Abstract: The piano cycle Mishka's Notebook by V.F. Krasnoskulov, composed for his grandson, comprises eleven miniatures forming a self-contained artistic whole. This study focuses on how sonorous images are constructed in several pieces: Before Sleep, Two Butterflies, Skipping, Turning the Pedals, The Little Hare and the Bear, and Chastushki. It examines textural and registral organization, rhythmic patterns, harmonic language and articulation in detail. The work traces the shift from the static Romantic model to a dynamic structure governed by action development and musical narrativity. The author demonstrates continuity with the children's piano album tradition beginning with R. Schumann and P.I. Tchaikovsky. Special attention goes to the composer's treatment of programmaticism and tone painting, conveying not just mood but living movement and spatial depth. Comparative-analytical and intonational-structural methods are used. The cycle is compared with children's cycles by S.S. Prokofiev, D.D. Shostakovich, S.A. Gubaidulina and R.K. Shchedrin to clarify individual style. Novelty consists in revealing the processual-narrative nature of sonorous images in Krasnoskulov's music. Unlike stable emotional states in Romantics or fixed character traits in Prokofiev and Shostakovich, Krasnoskulov constructs a sequence of events unfolding in time. He organically combines external motorics with the child's internal psychological experience. The synthesis of lyrical tradition with modern devices—polychords, clusters and ostinato structures—expands piano expressiveness in children's music. Mishka's Notebook represents an original phenomenon in contemporary Russian music, where didactic tasks dissolve fully into vivid artistic narrative, securing the cycle's significance for concert and pedagogical practice in music schools and conservatories.

Keywords: children’s piano cycle, sonorous image, programmaticity, processuality, narrativity, contemporary musical language, piano texture, V. F. Krasnoskulov, concrete sound imagery, spatial multi-layering

Abstract: The subject of the study in the article is the characteristics of the musical dramaturgy of the symphonies of Giya Kancheli (using the Fifth Symphony as an example). Researchers have repeatedly noted the "block dramaturgy" in the composer’s works; the concept of "thematic block" seems reasonable to connect with the term "macrotheme." This term has been proposed by several domestic musicologists for the study of music specifically from the second half of the 20th century to the early 21st century. A macrotheme consists of numerous thematic elements, the synthesis of which gives rise to a new quality that is absent in each of them individually. The alternation of musical blocks occurs according to the principle of suddenness (subito contrast). Throughout the symphony, there are multiple observations of "switching" between blocks, each characterized by its own type of musical expressiveness and its own mode of the flow of time. The article highlights all the thematic elements presented in the Fifth Symphony and traces how they form thematic blocks. The elements that make up the macrothemes are stylistically heterogeneous. Here, there are baroque symbols (the theme of the cross, sarabande), allusions to Mozart's thematicism, nods to Georgian folk music, and varieties of sonorous texture. Thus, the whole forms an extensive poly-stylistic picture, where the alternation or combination of layers generates new meanings. In the end of the article, conclusions are presented regarding the main dramaturgical principles of the symphony. The dramaturgy here is, in general, not procedural; the listener simply switches between various thematic blocks, while the mode of their existence in music changes: at times they are present as an audience member, at times they experience the pressure of inhuman evil forces, and often – they are immersed in memories. However, there are moments in the symphony where, instead of macrothemes, ordinary themes "take the stage," and block dramaturgy is replaced by classical procedural forms. This interaction of different types of musical dramaturgy is the most valuable achievement of Giya Kancheli in the examined symphony.

Keywords: G. Kancheli, symphonies of the 1970s, macrotheme, thematic block, musical dramaturgy, subito contrast, music chronotope, the semantics of music, polystylistics, sonorism

Abstract: The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the image of the enemy in the song creativity during the period of the Civil War in Russia (1918–1922), primarily focusing on the most popular songs of this period among representatives of both warring sides, as well as their regional variations. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing interest of contemporary humanities to the mechanisms of ideological propaganda in the context of civil conflicts, the role of folk song creation in the formation of mass consciousness, and the significance of historical memory about the Civil War as a key event of the 20th century that determined the further development of Russian statehood. The aim of the work is to identify the main differences in constructing the image of the enemy in the songs of the Reds and the Whites, as well as to determine the key propagandistic techniques used by both sides. Methods: qualitative content analysis of the texts of the most popular songs, ditties, and marches (both authored and folk), drawing on archival collections of folklore, memoirs, and memoir literature. Results: It was found that in the Red Army songs, a specific, satirically tinted, and highly demonized image of the enemy predominates (the songs of the Reds mention real figures – Kolchak, Denikin, Wrangel; their class enemies – the bourgeois, priests, kulaks, officers; external interventionists), achieved through the use of various dehumanization techniques (zoomorphic metaphors like "dog-atamans," "white dogs"), class lexicon, simplification, and color symbolism. In the White Guard songs, the image of the opponent is more impersonal, abstract, and often speaks of the defense of "Holy Russia" from nameless chaos ("red chains," "commoners," "commissioners"). Ultimately, Red propaganda turned out to be more effective in mobilizing the masses due to the simplicity of the language, emotionality, and folk character, which largely contributed to the victory of the Reds in the Civil War.

