Light music, color music |

English — color music, German. — Farblichtmusik, French. — musique des couleeur

The term used to refer to kind of art. and scientific and technical. experiments in the field of synthesis of music and light. The idea of ​​”vision” of music has undergone a mean. development associated with the evolution of the science of art-ve. If the earliest theories of S. proceed from the recognition of the extrahuman predetermination of the laws of the transformation of music into light, understood as a kind of physical. process, then in subsequent concepts the human factor begins to be taken into account with an appeal to the physiological, psychological, and then to the aesthetic. aspects. The first well-known theories (J. Arcimboldo in Italy, A. Kircher in Germany and, above all, L. B. Castel in France) are based on the desire to achieve unambiguous “translation” of music into light on the basis of the spectrum-octave analogy proposed by I. Newton under the influence cosmology, the concept of “music of the spheres” (Pythagoras, I. Kepler). These ideas were popular in the 17th-19th centuries. and cultivated in two DOS. variants: “color music” – accompaniment of music by a sequence of colors determined by the unambiguous ratio of the scale – color range; “music of color” is the soundless change of colors that replace tones in music according to the same analogy. Among the supporters of the theory of Castel (1688-1757) are his contemporaries composers J. F. Rameau, G. Telemann, A. E. M. Gretry and later scientists E. Darwin, D. I. Khmelnitsky and others. Among her critics are – such thinkers as D. Diderot, J. d’Alembert, J. J. Rousseau, Voltaire, G. E. Lessing, artists W. Hogarth, P. Gonzago, as well as J. V. Goethe, J. Buffon, G Helmholtz, who pointed to the groundlessness of direct transfer of the laws of music (hearing) to the field of vision. Critical analysis of Castel’s ideas was devoted in 1742 special. meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Already the first “light organs” (B. Bishop, A. Rimington), which appeared after the invention of electric. light sources, convinced with their own eyes that Castel’s critics were right. But the lack of a wide practice of light and music synthesis contributed to repeated experiments in establishing the analogy between the scale and the color sequence (F. I. Yuryev; D. Kellogg in the USA, K. Löf in Germany). These mechanistic concepts are non-aesthetic in content and natural-philosophical in origin. The search for the rules of light-music. synthesis, to-rye would ensure the achievement of the unity of music and light, at first were associated with an understanding of unity (harmony) only as ontological. categories. This nourished the belief in the obligation and the possibility of “translating music into color”, the desire to understand the mentioned rules as a natural science. laws. The belated relapse of Castellianism is represented by the attempts of some scientists and engineers to achieve the “translation” of music into the world with the help of automation and cybernetics on the basis of more complex, but also unambiguous algorithms (for example, the experiments of K. L. Leontiev and the laboratory of color music Leningrad A. S. Popov Institute, 60s).

In the 20th century the first light and music compositions appeared, the creation of which corresponded to the real aesthetic. needs. First of all, this is the idea of ​​a “light symphony” in A. N. Scriabin’s “Prometheus” (1910), in the score of which for the first time in world music. practice by the composer himself introduced special. the string “Luce” (light), written in the usual notes for the instrument “tastiera per luce” (“light clavier”). The two-part lighting part is a color “visualization” of the work’s tonal plan. One of the voices, mobile, follows the changes in harmonies (interpreted by the composer as changes in keys). The other, inactive, seems to fix the reference keys and contains only seven notes, following the whole-tone scale from Fis to Fis, illustrates the philosophical program of “Prometheus” in color symbolism (the development of “spirit” and “matter”). There are no indications of which colors correspond to musical notes in “Luce”. Despite the divergence evaluation of this experience, since 1915 “Prometheus” has been repeatedly performed with light accompaniment.

Among the works of other famous composers are Schoenberg’s Lucky Hand (1913), V. V. Shcherbachev’s Nonet (1919), Stravinsky’s Black Concerto (1946), Y. Xenakis’ Polytope (1967), Poetoria Shchedrin (1968), “Preliminary Action” (based on sketches by A. N. Skryabin, A. P. Nemtin, 1972). All these arts. experiments, like Scriabin’s “Prometheus”, were associated with an appeal to color hearing, with an understanding of the unity of sound and light, or rather, audible and visible as a subjective psychological. phenomenon. It is in connection with the awareness of epistemological. nature of this phenomenon, a tendency arose to achieve figurative unity in the light-musical synthesis, for which it turned out to be necessary to use the techniques of auditory-visual polyphony (Skryabin in his plans for the “Preliminary Action” and “Mystery”, L. L. Sabaneev, V. V. Kandinsky, S. M. Eisenstein, B. M. Galeev, Yu. A. Pravdyuk and others); only after that it became possible to talk about light music as an art, although its independence seems problematic to some researchers (K. D. Balmont, V. V. Vanslov, F. Popper).

