Formalism |

Aesthetic a concept based on the recognition of the self-sufficient meaning of form in art, its independence from the ideological and figurative content. F. denies the connection of art with reality and considers it as a special kind of spiritual activity, which boils down to the creation of autonomous art. structures. Theoretical presentation of the formalistic concept in music was directed against the romantic. aesthetics book by E. Hanslik “On the Musically Beautiful” (“Vom Musikalisch-Schönen”, 1854). Hanslick argued that “music consists of sound sequences, sound forms that have no content other than themselves.” He did not deny that music can evoke certain emotions and figurative associations in the listener, but he considered them as subjective. Hanslik’s views had a meaning. influence on the further development of Western-European. music science, which manifested itself, in particular, in the delimitation of the objective scientific. analysis from aesthetic. estimates. Identification of artistic beauty in music. claim-ve, according to G. Adler, is beyond the reach of scientific. knowledge. In the 60-70s. 20th century in the West, the so-called. method of structural analysis, with Krom muses. the form is considered from the point of view of a system of numerical relations and thus turns into an abstract construction, devoid of expressive and semantic meaning. This, however, does not mean that any analysis of individual elements or general structural patterns of music inherent in the definition. historical stage of its development, is formalistic. It may not be an end in itself and serve the tasks of a broader aesthetic. and cultural and historical. order.

The hypertrophy of the formal principle arises in the arts. creativity usually during periods of crisis. It reaches an extreme degree in some currents of modern. avant-garde, for which the main principle is the pursuit of external innovations. A real claim cannot be devoid of content and limited to a formal “play of sounds”.

The concept of F. was sometimes interpreted too broadly and identified with the complexity of the muses. letters, novelty will express. funds, which led to an unreasonably negative assessment of a number of large modern. composers, both foreign and domestic, indiscriminately enrolled in the formalist camp, and to encourage simplistic tendencies in creativity. In the 60-70s. 20th century these mistakes that hindered the growth of owls. music creativity and science. thought about music, were strongly criticized.

Yu.V. Keldysh

Formalism in ballet, as in other arts, is self-sufficient form-creation, devoid of content. In the decadent bourgeoisie art of the 20th century F. develops as a consequence of the spiritual devastation and dehumanization of the arts. creativity, the loss of ideal art and societies. goals. It is expressed in the rejection of the classical language. and Nar. dance, from historically established dances. forms, in the cultivation of ugly plasticity, in meaningless combinations of movements, deliberately devoid of expressiveness. F. develops under the flag of pseudo-innovation, its supporters claim that they are striving to enrich the form. However, the form, devoid of content, disintegrates, loses its humanity and beauty. F. tendencies are also characteristic of those products that do not break with tradition. dance vocabulary, but reduce the meaning of art to a pure “play of forms”, to an empty combination of elements, to bare technology. F. in choreography is related to such phenomena of decadent modernist art as abstractionism in painting, the theater of the absurd, etc.

Ballet. Encyclopedia, SE, 1981