DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2015.3.17343

Abstract: The article raises a question of whether we need to know the personality of the brilliant artist, in order to judge his works, as well as what to do when we find out from articles or the Internet the  aspects of this persona that contradict the crystalline image, which we have unwittingly created. The author gives the voice to the participants of a forum dedicated to Sviridov, as well as to Sviridov himself, and based on the constructed polylogue offers his commentary and thoughts, and proposes solution to the raised issues. He describes Sviridov as a genius composer and a regular human being, demonstrating that within the culture and art the question of their interconnection is resolved differently. As the result of the conducted analysis, the author successfully reconstructs the personality of Sviridov and the situation that has currently formed within the communication of popular art; to demonstrate that it is necessary to distinguish the different personalities of great artists, forms of understanding of their own relations between these personalities, and finally, our own approach and interest.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.2.25011

Abstract: The article is devoted to the phenomenon of female love from the point of view of female images typical for the Russian literature of the 19th century. As a result of her analysis. Soboleva concludes that all these images have one common feature which is their tragic fate as a result of fatal love that enslaves women and brings them to death. The basis for such understanding of female nature is the stereotypes about women that still exist in many cultures. As an example, the author of the article analyzes the image of Katerina from The Thunderstorm by N. Ostrovsky, Anna Karenina in L. Tolstoy's novel, and Katerina from N. Leskov's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. The author pays special attention to the image of Katerina from the former novella as it combines not only stereotyped 'female features' but also their fatality, incompleteness and disharmony. The author underlines that the 20th century changed the attitude of the society towards women and their abilities and life goals. At the same time, the philosophy of female love was also reviewed which was expressed in the most famous interpretations of literary images in other arts such as cinematograph and music. The author analyzes how the image of the Lady Macbeth was interpreted in D. Shostakovich' opera 'Katerina Izmaylova'. By analysing changes in the plot and narration, free interpretation of male images in N. Leskov's novella, new messages that were created in the opera, Shostakovich' attitude to the heroine, the author evaluates the composer's contribution to the philosophy of female love and reveals the new depth of the composer's idea of the female beginning as a predetermined service to love that became the main meaning of the woman's life. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2017.4.25544

Abstract: The object of this article is the research of sociology of music  made by the famous German philosopher and musical expert Theodor Adorno. The article considers the views of the scientist on the phenomenon of music and its division into two types (two forms) - the mass and the elite one. According to Adorno, the said division lies at the heart of all music, which affects the genre, language and content conceptions of each individual piece of music. The article traces the statements and theories of Adorno; a typology of kinds of music is produced. The main method used in the article is a method of complex analysis that allows the author to encompass Adorno’s works and studies of different years within the scope of one work in order to trace the evolution of his views. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that specificity of music classification introduced by Adorno has not been adequately covered in musicology yet. And, despite its remoteness in time, the classification of the scientist is still highly relevant and requires more generalization and application in science.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2018.2.25788

Abstract: The subject of the study is aleatoric forms (including indeterminacy in the process of musical thought writing and development) which, in spite of individual author's development, are based on traditional principles of organization, such as repetition, variation, presentation of thematism and its development, main body and development, sonata form, etc. The object of the study are the works by composers of the twentieth century that are based on the aleatoric principle and at the same time inherit the tradition of classical-romantic forms. Mobile aleatoric forms, as a rule, have a clear material disposition (sequence of themes, sections, fragments or episodes), and the order of presentation of thought through them does not change considerably despite the uncertainty of some parameters. The study is based on the method of analysis of modern musical forms developed by the “Kholopov” school of musicology, the work’s text analysis of which starts from the material and methods of its development end ends up with the principles of texture and development of musical thought in general. The main conclusions of the study are the following theses: mobility of the aleatoric form at the text level (not the order of its writing) represents the measure of mobility that is acceptable for composition on the basis of traditional principles of organization. Thus such incongruous categories as aleatoric music and traditional forms can also be combined: composers of the twentieth century turned to classical forms as stability of the works’ structure allowed them to preserve traditional forms even in a mobile text.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2018.4.28927

Abstract: The article considers the peculiarities of the content of the Makrokosmos III series by American avant-garde composer George Crumb. The author reveals its semantic properties, the peculiarities of correlation between the image and the form; substantiates flagship epigraphs and draws parallels with other opuses of the composer. The author emphasizes that the image of Space, used by Crumps as a background, is revealed logically enough both of the level of content and of the musical language. The main object of the study - Makrokosmos III - is devoted to contemplating the outer nature of Space, thence comes the title - Music for a summer evening. Space for Crumb is a ubiquitous phenomenon existing at all levels of entity. It is considered as the world as a whole - everything around us. Space is understood not only as outer space with different objects which can be thought of as an unseen reality (owing to scientific discoveries, now we can judge about its structure and spheres), and as a perceptible reality (Space which is perceptible to the human’s eye), but also as a particular human’s life.  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.1.29024

