2024.3/4

The article is dedicated to Fyodor Ivanovich Bulaev (1818–1897), a professor at Moscow University, a man of extraordinary fortitude who devoted his whole life to the service of science and art.

The author of the Russian grammar textbooks and "Historical Essays on Russian Folk Literature and Art" (1861), F.I. Buslaev acted as a consistent representative of the mythological school in the Russian science. His works were of great importance for the development of comparative historical linguistics, which was repeatedly noted by the linguists in the twentieth century.

Buslaev was a man of the most diverse interests. In addition to philology, he studied ancient Russian iconography, miniatures of facial manuscripts, and ornament.

Being a well-educated man with encyclopedic knowledge in the field of humanities, F.I. Buslaev was one of the first to realize the need for an integrated approach to the study of folk culture, which he clearly demonstrated in his writings. His works combined studies of folklore, linguistics, ethnography, the science of Slavic antiquities, comparative mythology, and art history.

The article provides an overview of the life and scientific path of Moscow University professor Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin, a literary and theatre critic. Special attention is paid to his activities at Moscow University.

In the study a cultural and historical approach is used, which allows for a critical assessment of the contribution made by N.I. Nadezhdin, including his literary and artistic-critical works. Nadezhdin in his literary and critical articles aimed to establish a hierarchy of literary genres. As a literary critic he initially had quite extremely critical views on contemporary literature, though not always was he objective in assessing his contemporaries' works. As a theater critic, Nadezhdin gave feedback to the Moscow staging of the play "Woe from Wit" in 1831. A series of articles concerning theatre was entitled "The Russian Theatre (Letters to St. Petersburg)" and published in 1833 in "Molva" ('rumor'). Four letters have not been signed, but there are serious arguments in favor of Nadezhdin's authorship. Nadezhdin supposed that the main task of contemporary art was to synthesize classicism and romanticism, and thus subjected the neoclassical and neo-romantic manner of acting to a close and rigorous analysis.

This article focuses on two aesthetic schools, which produced the most significant impact on the development of aesthetics in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. During this period in Russia aesthetics was being actively formed based on a national foundation; the tendency to be developed as a separate tradition, different from the Western European one. In this regard, it is usually noted that a heated discussion took place between the Slavophiles and Westerners, who were ideologically opposed. Among such issues were the attitude to national aesthetics and the viewpoint on art theory. Professors and graduates of Imperial Moscow University took an active part in this discussion.

This article proposes to look at the history of Russian aesthetic thought through the prism of two directions: positivism (positive aesthetics) and idealism. Within the framework of this task, an overview mainly of two representatives of both positions is given. On the one hand, the ideas of N.G. Chernyshevsky, set out in his dissertation "Aesthetic relations of art to reality", on the other — the views of V.S. Solovyov, a graduate and associate professor of Moscow University, expressed in several late texts on aesthetics of the late 80s — early 90s of the XIX century. The article used a historical and comparative method.

As a result, the article concludes that, despite a number of externally obvious fundamental ideological differences characterizing both directions, in Russian aesthetic thought one can find examples of their convergence on the basis of the goals and objectives that Russian philosophers set for art as a social practice. The same time, it is concluded that almost all aesthetic trends of the second half of the 19th century were generally critical towards German philosophy idealism, which used to be popular in Russia in the 1820s and 1830s.

This article is about graduates of Moscow University of different years who received a physics and mathematics education and devoted their lives to art.

The article seeks to analyse the contribution made by Moscow State University graduates to the "Italian text" as part of Russian culture. Concerning the concept of toponymic texts, the author argues that the "Italian text" in Russian culture is represented by a variety of connotative meanings that are perceived as a well-formed complex.

Several graduates of Moscow State University (S.P. Shevyrev, F.I. Buslaev, S.V. Flyorov, V.V. Rozanov) have visited Italy at different times and described their impressions in letters, essays, and books, which contributed greatly to the development of the "Italian text". The present study focuses on the experience of B.K. Zaitsev, a graduate from the Faculty of Law, Moscow State, a writer, translator, and public figure, to whom P.P. Muratov dedicated his famous book "Images of Italy".

The author exploits the method of cultural analysis to study the stylistic and creative value of the "texts" added by the Moscow State graduates to the "Italian text". The results of the investigation show that the Florentine essays by B.K. Zaitsev, along with the "Florentine images" by P.P. Muratov, appear to be the best sample of Russian literature devoted to Florence.

