Six monographs by A.I. Demchenko

Serova Natalia ORCID: 0000-0002-7003-9387 PhD in Art History Associate Professor at the Department of Music History of the Saratov State Conservatory named after L.V. Sobinov 410012, Russia, Saratov region, Saratov, prospekt im. Peter Stolypin, 1 serova.n.s@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Alexander Ivanovich Demchenko, Doctor of Art History, Professor, Honored Artist of Russia, chief researcher and head of the International Center for Integrated Art Research at the Saratov State Conservatory named after L.V. Sobinov, marked the anniversary year 2023 for himself with a series of monographs. They represent a number of important names for the Russian musical tradition of the XIX – early XXI centuries: "The first classic of Russian music. Essays on the life and work of M.I. Glinka" ^[1], "Sergei Rachmaninov. Essays on creativity" ^[2], "Con tempo by Igor Stravinsky" ^[3], "The work of S.S. Prokofiev" ^[4], "The work of Rodion Shchedrin. To the 90th anniversary of his birth" ^[5] and the book currently in publication "Alfred Schnittke. Essays on life and creativity" ^[6].

As can be seen from the listed titles, the researcher's interests cover a large–scale and significant period - the time when the Russian musical tradition is fully represented on the European and world professional arena. It can be said that A. Demchenko refers to the textbook figures of Russian art, which is emphasized by the subtitle "classics ...". The elaboration of the problems of the mentioned personalities in Russian musicology is significant. Probably, in this regard, the author had to face the issue of choosing the format. Preference was given to a compact presentation that does not pretend to be exhaustive of the topic, or taking into account all currently implemented or possible musicological perspectives. The researcher operates with facts that are known to a certain extent. At the same time, the works in question have a novelty, which, I think, lies in the ways of understanding the material.

Despite the fact that the presented texts are devoted to very different compositional figures, it is possible to formulate some main research installations directing this peculiar cycle.

First of all, the integrative approach implemented in each work should be noted. The author does not limit himself to considering exclusively musical phenomena, it is important for him to fit a creative personality into a cultural context, to reveal the organic connection of an individual style with the specifics of the epoch. It should be remembered that the mentioned perspective is characteristic of A. Demchenko's method as a whole. The scientist has undertaken a number of publications justifying the effectiveness of an integrative (multidisciplinary) installation, as well as demonstrating its application in research practice. Recent publications of this kind include the voluminous work "Semantic Concepts of the World Artistic Heritage" ^[7]. In addition, the musicologist heads a research center whose tasks include the implementation of this idea.

The integrative approach in the works under consideration is implemented to varying degrees. I think it serves as a kind of way to accentuate the perspective that the musicologist is interested in in each particular case.

Thus, for Glinka's creative portrait, connections with the noble household culture of the first half of the XIX century are important, the conditionality of the composer's early style and creative interests in the sphere of salon music making, the importance of foreign influences (in this case, Italian) for the artistic practice of the era.

In considering Rachmaninov's work, the moment of transition of the turn-of-the-century era, the severity of this shift in various spheres of artistic life, the movement from "golden dreams" to the "funeral feast" turns out to be important. Rachmaninoff's essays are surrounded by a halo of various associations: The first part of the cantata "Bells" correlates with the "fairground painting" by B. Kustodiev and F. Malyavin; landscape images of vocal lyrics are combined with the worldview of I. Bunin, I. Levitan; spring colors of vocal and piano miniatures – with the poetry of Z. Gippius.

In the essays devoted to A. Schnittke, the predicted cultural background is the theme of the Volga Germans. The deepening into the history of this phenomenon is explained by the question of the composer's national identity, the need to realize the cultural code of his work as Russian-German. At the same time, there are also significant deviations in the multidisciplinary field. For example, among the essays on Schnittke, there is a rather lengthy excursion into the history of cosmism as an artistic idea on the example of the works of P. Kuznetsov, V. Kandinsky, A. Rodchenko, P. Filonov, A. Scriabin.

One of the important attitudes for the author is the need to identify a certain semantic dominant, conceptual and content base in the considered compositional styles. It should be noted that the reliance on the "conceptual method", "conceptual analysis" (A. Demchenko's terms) is characteristic of the musicologist, largely determines the specifics of his view of artistic phenomena. The essence of the approach is described in the researcher's earlier works: "... the identification of figurative and semantic content is at the forefront, and all components of the argumentation (from general historical information to technological calculations) are subordinated to the disclosure of relevant aspects." It is assumed."..the ascent from specifically musical to broader, culturological and sociological categories, and through them to the understanding of the universal human content inherent in the work" ^{[8, p. 4]}.

