Classicism |

Classicism (from lat. classicus – exemplary) – arts. theory and style in the art of the 17th-18th centuries. K. was based on the belief in the rationality of being, in the presence of a single, universal order that governs the course of things in nature and life, and the harmony of human nature. Your aesthetic. representatives of K. scooped the ideal in samples of antiquity. lawsuit and in the main. provisions of Aristotle’s Poetics. The very name “K.” comes from an appeal to the classic. antiquity as the highest standard of aesthetics. perfection. Aesthetics K., coming from rationalistic. prerequisites, normative. It contains the sum of mandatory strict rules, to which the arts must comply. work. The most important of them are the requirements for the balance of beauty and truth, the logical clarity of the idea, the harmony and completeness of the composition, and the clear distinction between genres.

In the development of K. there are two major historical. stages: 1) K. 17th century, which grew out of the art of the Renaissance along with the baroque and developed partly in the struggle, partly in interaction with the latter; 2) educational K. of the 18th century, associated with the pre-revolutionary. ideological movement in France and its influence on the art of other European. countries. With the generality of the basic aesthetic principles, these two stages are characterized by a number of significant differences. In Western Europe. art history, the term “K.” usually applied only to arts. directions of the 18th century, while the claim of the 17th – early. 18th century regarded as baroque. In contrast to this point of view, which proceeds from a formal understanding of styles as mechanically changing stages of development, the Marxist-Leninist theory of styles developed in the USSR takes into account the totality of contradictory tendencies that collide and interact in every historical. era.

K. 17th century, being in many ways the antithesis of the baroque, grew out of the same historical. roots, reflecting in a different way the contradictions of the transitional era, characterized by major social shifts, the rapid growth of scientific. knowledge and the simultaneous strengthening of the religious-feudal reaction. The most consistent and complete expression of K. 17th century. received in France the heyday of the absolute monarchy. In music, its most prominent representative was J. B. Lully, the creator of the genre of “lyrical tragedy”, which, in terms of its subject matter and basic. stylistic principles was close to the classic tragedy of P. Corneille and J. Racine. In contrast to Italian baruch opera with its “Shakespearean” freedom of action, unexpected contrasts, bold juxtaposition of the sublime and the clownish, Lully’s “lyrical tragedy” had a unity and consistency of character, a strict logic of construction. Her realm was high heroics, strong, noble passions of people who rise above the ordinary level. Dramatic the expressiveness of Lully’s music was based on the use of typical. revolutions, which served to transfer decomp. emotional movements and emotions – in accordance with the doctrine of affects (see. Affect theory), which underlay the aesthetics of K. At the same time, Baroque features were inherent in Lully’s work, manifested in the spectacular splendor of his operas, the growing role of the sensual principle. A similar combination of baroque and classical elements also appears in Italy, in operas by composers of the Neapolitan school after the dramaturgy. reform carried out by A. Zeno on the model of the French. classic tragedy. The heroic opera series acquired genre and constructive unity, types and dramaturgy were regulated. functions diff. music forms. But often this unity turned out to be formal, the amusing intrigue and virtuoso wok came to the fore. skill of singers-soloists. Like Italian. opera seria, and the work of the French followers of Lully testified to the well-known decline of K.

The new flourishing period of karate in the Enlightenment was associated not only with a change in its ideological orientation, but also with a partial renewal of its very forms, overcoming some dogmatic ones. aspects of classical aesthetics. In its highest examples, enlightenment K. of the 18th century. rises to the open proclamation of the revolution. ideals. France is still the main center for the development of K.’s ideas, but they find wide resonance in the aesthetic. thoughts and arts. creativity of Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia and other countries. In the music An important role in the aesthetics of culture is played by the doctrine of imitation, which was developed in France by Ch. Batte, J. J. Rousseau, and d’Alembert; -aesthetic thoughts of the 18th century this theory was associated with an understanding of intonation. the nature of music, which led to realism. look at her. Rousseau emphasized that the object of imitation in music should not be the sounds of inanimate nature, but the intonations of human speech, which serve as the most faithful and direct expression of feelings. In the center of the muz.-aesthetic. disputes in the 18th century. there was an opera. Franz. encyclopedists considered it a genre, in which the original unity of arts, which existed in anti-tich, should be restored. t-re and violated in the subsequent era. This idea formed the basis of the operatic reform of K. V. Gluck, which was started by him in Vienna in the 60s. and was completed in a pre-revolutionary atmosphere. Paris in the 70s Gluck’s mature, reformist operas, ardently supported by the encyclopedists, perfectly embodied the classic. the ideal of the sublime heroic. art-va, distinguished by the nobility of passions, majesties. simplicity and rigor of style.