The article examines aspects of the development of the artistic and humanitarian direction, which in its scientific and educational basis is largely predetermined by the formation of humanitarian research and the development of historical art history as a fundamental trend at Moscow University, which significantly influenced the formation of educational and scientific traditions in other sectors of heritage, in particular, art and industrial education, the domestic representative of which is the Stroganov School. The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that in 2025, two Russian universities, connected historically, mentally, and methodologically, will celebrate their anniversaries. 270 years will be celebrated by the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov (1755), where, along with the medical, philosophical, and legal faculties, art classes were opened in 1756. In them, students were taught drawing, singing, playing the violin and harp, architectural design, acting, and dancing. In 1758, the Academy of the Three Most Noble Arts (architecture, sculpture and painting) was founded on the basis of the art classes of Moscow University. It existed here until 1764, when it was transferred to St. Petersburg.

In 2025, the Stroganov School of Art and Industry will celebrate its 200th anniversary. It grew out of the first Drawing School in Russia, founded by Count S.G. Stroganov (1825) and went all the way to the Imperial Art School (1900); now it is the Russian State University of Art and Industry (2022). Moscow State University and Stroganov are largely connected by the traditions of art history and the humanities, which originate both in the achievements of Moscow University and in the theory of the subject-spatial environment, which was significantly supplemented by materials.

The article outlines the contribution of outstanding graduates of the Imperial Moscow University (IMU), who significantly improved Russian education. Being the intellectual elite, they formed musical and performing arts in Russia due to putting their effort, creativity and organizational skills to these spheres.

The author analyses scientific papers, archival materials and documents concerning the history of IMU of the second half of the 19th century, as well as biography of N.G. Rubinstein, a graduate of the Faculty of Law, IMU, the founder of the Moscow Conservatory and its first director, and biographies of two of his students — pianist K.N. Igumnov and stage director L.V. Baratov, each of whom were at the origins of piano performing and stage directing art in Russia.

The author concludes that N.G. Rubinstein, K.N. Igumnov and L.V. Baratov — graduates of IMU — played a really fundamental role in forming and developing professional music education in Russia, in particular in improving pianistic performing classes and stage directing schools.

The article is devoted to the study of the multifaceted activities of graduates of Imperial Moscow University: playwrights, writers, publishers, actors, singers, directors, who made an outstanding contribution to the development of Russian artistic culture and Russian theater in the middle and second half of the 18th century.

Based on archival data on the history of Moscow University, "Dramatic Dictionary" (1787) and "Dramatic Album" (1850), as well as several editions of the plays written in the second half of the 18th century, the author represents the wide range of roles that graduates of Moscow University played in the history of the Russian stage.

The author uses a complex approach to studying the materials and uses textual, iconographic and art criticism analysis. This allows for an in-depth studying and describing how significant and complex the contribution of university students and graduates was to the development of theatrical business in Russia. Not only playing, singing and staging were their main activities, but also writing and translating for their university theatre. Due to this the development of domestic theatrical art was enhanced; so was writing drama in the Russian language and translating drama into Russian.

The author concludes that outstanding graduates of Moscow University undertook an intense activity in running the university theatre, which contributed greatly to the formation of professional Russian theater, drama and music, and, generally, to Russian education.

Chinese oil painting is an interpretation of the Chinese concept of "mood" expressed using the Western style techniques. Visual means of Western art are exploited in Chinese oil painting to show the worldview of the Chinese people. In the paintings interpreting the role of Chinese traditional opera the artist strives to reflect the inner world of the characters and reveal the dramatic beauty of their image. In the article the author analyses the works of the following Chinese artists: Li Hongbin, Jiang Yingjiu, Liu Wenjin, Deng Mingli, Lin Fengmian and Liu Mengdi. As a result, the author reveals different approaches to depicting some of the main roles of the Beijing opera: male characters "sheng" and female characters 'dan". Although the artists' depictions of characters in theatrical productions normally presuppose depicting people, Chinese works do not follow this trend (as opposed to the Western ones). Chinese artists create an ideal image of a dramatic character rather than portraying a specific personality. Such an image is intended to demonstrate the canonical character; thus, the character's appearance has to be exaggerated. The researcher uses such scientific methods as formal stylistic analysis, iconographic analysis, and systematization. As a result of the research, the author identifies both general trends and individual features in representing the images of the characters of the Beijing opera in Chinese oil paintings. The aforementioned artists are presumed to be inspired by the canonical characters and images of the characters, but undertake different ways to create them in their works.

