Spiritual and semantic approach to studying a musical composition
Authors: Aleksandrova Oksana 
Published: April 2019

Background. Under the new conditions in Ukraine, a new wave of interest in the work of the classic of the music culture of the 20th century Georgiy Sviridov is being observed, and it actualizes the search for the methods of scientific cognition corresponding to the spiritual depth of creativity. The artistic and aesthetic content of his vocal and choral compositions reveals the biblical image of the “inner man” and through it awareness of culture as a universe, where the man and God coexist in synergy. In the post-secular period, the world of music created by the outstanding artist was marked by the document of the individual and artistic experience of overcoming the crisis phenomena in society. The urgency of the present article is due to the need to find analysis methods appropriate for the style of vocal and choral compositions by G. Sviridov and for the upgrade process of methodology knowledge of the philosophical principles of composing activities of the 20th century as a whole. Objectives. The object of research is a musical composition; its subject is presented by the principles of the spiritual-semantic approach, determined by the worldview and style of the composer’s thinking. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the spiritual-semantic approach as a cognitive model of cognition of musical compositions on the material of vocalchoral genres by G. Sviridov. Methodology. The basis of the spiritual-semantic analysis is the concept of spiritual analysis of music by V. Medushevsky. A. Belonenko was the first to express the opinion that religious themes penetrated the entire creative work of the composer. L. Shapovalova offered methods of cognition of the spiritual reality of a musical composition and defined the liturgy as an “archetype” of the creativity of the believing man (homo credens). N. Varavkina-Tarasova highlighted the issues of the symbolic meaning of the spiritual content of G. Sviridov’s creative work on the example of “Three Choirs to the Tragedy by O. Tolstoy "Tsar Fodor Ioannovich"”. O. Tevosyan revealed a numerical symbolism of certain compositions by the composer. The development of the predecessors’ ideas is the author’s definition: the spiritual-semantic approach is a way of scientific cognition of the ontology of creativity. The “style of thinking” is evident through the system connections of the composer’s text with ideological traditions and the cultural environment. Presenting the main material. One of the criteria of the spiritual-semantic approach is the adequacy of thinking and language: the semantic function of the sign, multiplied by its presence in the material and spiritual plane of the composition, becomes a meaning-creating factor. The first level of the spiritual-semantic analysis of a musical composition is the first-element signs as an expression of the manifestation of the Being: preintonation, rhythm-intonation, harmonic tunes, timbre-complexes, in which the generalized archetypes of culture are contained in the concentrated (“curtailed”) form. The second level reveals a compositionally-designed meaningful image that originates from the first element (motive, theme). Since the symbol is a dynamic phenomenon, its further “germination” in the musical form is connected not only with the immanent-musical syntax. The symbolization of the sound-image is most clearly manifested in the third level of the spiritual-semantic analysis, which characterizes the type of musical dramaturgy (taking into account the world attitude of homo animus – the lyrical universe, according to M. Arkadyev). The fourth, metaphysical, level characterizes the complete meaningful image. The immanent-musical quality of the sound of a composition does not simply create a holistic gestalt, but with its help point to the invisible world (the Bible, the Life of the Saints, the Liturgy). At the highest fifth level, there is the outcome of consciousness, that perceives a musical composition, into the broad context of the existence: music creates spiritual values of a universal human meaning, "bridges" its meaning with the civilizational processes of the mankind (hence it gets the definition of “culture creating one”). We indicated the methodological role of the philosophical category of “the picture of the world”, the content of which synthesizes the deep ideas about the Universe. In the national picture of the world, the most significant laws of the existence of culture are recorded. Results. The category of the “composer’s style” contains such components as the creator’s worldview and the system of principles of his artistic thinking, expressed in the semiotic structure, the laws of composition and dramaturgy of compositions. The phenomenon of G. Sviridov is that from the sphere of the secular interpretation of the poetry by A. Pushkin, S. Yesenin, A. Blok, which corresponded to anthropocentrism of musical and poetic thinking, he implemented “modulation” to the Orthodox spirituality. The spiritual-semantic approach has a general methodological value, since it broadens the theoretical concepts of the cognitive science of stylistic phenomena in music. Its content, constituents, and objectives provide the perspective of the further substantiation of ideological positions; serve as tools for improving the methodology for analysing liturgical compositions (through signs and symbols of the spiritual time space). Conclusion. The three groups of semantic signs of the vocal-choral style by G. Svyrydov have been distinguished: anthropocentric, sound-imaging (nature, native land) associated with them, metaphysical (time, eternity, way of spiritual ascension), liturgical (Christ, Gate of the Lord, pure Thursday, bell-sound, prayer songs).