Keywords: image of the enemy, songs of the Russian Civil War, Red propaganda, White Guard songs, demonization of the enemy, dehumanization, folklore, ideological confrontation, Civil War, song

Abstract: The article examines the first chamber-vocal cycle by the outstanding domestic composer of the second half of the 20th century, Alfred Schnittke, “Three Poems by Marina Tsvetaeva” (1965). The work was created for a low female voice accompanied by a specially prepared piano during a period of intense exploration by young Soviet composers of new sound paths. The authors employed dodecaphony and, more broadly, serial techniques, sonoristics, aleatorics, microchroma, and other avant-garde methods of composition. Schnittke was at the forefront of the struggle for new music, and his own creative path in the 1960s was characterized by an active movement from "artificial" to "natural." Schnittke’s deep mastery of contemporary techniques did not lead him to imitation or copying what had already been created, but rather to his own sharply individual musical style. The cycle based on Marina Tsvetaeva's poetry fully demonstrates Schnittke’s movement from dodecaphony to the world of intonation, albeit one that is very complex for performers. The research methodology includes sociocultural and historical-chronological methods, as well as literary-textual methods. The genre approach, allowing for the grouping of works based on their characteristic features, and the comparative-analytical method are significant. The cultural studies method allowed us to examine Schnittke's composition within the dynamics of the historical and cultural process. The authors of the article analyze Schnittke's vocal cycle from a performance perspective in the context of the staged embodiment of this remarkable piece of domestic music. Issues of interaction and mutual penetration between music and poetry, the ensemble of voice and piano, contemporary sophisticated rhythms and metrics, radical dynamics, and the intonational complexities in the work of the vocalist are key. The most important idea of the research is the artistic embodiment of the musical text, regardless of how “unconventional” its notation may appear on paper. Relying on a comprehensive, deeply professional, and truly creative approach will enable musicians, singers, and pianists undertaking the interpretation of “Three Poems by Marina Tsvetaeva” to achieve their objectives. The goal of the research is to breathe new concert life into this challenging yet still relevant work by Alfred Schnittke, created in a pivotal era for domestic music.

Keywords: Schnittke, Tsvetaeva, Music and Poetry, Chamber-vocal cycle, Romance, Russian music, Avant-garde, Dodecaphony, Sonoristics, Piano accompaniment

Abstract: The article examines the pedagogical legacy of N. G. Legat (1869–1937) as revealed through the stages in the formation of his method and through an analysis of Lesson No. 6 from the book "Nicholas Legat: The Ballet Master’s Legacy", as reconstructed by B. Gregory. The article traces N. G. Legat’s early professional development, his training at the Imperial St. Petersburg Theatre School, the influence of Ch. P. Johansson and of performance practice in the Imperial Theatres, his pedagogical activity in Russia, his period of emigration, and his work in his London studio. The subject of the study is the methodological principles manifested in the structure of his lessons: the sequence in which the instructional material is arranged, the individual approach to the performer, the musical and rhythmic organization of movement, and the precision of classical form. Lesson No. 6 is considered as an example of the preservation and transmission of the traditions of the Russian ballet school within N. G. Legat’s pedagogical system. The study is based on the historical-biographical method and the analysis of source materials, which make it possible to examine the formation of N. G. Legat’s method in the context of his professional biography and the materials presented in "Nicholas Legat: The Ballet Master’s Legacy". The scholarly novelty of the article lies in the fact that, for the first time in Russian scholarship, it offers a detailed analysis of N. G. Legat’s Lesson No. 6 in classical dance as reconstructed by B. Gregory. The study identifies the methodological features of the construction of the exercise, which includes women’s pointe combinations and men’s allegro. It establishes terminological discrepancies between the names of movements recorded by B. Gregory and their contemporary designations used in the classical dance curriculum of the Vaganova Ballet Academy. An analysis of N. G. Legat's original musical accompaniment, recorded by V. V. Launitz, has been conducted, demonstrating that the tempo-rhythmic structure of the lessons functioned as his pedagogical tool. The article also systematizes, for the first time, biographical information on all the authors and participants involved in recording the lessons included in Nicholas Legat: The Ballet Master’s Legacy: A. Eglevsky, J. Gregory, B. Gregory, A. Carter, and K. Nordi. By combining biographical context with lesson analysis, the article clarifies the historical channels through which the traditions of the Russian ballet school and N. G. Legat’s pedagogical approach were transmitted.

Keywords: N. G. Legat, pedagogical legacy, Russian ballet school, classical dance, teaching methodology, Alan Carter, André Eglevsky, Barbara Gregory, John Gregory, Cleo Nordi