Abstract: The research subject is the usage of wind instruments in the scores of D.S. Bortniansky of the 1780s. The research object is the creative work of Bortniansky in the context of settlement of musical classicism in Russia and the interest in the galant style esthetics among the aristocratic circles. The authors consider the peculiarities of the galant style and the techniques of the composer’s orchestra scores. The authors analyze the instrumental composition of the scores and the manner of usage of each instrument of the wind group (in the scores under study, they are flutes, hoboys, clarinets, fagotts and French horns). The authors use the historical method revealing esthetic and style peculiarities of the epoch under study; the analytical method helping to study the role and the character of usage of wind instruments by the composer; the music-theoretical method connected with the issues of instrumentation. The research conclusions are: 1) creating the compositions of the galant style, the composer marks lyric and expressive characteristics of timbres of wind instruments, while their technical characteristics are irrelevant for Bortniansky; 2) wind instruments come to the fore in the moments of performing the affects of grief, sadness and contemplation, which  corresponds with the topos of gallantry and pastorale; 3) referring to the pair composition of a symphonic orchestra, Bortniansky strives to differentiate its composition breaking the speech into ensemble groups thus individualising the music fabric.   

Keywords: instrumentation, score, opera, brass, gallant style, musical classicism, composer Bortnyansky, Russian music, eighteenth century, pastoral

Abstract: A single-action pedal harp - harpe organisee - was created in 1720. The research subject in the article is its history, parts and speech peculiarities. The aim of the research is to theoretically reveal the specificity of playing a single-action pedal harp in the middle of the 18th century, when the first attempts were made to formulate the principles of harp pedagogics. Theoretical significance is proved by the characteristics of the terms “a single-action pedal harp”, “European music”, “the parts of a harp”, “a harp’s speech peculiarities” in the context of the history of philosophical and the study of art knowledge and the scientific methodology. The practical importance is proved by the fact that the acquired results give the opportunity to broadly understand the role of a single-action pedal harp, trace back the correlation between harp technique with performing practice of the 18th century, define the place of harp within a system of the philosophy of culture and art of the 21st century.  The research methodology is defined by the aim and tasks of the study and the uniqueness of the material under study. It is based on the method of analytical study of sources clarifying the logic and the idea of a single-action pedal harp; and the method of comparative analysis. The scientific novelty is defined by the very problem statement and proved by the fact that the author adds new facts about a single-action pedal harp to the Russian musicology, which helps to see the problems of its history, parts and speech peculiarities in a new perspective. The result of the research - the historical processes in harp performance and the specifics of a single-action pedal harp - is the topical scientific problem. Its solution would lead to better understanding of historic performance and dominants of meaning in harp music in the European civilization.   

Keywords: strings, tracts, playing the harp, repertoire, performance, music, art, Single action harp, sounds, instrumental masters

Abstract: The research subject is the problem of interpretation of a poetic primary source in choral compositions a capella created by composers in different historic periods. The analysis of interaction between poetic and music texts allows a composer to take into account the peculiarities of the composer’s rendition of a poem when interpreting choral compositions. In this context, the problem of choosing the very methodology of analysis of a choral composition as a stylistic harmony (in the unity of melos and logos) becomes topical. Besides giving the analytical review of the current approaches to this issue, the author considers step-by-step two general lines which serve as the fundamentals for the analysis of the interacting semantic systems in a choral composition. The first methodological approach is the so-called rational-logical analysis of the stylistic harmony giving more attention to the “physics” of the text. The second one can be conditionally designated as a “metaphysical” approach focusing on the highest spiritual beginnings in the content of the piece of art. The author raises a question about search for the most effective methodology able not only not to blot out music and poetry, but also by uniting the methods of positivists and representatives of spiritual analysis, to elaborate on celestial logos fundamentals of the beauty of a choral composition promoting spiritual awakening and transformation of an inspired researcher, reader and performer.    

Keywords: composer's reading, semantic interaction, synthesis, the interaction, analysis methodology, interpretation, analysis of the artistic whole, choral composition, rational-logical methods, spiritual analysis

Abstract: The article considers the problems of the poly-code nature in the generation of style of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893). The author studies one of the largest compositions of the late period of the composer’s work - the opera “The Queen of Spades” (1890). Special attention is given to the integral style substantiation of the stylistic borrowings (citations, quasi-citations, allusions, stylizations) pointing at the music by the composer’s predecessors (Bortniansky, Gretry, Weber, Mozart), and the Orthodox church rules and folklore. The author considers this problem in intertext dimension and uses the methodology of intertext of the French structuralist school (Julia Kristeva and Roland Bart) and analytical instruments of Marina Raku (central text - visible intertext, hidden intertext) to record the necessity to move to a new interpreting level using the “monomyth” concept of Joseph Campbell. Using the integrative mythopoetic intertextual strategy, the author gives a comprehensive substantiation to the “stylistic deviations” in the opera (citations from Bortniansky, Gretry, Weber; stylizations inspired by Mozart, etc). The author reveals an integral mythological model and uses it to detect the two-level correlation between the out-of-style material and mythopoetics of the theme of the opera “The Queen of Spades”, and the author’s style myth of Tchaikovsky. The used methodology can be applied in separate opera, or in the composer’s super-style.   

