Music style |

Musical style is a term in art history that characterizes a system of means of expression, which serves to embody one or another ideological and figurative content. In music, this is musical-aesthetic. and musical history. category. The concept of style in music, reflecting the dialectic. the relationship between content and form is complex and multi-valued. With an unconditional dependence on content, it still belongs to the field of form, by which we mean the whole set of musical expressions. means, including elements of music. language, principles of shaping, compositions. tricks. The concept of style implies a commonality of stylistic features in music. product, rooted in the socio-historical. conditions, in the worldview and attitude of artists, in their creative work. method, in the general patterns of musical history. process.

The concept of style in music arose at the end of the Renaissance (end of the 16th century), i.e. during the formation and development of the regularities of the actual muses. compositions reflected in aesthetics and theory. It has undergone a long evolution, which has shown both ambiguity and some vague understanding of the term. In the owls musicology, it is the subject of discussion, which is explained by the variety of meanings invested in it. It is attributed both to the individual features of the composer’s writing (in this sense, it approaches the concept of creative handwriting, manners), and to the features of the works included in k.-l. genre group (genre style), and to the general features of the writing of a group of composers united by a common platform (school style), and to the features of the work of composers of one country (national style) or historical. period in the development of music. art-va (style of direction, style of the era). All these aspects of the concept of “style” are quite natural, but in each of them there are certain limitations. They arise because of the difference in the level and degree of generality, because of the variety of style features and the individual nature of their implementation in the work of the department. composers; therefore, in many cases it is more correct to speak not about a certain style, but to note the stylistic. tendencies (leading, accompanying) in the music of c.-l. era or in the work of Ph.D. composer, stylist connections or commonality style features, etc. The expression “the work is written in such and such a style” is more common than scientific. These are, for example, the names that composers sometimes give to their works, which are stylizations (Fp. Myaskovsky’s play “In the Old Style”, i.e. in the old spirit). Often the word “style” replaces other concepts, for example. method or direction (romantic style), genre (opera style), music. warehouse (homophonic style), type of content. The last concept (for example, heroic style) should be recognized as incorrect, because. it does not take into account either historical or nat. factors, and implied common features, eg. the intonational composition of thematism (fanfare intonations in heroic themes) are clearly insufficient to fix the stylistic commonality. In other cases, it is necessary to take into account both the possibility of convergence and interaction between the concepts of style and method, style and genre, etc., as well as their difference and the fallacy of complete identification, which actually destroys the very category of style.

The concept of genre style originated in music. practice in the formation of individual stylistic. features in the genres of motet, mass, madrigal, etc. (in connection with the use in them of various compositional and technical techniques, means of the musical language), i.e. at the earliest stage of the term’s use. The use of this concept is most legitimate in relation to those genres, which, according to the conditions of their origin and existence, do not bear a bright imprint of the creator’s personality or in which clearly expressed general properties clearly prevail over individual author’s ones. The term is applicable, for example, to the genres of prof. music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (the style of the Middle Ages. Organum or Italian. Chromatic. Madrigal). This concept is most commonly used in folklore (for example, the style of Russian wedding songs); it is also applicable to everyday music of certain historical. periods (the style of Russian everyday romance of the 1st half of the 19th century, various styles of modern pop, jazz music, etc.). Sometimes the brightness, concreteness, and stable normativity of the features of a genre that has developed in c.-l. music direction, allows for the possibility of double definitions: for example, the expressions can be considered equally legitimate: “the style of the big French. romantic operas” and “Great French genre. romantic operas”. However, the differences remain: the concept of opera genre includes features of the plot and its interpretation, while the concept of style includes the sum of stable stylistic features that have historically developed in the corresponding genre.

The commonality of the genre undoubtedly affects the continuity in the commonality of stylistic features; this is manifested, for example, in the definition of stylistic. features of production., combined by perform. composition. It is easier to reveal the stylistic commonality of functions. prod. F. Chopin and R. Schumann (i.e., the commonality of their functional style) than the stylistic commonality of their work as a whole. One of the most used. applications of the concept of “style” refers to fixing the features of the use of c.-l. the author (or a group of them) of the performing apparatus (for example, the piano style of Chopin, the vocal style of Mussorgsky, the orchestral style of Wagner, the style of French harpsichordists, etc.). In the work of one composer, stylistic differences in different genre areas are often noticeable: for example, the style of FP. prod. Schumann differs significantly from the style of his symphonies. On the example of production different genres reveals the interaction of figurative content and stylistic features: for example, the specifics of the place of origin and performer. The composition of chamber music creates the prerequisites for an in-depth philosophical content and stylistic content corresponding to this content. features – detailed intonation. building, polyphonic texture, etc.

