Abstract
The purpose of the article is to show the historical significance as a scientist of the first Kazakhpianist and one of the founders of the ethnomusicology of Kazakhstan, a researcher of the Abai song artGulzhauharShombalova,whomadeaninvaluablecontributiontotheprimarystudyofthemusicalheritageofthe great poet. G. Shombalova defended her PhD thesis at the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory in 1955. ThecoreofthedissertationwasdevotedtotheconsiderationofRussiananddomesticarchivesamongtheworksofthefirstresearchersofKazakhmusicA.Levshin,Sh.Valikhanov,M.Gotovitsky,P.Tikhov,A.Eichhornetal. In addition, a separate chapter of the work is devoted to the analysis of Abai’s songs on his PhD thesis, whichhas not yet been published anywhere. It is noteworthy that the scientist’s conclusions about the meaning ofAbai’s songs, the artistic value of the musical heritage have not lost their relevance so far. The article reflectsthe established approach of the scientist to the ideas of musical Abai studies in modern musicology as a stylereformer. The manuscript of the dissertation brought from the Moscow archive by the daughter of the scientistSauleKulakhmetovnaKhodzhikova,andpartofthedissertationofferedtomeforresearchbythevice-rectoroftheKazakhNationalConservatory.KurmangazyAbdrakhmanomG.B.,becamethematerialforthestudyofthearticle. Therefore, the content of one of the chapters of G. Shombalova’s dissertation for the first time becomesthecoreoftheanalysis.Thearticleconcludesthatmanyoftheauthor’sscientificpositionsconcerningtheworkofAbaiarestillmodern.Theempiricalapproachwaschosenastheresearchmethod,andthedescriptionofthescientist’sideasfromthepointofviewofthemodernapproachtoAbaistudiesallowedanobjectiveassessmentofthecontribution of thescientist G.Shombalova tomusicalAbai studies.