Abstract: The article contains the analysis of modern operas based on the works by Franz Kafka. The article studies the list of 24 operas based on Kafka’s plots. The works most frequently used for  opera interpretations are “The Trial”, “The Castle” and “The Metamorphosis”. The genre range is also immense: from academic interpretations of the opera genre and avant-garde renditions to jazz opera and musicals. The author focuses on the three operas: Salvatore Sciarrino’s “Before the Law”, Philippe Manoury’s “K…”, and Michael Levinas’s "Metamorphosis". The subject scope of Kafka’s prose is very diverse; he refers to the problem of bureaucratization of the society in “The trial”, analyzes the essence of totalitarianism (“In the Penal Colony”), poetics and psychoanalytical essence of dreamings in “The Metamorphosis”. The author concludes that, in the Kafkian world, each composer finds not only themes close to their creative ideas, such as exterminative absolute power of bureaucracy, solitude and demolition of human relations, “body rebellion”, impossibility to find the answer to the fundamental questions of existence, but also a starting point of bright spatial-sound images.  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.2.29318

Abstract: The research subject is the work of a modern composer from Astrakhan Yu.P. Popov; the research object is the music culture of the 20th century. The author studies the scope of the composer’s works containing his metaphysical ideas commonly found in the Russian philosophical doctrine - unitotality, communal spirit, and the idea of Sophia. Analysing the composer’s works, the author manages to describe his views on the world order. The author uses the following methods: analytical (when analysing the form, music style and language), philosophical-hermeneutical (when analysing the content of the pieces of music). The author detects the key constants of the metaphysical strivings of the composer. Special attention is given to the composer’s reference to the program character which includes not only the title of a piece of music and its parts, but also text epigraphs and the method of instrumental intoning of a text. The most significant author’s contribution is the use of the philosophical-hermeneutical method for the analysis of the content of the pieces of music. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that this music material hasn’t been studied before.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.6.31165

Abstract: The research subject is music texts with montage organization of a verbal text. The study covers a range of works of Russian composers of the late 20th century, including The Fourteenth Symphony by D. Shostakovich, Light Sorrow and Styx by G. Kancheli, requiems by V. Silvestrov, V. Artemov, A. Popov, V. Platonov. Analyzing the 20th century composers’ work with texts, the author gives special attention to the western composer Luciano Berio’s attitude to a text. The author formulates the main principles of montage organization of a verbal text on the base of the research of Yu. Lotman, M. Yampolsky, R. Bart and C. Levi-Strauss. These works serve as a methodological background which helps reveal the specificity of a montage-oriented verbal text. As a result, such a text is interpreted not as a bearer of an integral semantic code, but as a crossing of the plurality of codes which, in its turn, defines its characteristic features - fractionality, laconicism, associativity, and paradoxicality of correlation of verbal phrases. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the consideration of a poorly studied issue, in the choice of research methodology, and in the revelation of specific features of a verbal text functioning in the context of montage dramaturgy. The author systematizes and generalizes the results of the analysis of music texts with montage organization of a verbal text.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.6.34518

Abstract: The research subject of this article is the piano art created by Pavel Alexeyevich Serebryakov, a renowned pianist, pedagogue, artist, and director from Leningrad. The objective of this research is to uncover the many-sided activities of this artist. The author considers the performer’s individual style, repertoire preferences, concerts, music, and social activities while paying special attention to particular facts of the great artist’s life, which influenced his performance path. The article also refers to the reviews written by various musical critics, colleagues, and students, as well as Serebryakov’s own views of his performances drawn from autobiographical notes and interviews. Based on the author’s conversation with P.V. Dmitriev, Serebryakov’s grandson, the article reveals the pianist’s methods of individual work with repertoire and some of the peculiarities of his performance thinking. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that it uses rare, previously unpublished archive materials covering Serebryakov’s performance, music, and social activity, including documents from the Serebryakov’s family archive provided by the pianist’s grandson P.V. Dmitriev; materials, reviews, and newspaper articles kept at the Central State Archive of Literature and Arts (fund 214); and audio recordings from materials in the St. Petersburg Conservatory’s sound library of Serebryakov’s conversations with students. This research material can serve as educational and illustrative resources for both young musicians and instructors in specialized music schools. The Serebryakovs family archive documents provided by Serebryakov’s grandson P.V. Dmitriev Materials, reviews and newspaper articles kept at the Central State Archive of Literature and Arts (fund 214) Audio recordings from the sound library of St.Petersburg Conservatory Materials of Serebryakov’s conversations with students The research material can be used by young musicians, as well as the pedagogues of special music schools for illustrative and educational purposes.  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.2.35150

