Genology is positioned in philology as the most important research field and academic discipline. The term was introduced by Paul van Tieghem in the late 1930s. Genology developed rapidly after World War II. Subsequently, a relatively new material—mass literature and journalism, as well as cinema — was involved in the development of genological problems; an important area is the study of speech genres.
Musicology in the 20th century has developed its own theory of genres, which, on the one hand, had deep roots in the history of music studies, and on the other hand, in its modern formation was strongly influenced by literary studies. But parallels with genology did not emerge until the end of the century (Jiří Fukač, 1993).
Today, the very question of musical genology becomes relevant. In last decades, the field of genre in music studies has expanded significantly, especially in the direction of applied researches and developments, including in contact with digital technologies. These processes often lead to spontaneous differentiation in the increasingly complex structure of cognition. It seems that the research experience of genology and the concept itself have a productive potential for music science. We are talking about the possibility of comprehension at a new level of existing data and developments, which would contribute to the consolidation and further systematization of the body of knowledge and research in the genre field of music. This will allow us to more accurately define the boundaries and specifics of the musical genres theory as such.
In this article, two aspects of the genological problematics are considered: 1) the spectrum of contemporary directions of study, and 2) some problem areas of theory.
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