Transformation of the semantic part of a piece of musical art

Odintsova Dar'ya Dmitrievna Assistant; Department of Musical Training and Socio-Cultural Projects; P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky LGPU Postgraduate student; Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences; I.A. Bunin YSU 15 Kommunarov St., Yelets, Lipetsk region, 399770, Russia darina2008.90@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

Musical creativity is a subject of discussion not only in the field of art criticism, but also in various fields of philosophy. The crisis of the classical musical tradition necessitates the search for new forms of musical thinking, which is manifested, in particular, in the research of the semantic part of a musical composition. According to researchers, music is a special artistic language ^[1], while sometimes experts identify several theories of the origin of musical art: "mythological", "playful" and "cognitive" ^[2]. Unlike visual art or literature, music has a temporal nature, its works open up to the listener at a certain point in time and disappear, leaving only a stream of impressions and feelings in the soul. The sound that manifests the beauty of melody is a physical phenomenon, but it is characterized by the relativity of its appearance in time and space.

In different historical epochs, music had not only different purposes in cultures, but also had specific semantic forms. The musical content has been transformed along with significant historical events such as the formation of ancient civilizations, the emergence of Christianity, the secularization of Western society, and the emergence of modern cultural values.

The theoretical foundations of the proposed article were formed as a result of understanding the works of Augustine devoted to music, research in the field of church history by N. D. Uspensky, musicological works by V. I. Martynov, and concepts devoted to the nature of musical creativity by J. P. Blavatsky. Cage. The mentioned theories, formulated in different periods of human history, nevertheless show some unity. With the help of comparative analysis methods, it is possible to establish the relationship and cyclicity of the emergence of certain approaches to the assessment of musical creativity. The study of these approaches is aimed at solving the problem of identifying the relationship between music and spiritual and religious traditions.

The identification of the content in musical art also creates the need to explore the language of music and its symbols. A special attitude to music as an element of religious culture allows us to see the deep spiritual dimension of musical creativity, characteristic of the entire history of art development known to us. Before turning to the means of musical expression and musical notation, it is necessary to pay attention to how melody was perceived in ancient civilizations, before the advent of musical notation, as "the history of musical culture is closely linked to the history of spiritual religious music" ^[3].

Music as a connecting element of "higher substances" and man

A modern researcher V. I. Martynov argues that there are two types of music reproduction: compositional and "non-compositional" ^{[4, p. 3]}. Non-composer music is an impressive layer of spiritual culture, which is associated with social processes, the life of the people, their spiritual and moral values. In the history of musical art, non-composer music is the forerunner of all musical art. It is important to emphasize that in many ways the formation of the two types of music was influenced by religious consciousness and the associated features of the worldview of society. Thus, non-composer music is characterized by the predominance of thinking, in which the subject comprehends the orderliness of the world order. To achieve order, a person must strive to recreate the primary true model by systematizing the natural course of events. This way of arranging events is possible through predictable ritual actions. In the musical space, the presented thought is expressed as a specific act, close in meaning to the ritual. The basic principle of melody reproduction is the repetition of precisely fixed musical formulas or patterns, and their combination forms a canon. "The history of the highest achievements of world culture testifies that any culture achieves perfection of the artistic form only in conditions of strict self-restriction by the established canon" ^[5]. V. I. Martynov considers the canon as a way of constructing a musical composition, with the help of which a ritual is realized ^{[4, p. 5]}.

During the performance of non-composer music, the act of making music can be represented as a kind of melodic flow, which is formed by combining specific formulas that strive for an archetypal model, a prototype. This approach to musical art is based on the perception of reality by ancient man as a bearer of polytheistic consciousness. An analysis of the recorded music patterns of Ancient Mesopotamia (4-3 thousand years BC) allows us to conclude that people recorded music they had already heard, as an accomplished act. In the process of making music, a person considered himself to be involved in the higher world order. At the same time, there was a reunion in the musical stream of a person and certain "higher substances". According to D. I. Bakhtizina, "music acts as a manifestation of the primordial spontaneity of human nature, all that a person is not even able to realize in himself; but at the same time it is not some kind of uncontrollable and chaotic formlessness. On the contrary, there is an amazing harmony and harmony in it. In order to exist and function successfully, a piece of music must have a logical form correlated with the possibilities of human perception" ^[6].

A little later, during antiquity, the highest order was interpreted in connection with the cosmic origin. Ancient Greek philosophers (Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle) perceived the cosmos as a mathematical and musical structure. Pythagoras, as the discoverer of the musical system, suggested that the numerical characteristics of celestial bodies have the same ratio as musical intervals ^{[7, p. 19]}.