The article is devoted to the modern Chinese national opera "The Ballad of the Canal". This opera is recognized throughout the world as an outstanding sample of Chinese opera music, incorporating both the centuries-old heritage of traditional Chinese music and numerous achievements of Chinese opera of the 20th century. At the same time, during its creation many new techniques and elements were used, which has infrequently been exploited in Chinese opera before. The composers based the plot on an ancient Chinese legend, the action of which takes place on a ship sailing along the Grand Canal having connected several provinces of China for many centuries. This choice made it possible to show culture, traditions and life of people in ancient China, as well as to maintain an action consisting of several intertwining storylines filled with romantic feelings and vivid emotions. Moreover, it allows for presenting a modern interpretation of legends, folk tales and historical facts.

In this article, the opera "The Ballad of the Canal" is used to study the development of Chinese national opera. For this purpose the analysis of its musical characteristics has been carried out in four main aspects: musical language, theme, instrumentation and vocals. All the main elements of the opera — music, performance, drama, character and artistic features — have a pronounced national flavour and at the same time are novel. This is achieved by combining elements of traditional Chinese opera and Western music techniques.

Compared with earlier musical works, the opera "The Ballad of the Canal" has undergone significant changes and innovations in terms of music composition, choir arrangement and instrumental configuration, which contributes to the development of Chinese national opera in general.

The article examines Glinka's creative perception of the achievements of Italian romantic opera of the 1810–1830s. The significance of Glinka's stay in Italy and the perception of the operas of Bellini and Donizetti in communication with the authors and performers is noted.

Most of the operas of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti are analysed, the patterns of their dramaturgy and structure are noted. The most important for Glinka were introductions and finales, as well as the traditional form (solita forma) of solo numbers. The use of the canon-cantabile before the stretta in the finales of Act 1 is emphasised. The use of Italian principles is shown in Vanya's scene from "A Life for the Tsar" and in three arias of "Ruslan". Glinka found new opportunities in the use of reminiscences.

Italian traditions became an important support for Glinka, which helped the composer build the grandiose buildings of his two innovative operas.

The article attempts to assess the current state of the singing component of worship. Attention is focused on the centrifugal and centripetal tendencies of the dynamics of stylistic tendencies in composers’ creativity for the church, as well as the presence of a cyclical pattern. The events that initiated a significant increase in the number of authors writing chants for church choirs are indicated; a transition from the quantitative accumulation of the 2000s to a selective attitude to the liturgical repertoire and the quality of the created music, its stylistic correspondence to the church singing canon is observed. The relevance of the problem of mastering a special singing manner in the choir and performing interpretation in concelebration with the altar, discussed in the regent-singing environment and brought to the rostrum of international congresses held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, is noted. The article touches upon the technology of creating new repertoire units for a church choir by following certain musical-poetic, figurative-thematic, syntactic, constructive, textural, lexical, performing and other cliches, as well as choosing a certain stylistic model, following which composers do not risk going beyond the “style of direction” and avoid secularization.

The factors contributing to the renewal of the corpus of church hymns have been identified, among which the most important is the ongoing process of creating new liturgical texts in the post-Soviet era, as well as significant signs of the localization of tradition, when sometimes it turns out to be better preserved in the Orthodox diaspora of distant countries than in Russia. The destructive trends of the 2020s, observed during the lockdown and post-Covid period, which have not been overcome to this day, are outlined. The significance of the subjective factor in the formation of the musical component of the daily service and, as a result, its significant difference even within one region is not excluded.

The article examines the problems of stage reality and acting skills as the main factors in the formation of theatrical aesthetics and the creation of conditions for a dialogue of cultures. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that the dualism of the sacred and playful nature of theatrical art is considered the basis of the cultural dialogue between traditional and modern Japanese theatre. The paper analyses the features of stage reality and the techniques of acting.

Since the object of the study is acting within the framework of stage reality, special attention is paid to the technical aspects and techniques of Kabuki theater acting in comparison with the traditional Japanese Noh theatre. This leads us to the topic of dualism between two theatrical paradigms, namely: theatre as a sacred, ritual action and theatre as entertainment, show, performance.

The research is based on the methodology of complex textual and art criticism analysis, which allows for a deeper examination of the importance and place that tradition plays in the process of forming theatrical aesthetics of the Japanese theatre. The basis for the empirical material of this work was the practical experience of the author as an actor, director, teacher of acting and plastic arts in theaters in Russia and Japan.

