The first musical and drama club in Kyiv under the leadership of M. Staritsky and M. Lysenko (1871-1882)
The article analyzes the joint activity of M. Staritsky and M. Lysenko on the creation of amateur musical and dramatic performances and it is determined that due to the orientation towards M. L. Lysenko’s musical work and M. Staritsky’s directorial work in the amateur club, their musical and dramatic direction clearly manifests itself under their guidance and the predominance in the repertoire of the genres of the musical theater – musical drama, musical comedy, operetta. In addition, it was discovered that due to the lack of the Ukrainian repertoire, M. Staritsky started to write original pieces or interpreted existing dramatic works, compulsory components of which are the musical elements – both folk and author’s (operetta "Chernomortsy", vaudeville "With a sausage and a glass, then the quarrel will end "). The article clarifies that the operetta "Christmas Night" which was the summit of the joint work of M. Lysenko and M. Staritsky’s amateur period, was almost immediately transformed into a full-scale opera. The preparation of the performance "Christmas Night" was given broad public attention, not only the participants of the performance came to the rehearsal, but also venerable scholars, historians, ethnographers, who made comments to the authors about particular texts, household details and sound of musical pieces. "Lysenko’s choir performs such a fundamental school, technique and discipline that it cannot be considered an amateur choir. With such a choir it cannot be scary to set up any opera ", – the conductor of the Kiev Opera I. K. Altani stated after the production of "Christmas Night". The article proves that the performances of the first musical and drama club under the leadership of M. Staritsky and M. Lysenko were the forerunners of a real professional Ukrainian theater. Exactly during this period M. Staritsky manifests himself as a talented playwright, a librettist, a musical performer, a brilliant organizer and director of the theatrical process, and M. Lysenko – as a talented composer, pianist and conductor.