Plato continued the musical-numerical theory. In the process of developing this concept, music began to be divided into practical, which can be correlated with art, and theoretical, which is characteristic of scientific knowledge. Music reflected the true harmony of human life in Ancient Greece, and represented a step towards a theoretical (contemplative) understanding of the world. The philosophical and theoretical direction in music was of the greatest value to the ancient world, since, as the ancient thinkers assumed, cognition of existence took place through sound. However, in the doctrine of the ideal state, the dominant role is not theoretical reflection on musical harmony, but a purely practical view of the role of music in society; as an element of the emotional and sensual sphere of man, Plato endows music with the function of education, considers it as a tool for preparing citizens for the protection of society.

In turn, Aristotle discovers in music the beginnings of morality. He paid special attention to the effect of music on human character and behavior. Following an older tradition, Aristotle argues that a harmonious melody can cultivate a special state of virtue in the soul. Immersing oneself in music, a person joined, ancient philosophers believed, to the harmony of the Cosmos.

Christian ideas in music

A special place in the philosophical transformation of music is occupied by the period of early Christianity. V. I. Martynov notes that during the formation of the New Testament, a person's worldview changed, a completely new religion was created, which was not typical of the mentality of man in antiquity ^[4]. Changes are also coming in the field of music. In the early Christian period, liturgical singing began to take shape, which has its differences from pagan ritual music making. If in pre-Christian culture a person perceived music as a connection with the cosmos, while the Cosmos was understood as a divine emanation, but was not transcendent, then the first Christians fully felt the rational incomprehensibility of the Divine principle. A Christian realizes that the Kingdom of God is in the human soul. This concept is inconsistent with the ancient understanding of the cosmos, which leads to a completely new perception of existence. The cosmos is losing its self-sufficiency, its existence now depends on the will of God. An ecclesiastical person tries to restore the holiness lost in the fall, striving, ultimately, for "salvation."

If in the ancient tradition sound was perceived as something independent, then in Christian culture music appears as a way of addressing God, and sound as a carrier of the prayer word. The music is filled with certain semantic intonations, which are dominated by the word as a prayer speech, as a result, an articulation-intonation system is formed. V. I. Martynov separates such a system from the high-pitch musical concept and assigns a separate niche for church and liturgical singing ^{[4, p. 30]}.

Augustine makes an important contribution to the understanding of musical art in his treatise On Music. Having a good ancient education, he has been searching for God throughout his life. His works bear the features of that period of cultural history, during which the transition from pagan polytheism to Christianity was carried out. Using the aesthetics of rhythm as an example, Aurelius tries to find the answer to the question "Where is the Kingdom of Heaven?" To help the Church, the Christian philosopher takes music, or rather, rhythm. Music helps religious consciousness to acquire a new content, and its subject gets the opportunity to deepen himself. The appeal of music to the sensory components of a person's worldview accurately conveys spiritual experiences. In the treatise "On Music" one can trace the confrontation and at the same time the synthesis of two cultures – ancient and Christian. This is one of the most successful examples for studying the evolution of religious consciousness.

Initially, Augustine shares the doctrine of the "liberal sciences", which includes music. The main goal of the seven liberal sciences (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music) was the spiritual ascent of man. This concept does not contradict ancient thinking and is related to the ideas of the Pythagoreans and Neoplatonists. Later, in the final sixth book of the treatise On Music, already as a bishop, Augustine abandons the previous theory and fully perceives musical art through the prism of a new religion – Christianity.

The evolution of Augustine's religious consciousness is confirmed by an abundance of quotations from biblical texts. In particular, the ancient idea of the elitism of education and the possibility of comprehending divine truth exclusively by "grammarians" and "poets" is completely transformed ^{[8, p. 39]}. Already as Bishop of Hippo, Augustine comes to the conclusion that someone who has received instruction in the Christian faith, but is not educated according to all the statuses of ancient education, may be closer to the knowledge of Revelation. In the sixth book of his treatise On Music, Aurelius addresses musical thinking that was unconventional for the ancient world. The Christian virtues of the soul come to the fore – prudence, temperance, strength, justice ^{[8, p. 96]}. Through the prism of Christianity, the virtues presented are transformed in eternal life into contemplation, sanctification, invulnerability and orderliness. The numerical ratios of musical sounds in the spirit of antiquity are filled with eidos. There is an idea in the sound of the melody. The beginning of the conception of beauty in the form of an idea is taking place.