This article deals with the issue of cross-cultural exchange in the field of theatrical art between the West and the East in the mid-20th century on the example of the theatrical dialogue between V.E. Meyerhold and Mei Lanfang. The author analyses the influence of traditional theatrical techniques of Chinese theatre on the Russian stage culture of the Silver Age.

The article is based on a comparative analysis of key aspects in theatrical art of the 20th century: the problem of conventional theatre and symbolism, Meyerhold's biomechanics and the "four skills and five methods" used in training Chinese actors, the typology of roles and the formation of the artistic image, pre-game techniques and other theatrical techniques that became part of the dramatic dialogue between W.E. Meyerhold and Mei Lanfang. These two personalities embodied two traditions; the starting point of their intercultural dialogue was Lanfang's visit to the USSR.

This article focuses on the processuality and incompleteness of this intercultural dialogue, on the interpenetration and co-action of key ideas of Eastern and Western theatrical traditions, embodied in the transformation and formation of Meyerhold's creative genius.

The article reveals the spatial cultural code of a collective theatrical festival — the Venetian carnival. Based on the analysis of carnival events, considered as the actualization of proxemic subcodes, three dominant spatial dimensions are identified: water (horizontal), celestial (vertical) and geographical with a predominant eastern vector. In the celestial subcode, the descending vector prevails, which is divided into three semiotic spheres: sacred, value-normative, institutional-historical. Thus, it is the celestial space that has a special potential to generate a spatial code and is the spatial dominant of the holiday.

The article outlines scientific methods and approaches to studying traditional Chinese cabinet-making, as this sphere of knowledge is definitely lacking in well-grounded ways of interpreting, classifying, and restoring the pieces of furniture being part of cultural. Furniture from the Southwest region of China is selected to be the material for this research. The studies of this aspect are limited by the typological characteristics of the period when the subject-spatial environment was formed by co-natural factors. At the early stages of history the cabinet-maker's attempts at forming the subject-spatial environment were predetermined by natural conditions. These conditions were imposed by the actual state of technology and the existing manual equipment. At the same time, the world picture concerning the cosmic universe organization functioned as another limitation.

The peculiarity of Chinese art and its scientific presentation is bound by a unique historical periodization system, which differs from the one used in Western Europe. The Chinese periodical scale is based on dynastic distribution. In addition, Chinese art theory is greatly influenced by ancestral authentic roots of the culture, as well as history, philosophy and religious provisions of Buddhism. In this regard, a well-organised approach is required to further investigate the ideological grounds of the Chinese artistic and cultural paradigm. More specifically, the principles underlying form design are to be revealed and described, which are bound by the environmental conditions and related householding, on the one hand, and the paradigms of "traditional art" and "folk art", on the other. It is important to evaluate the level of their identity.

The aforementioned criteria persist today due to the stable cultural and archetypal mentality, which is supposed to contribute to studying the subject-spatial environment.

This article describes the transformation of modern culture under the influence of new technologies. Digitalization penetrates into absolutely all sectors of society. In this regard, the authors analyze the role of blockchain technology in the formation of modern culture, considering its use in the field of art. This technology allows not only to preserve and distribute works of traditional art, but also initiates the birth of new forms of artistic creativity (crypto art, NFT art), changing the artistic landscape and our perception of art. The article argues that with a huge variety of cultures, the exchange of cultural codes between peoples can be accessible and unbiased and serve to enrich common knowledge and experience through blockchain technology. It is able to make the activities of any cultural sector safe and transparent, since it excludes an intermediary between the participants. The authors show the possibilities of blockchain technology to contribute to the preservation of copyrights for all types of assets, including information objects of culture and works of art. Moreover, the blockchain works on the basis of the logic and rules inherent in it initially, which excludes human participation, therefore, the advantages of this technology are decentralization, transparency, security and anonymity. The real revolution in the creative industry was caused by the emergence of NFT (non-renewable token) technology, which offered a completely innovative approach to recognizing the value and ownership of a cultural object, since NFT can be almost any digital file recorded using smart contracts in blockchains. This provides the users with transparency, allows for studying the history of ownership of an art object and find out the real author. Thus, each author can confirm the authenticity and uniqueness of their work, be it a musical composition, digital painting or any other art object. In addition, NFT ensures the accessibility of art, as well as the opportunity to be a co-owner of creativity by buying only part of it. The authors conclude that today it is not necessary to determine the primacy of one of the colliding cultural worlds — traditional and NFT art. The actual problem of the art world of the 21st century is to realize and accept this new experience.