As in the 17th century, during the Enlightenment, K. was not a closed, isolated phenomenon and was in contact with dec. stylistic trends, aesthetic. nature to-rykh was sometimes in conflict with his main. principles. So, the crystallization of new forms of classical. instr. music begins already in the 2nd quarter. 18th century, within the framework of the gallant style (or Rococo style), which is successively associated with both the K. 17th century and the Baroque. Elements of the new among composers classified as gallant style (F. Couperin in France, G. F. Telemann and R. Kaiser in Germany, G. Sammartini, partly D. Scarlatti in Italy) are intertwined with the features of the baroque style. At the same time, monumentalism and dynamic baroque aspirations are replaced by soft, refined sensibility, intimacy of images, refinement of drawing.

Widespread sentimentalist tendencies in the middle. 18th century led to the flourishing of song genres in France, Germany, Russia, the emergence of dec. nat. types of opera that oppose the sublime structure of classicist tragedy with simple images and feelings of “little people” from the people, scenes from everyday everyday life, unpretentious melodism of music close to everyday sources. In the field of instr. music sentimentalism was reflected in Op. Czech composers adjoining the Mannheim school (J. Stamitz and others), K. F. E. Bach, whose work was related to lit. movement “Storm and onslaught”. Inherent in this movement, the desire for unlimited. freedom and immediacy of individual experience is manifested in an upbeat lyric. the pathos of the music of C. F. E. Bach, improvisational whimsicality, sharp, unexpected expressions. contrasts. At the same time, the activities of the “Berlin” or “Hamburg” Bach, representatives of the Mannheim school, and other parallel currents in many ways directly prepared the highest stage in the development of music. K., associated with the names of J. Haydn, W. Mozart, L. Beethoven (see Vienna Classical School). These great masters summarized the achievements of dec. music styles and national schools, creating a new type of classical music, significantly enriched and freed from the conventions characteristic of the previous stages of the classical style in music. Inherent K. quality harmonich. clarity of thinking, balance of sensual and intellectual principles are combined with the breadth and richness of the realistic. comprehension of the world, deep nationality and democracy. In their work, they overcome the dogmatism and metaphysics of classicist aesthetics, which to a certain extent manifested themselves even in Gluck. The most important historical the achievement of this stage was the establishment of symphonism as a method of reflecting reality in dynamics, development and a complex interweaving of contradictions. The symphonism of the Viennese classics incorporates certain elements of operatic drama, embodying large, detailed ideological concepts and dramatic. conflicts. On the other hand, the principles of symphonic thinking penetrate not only into dec. instr. genres (sonata, quartet, etc.), but also in opera and production. cantata-oratorio type.

In France in con. 18th century K. is further developed in Op. followers of Gluck, who continued his traditions in opera (A. Sacchini, A. Salieri). Directly respond to the events of the Great French. Revolution F. Gossec, E. Megyul, L. Cherubini – authors of operas and monumental wok.-instr. works designed for mass performance, imbued with high civil and patriotic. pathos. K. tendencies are found in Russian. composers of the 18th century M. S. Berezovsky, D. S. Bortnyansky, V. A. Pashkevich, I. E. Khandoshkin, E. I. Fomin. But in Russian K.’s music did not develop into a coherent broad direction. It manifests itself in these composers in combination with sentimentalism, genre-specific realism. figurativeness and elements of early romanticism (for example, in O. A. Kozlovsky).

References: Livanova T., Musical classics of the XVIII century, M.-L., 1939; her, On the way from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment of the 1963th century, in collection: From the Renaissance to the 1966th century, M., 264; her, The problem of style in the music of the 89th century, in collection: Renaissance. Baroque. Classicism, M., 245, p. 63-1968; Vipper B.R., Art of the 1973th century and the problem of the Baroque style, ibid., p. 3-1915; Konen V., Theater and Symphony, M., 1925; Keldysh Yu., The problem of styles in Russian music of the 1926th-1927th centuries, “SM”, 1934, No 8; Fischer W., Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des Wiener klassischen Stils, “StZMw”, Jahrg. III, 1930; Becking G., Klassik und Romantik, in: Bericht über den I. Musikwissenschaftlichen KongreЯ… in Leipzig… 1931, Lpz., 432; Bücken E., Die Musik des Rokokos und der Klassik, Wildpark-Potsdam, 43 (in the series “Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft” edited by him; Russian translation: Music of the Rococo and Classicism, M., 1949); Mies R. Zu Musikauffassung und Stil der Klassik, “ZfMw”, Jahrg. XIII, H. XNUMX, XNUMX/XNUMX, s. XNUMX-XNUMX; Gerber R., Klassischei Stil in der Musik, “Die Sammlung”, Jahrg. IV, XNUMX.