The influence of the "prayer word" on musical creativity

In the New Testament, music is dominated by the Word as a guide to Divine truth, and prayer is a dialogue between man and God. The word has its addressee, so the sound is enriched with meaning and transformed into a toneme. A set of meaningful sounds or tones bring a Christian closer to comprehending Existence or Divine providence. Thus, pre-Christian musical formulas are transformed into symbols filled with divine meaning. V. I. Martynov considers the system of harmony to be one of the examples of "verbal" melodism, in which the melody is subordinate to the toneme, and the toneme, in turn, is subordinate to the Word.

As an example, let us turn to the Ancient Russian singing art. N. D. Uspensky studied in detail the formation of the musical and theoretical thought of church singing, which was established with the advent of the Christian faith ^[9]. D. V. Razumovsky suggests that the emergence of singing art dates back to the first half of the XI century ^{[9, p. 20]}. Another researcher, S. V. Smolensky, argues that the emergence of Russian church singing occurred at the end of the 10th century ^[10]. Anyway, Christianity came to Russia from the Byzantine Empire much earlier than the official baptism. Initially, the development of foreign culture took place mainly in princely courts and monasteries.

During the formation of liturgical singing, Russian traditional melodies began to interact with Byzantine elements. The Znamenny chant as a monument of intangible historical heritage has been preserved thanks to graphic recordings ^[11]. Intonation was fixed by a certain sign, which did not indicate the exact pitch and duration. Most of the signs are not decipherable due to the fact that they have fallen out of use. Based on text recordings of the Byzantine style of singing and Russian singing art, N. D. Uspensky hypothesizes their similarity to each other ^[9]. The essence of the znamenny chant is that the masters of Russian singing performed the translation of religious texts into Byzantine. The task of the domesticator was to accurately convey the meaning of the Byzantine original, which confirms the interdependence of the melodies. The letter was dominated by the conventionality of signs, the singing masters could freely modify the melodies, resulting in the distinctive style of Russian church singing.

Written fixation of sound as a factor in the transformation of musical and religious thinking

For a long time, religion and music have been interconnected. During this period, musical art did not presuppose authorship in the modern sense. There was a unified musical and religious consciousness that had been developing for many generations. The experience of musical perception was transmitted from person to person, through joint chanting. The written fixation of a melody makes some changes in the understanding of music.

V. I. Martynov sees this as a loss of the principle of obedience. To a greater extent, the art of music developed in monasteries, where obedience is the basis of spiritual life. The written recording of sounds without the participation of a mentor involves the interpretation of the melody. As a result, new melodies and new semantic constructions arise. The Western secularization of society stimulates the transformation of the worldview of society, in which the vector of the search for truth is gradually changing. A person stops looking for the truth in God and turns his attention to his own individuality. "For a personality that has found an ontological basis in itself, it is no longer necessary to see some eternal face that is mysteriously present in it" ^{[4, p. 62]}. Thus, favorable conditions arise for the formation of the author's principle and composing technique.

Liturgical singing consisted of clearly organized melodic patterns that supported the idea of world order. In the IV–V centuries, the formed models took the form of church voices. In turn, the vocal system formed the foundation of Gregorian chant. Changes in monastic life led to the transformation of singing practices. N. I. Efimova identifies two singing categories: the oral singing tradition and the medieval system of eight octave scales ^[12]. The very fact of transferring an oral tradition to a written version implies certain changes. Before the written period, sound was perceived as filled with living energy, whereas accurate fixation of sound deprives melody of the act of a new rebirth. Playing a melody based on precisely fixed signs changes the whole musical mindset. It seems that music can be created using an existing set of elements. As a result, the rational and psychological reflection of the musician increases, coming to the conclusion that his "I" is the source of musical creativity.

Musical notation is formed step by step. This development creates the composer's personality in art. If in ancient civilizations and in the period of early Christianity music was perceived as a divine stream, then rational thinking turns a melody into a clearly constructed form, a "thing". The appearance of musical recordings was portrayed by neumas.

The first stage in changing musical thinking can be attributed to the emergence of polyphony. Playing a melody in the form of a monody is an action of religious consciousness. "Only in the conditions of a monodic space, only in the conditions of a single synergetic flow, can the mode model most purely and fully certify itself in a particular variant of the melody, and each new melodic variant can certify itself in the mode model, as a result of which the monody can be considered as self—certifying the authenticity of salvation" ^{[4, p. 72]}. The appearance of "counterpoint" creates a transitional state from pure religious thinking to a rational person. The next stage is the formation of a "free organum" in which the main melody differs from the canonical melody. Thus, the idea of individual development and selfhood comes to the fore. A revolutionary event is the appearance of the "melismatic type of composition", in which there is a complete departure from the strictly structured two-voice. The final effect of changing musical thinking is the technique of writing on sustained sound and the exchange of songs between different voices ^[13].