Abstract: The research subject is the scope of academic works of Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (1857 - 1927) published just before and during World War I, including the articles “Music as a remedy” (1913), “The role of music in aesthetic education of a child from the first days of life” (1915), “Remedial and hygienical role of music” (1916), in which the academician considers the results of experimental research of the influence of music on person and society from the standpoint of collective reflexology and general psychology, and develops methodic guidelines for the practical usage of music. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the fact that the author introduces the natural-science knowledge acquired by V.M. Bekhterev experimentally, into the discourse of the social sciences. The problem of practical usage of music is solved in the context of a comprehensive approach to human study. Along with explicit scientific facts, the sources under consideration have implicit content which can be explained by the academician’s interest in the social aspects of life, creative activities in arts, and music as a form of art. The author emphasizes the practical importance of the collected and classified guidelines for the practical usage of music for the purpose of the improvement of society.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.3.37936

Abstract: The article raises the question of identification of the "hidden plot" in the choral cycle "Five choirs to the words of Russian poets" by G. Sviridov. Author examines the question of how thematically, plotfully and ideologically all five parts of the choral cycle are interconnected, the connection between which at first glance seems random. When considering and analyzing in detail the texts (excerpt from the poem "Dead Souls" by N. Gogol, poems by S. Yesenin "In the evening blue ..." and "Herd", A. Prokofiev "Oh, there were shelves", S. Orlov "Song") the regularities of their semantic transformation, which was made by G. Sviridov in accordance with the plan to give a verbal and musical "portrait" of different historical stages in the life of Russia (pre-revolutionary, revolutionary, which led to the destruction of the value foundations of Russian civilization and the civil war, as well as the period that came after the Great Patriotic War), are revealed. It is shown that the "hidden" text of N. Gogol "Taras Bulba" acquires special significance in the verbal sphere of the cycle, namely, the scene of the murder of the son of Andriy by Taras, who betrayed the faith and Homeland; this episode is compared by the composer with the plot collision of the civil war reflected in the text of A. Prokofiev (that is why G. Sviridov gives his name to the poem "The son met the father"). But all the tragic events of Russian history are experienced and overcome by the song in which the Eternal Motherland lives. Thanks to the existence of the hidden plot of the cycle, a wide epic canvas unfolds before us, within which Sviridov's musical historiosophy finds its expression.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2023.1.39780

EDN: DLYYDN

Abstract: The main attention of the author of the work focuses on the study of temporal structures in the solo episodes of Eugene Onegin. In this work, based on the research of theorists and musicologists, a detailed analysis of metric systems and rhythm formulas in the musical material of the protagonist is carried out. Special attention is paid to the study of the hidden meaning of leit rhythms as means of artistic expression, independent of the melodic-harmonic component of the musical fabric. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as accentuation and "broad three-lobe", polyrhythm and polymetry, elements of polyfurcation and fractal processes of shaping, shift of the clock line and higher-order bars. Special attention is paid to the influence of the metrorhythmic side on the figurative and artistic component of the process of creating and developing the plot of an opera performance. The main conclusion of the study is the need to study the regularities of metrorhythmic constructions in vocal parts. This will allow performers to more deeply and comprehensively penetrate deep into the semantic musical structures, get additional opportunities to control the performing apparatus while working on creating an artistic image. This approach is relevant and quite new in terms of the originality of the research perspective, since so far this topic has not been presented in a similar way in the scientific literature. The presence of musical examples, quotations from scientific literature, tables and diagrams turns the work into a visual and easy-to-study scientific material.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2023.4.43660