Yu.V. Keldysh

Classicism (from lat. classicus – exemplary), an artistic style that existed in the 17th – early. 19th centuries in Europe literature and art. Its emergence is associated with the emergence of an absolutist state, a temporary social balance between feudal and bourgeois elements. The apology of reason that arose at that time and the normative aesthetics that grew out of it were based on the rules of good taste, which were considered eternal, independent of a person and opposed to the artist’s self-will, his inspiration and emotionality. K. derived the norms of good taste from nature, in which he saw a model of harmony. Therefore, K. called to imitate nature, demanded credibility. It was understood as a correspondence to the ideal, corresponding to the mind idea of ​​reality. In K.’s field of vision, there were only conscious manifestations of a person. Everything that did not correspond to reason, everything ugly had to appear in the art of K. purified and ennobled. This was associated with the idea of ​​ancient art as exemplary. Rationalism led to a generalized idea of ​​characters and the predominance of abstract conflicts (opposition between duty and feeling, etc.). Largely based on the ideas of the Renaissance, K., unlike him, showed interest not so much in a person in all his diversity, but in the situation in which a person finds himself. Hence, often the interest is not in the character, but in those of his features that expose this situation. The rationalism of k. gave rise to the requirements of logic and simplicity, as well as the systematization of art. means (division into high and low genres, stylistic purism, etc.).

For ballet, these requirements proved to be fruitful. Collisions developed by K. – the opposition of reason and feelings, the state of the individual, etc. – were most fully revealed in dramaturgy. The impact of K.’s dramaturgy deepened the content of the ballet and filled the dance. pictures of semantic significance. In comedies-ballets (“The Boring”, 1661, “Marriage involuntarily”, 1664, etc.), Moliere sought to achieve a plot understanding of ballet inserts. The ballet fragments in “The Tradesman in the Nobility” (“Turkish Ceremony”, 1670) and in “The Imaginary Sick” (“Dedication to the Doctor”, 1673) were not just interludes, but organic. part of the performance. Similar phenomena took place not only in farcical-everyday, but also in pastoral-mythological. representations. Despite the fact that ballet was still characterized by many features of the Baroque style and it was still part of the synthetic. performance, its content increased. This was due to the new role of the playwright supervising the choreographer and composer.

Extremely slowly overcoming baroque variegation and cumbersomeness, K.’s ballet, lagging behind literature and other arts, also strove for regulation. Genre divisions became more distinct, and most importantly, the dance became more complicated and systematized. technique. Ballet. P. Beauchamp, based on the principle of eversion, established five positions of the legs (see Positions) – the basis for the systematization of classical dance. This classical dance focused on antique. the samples imprinted in the monuments will depict. art. All movements, even borrowed from Nar. dance, passed off as antique and stylized as antiquity. Ballet professionalized and went beyond the palace circle. Dance lovers from among the courtiers in the 17th century. changed prof. artists, first men, and at the end of the century, women. There was a rapid growth of performing skills. In 1661, the Royal Academy of Dance was established in Paris, headed by Beauchamp, and in 1671, the Royal Academy of Music, headed by J. B. Lully (later the Paris Opera). Lully played an important role in the development of the ballet K. Acting as a dancer and choreographer under the direction of Molière (later as a composer), he created muses. lyric genre. tragedy, in which plastic and dance played a leading semantic role. The tradition of Lully was continued by J. B. Rameau in the opera-ballets “Gallant India” (1735), “Castor and Pollux” (1737). In terms of their position in these still synthetic representations, ballet fragments more and more corresponded to the principles of classical art (sometimes retaining baroque features). In the beginning. 18th century not only emotional, but also rational understanding of plasticity. scenes led to their isolation; in 1708 the first independent ballet appeared on a theme from Corneille’s Horatii with music by J. J. Mouret. Since that time, ballet has established itself as a special kind of art. It was dominated by divertissement dance, dance-state and its emotional unambiguity contributed to rationalistic. building a performance. The semantic gesture spread, but preim. conditional.

With the decline of drama, the development of technology began to suppress the playwright. Start. The leading figure in the ballet theater is the virtuoso dancer (L. Dupre, M. Camargo, and others), who often relegated the choreographer, and even more so the composer and playwright, to the background. At the same time, new movements were widely used, which is the reason for the beginning of the costume reform.

Ballet. Encyclopedia, SE, 1981