Traditional musical heritage of the Volga Germans

The article deals with traditional musical heritage of the Volga Germans, a sub-ethnic group differing from other German groups in Russia by a number of features. The article considers difficulties of studying folk music heritage of the Volga Germans, specific features and nature of the author's field expeditions, characteristics of modern German singing groups and those of separate performers. Dwelling on results of the analysis held and on the interpretation of available field and some archive materials the author singles out 4 stages of the Volga Germans' musical tradition development and makes a conclusion of its close relation to cultural traditions of Southern and Eastern Germany.