Abstract: The article considers one of the most influential music approaches of analytical philosophy to the problem of emotional expressiveness of music – arousalism or evocationism according to which the constitutive moment of music expression of emotions is an affective response generated by music.  The article is focused on the two most vulnerable points of this approach: justification of (1) the link between the audience response generated by music through causal means and the emotion attributed to music and (2) the identity of the emotion evoked/expressed by music. The author analyses the attempts to resolve these issues which are based on the postulation of intentional affective reactions generated by music (Mew, Greenspan, Madell), and the alternative Matravers concept (based on an analogy with the perception of colour) consistently supporting the causal principle. The main method of study is the analysis of concepts and argumentative strategies, reconstruction of positions of individual authors. The article also applies a comparative method. The author introduces and analyzes a collection of writings in the analytical philosophy of music of the last two decades into scientific parlance in the Russian-language literature, which deal with the problem of emotional expressiveness of music in the context of arousalism. The article reveals the explicative potential of alternative versions of this approach with the involvement of modern (mainly English) empirical studies.

Abstract: The article considers one of the most influential music approaches of analytical philosophy to the problem of emotional expressiveness of music – arousalism or evocationism according to which the constitutive moment of music expression of emotions is an affective response generated by music.  The article is focused on the two most vulnerable points of this approach: justification of (1) the link between the audience response generated by music through causal means and the emotion attributed to music and (2) the identity of the emotion evoked/expressed by music. The author analyses the attempts to resolve these issues which are based on the postulation of intentional affective reactions generated by music (Mew, Greenspan, Madell), and the alternative Matravers concept (based on an analogy with the perception of colour) consistently supporting the causal principle. The main method of study is the analysis of concepts and argumentative strategies, reconstruction of positions of individual authors. The article also applies a comparative method. The author introduces and analyzes a collection of writings in the analytical philosophy of music of the last two decades into scientific parlance in the Russian-language literature, which deal with the problem of emotional expressiveness of music in the context of arousalism. The article reveals the explicative potential of alternative versions of this approach with the involvement of modern (mainly English) empirical studies.

Abstract: The article deals with the notion of musical persona as it is employed in the discussion of musical expressiveness in the analitic philosophy of music. The main part of the paper is devoted to the account of musical expressiveness put forward by Jerrold Levinson, in which the notion of musical persona acquires central role. It includes a detailed analysis of different versions of Levinson’s definition of musical expressiveness which is subsequently compared to one suggested by Saam Trivedi and evaluated in terms of Levinson’s own criteria for a tenable theory of musical expressiveness. The main research method used by the author of the article is the analysis and explication of the key concepts and argumentative strategy that lies at the heart of Jerrold Levinson's theory. The author of the article has also used the historical parallel and comparative methods. The author views the notion of musical persona based on the material that is being mentioned in Russian philosophical literature for the first time. The article presents a detailed analysis of Jerrold Levinson's concept of emotional expressiveness and as a result of this analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that the explicative potential of the strategy that is based on the notion of persona has certain limits. 

Abstract: This article focuses on the concept of the American scholar Aaron Ridley, which in his opinion offers a convincing substantiation of the thesis that music is capable of expressing emotions with precision greater than that of words. The article analyzes the explication of the mechanism of musical expression of emotions that comprises the foundation of Ridley’s “weak” version of arousalism, in which the emotional response of the audience represents the constituting element of the emotional expression of the musical work. The examination of Ridley’s concept is preceded by a brief historical image of philosophical concepts, which contain implications for solution of the problem of precision of musical expression. The main method f research is the analysis and explication of the key notions and argumentative strategy lying at the foundation of Ridley’s concept. The issue of precision of musical expression is being examined using materials that are introduced for the first time into the Russian philosophy of art. The author draws a conclusion on the vulnerability of the approach proposed by Aaron Ridley within the framework of his concept of “weak” arousalism, according to which the precision of musical expression of emotion is achieved by particularization of the typical emotion expressed in music through the compassionate response from the recipient.