Stylistic continuity is more clearly seen in the production. of the same genre: one can outline a single chain of common features in FP. concerts by L. Beethoven, F. Liszt, P. I. Tchaikovsky, E. Grieg, S. V. Rachmaninov and S. S. Prokofiev; however, based on the analysis of fp. concerts of the named authors, it is not the “style of the piano concerto” that is revealed, but only the prerequisites for detecting continuity in the work. one genre.

Historically conditioned and developmental decomp. genres is also the emergence of the concepts of strict and free styles, dating back to the 17th century. (J. B. Doni, K. Bernhard and others). They were identical to the concepts of ancient (antico) and modern (moderne) styles and implied an appropriate classification of genres (motets and masses, or, on the other hand, concert and instr. music) and their characteristic polyphonic techniques. letters. Strict style, however, is much more regimented, while the meaning of the concept of “free style” is Ch. arr. as opposed to strict.

During the period of the strongest stylistic changes, in the process of maturation in the music of new, classical. regularities that occurred during the intensive interaction of the principles of polyphonic and emerging homophonic-harmonic. music, these principles themselves were not only formal, but also historical and aesthetic. meaning. In relation to the time of the work of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel (until the middle of the 18th century), the concept of polyphonic. and homophonic styles imply something more than the definition of muses. warehouse. However, their use in relation to later phenomena is hardly justified; the concept of a homophonic style generally loses any concreteness, and a polyphonic style requires clarification of the historical. era or turns into a characteristic of the features of the texture. The same, for example, expression as “polyphonic. Shostakovich’s style”, takes on a different meaning, i.e. indicates the specifics of the use of polyphonic. techniques in the music of this author.

The most important factor, which must be taken into account when determining the style, is the national factor. It plays a big role in concretizing the aspects already mentioned (the style of the Russian domestic romance or the Russian wedding song). In theory and aesthetics nat. aspect of style is accentuated already in the 17th-18th centuries. National the specificity of style is most clearly manifested in art since the 19th century, especially in the music of the so-called. young national schools, the formation of which in Europe took place throughout the 19th century. and continues into the 20th century, spreading to other continents.

National the community is rooted primarily in the content of the art, in the development of the spiritual traditions of the nation and finds an indirect or indirect expression in the style. The basis of the national The commonality of style features is the reliance on folklore sources and ways of their implementation. However, the types of implementation of folklore, as well as the multiplicity of its temporal and genre layers, are so diverse that it is sometimes difficult or impossible to establish this commonality (even in the presence of continuity), especially in different historical periods. stages: to be convinced of this, it is enough to compare the styles of M. I. Glinka and G. V. Sviridov, Liszt and B. Bartok, or – at a much shorter time distance – A. I. Khachaturian and modern. arm. composers, and in Azerbaijan. music – the styles of U. Gadzhibekov and K. A. Karaev.

And yet, to the music of certain (sometimes extended) historical. stages, the concept of “style nat. schools” (but not a single national style). Its signs are especially stabilized at the time of the formation of the nat. classics, forming the basis for the development of traditions and stylistic. continuity, which can manifest itself over a long period of time. time (for example, the traditions of Glinka’s creativity in Russian music).

Along with the national schools, there are other associations of composers that arise in the most diverse. grounds and also often referred to as schools. The degree of legitimacy of applying the term “style” in relation to such schools depends on the level of generality that arises in such associations. So, for example, the concept of polyphonic style is quite natural. Renaissance schools (French-Flemish or Dutch, Roman, Venetian, etc.). At that time, the process of individualization of creativity was just beginning. the composer’s handwriting associated with the department of music as independent. claims from applied music and accompanied by the inclusion of new means of expression, expansion of the figurative range and its differentiation. The absolute dominance of the polyphonic. letters to prof. music leaves its mark on all its manifestations, and the concept of style is often associated precisely with the peculiarities of the use of polyphonic. tricks. Characteristic for the period of formation of the classic. genres and patterns, the predominance of the general over the individual allows us to apply the concept of style decomp. schools for opera music of the 17th century. (Florentine, Roman and other schools) or to instr. music of the 17th and 18th centuries. (for example, the Bologna, Mannheim schools). In the 19th century, when the creative the individuality of the artist acquires fundamental significance, the concept of the school loses its “guild” meaning. The temporary nature of the emerging groupings (the Weimar school) makes it difficult to fix a stylistic community; it is easier to establish it where it is due to the influence of a teacher (the Frank school), although representatives of such groups in some cases were not followers of the tradition, but epigones (plural representatives of the Leipzig school in relation to the work of F. Mendelssohn). Much more legitimate is the concept of the style of “new Rus. music school”, or the Balakirev circle. A single ideological platform, the use of similar genres, the development of Glinka’s traditions created the ground for a stylistic community, manifested in the type of thematics (Russian and Eastern), and in the principles of development and shaping, and in the use of folklore material. But if the ideological and aesthetic factors, the choice of topics, plots, genres largely determine the stylistic community, they do not always give rise to it. For example, the thematically related operas “Boris Godunov” by Mussorgsky and “The Maid of Pskov” by Rimsky-Korsakov differ significantly in style. Pronounced creativity. The personalities of the members of the circle certainly limit the concept of the style of the Mighty Handful.

