ukrainian flute art is closely related to the traditions of the flute music of Western European and Eastern European music art, but it also has its originality, which exists owing not only to musical (intonation, genre, and repertoire), but also to the historical, national-cultural or human reasons. Kharkiv, as one of the historical and cultural centres of Ukraine, has a rich musical history, and traditions of the flute art are its important component. Innovation. The presented article is devoted to the research of the Kharkiv flute art in the aspect of unity and interaction of the performing and pedagogical traditions. This aspect combines a number of historical, theoretical, and practical questions, and allows finding their answers related to the demands of both music science and music practice. We are talking about a number of aspects of the study of the flute art in the aspect of music regionalism, from organology and common European traditions of the flute art to the peculiar features of its development in Kharkiv in all the directions – the composing, performing, and pedagogical. Objectives. The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of the performing and pedagogical traditions of the flute art in Kharkiv in the aspects of the continuity from European musical art and the identity of the Ukrainian, in particular, Kharkiv flute school. Methods. The main methods of the presented research are the historical one and the systematic one. The first one is related to the historical factors of the development of the flute art both in the European and Ukrainian historical cultural and artistic context. The second one allows one to represent the performing and pedagogical traditions associated with the flute art in their legacy and cultural and regional specification. Results and Discussion. Kharkiv is one of the most important historical and cultural centres of Ukraine. Its military purpose determined the nature of music playing (the regimental music of the Kharkiv Cossack Regiment), its instruments (primarily the wind instruments) and the genre direction. The relevant performing and pedagogical traditions of the Kharkiv musical culture are still marked today by the significant influence of the Kharkiv Wind Instruments School, known both in Ukraine and abroad. The flute art is an important and illustrative part of this historical process. The regimental music influenced the development of music education and training of musicians in Kharkiv – the opened schools for teaching children also had a "military profile" (from the nature of the student recruitment to instrumentation and repertoire). In the 18th-19th centuries the flute was spreading in the general education system in Ukraine. Many Ukrainian art and culture figures started their musical training with the flute and perfectly mastered the instrument; the spread of the flute in the musical life of the 18th century is mentioned in the writings by M. Zagaykevych, O. Schreyer-Tkachenko, I. Pyaskovsky and others. The musical activity of the national enlightener G. Skovoroda can be considered essential in this sense; the flute was his companion in many years of his legendary travels about Ukraine. The subsequent opening of schools and vocal-instrumental classes at Kharkiv College demonstrated the expansion of the character of the performing and pedagogical foundations of the flute art in Kharkiv, connected not only with military music, but also with the development of noble-house culture and theatrical and amateur practice. Flute performers were one of the first orders to European teachers. The flute was a part of practically all the variants of ensembles and orchestras of Kharkiv and Slobidska Ukraine. This stimulated the development of performing skills, music pedagogy, composing creativity. It is important that the most skilled flute performers in Kharkiv were, as a rule, the leading teachers and educators. In addition, the Kharkiv wind instruments performance and pedagogy were characterized by such a quality as multi-instrumentalism. At different times, the flute art in Kharkiv (both the performing one and the pedagogical one) was glorified by such artists as I. Vitkovsky, I. Lozynsky, K. Kestner, E. Prill, F. Kuchera, A. Boroznin, E. Krychevsky, G. Heck, D. Rykov, F. Prokhachev. Representing various national schools, they ensured the multicultural development of the Kharkiv flute art. In the 20th-21st centuries the activity of the teachers and students of Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I. P. Kotlyarevsky who were putting their forces into the creation of the local ensembles and orchestras played a decisive role in the development of the flute art in Kharkiv. Conclusions. The "genetic memory" of Kharkiv’s history as a city-military frontier was reflected in the performing and pedagogical traditions of wind instruments music, in particular, the flute art, in its performing (genres, repertoire, and performing stylistic) and pedagogical specificity. The further development of the flute music in the Kharkiv region has enriched these traditions of European music with its diverse repertoire in all genres and styles, but the Kharkiv specificity remains its recognizable core. The summarized results of the presented article indicate that the selected aspect of the study, related to the characteristic of the performing and pedagogical traditions of the flute art in Kharkiv through the prisms of continuity and interaction, is the link that integrates the theoretical and practical directions of studying the art of the flute playing into the whole complex of knowledge, that helps to understand the universal and specific in the processes of the development of the flute art in different aspects – the historical, cultural-regional, and artistic, etc.