EDN: VAKDQH

Abstract: The object of the study is the work of I. F. Stravinsky of the neoclassical period. The subject of the study is Capriccio for piano and Orchestra, which is a vivid example of the manifestation of the composer's neoclassical approaches. The purpose of the work is to identify the principles of the correlation of "old" and "new" stylistic models in this essay. The research involved theoretical and empirical research methods, including analysis, generalization and systematization of scientific sources, stylistic analysis of I. Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. As a result of a detailed examination of the first part of the composition, some features of the figurative structure, form formation, intonation, harmonic language, texture are revealed. When considering Stravinsky's work, the main attention is paid to the composer's practical mastering of musical dialects of the past and present. In particular, a detailed analysis of the first part of the Capriccio makes it possible to detect manifestations of musical experience of both past eras – Baroque, classicism, Romanticism, and modernity (first of all, at the level of pitch and metrorhythmic features of the work). It is concluded that, taking as a basis the compositional idea of a baroque concerto, assimilating stylistic models of various epochs within one composition, Stravinsky creates an independent, modern composition, which is one of the variants of the composer's "neoclassical" reading of the concert genre.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2023.6.69481

EDN: DNDBYH

Abstract: The author examines in detail the revival of ancient choral genres and forms that corresponded to the aesthetic trend in the Russian musical culture of the second half of the twentieth century. The subject of the study is the stylistic features of Vadim Salmanov's polyphonic writing. The object of the research is the choral heritage of V. Salmanov's a cappella from the point of view of integrating new compositional techniques and polyphony. Special attention is paid to polyphonic techniques in the concert for the a cappella choir "Lebedushka". The author examines in detail the dramaturgy and architectonics of the choral concert "Lebedushka", as well as such aspects of the topic as: polyphonic methods, including imitation polyphony and heterophony, writing techniques of the twentieth century (sonorica, aleatorica). V. Salmanov's works clearly demonstrate that the genre of choral concert occupies one of the main places in the history of Russian choral creativity a cappella. It is proved that in the genre hierarchy, it is the choral concert that plays the leading role in terms of the number of artistic discoveries. The research methodology is based on the analysis of historical materials, a wide range of works by Russian musicologists concerning the history and theory of musical genres, polyphonic writing techniques and performing practice. Through the synthesis of research methods, including musicology and choral studies, the parameters of musical composition are revealed. The main conclusions of the conducted research are the paradigm of artistic connections of traditional polyphonic techniques with modern means of compositional writing. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time polyphonic techniques in modern choral composition are analyzed from the standpoint of musicology and choral studies. A special contribution of the author to the disclosure of the topic is the study of V. Salmanov's choral concert "Lebedushka", which had not previously been the object of special research from the point of view of polyphony. In this work, the presentation of musical material itself, as well as polyphonic methods of working with it, are conducted under the auspices of the search for a new sound characteristic of modern music. Attention is focused on the need to study the issues related to the role of polyphony in modern choral composition, due not only to the general artistic and historical potential of choral culture as a whole, but especially its great importance in modern musical art.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2018.1.25759

Abstract: The object of this article is musical culture. The subject is musical culture as a system. The author closely considers such aspects of the matter as the concept of musical culture, the study of musical culture within the framework of the system approach including domestic practice. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of musical culture elements which the author suggest to collect in a single categorical list — three main elements called "categorical triad block" consisting of three common elements — "Creation/Re-Creation", "Conservation", "Translation". The capacity of the model elements allows the author to encompass all the components of the music system. The system approach is applied as the main method of study of musical culture. This approach correlates with the concept of musical culture as a special form of systemic activity reflecting the cultural state of society, where the coherence of all elements of the system indicates a certain state of culture as a whole. The scientific novelty of the study lies in an attempt to determine the general  model of musical culture which includes all the elements of the system - the categorical triad block. All the elements of musical culture can be combined into the "categorical triad block" which includes three main elements: "Creation/Re-Creation", "Conservation", "Translation". The absence of one or the availability of all three elements of the block indicates that musical culture as a system can evolve "completing" itself by inclusion either of new aspects of already existing elements, or of a new blockthat provides the necessary level of music consumption by society. The scheme of the categorical triad block applied to study of the history of musical culture of any level provides insights into the rate of its development at one time or another. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.5.33593

EDN: JULWYV

Abstract: The object of research in the article is the cult music of Simeon ten Holt Canto ostinato (1976-79), which is considered using the optics of metamodernism. The authors of the concept of metamodernism were the Dutch Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Acker, who created the manifesto of metamodernism (2010), another manifesto was subsequently created by the Briton Luke Turner (2011). This music, as well as the whole concept of metamodernism in music, represents one of the concepts of culture-after-postmodernism and proclaims the return of affect, semantic oscillation as a constant oscillation between direct utterance and irony, a new actualization of the meta-narratives devalued by postmodernism, which replaced postmodern total irony with post-irony. The novelty of the stated perspective is that for the first time in Simeon ten Holt's opus "Canto ostinato" such tendencies of musical metamodernism as new simplicity, the return of melody and tonality, the actualization of song and dance, the flickering affect of melancholy and euphoria, the purpose for the listener of a new type and the features of "sentimental minimalism" are revealed. Despite the fact that this music was created long before the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which became the cause of metamodernism, one can see such obvious features of metamodernism in it that one would like to see in this opus a manifesto of the musical metamodern looking into the future.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.1.35023