In the music of the 20th century groupings of composers arise in moments mean. stylistic shifts (French “Six”, the new Viennese school). The concept of school style is also very relative here, especially in the first case. Means. the influence of the teacher, the narrowing of the figurative range and its specificity, as well as the search for appropriate means of expression contribute to the concretization of the concept of the “style of the Schoenberg school” (the new Viennese school). However, even the use of the dodecaphonic technique does not obscure the beings. differences in the styles of A. Schoenberg, A. Berg, A. Webern.

One of the most difficult problems in musicology is the problem of style as a proper historical category, its correlation with the epoch and the arts. method, direction. Historical and aesthetic. aspect of the concept of style arose in con. 19 – beg. 20 centuries, when the music. aesthetics borrowed from the history of related arts and literature the terms “baroque”, “rococo”, “classicism”, “romanticism”, later “impressionism”, “expressionism”, etc. G. Adler in his work on style in music (“Der Stil in der Musik”) already in 1911 brought the number of historical. style designations up to 70. There are also concepts with a larger division: for example, S. C. Skrebkov in the book. “Artistic principles of musical styles”, considering the history of music as a change in stylistic. eras, identifies six main ones – the Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, the High Renaissance, the Baroque, the Classic. era and modernity (in the latter realistic. claim is opposed to modernist). An overly detailed classification of styles leads to the uncertainty of the very scope of the concept, sometimes narrowing down to the manner of writing (“feels. style” in the music of the 18th century), then growing into ideological art. method or direction (romantic style; True, he has a difference. subspecies). However, a large division evens out the diversity of stylistic. trends (especially in modern music), and differences in method and direction (e.g. between the Viennese classical school and romanticism in the era of classicism). The complexity of the problem is exacerbated by the impossibility of a complete identification of the phenomena of the muses. lawsuits with similar phenomena in others. art-wah (and, consequently, the need for appropriate reservations when borrowing terms), mixing the concept of style with the concepts of creativity. the method (in Zarub. there is no such thing in musicology) and direction, insufficient clarity in the definitions and delimitation of the concepts of method, direction, trend, school, etc. Works of owls. musicologists of the 1960s and 70s (M. TO. Mikhailova A. N. Sohor), relying largely on otd. definitions and observations b. AT. Asafyeva, Yu. N. Tulin, L. A. Mazel, as well as research in the field of Marxist-Leninist aesthetics and the aesthetics of others. lawsuits are aimed at clarifying and differentiating these terms. They identify three main concepts: method, direction, style (sometimes the concept of a system is added to them). To define them, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of style and creativity. method, the ratio of which is close to the ratio of the categories of form and content in their dialectic. relationships. The direction is considered as concrete-historical. manifestation of the method. With this approach, the concept of style of method or style of direction is put forward. Yes, romantic. a method that implies a certain type of reflection of reality and, consequently, a certain ideological-figurative system, is concretized in a certain direction of music. lawsuit in the 19th century. He does not create a single romantic. style, but corresponding to its ideological and figurative system will express. means form a number of stable stylistic features, to-rye and are defined as romantic. style features. So, for example, the increase in the expressive and colorful role of harmony, synthetic. type of melody, use of free forms, striving for through development, new types of individualized FP. and orc. textures make it possible to note the commonality of such largely dissimilar romantic artists as G. Berlioz and R. Schumann, F. Schubert and F. List, F. Chopin and R.

