Abstract: The subject of this study is the musical conceptual sphere as a kind of semantic «field» of culture, considered on the cognitive basis of the interaction of musical universals, basic cultural concepts and fundamental stereotypes of consciousness. These universals, concepts and stereotypes contain semantic «clusters» which the subject of cognition operates in the process of musical thinking. In these clusters the contents of experience and knowledge are displayed – the results of the artistic assimilation of the world in the form of quanta of knowledge that allow the reconstruction of a certain model of the world in a piece of music. The cognitive approach becomes the methodological basis that allows us to consider the interpretation in the musical art as a phenomenon associated with the processes of musical thinking, consciousness, memory and cognitive activity in general.The scholarly innovation of this work is defined by the contribution of the author to the deployment of new technologies of artistic analytics.The cognitive approach opens broad research perspectives related to the ascent of music theory to a new scientific level, one involving the entire surrounding world. In this context, the interpretation of the musical whole should be thought of as the possibility of art being in the ensemble of the interaction of musical thinking, musical language and musical consciousness.

Abstract: The author analyses excerpts from Hoch Messe by J.S. Bach, R. Schumann’s «Carnival» and S. Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2 pointing to the factors that shape the composer’s image for musicians, musicologists and general public. Anagrams BACH and SCHA serve as composers’ leitmotifs for J.S. Bach and Robert Schumann. Rachmaninoff’s personal leitmotif has been in the course of analysis of his vocal piece «A letter from Rachmaninoff to K.S. Stanislavsky».The method of textological analysis prompts that those «signature» anagrams can be interpreted as the footprints of composer’s introspection. The paper’s author suggests the new approach to J.S. Bach’s, R. Schumann’s and S. Rachmaninoff’s music that is now possible due to their music’s analysis with the help of personal anagrams. This type of analysis is opening new prospects for the composers’ music interpretation both for musicologists and performers.

Abstract: The paper compares logical possibilities of the three actual trends in musical meaning’s research: musical hermeneutics, musical semantics and the contents of music. The purpose of the paper is to show the scope and borders for all of them as well as their scholarly potential. Additionally the paper is telling the story of their origin characterizing the key works of the leading scientists. The author argues that «musical hermeneutics» had been invented by H. Kretschmar in 1902; «musical semantics» dates back to B. Asafiev’s book «Musical form as a process» written in 1929; «musical contents» is suggested by V. Kholopova in 1980 when the corresponding manuscript had been created. The paper gives the definition for each of the mentioned fields of science explaining its essence: hermeneutics — comment and interpretation; semantics — sense and meaning; contents — expression and significance. The method of research in the paper is based on comparative value of each of the mentioned operational systems and scientific schools referring to their ability for the revelation and explanation of music’s essence as a whole as well as of compositional styles and separate works. Scientific novelty is scholarly discourse as such dealing with comparison of musical hermeneutics, musical semantics and musical contents. As far as the new scientific conclusions are concerned it’s possible to mention the non-scientific character of H. Kretschmar’s and A. Schering’s hermeneutics as well as real scientific character of musical semantics’ and musical contents’ concepts. Nonetheless hermeneutics being an empirical took may be useful for musical practice: fantasies of musical performers and music teachers willing to stimulate their students’ imagination are running in this direction rather often confirming the fact.

Abstract: The evolution of the «old» hermeneutics’ method in contemporary musicological discourse is the focus of the paper. One finds the basic points of the XXth century hermeneutical concepts revisited, such as H. Kretzschmar, P. Bekker and A. Schering. The paper’s author argues that it’s possible to construct a special scholarly niche in our time for the «old» hermeneutics when its «biographical» methods seem to be out of date. There is an alternative to «old» hermeneutics in the paper presented by esthetical views and methodology of C. Floros. Those may be found in his concept of new semantical analysis and ideas of «music as a message» and «music as an autobiography» as practiced in his research on G. Mahler and A. Berg. The author of the paper also takes into account hermeneutical discourse in Russian musicology that is so popular in various works of 1990–2000 on D. Shostakovich’s music, where Shostakovich-otherwise thinker, Shostakovich-dissident and Shostakovich-the author of enciphered messages is considered. The paper’s method is based on hermeneutical approach to music research where music is being interpreted with the help of words and biographical documents in their interference with musical semiotics, intertextuality, textual criticism and source studies. The novelty of the paper is referred to: the renovation of «old» hermeneutics through various other methods and approaches to music research; C. Floros works’ uniqueness as opposed to structural analysis due to «secret programming» found in so many musical opuses of the XIXth and XXth centuries and ideological discussions on D. Shostakovich’s music in post-soviet era; problems and intellectual knots of hermeneutical analysis; special importance of biographical documents for the interpretation of music; the role of creative process in musical analysis, connections between motives and tunes, verbalization of hidden meaning.

Abstract: This article attempts to identify some of the key features of the development of music for the dramatic theater in Kazakhstan and its role in the development of the national school of composition over the period 1920–1990. The theater was one of the centers of national musical culture not only for Kazakhs, but also for Uighurs, Koreans and other nationality groups. Despite this diversity of ethnic-national traditions, in the Kazakh dramatic theater there was clearly a desire for cultural community and mutual understanding among different peoples. The historical interaction of drama and musical theater in Kazakhstan, in the author’s view, played a decisive role in the country in opening a fairly large number of musical and musical drama theaters (16 of the 53 currently existing professional theaters).The article’s methodological basis is an integral approach to the musical and archival documentary sources on the basis of the principle of historicism, which involves a comprehensive review of the subject under examination.The author draws the following conclusions: the emergence of a school of composition in Kazakhstan was closely associated with the dramatic theater, which became a kind of "cradle" for the formation of European genres in Kazakh musical art. The interaction of drama and musical theater that had developed at an early stage in Kazakhstan (the 1930s–1940s) became typical of the subsequent years as well. Many composers continued to write music for plays, and then proceeded to compose operas based on these works. But there were also other examples in which operas were preceded by music for plays.

Abstract: This article focuses on the creative parallels between the heritage of M.P. Mussorgsky and M.A. Bulgakov. Using the example of Mussorgsky’s opera "Boris Godunov" and Bulgakov’s novel "The White Guard", the author shows that the historicism of creative thinking was inherent in both the composer and the writer. The patterns and problems of two Russian "Time of Troubles" periods – in the early 17th century and early 20th centuries – are demonstrated through a sustained system of historical and psychological archetypes. Of particular interest is the undoubted dramatic parallelism of the scenes of the coronations of Boris Godunov in the earlier period and of Semyon Petliura in the latter.The methodology of the article is based on a set of key concepts falling within the scope of the philosophy of history, including the nature of the relationship between the past, present and future; the understanding of historical events and the regularities of the historical process; and the correlation between micro- and macro-history in works of fiction.The scholarly innovation of the article lies in the fact that neither in philology nor musicology has an attempt been made before now to find the common features typical of the recreation of history in the works of Mussorgsky and Bulgakov. A detailed study of the musical associations in the work of the writer has a very solid basis in literary studies today. It is possible that the absence of Mussorgsky’s name and semantic references to his writings in the works of Bulgakov may be the reason for this significant lacuna in the numerous works devoted to the world of music in Bulgakov’s oeuvre.