Abstract: Jazz was the first type of music where the earliest stage of its development was recorded. A single performance recorded in 1917 by the New Orleans quintet, the Original Dixieland “Jass” Band, is known as the first jazz record in history. In the academic community, there’s the perception that the musical content featured on this record cannot be viewed as a typical representative of jazz music from that period. The music was performed by white musicians, though most first jazz bands were black, and the music was far from a genuine solo improvisation. However, the very act of recording the music made it atypical to begin with. The subject of this article is the influence of sound recording technology on jazz culture at this stage of its foundation. At that time, jazz musicians had to consider various technical peculiarities of sound recording technology if they wished to create a recording. The author pays special attention to analyzing the consequences of the reproducibility of these recordings for jazz musicians and the audience’s perception. In this article, the author uses a comprehensive methodology that involves analyzing historical sources and memoirs of jazz musicians related to the sound recording industry. The research proves that audio recordings are insufficient as a source to critically research the first jazz gramophone record and suggests alternative approaches to its interpretation. In those years, if jazz musicians wanted to make a recording they had to bear in mind numerous peculiarities of sound recording technology. The author gives special attention to the analysis of the consequences of reproducibility of a recording for jazz musicians, and for the audience’s perception. As a research methodology, the author uses the comprehensive approach which includes the study of historical sources and jazz musicians’ memoirs related to the sound recording industry. The research proves that audio recordings are not sufficient as a source for critical research of the first jazz gramophone record, and suggests alternative approaches to its interpretation.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.1.31174

Abstract: The focus of this study is intertextuality within a scientific context, specifically examining a broad range of scientific works that explore intertextuality in the broader context of fiction as a whole. The relevance of this issue is determined by its ability to help estimate the scientific status of this category. The author delves into the study of intertextuality in the humanities, exploring the fundamental principles of this category as formulated in the works of A. Veselovsky, Yu.Tynyanov, Yu. Kristeva, M. Bakhtin, H. Bloom, and others. The author uses general scientific research methods within a comparative and logical analysis, including observation, generalization, and comparison. The research is comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and based on the analytical method. The author comes to the conclusion that intertextuality as an artistic category is thoroughly studied in scientific works. Despite the variety of interpretations of this category, in the scientific field, it appears as a particular mechanism that represents a scientific text as a system operating according to specific laws and acting as a theoretical and practical basis for the modern methodology of musicology as a science, revealing the content of a composer’s canvas and its connection with the cultural texts of previous epochs.  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.6.33661

Abstract: The authors attempt to reveal the internal interconnection of a traditional mythologem of space with the ideas of a modern astronomical reality in the music by E. Artemiev written for A. Tarkovsky’s movie “Solaris”. The mythologem of space gained its features back within the ancient worldview and formed a sort of a semiotic complex which can be considered as a combination of various symbols connected with basic natural forces, basic forms and numbers. This mythologem was embodied in various art forms, including the music of various historical epochs. Surprisingly, in contemporary culture, which has much wider knowledge of physical (astronomical) space, the ancient ideas of microcosm and macrocosm are still functioning, along with the medieval religious ideas of eternity, metaphysical searches for new spirituality, the divine-humanity of cosmism adherents, etc. Based on M.M. Bakhtin’s concept of chronotope, the authors develop the model of chronotope analysis represented in the form of a table (G. N. Dombruaskene) which allows considering the movie within a vector space, in which the main vectors - the two basic directions - are the chronometry and the chronotope. The table format demonstrates the semantic moments related to space which emerge at the crossing of the three key parameters of the movie: verbal, visual and musical. The full chronotropic, semiotic and computer-based analysis with the sonograms of music examples (D.N. Bolotin) helps to reveal in each space-related fragment of the movie the music and artistic means of expression of its philosophical and astronomical characteristics.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.2.37645