Keywords: musical quote, intertextuality, stylistic heterogeneity, styleformation, The Queen of Spades, Marina Raku, Joseph Campbell, composer, mythopoeia, monomyth

Abstract: The aim of the article is to study the idiom of Gennadii Vladimirovich Chernov for wind orchestra using the example of the “Oriental fantasy”. The choice of this composer is conditioned by his contribution to the development of Russian music and instrumentation for wind orchestra. His creative activities cover many genres of wind music: march, suite, fantasy, rapsody, ouverture, poem, ballad, concert. In every genre V.G. Chernov created the works accumulating that integrity natural for the best wind scores. The creative activities of Chernov became publicly recognized and widely spread in concert practice. The research technique of the idiom is based on the musicology experience of studying the peculiarities of music thematic invention, harmony, metro-rhythmics, orchestra texture, expressive and shape-generating role of timbre, and interpretation of orchestra means. The main tasks of the research are: to give esthetic evaluation of Chernov’s Symphony #1 ‘Great Russia”; to reveal genre and style features of thematic invention and the peculiarities of its timbre realization; to demonstrate quality changes of the timbre texture; to demonstrate the characteristics of Chernov’s orchestra narration in the interpretation of instrumental means of wind orchestra; to study the continuity character and the deflection of the principles of orchestration of Russian and Soviet music in wind music.   

Keywords: orchestral performance, brass band, orchestration, brass music, orchestral writing, orchestral texture, timbre, composer's creativity, style, coloring

Abstract: The research subject is the peculiarities of the development of choreography in Vladivostok in the early 1920s. This area of the history of music culture of the Russian Far East is poorly studied. In the result of migration processes after the 1917 revolutions and the Civil War, large creative forces concentrated in Vladivostok. Ballet studios and schools opened, choreography teachers appeared. Heads and students of those schools and studios were actively involving in theatral life of the city, adding variety to the lists of productions. Based on the periodicals, the author reconstructs the events connected with the development of choreography in Vladivostok. The author reveals the names of ballet dancers and choreographers, studies concert events, analyzes journalist materials. The research of the work of choreography schools and studios of Vladivostok of the early 1920s helps conclude about their primary role in the production of integral ballet plays, about the priority in the performance of classical and romantic ballets in Vladivostok carrying on the traditions of the Russian ballet school, about stimulating the appearance of the first critical publications about the ballet in local press. All the above mentioned circumstances promoted and supported the further interest in ballet art in Vladivostok.   

Keywords: ballet studios, ballet schools, teachers of the ballet, choreographic art, ballet history, domestic ballet school, ballet, the ballet in Vladivostok, ballet theater, musical culture of Vladivostok

Abstract: The research subject is the variation cycle (concert) by Andrew Lloyd Webber “Variations on a theme by Paganini” for violoncello and rock band (or orchestra). The author notes the composer’s high professionalism, fine performance of the stylistic dialogue, delicacy of the combinatorial set of the thematic grain, the rich tone aspect of its development. The author speaks about the natural manner of the stylistic realia existence and points at the connection between definite moments of the music actions with the analogous form making points in Rachmaninov’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”. The article reveals the set of mini-cycles in the piece which is interpreted with the help of comprehensive analysis. In this analytical content, the author includes description necessary for creating an impression about the piece of music rarely heard in concert halls. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the uniqueness of its topic. Thus, all the content of the research is unique. The author comes to the following conclusions: “Variations on a theme by Paganini” for violoncello and rock band (or orchestra are a bright concert piece of music marked with a uniqueness of the composer’s language, high professionalism in performing the style dialogue, delicacy of the combinatorial set of the thematic grain, which sometimes has paradoxical and unpredictable interpretation of the topic; the natural manner of the stylistic dialogue of the academic culture and rock music. In this piece of music, we can hear one of the brightest proofs of the ongoing cultural globalization, which often transforms into a part of style in the music of that epoch.   

Keywords: timbre, combinatorics, orchestra, rock band, cello, Variations, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, intonation, music plot, genre