Held in the 20th century experiments with “dynamic light painting” (G. I. Gidoni, V. D. Baranov-Rossine, Z. Peshanek, F. Malina, S. M. Zorin), “absolute cinema” (G. Richter, O. Fischinger, N . McLaren), “instrumental choreography” (F. Boehme, O. Pine, N. Schaeffer) forced to pay attention to the specific. features of the use of visual material in S., unusual and often simply inaccessible to practical. assimilation by musicians (ch. arr. with the complication of the spatial organization of light). S. is closely related to related traditions. claim by you. Along with sound, it uses light-colorful material (connection with painting), organized in accordance with the laws of muses. logic and music. forms (connection with music), connected indirectly with the “intonations” of the movement of natural objects and, above all, human gesture (connection with choreography). This material can be freely developed with the involvement of the possibilities of editing, changing the size of the plan, angle, etc. (connection with cinema). Distinguish S. for konts. performance, reproduced with the help of music. and lighting instruments; light and music films created with the help of film technology; automatic light and music installations for applied purposes, belonging to the figurative system of decorative and design. lawsuit.

In all these areas, from the beginning. 20th century experiments are being carried out. Among the pre-war works – the experiments of L. L. Sabaneev, G. M. Rimsky-Korsakov, L. S. Termen, P. P. Kondratsky – in the USSR; A. Klein, T. Wilfred, A. Laszlo, F. Bentham – abroad. In the 60-70s. 20th century the light concerts of the design bureau “Prometheus” at the Kazan Aviation Institute became famous. in-those halls of light music in Kharkov and Moscow. Museum of A. N. Scriabin, film concert. halls “October” in Leningrad, “Russia” in Moscow – in the USSR; Amer. “Light Music Ensemble” in New York, intl. Philips, etc. – abroad. The range of means used for this includes the latest technical. achievements up to lasers and computers. Following the experimental films “Prometheus” and “Perpetual motion” (design bureau “Prometheus”), “Music and color” (Kyiv film studio named after A.P. Dovzhenko), “Space – Earth – Space” (“Mosfilm”) begin released light-musical films for distribution (Little Triptych to music by G. V. Sviridov, Kazan Film Studio, 1975; films Horizontal Line by N. McLaren and Optical Poem by O. Fischinger – abroad). Elements of S. are widely used in music. t-re, in feature films. They are used in theatrical performances such as “Sound and Light”, held without the participation of actors in the open air. Serial production of decorative light and music installations for interior design is being widely developed. The squares and parks of Yerevan, Batumi, Kirov, Sochi, Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk, Moscow are decorated with light and music fountains “dancing” to music. The problem of light and music synthesis dedicated. specialist. scientific symposia. The most representative were the “Farbe-Ton-Forschungen” congresses in Germany (1927 and 1930) and the All-Union conferences “Light and Music” in the USSR (1967, 1969, 1975).

References: Speeches that were read in the public collection of the Imperial Academy of Sciences on April 29, 1742, St. Petersburg, 1744; Sabaneev L., Skryabin, M.-Pg., 1917; Rimsky-Korsakov G. M., Deciphering the light line of Scriabin’s “Prometheus”, in collection: Vremennik of the Department of Theory and History of Music of the State. Institute of Art History, vol. 1923, L., 2; Gidoni G. I., The Art of Light and Color, L., 1926; Leontiev K., Music and color, M., 1930; his own, Color of Prometheus, M., 1961; Galeev B., Scriabin and the development of the idea of ​​visible music, in: Music and Modernity, vol. 1965, M., 6; his own, Artistic and technical experiments of the SLE “Prometheus”, Kazan, 1969; his own, Light music: the formation and essence of new art, Kazan, 1974; Conference “Light and Music” (abstracts and annotations), Kazan, 1976; Rags Yu., Nazaikinsky E., On the artistic possibilities of the synthesis of music and color, in: Musical Art and Science, vol. 1969, M., 1; Yuryev F.I., Music of Light, K., 1970; Vanechkina I. L., On the light-musical ideas of A. N. Scriabin, in: Questions of history, theory of music and musical education, Sat. 1971, Kazan, 2; her own, Part “Luce” as a key to Scriabin’s late harmony, “SM”, 1972, No 1977; Galeev B. M., Andreev S. A., Design principles of light and music devices, M., 4; Dzyubenko A. G., Color music, M., 1973; The art of glowing sounds. Sat. Art., Kazan, 1973; Materials of the All-Union School of Young Scientists on the problem of “Light and Music”. (Third conference), Kazan, 1973; Vanslov V.V., Visual arts and music. Essays, L., 1975.

B. M. Galeev