Abstract: The subject of this study is the intersection points of music and fine art, demonstrated by the example of the creative interaction of the conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp and composer John Cage. The possibility of reformatting creativity from the visual to the sound field is considered as a role rotation, within which Duchamp appears as a composer, and Cage as an artist. An attempt is made to explain the motivation for such a choice. What is the meaning of this, and what do people mean when they choose this or that image for themselves, and create this or that image for themselves. How important it is to change the artistic image and creative image for the master. The methodology of the research consists in a comparative analysis of these concepts using already known works on this topic and personal observations of the author. In conceptualism, an idea is valued above the process of its materialization in a work of art, and therefore, the technique of execution is not a decisive factor. In such a creative paradigm, the artist's tools themselves become not so essential, which can be paints, a brush or other means of visual representation of the concept, as well as sheet music or a graphic score. The means of artistic expression - sounds or visual elements – also turn out to be equivalent. All of them focus around the concept - the dominant point of any kind of creativity. This conclusion becomes the key for the conducted research in this article.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2019.5.30723

Abstract: The research subject is the problem of correlation between the story “The sealed angel” by N.Leskov and the Russian liturgy “The sealed angel” by R. Shchedrin. The authors analyze the peculiarities of the creative method of the composer who creates a piece of music based on a literary work using a “typological exegesis” which is the main creative method of Medieval and canonical art. According to this method, an artist follows the truth of a “foreshadow” which appeared in the Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition. The original piece of art should be “typologically” and “iconically” connected with this “foreshadow”. The research methodology contains the set of approaches of the study of art to spiritual and aesthetic phenomena of the Russian art. The authors come to the conclusion that R.Shchedrin creates a kind of a “music icon” showing the way to the truth through penance and junction with the Truth. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that the authors reveal Shchedrin’s method which he uses as a composer while creating a part song “The sealed angel”.   

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.1.12189

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.1.65344

Abstract: Almost half a century ago in Germany there appeared a book by Ulrich Dibelius. He put to the readers a number of polemically sharp questions. One of them is formulated as follows: is music composed of sounds or ideas? The author criticizes philosophers and aesthetic writers who, turning to music, try to hear in it an echo of social conflicts, political manifestos, modern mentality and illusions. The book was written in the mid-1960s, when a suspicious attitude to ideology was widespread among western writers. But now there questions remain topical, too. The authors of the article note that it would be naïve to dispute about Dibelius’ quite trivial idea that music is the art of sound. Certainly, far from always can we find a clear relation between music and topical political and social ideas, a realistic representation of reality. Beyond that, the article gives a wider rationale of the theme of correlation between music and ideas. The historical method is employed to compare interpretation of this problem half a century ago and nowadays. Phenomenological analysis of the problem is offered. The hermeneutic method is used to analyze a number of musical compositions. A new approach to the problem deals with dependence of music on the time period that produced it and the possibility to reexamine it under new social conditions. There should be no simplifications here. We remember that the ideologists of the Third Reich attempted to use works of Wagner and Beethoven for their anti-humanistic purposes. But this fact can also convince us that music, its place and role in society cannot be ideologically neutral, indifferent to real social dynamics, to alignment of opposing social forces.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.2.32366

Abstract: This article studies the music novations in Aristotle’s philosophy. This research focuses on Aristotle’s philosophical and aesthetical views, with a particular emphasis on the musical novations in his philosophical works. It also aims to detect music novations in Aristotle’s philosophy. To achieve this purpose, the author performs the following tasks: studying Aristotle’s essays and defining his philosophic and aesthetic attitude to music resulting in music novations that appeared in his philosophy while also paying attention to Aristotle’s theoretical views on music. The main research methods are analytical and hermeneutical. The article analyzes the main ideas about music in Aristotle’s essays and characterizes musical innovations typical of his aesthetics. The author concludes that Aristotle’s philosophy and aesthetics contain the following novations: a music composition is the key jewel of a tragedy and is one of its components; music is divided into practical and theoretical (music art and music science); the “composer-performer” system appears in which a composer is the writer of the music, and a performer is the one who plays or teaches the music; the formation of a comprehensive concept of a piece of music; music is a melodic and harmonic reflection of life and an expression of spiritual and moral values and properties of humanity.  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2015.3.15127

Abstract: This article focuses on the concept of the American scholar Aaron Ridley, which in his opinion offers a convincing substantiation of the thesis that music is capable of expressing emotions with precision greater than that of words. The article analyzes the explication of the mechanism of musical expression of emotions that comprises the foundation of Ridley’s “weak” version of arousalism, in which the emotional response of the audience represents the constituting element of the emotional expression of the musical work. The examination of Ridley’s concept is preceded by a brief historical image of philosophical concepts, which contain implications for solution of the problem of precision of musical expression. The main method f research is the analysis and explication of the key notions and argumentative strategy lying at the foundation of Ridley’s concept. The issue of precision of musical expression is being examined using materials that are introduced for the first time into the Russian philosophy of art. The author draws a conclusion on the vulnerability of the approach proposed by Aaron Ridley within the framework of his concept of “weak” arousalism, according to which the precision of musical expression of emotion is achieved by particularization of the typical emotion expressed in music through the compassionate response from the recipient.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.1.12399