The improvement of the idea of recording music with certain signs developed into the invention of linear notation by Guido Aretinsky. An important point is the synthesis of "non-rational" and alphabetic notation, which leads to the unification of the irrational principle in the mind and rational thinking. The formed musical system establishes a visual image that can be analyzed. Now the composer is able to create musical compositions using analytical techniques, relying not only on sensory perception. And the opposite process begins to the one that existed before. It becomes possible to compose music initially on paper, and then only reproduce what was written.

The change in the perception of musical art includes a different understanding of recorded signs. If the neuma fixed intonation in its content, endowed with meaning, then the new musical notation system conveyed only a specific pitch. A new sound reality is emerging ^{[4, p. 81]}. In ancient civilizations, sound was thought of as a guide to cosmic order; in the new musical reality, sound has its own functionality. In different semantic conditions, the same sound has different functions. "The modern Western European linear notation system is not equal to the language of music" ^{[14, p. 203]}. V. I. Martynov introduces the concept of "tone function" for such a sound. This form of music perception is typical of Western European thinking. It is in Europe that the author's music originates and the flowering of compositional creativity is planned.

The spiritual origins of music and the role of the composer's individuality

A piece of music, like any work of art, needs to be interpreted. At the same time, the appearance in the field of interpretation of the composer as an individual, the creator of a musical work, makes changes in the process of interpretation. Since the individual idea comes to the fore in musical creativity, the interpreter strives to reconstruct it. A new form of relationship is emerging between the author, performer and listener. While in traditional ancient cultures the musician was a conductor of cosmic energy, in liturgical singing the performer was thought of as an intermediary between the subject and Divine grace, the new form of musical thinking allows the musician to reproduce the individual idea of the author. As a result, musical creativity is differentiated into "secular" and "religious" directions ^{[15, pp. 110, 16]}.

V. I. Martynov sees a significant drawback in this concept. In order for the idea to be unique, it is necessary to constantly be in search of new musical formulas. This state of affairs leads to the inevitable exhaustion of the musical space. Each innovative step of the composer threatens to lose the canonical models that connect man with Divine revelation. "A musical composition created on the basis of such a gesture, although it has a visible physical existence, no longer carries any metaphysical justification and has no metaphysical authenticity, which indicates that the person who created this work has lost its existential root and no longer has real contact with Existence" ^[4].

But it would be wrong to consider the composer's personality only as a negative factor for the entire art space. Most authors, willy-nilly, adhere to spiritual and religious themes in their works, and it would be absurd not to accept its significance in the works of great Russian and European composers. Thus, O. E. Sheludyakova notes that in the era of romanticism, the author's music clearly expressed the features of confessionality ^[17], and S. I. Khvatova defines a whole layer of musical creativity, in which the features of folk and religious culture are closely intertwined ^[18]. O. V. Leontieva in her works examines the era of the "Russian Renaissance", in which There is a close interest of Russian composers in religious and philosophical topics ^[19]. V. I. Martynov points out that every author in the process of musical creation, regardless of his individual conscious position, fulfills a certain religious purpose. There is a dual process in which, on the one hand, freedom and individuality are gained, and on the other hand, New Testament truths are lost. A loose interpretation of Divine revelation is emerging, which makes it difficult to see the connection between music and its spiritual and religious foundations. Thus, the extinction of the composer's spiritual activity indicates the completion of his religious mission, as a result of which music is deprived of its divine essence.

Formation of a "new musical mindset"

The crisis of the author's music is already planned in the XX century. The deformation of the tonal structure is expressed in the technique of avant-garde art. The limit of the development of tonality leads to a–tonal thinking. Arnold Schoenberg creates a new dodecaphonic music system in which the tonal relationships between sounds are annulled. In this case, the melody can be played in different directions: from beginning to end and from end to beginning. The concept of thematism is leveled, for this reason, every individuality loses its meaning.

Modern art historians and philosophers represent the movement of all musical thought in this way: the thinking of ancient civilizations is a movement in a circle, gradually freeing itself from its isolation, time transforms into a spiral movement, which transforms into a linear direction with a vector, which is characteristic of compositional art, and then space "falls" into a single point, which contains at the same time, "everything" and "nothing". The composers Stockhausen and Cage are attempting to destroy the idea of authorship in musical creativity. This is made possible by the disintegration of the vertical coordination of the musical score. Cage creates a new principle of performance, in which the outcome of music making is not important, but only the musical development itself matters.

