Abstract
The article dwells upon the history of development of music written in the genre of oratorio in the musical output of composers in Kazakhstan. The formation of the genre, the stages of development and the main ideological directives are determined through the principles of classification and particularities of the musical language in the disclosure of the content of the poetical text. The development of the thematic range of the genre of the oratorio has led not only to the emergence of the composers’ artistic identities, but also to the formation of their national particularities. Five thematic classifications are determined in oratorios by Kazakh composers: historical, patriotic, festive, pacifistic, oratorio-requiems and poetic oratorios. Keywords: the genre of the oratorio, the musical culture of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh oratorio, choral music in Kazakhstan.