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2022.3.38054

Abstract: The object of study is musical theatricalization, which is considered from the perspective of value communication. The novelty of the research lies in the theoretical development and introduction into scientific circulation of the generalizing concept of musical theatricalization, which allows combining genre dominants of various aesthetic activities in its field. The concept of musical theatricalization is appropriate and helps to cover all the available variety of musical and theatrical material without being constrained by historical and specifically professional frameworks. Musical theatricalization is based on musical and theatrical creativity as a conscious synthetic (in art) or unconscious syncretic (in folklore) form of expression of a multidimensional human potential. Musical theatricalization includes various forms of musical and theatrical performances and musical and theatrical genres formed during their evolution. Musical theatricalization acts as a genre class in which there are stable and mobile genre features. The musical and theatrical beginnings become axial, which can manifest themselves in different forms, changing the ratio of musical and theatrical means of expression. There is a movement of the theatrical component: from the minimal manifestation of theatricality in a musical work (the inclusion of kinesthetic means of expression) to the stage production of an opera performance and even a mystery. The study of musical theatricalization is carried out from the position of functional relativity, which allows us to determine the degree of importance of the phenomenon of art for individual subjects who are in a communicative situation. The same work can have different degrees of value depending on the historical and communicative context and, accordingly, on the functions that a particular work acquires. The aesthetic and anthropological value of a piece of music is determined by the functional mood of the addressee at a certain moment. The discrepancy between the functional mood of the participants of the communicative act for various reasons leads to a loss of the quality of communication and, as a consequence, to discrepancies in the evaluation of the artwork, the emergence of functional asymmetry.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.1.65345

Abstract: Почти полвека назад в Германии вышла книга Ульриха Дибелиуса. Он поставил перед читателями целый перечень полемически острых вопросов. Один из них формулируется так: из звуков или идей слагается музыка? Автор критикует философов и эстетиков, которые, обращаясь к музыке, пытаются услышать в ней отзвук социальных конфликтов, политических манифестов, современных настроений и иллюзий. Книга была написана в середине 60-х годов, когда подозрительное отношение к идеологии было широко распространено среди западных исследователей. Но и сегодня эти вопросы сохраняют свою актуальность. Авторы статьи отмечают, что наивно было бы оспаривать вполне тривиальную мысль Дибелиуса о том, что музыка — искусство звуков. Разумеется, в музыке далеко не всегда можно найти четкую связь с актуальными политическими и социальными идеями, наглядное изображение реальности. Вместе с тем в статье дается более широкое обоснование темы – соотношение музыки и идей. Использован исторический метод, позволивший сопоставить осмысление этой проблемы полвека назад и в наши дни. Осуществлен феноменологический анализ самой проблемы. Использован герменевтический метод для анализа ряда музыкальных произведений. Новизна постановки проблемы: вполне понятно, что зависимость музыки от эпохи, породившей ее, может оказаться переосмысленной в новой социальной ситуации. Здесь не должно быть упрощений. Мы помним, что творчество Вагнера и Бетховена идеологи Третьего рейха пытались использовать в собственных антигуманных целях. Но именно это и убеждает нас: музыка, ее место и роль в обществе не могут быть идейно нейтральными, безразличными к реальной социальной динамике, к расстановке противоборствующих общественных сил.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2021.3.35341

Abstract: The 20th century marked a new age in the development of European civilization, which projected images begotten by the technological transformation of reality into an artistic space. The rapid growth of technologies and the industrialization of all spheres of life were reflected in artists' works in urbanized images of reality. One of these images was the machine as the embodiment of speed and technical progress. Being a central motif in Italian Futurism (the most dynamic branch of modernism), the image of the car penetrated all artistic spheres of the Italian art of the 1910s to the 1930s, most notably: literature (embodied, first of all, in the Futurists’ manifestos devoted to the Machine), music (the noise music by Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo), and art (machine painting). The interest in the avant-garde visual art of the 1920s to the 1930s, including Italian Futurism, has grown recently. Many scientific articles and monographs by foreign authors focus on the technical aspects of this ambiguous flamboyant direction: the images of electricity, urban architecture, machines, and mechanisms. But the Russian scientific literature lacks in-depth studies of these aspects of Futurism. This article aims to become the first step in studying the “machine” aspect of Futurism, i.e., its historical background, development, and the influence of the image that formed the basis for the main idea of the creator of the direction more than a century ago. The authors consider the use of the image of the machine in various artistic fields—literature, music, and art—and provide a comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon.  