The legitimacy of the use of expressions, in which the concept of style, as it were, replaces the concept of method (romantic style, impressionistic style, etc.), depends on the internal. contents of this method. So, on the one hand, the narrower ideological and aesthetic (and partly national) framework of impressionism and, on the other hand, express the vivid certainty of the system developed by it. means allow with great reason to use the term “impressionistic. style” than “romantic. style ”(here the shorter duration of the existence of the direction also plays a role). The being is romantic. method associated with the predominance of the individual over the general, normative, long-term evolution of the romantic. directions make it difficult to derive the concept of a single romantic. style. Realistic versatility. method, suggesting, in particular, exclude. the variety of means of expression, the variety of styles, leads to the fact that the concept is realistic. style in music is actually devoid of any kind of certainty; this should also be attributed to the socialist method. realism. In contrast to them, the concept of classical style (with all the ambiguity of the defining word) is quite natural; it is usually understood as the style developed by the Viennese classic. school, and the concept of school rises here to the meaning of direction. This is facilitated by the implied historical and geographic the certainty of the existence of this direction as a method at the highest stage of its development, as well as the normativity of the method itself and its manifestation in the conditions of the end. the formation of the most universal, stable genres and forms of music. lawsuits that clearly revealed its specificity. The brightness of the individual styles of J. Haydn, W. A. ​​Mozart and Beethoven does not destroy the stylistic commonality of the music of the Viennese classics. However, on the example of the historical stage, the concretization of a broader concept – the style of the era is also noticeable. This generalized style is most clearly manifested in periods of strong historical. upheaval, when a sharp change in society. relations gives rise to changes in the art, reflected in its stylistic features. Music, as a temporary claim, sensitively reacts to such “explosions”. Great French. the revolution of 1789-94 gave birth to a new “intonation dictionary of the era” (this definition was formulated by B.V. Asafiev precisely in relation to this segment of the historical process), which was generalized in Beethoven’s work. The boundary of the new time passed through the period of the Viennese classics. intonation system, the nature of the sound of Beethoven’s music sometimes brings it closer to the marches of F. J. Gossec, the Marseillaise, the hymns of I. Pleyel and A. Gretry, than to the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, for all their undoubted stylistic. commonality and the strongest way of expressed continuity.

If in relation to the group of products. different composers or the work of a group of composers, the concept of style requires clarification and clarification, then in relation to the work of a group of composers. composers it is characterized by the greatest concreteness. This is due to the unity of the arts. personality and chronology. definition of the scope of its activities. However, in this case, it is not necessary to have an unambiguous definition, but to reveal a multitude of stylistic traits and features that reveal the composer’s place in the historical. process and individuality of the implementation of stylistic. trends characteristic of the era, direction, nat. schools, etc. So, a sufficient time span of creativity. way, especially accompanied means. historical events, significant turns in society. consciousness and development of art, can lead to a change in style features; for example, the style of Beethoven’s late period is characterized by creatures. changes in music language, principles of shaping, which in the late sonatas and quartets of the composer merge with the features of romanticism that was emerging at that time (10-20s of the 19th century). In the 9th symphony (1824) and in a number of works. other genres are observed organically. a synthesis of stylistic features of the mature and late periods of Beethoven’s work, proving both the existence of the composer’s unified style and its evolution. On the example of the 9th symphony or op. sonata No. 32, it is especially clear how the ideological and figurative content influences stylistic features (for example, the images of the heroic struggle in the 1st part of the symphony, which is stylistically closer to the work of the mature period, although enriched with new features, and philosophically contemplative. lyrics, concentrating the style features of the late period in the 3rd part). Examples of vivid style changes are given by creativity. the evolution of G. Verdi – from the poster-like operas of the 30s and 40s. to the detailed letter “Othello”. This is also explained by the evolution from the romantic. operas to realistic. music drama (i.e., the evolution of the method), and the development of technical. orc skills. letters, and more and more consistent reflection of some general stylistic. trends of the era (end-to-end development). The single core of the composer’s style remains reliance on the principles of Italian. music theater (national factor), brightness melodic. relief (with all the changes introduced by its new relationships with operatic forms).

There are also such composer styles, to-rye throughout their formation and development are characterized by great versatility; this applies to ch. arr. to the music lawsuit 2nd floor. 19th-20th centuries So, in the work of I. Brahms, there is a synthesis of stylistic features of the music of Bach’s time, Viennese classics, early, mature and late romanticism. An even more striking example is the work of D. D. Shostakovich, in which links are established with the art of J. S. Bach, L. Beethoven, P. I. Tchaikovsky, M. P. Mussorgsky, S. I. Taneyev, G. Mahler and others; in his music one can also observe the implementation of certain stylistic features of expressionism, neoclassicism, even impressionism, which do not contradict a single creative work. the composer’s method—the socialist method. realism. Such creatures appear in Shostakovich’s work. the qualities of style, as the very nature of the interaction of style features, the organicity and individuality of their implementation. These qualities allow us to draw a line between the wealth of stylistic. connections and eclecticism.

