The Kyiv Metropolitan Choir in the XIX century: reconstruction of choirmen’s clothes

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the known information about the main items of men's wardrobe of the bourgeois in the XIX century and compare it with the data on the choirmen's clothes. To recreate the images of the ceremonial choirmen’s clothes of the Kyiv Metropolitan Choir using written archival and visual (paintings and photos) sources. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, consistency, scientific character, and interdisciplinary. The cultural and anthropological approach to the problem involves the study of a person on the basis of the social ties reproduction in a particular location. In this case, the element of everyday life, the clothes of the choirmen are studied through the system of the choirs’ functioning, and their interaction. The following general historical methods were applied: historical-genetic, terminological analysis, and comparative. The use of the problem-chronological method presupposes the systematization of events in chronological sequence, which made it possible to trace the possibilities of using the ceremonial clothes of choirmen for more than one choir, as well as how these processes influenced on economic factors. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the disclosure of new sources and an attempt to reconstruct the ceremonial and everyday clothes of men and boys who were the choirmen of the Metropolitan Choir in the ХІХ century. Conclusions. Thanks to the saved archival sources, as well as samples of art  in the ХІХ century, we learn about the style, the material from which the fabric and color were made, as well as the elements of the choirmen’s wardrobe. The comparative analysis allows us to assert that the daily clothes of the choirman did not differ in any way from the clothes of the middle-class bourgeoisie. The main elements of the wardrobe were a cap, an overcoat, a frock coat, trousers, and a sheepskin coat. For its sewing were used inexpensive fabrics such as nankin, cloth, and motley fabric. The difference from the usual and ceremonial clothes of metropolitan choirmen was distinguished by the use of red or blue velvet fabric with gilded trim and tassels. The collected information will help the reader to imagine the appearance of the metropolitan choirmen of the ХІХ century.