The work of J. Cage is interesting in this work because it is based on the ontological difference between the objective world of nature and the subjective social reality. The composer's innovative worldview is as follows: he believes that it is necessary to become a humble witness to natural processes. Cornell University professor B. Piekut expresses the opinion that modesty is similar to self-denial: the latter reproduces the structure of Western governance, where "invisibility" is the key to universal power ^[20]. In modern Western culture, the concept of "modesty" is attributed several meanings: limitation of actions, humility, and disguise to purposefully avoid attention ^[20]. French anthropologist Bruno Latour believes that a scientist or an author only creates situations in which nature acts ^[21]. In this context, the term "nature" refers to the universal natural order through which individual phenomena are created ^[22]. J. Cage shares the position of Western thinkers, allowing nature to "speak" independently. His musical work involves an experiment performed by a "subjective witness" in relation to the objective world. Experimental action, unlike consciously planned action, is determined not by the desire to avoid mistakes, since it does not have pre–created mental images, but by the desire to open up new perspectives of creativity. J. Cage argues that at every new turn of history, there is a return to the type of perception of music that was characteristic of ancient civilizations. B. Piekut believes that experimentation in music, as in science, is more successful if the role of the experimenter is minimal. The experimental musician sets only the direction of the musical movement, and then allows the natural processes to manifest themselves to the fullest, while the composer plays the role of a "provocateur", and then turns into a witness of the action.

In contrast to the inhumane and anti-religious ideas of the second half of the 20th century, a new experimental musical form is emerging. As an antithesis to the individual principle, J. Cage offers a completely different musical concept, which is based on humility, obedience and silence. The composer artfully uses the discourse of silence to undermine the sublimity of the abstract ego. Thus, he sets the impetus for the formation of a new musical and religious thinking, in which individual existence is only a part of global history. B. Piekut even claims that Cage and his followers are searching for some alternative philosophy. Thus, East Asian theories, in particular Zen Buddhism, are increasingly capturing the attention of a Western musician.

J. Begbie, theologian and musicologist, studying the work of J. Cage concludes that the composer rejects the idea of music as a complex structure. Humanity is not a part of nature, as it is endowed with an "ego", so Cage tries to neutralize the role of the composer in the musical process ^[23]. Musical thinking based on religious principles draws a clear distinction between nature and humanity. As a result, opposite connections are formed: subject/object, chance/necessity. Cage deliberately controls random sound processes. In his work, "a specific signifier can have an infinite number of meanings of the signified," which leads to the undermining of the fundamental principles of composing activity ^{[4, p. 129]}. The music from the "product" is converted back to the "stream". As in the period of ancient cultures, a melody may not have a logical conclusion, remaining a kind of "open work". Thus, musical art gets rid of subjectivism and returns to its historical origins.

At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, minimalism once again came to the fore in music. After the "agony of the avant-garde," music is purified with a "new simplicity." A rehearsal technique appears, the essence of which is to repeat melodic formulas with minimal deviations. As a rule, repetition is always a "recollection" of something that has already happened, so repetition involves referring to a memory. In this case, the listener enters the context of the piece of music. As a result, a completely new musical mindset is emerging, which still has a long way to formalize and establish itself as a cultural phenomenon.

Conclusion

Throughout the history of culture, music has existed in various forms, with the content being inseparable from the religious and, more broadly, the spiritual component of cultural life; this connection could be direct or indirect, but it has always persisted. Therefore, there was often a parallelism between the transformation of musical thought and historical processes. It manifested itself most clearly in transitional epochs (the birth of Christianity, the secularization of Modern Times, and transformations in the modern world). Cultural history studies reveal implicit connections that confirm the cyclical nature of the historical existence of various types of art, including music.

The discovered interrelations between historical processes and musical thinking can help predict the ways of music development. I. N. Nekhaeva even suggests that it is necessary to search for new ontological foundations that will ensure comprehension of reality through music as an integral part of a holistic knowledge of the world ^[24]. Since the religious component is present in the musical content, it can be concluded that the Divine truth is hidden in creativity; it can also be comprehended with the help of a melody that conveys the movement of the spirit; on the contrary, the loss of spiritual content leads to the melody losing its role as an intermediary between man and God.

In the modern musical world, the idea has emerged and is strengthening, in accordance with which the original pre–individual musical culture returns to replace individual composer's music. It requires self-denial from the musician, conditioned by the awareness of the need to preserve unity with nature. The relevance of Christian humility is once again entering the musical and religious consciousness of man. And who will be the founder and author of the new melodies: an individual, a single ethnic group, a certain substance or maybe an artificial intelligence, time will tell.