Stylization is also different from the individual synthesizing style – conscious. the use of a complex of expressive means characteristic of the style of k.-l. composer, era or direction (for example, pastoral interlude from The Queen of Spades, written “in the spirit of Mozart”). Complex examples of modeling decomp. styles of past eras, usually while maintaining the stylistic signs of the time of creation, give works written in line with neoclassicism (Pulcinella and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Adventures). In the work of modern, incl. Soviet, composers, you can meet the phenomenon of polystylistics – a conscious combination in one product. dec. stylistic features through a sharp transition, juxtaposition of sharply contrasting, sometimes contradictory “stylistic. fragments.”

The concept of stylistic community is closely related to the concept of tradition. The individual style of the composer is based on innovative “arts. discoveries ”(the term of L. A. Mazel) on the scale of otd. prod. or all creativity and at the same time includes elements of styles of previous eras. Sometimes they are associated with the names of composers who played a generalizing role in the development of art or predicted its future paths. Fixing a stylistic commonality, not reducible to mechan. list of styles, helps to find out the historical. the nature of stylistic connections, reveal the patterns of historical. process, the specifics of its nat. manifestations and international interactions. The conjugation of the term “style” with the concept of tradition testifies to the historicism of this musical aesthetic. category, about its dependence on the ideological and substantive aspect and the deep relationship with its decomp. faces. This does not exclude activity and relates. independence of style, tk. ideological and figurative content of music. claim-va can be expressed only through the system will express. means, to-paradise and is the carrier of stylistic. features. The means of expression, which have become stylistic features, acquire in the historical. process and are independent. meaning, being “identifying signs” of a particular type of content: the brighter these signs are revealed, the clearer and more distinctly the content is revealed. Hence the need for a stylistic analysis that establishes dialectic. relationship between historical conditions of the era, creative. method, individuality of the artist and selected by him will express. means of revealing successions. connections and stylistic generalizations, development of traditions and innovation. Style analysis is an important and fruitfully developed area of ​​owls. musicology, which successfully combines the achievements of its historical. and theoretical industries.

Performing art is also a special aspect of the manifestation of style. His stylistic features are more difficult to determine, because. perform. interpretation is based not only on the objective data of the recorded musical text once and for all. Even the evaluation of the currently available mechanical, magnetic performance recordings proceeds from more arbitrary and subjective criteria. However, such definitions exist, and their classification approximately coincides with the main. directions in composer’s art. In perform. art-ve also combines the individual style of the musician and the prevailing style trends of the era; interpretation of one or another product. depends on the aesthetic. ideals, outlook and attitude of the artist. At the same time, such characteristics as “romantic.” style or “classic.” performance style, are associated primarily with the overall emotional coloring of the interpretation – free, with pointed contrasts or strict, harmoniously balanced. “Impressionistic” performance style is usually called a style in which admiring the colorful shades of sound prevails over the logic of form. Thus, the definitions will be fulfilled. style, coinciding with the names of the corresponding trends or trends in composer art, usually based on k.-l. individual aesthetic signs.

References: Asafiev B.V., Guide to concerts, vol. 1. Dictionary of the most necessary musical-theoretical notation, P., 1919; Livanova T.N., On the way from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment of the 18th century. (Some problems of musical style), in Sat: From the Renaissance to the twentieth century, M., 1963; her, The problem of style in music of the 17th century, in the book: Renaissance. Baroque. Classicism, M., 1966; Kremlev Yu. A., Style and style, in: Questions of theory and aesthetics of music, vol. 4, L., 1965; Mikhailov M.K., On the concept of style in music, ibid.; his own, Musical style in terms of the relationship between content and form, in Sat: Criticism and Musicology, L., 1975; his own, To the problem of stylistic analysis, in Sat.: Modern questions of musicology, M., 1976; Raaben L. N., Aesthetic and stylistic trends in the musical performance of our days, in: Questions of Theory and Aesthetics of Music, vol. 4, L., 1965; his own, System, style, method, in Sat: Criticism and Musicology, L., 1975; Sohor AH, Style, Method, Direction, in: Questions of Theory and Aesthetics of Music, vol. 4, L., 1965; his, Aesthetic nature of the genre in music, M., 1968; Musical form, M., 1965, p. 12, 1974; Konen V.D., On the issue of style in the music of the Renaissance, in her book: Etudes on foreign music, M., 1968, 1976; Keldysh Yu.V., The problem of styles in Russian music of the 17th-18th centuries, “SM”, 1973, No 3; Skrebkov S. S., Artistic principles of musical styles, M., 1973; Druskin M.S., Questions of musical historiography, in collection: Modern questions of musicology, M., 1976.

EM Tsareva