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.2.13587

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.2.65757

Abstract: The paper presents a new philosophical concept of music, while the author also draws upon his research experience in the sphere of methodology, culturology and the humanities. It formulates the problems that are to be resolved: to find an explanation for the strong influence of music on a human and different understandings thereof; the irreducibility of music to just technique and sound - making a dilemma: whether music is a language, or a symbolic system. There exists a hypothesis that music, on the one hand, constitutes a life form as a solution of personality problems, and, on the other hand, it represents an artistic reality. Basic characteristics of the artistic reality are discussed: the textual nature, the unity of experiencing and arranging the events thereof, the role of personality. Such notions as ‘expressive means’, ‘material of art’, ‘artistic form are analyzed, and it is stated that the whole is formed in music by expressive means and the artist’s personality. In the last part of the paper, the author substantiates the initial hypothesis about the nature of music, compares music with other temporary art forms, demonstrates that classical music was formed as a life form that allowed a modern-European personality implement the three main aspects of his/her being. A notion of music culture is introduced as another important music characteristic. In the process of the development of the proposed music concept, the author used human cognition methodology, the comparative analysis of different art forms, case analysis, genetic considerations, method of perfect object problematization and structuring. As a result, he has managed to build a new philosophical concept of music, to resolve a series of problems defined in respect of music, and hopes to have partially revealed the mystery of music. An important aspect of such a mystery is that while listening to music a person actualizes his existential problems exactly in the form of musical timing and work involving the reading and artistic comprehension of the musical matter and form.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2015.2.16969

Abstract: In this article, based on the analysis of musical oeuvre, the author attempts to determine the concept of its harmonic structure and formulate the leading idea that gave rise to this concept. The first part is dedicated to the elucidation of the phenomenological status of the notion “composer’s design”. Referring to the philosophical works of Aleksei Losev, the author defines the correlation between the notions “idea”, “eidos”, “realistic-material image of the final product”, and compares this triad with the correlation of initial idea (in composer’s mind), concept, and finished oeuvre. The object of research in the second part of the article is the Mozart’s chorus “Abendruhe”, Schumann’s chorus “Gute Nacht”, and piano play of Nikolai Myaskovsky from the cycle “Yellowed Pages” (Op. 31, No. 1). Having built the models of harmonic structures, the author formulates the leading ideas behind them, after which he makes the conclusions on the level of adequacy of the acquired formulations with the harmonic design. The novelty of this research consists in the elucidation of the content of the notion “composer’s design”, in comparison of the design with the analytical model, and in substantiation of the possibility of transition from the structure of the work towards the idea within it.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.2.13588

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2014.2.65758

Abstract: В статье излагается новая философская концепция музыки, при этом автор опирается также на свой опыт исследования в методологии, культурологии и гуманитарных науках. Формулируются проблемы, требующие разрешения: объяснение сильного воздействия музыки на человека и разного ее понимания, несводимость музыки к технике исполнения и звучанию, дилемма – музыка язык или символическая система. Вводится гипотеза, что музыка, с одной стороны, есть форма жизни как разрешение проблем личности, с другой – художественная реальность. Обсуждаются основные характеристики художественной реальности: текстовая природа, единство переживания ее событий и построения их, роль личности. Анализируются понятия «выразительные средства», «материал искусства», «художественная форма» и утверждается, что целое в музыке задают выразительные средства и личность художника. В последней части статьи автор обосновывает исходную гипотезу о природе музыки, сравнивает музыку с другими временными видами искусства, показывает, что классическая музыка формировалась как форма жизни, позволяющая новоевропейской личности реализовать три основные плана своего бытия. Вводится понятие музыкальной культуры в качестве еще одной важной характеристики музыки. В ходе разработки предложенной концепции музыки автор задействовал методологию гуманитарного познания, сравнительный анализ разных видов искусства, анализ кейсов, генетические соображения, метод проблематизации и конструирования идеальных объектов. В результате ему удалось построить новую философскую концепцию музыки, разрешить ряд проблем, поставленных относительно музыки, и, он надеется, отчасти приоткрыть тайну музыки. Важный аспект этой тайны заключается в том, что, слушая музыку, человек реализует свои экзистенциальные проблемы именно в форме музыкальной временности и работы, включающей чтение и художественное осмысление музыкальной материи-формы.