The monographs under consideration show that the mentioned principle is applied by scientists to the heritage of composers in general. In some cases, the idea of the musicologist is read quite clearly. For example, Glinka's work highlights the evolution from everyday salon practice to large-scale conceptual ideas, from amateur amateur to professional and the acquisition of European academic status by the Russian school of composition. The idea of Glinka, the founder of the national school, clearly prevails, pushing other perspectives into the background, for example, reflections on the impact on the artistic decisions of the Russian classic of various foreign systems – models of the French musical theater, the Italian opera tradition.

The dominant feature of the essays on Schnittke is the question of the composer's stylistic metamorphoses in the context of the evolution of his worldview. The monograph highlights the stages of creativity of the great countryman for residents of the Saratov Region, which have been repeatedly considered in research and educational literature – the path from avant-garde experiments through polystylistics to a universal language based on the synthesis of various principles of composition. At the same time, the real problem of this work turns out to be the question of the spiritual quest of the master. Fascination with seriality and then rejection of it, collage technique, work in the democratic field of film music, bridging the gap between serious and entertaining, meditativeness, the development of a concert genre and, more broadly, virtuoso instrumental performance – these key positions of Schnittke's creative path are interpreted in the monograph in line with a systematic departure from extreme subjectivism. Later, creativity was interpreted as a rejection of the extremely personal in favor of the universal. In this regard, Schnittke's peculiar cosmogonic model is also revealed, manifested, for example, in the Second Symphony – "the rebirth of the human-earthly into the cosmic."

The directing attitude of the essays on R. Shchedrin is not so obvious. The text dedicated to his legacy, on the one hand, looks detailed, traditionally – the key genres of different periods of creativity, the composer's approaches to the system of expressive means at different stages of his professional career are considered in chronological order. In this monograph and, perhaps, even in the "Prokofiev" essays, the long–term pedagogical experience of A. Demchenko is felt most of all - there is a desire to give maximum information in a small volume, to emphasize the most important, without losing the overall scale of the issue, to systematize, generalize, captivate with vivid metaphors. At the same time, there is a noticeable interest in two categories – paradoxicity and romanticism (as a creative principle and type of world feeling) – research thought constantly returns to them. In the author's perception, Shchedrin is a modern romantic who combines the rationalism of polyphonic techniques with artistic fantasy, the innovation of the latest compositional techniques with centuries–old traditions of folklore. The main thing at the same time is precisely the romantic, who is fully aware of the tragic essence of being, but who managed to contrast humor, love of life, and common sense with this knowledge.

The desire to reveal a positive picture of life in the views of the composer of the XX century is also seen in the monograph devoted to the legacy of S. Prokofiev. It has already been noted above that the logic of the presentation refers to educational practice – the process of formation of an individual genre-style system is systematically unfolding, the main trends of the creative method are highlighted. A number of essays are analyzed in detail – with the traditional characterization of parts and topics. The opuses that most clearly represent the main installations of creativity are chosen: The first Piano Concerto, the Second Piano Sonata, the Fifth Symphony, the opera "Semyon Kotko", the ballet "Romeo and Juliet", etc. In general, the range of works involved in the study is very wide, covering all genres realized by the master, all stylistic metamorphoses.

As in other studies, the integrative method initiates a parallel understanding of pan-European artistic movements comparable to Prokofiev's personal installations. Scythianism, Dadaism, constructivism, urbanism, Cubism, futurism form a bright "rainbow of life", a dynamic mosaic of the composer's worldview. The author does not ignore the issue of the composer's relationship with the Soviet regime, offering unexpected interpretations of some famous works. For example, the interpretation of the Sixth Symphony from the standpoint of totalitarianism of the late 1940s is seen as a new reading, since more often this work is perceived as an echo of the events of the Great Patriotic War. Despite the wide range of phenomena considered in the monograph, the center of research interests is still worldview issues. In the variety of the composer's ideas, the author manages to identify something unified, absorbing everything: Prokofiev's dynamism, harmony with the epoch, constant health of the spirit.

Let us note another quality of the musicologist – the ability to find a way of presentation that is organic to the material under consideration and that key, essential characteristic for which, as it seems, the monograph is created. In fairness, we must admit that this property is not read in all the texts presented. It is quite clearly expressed in the portraits of Prokofiev and Shchedrin, perhaps, and in the "Glinkinsky" essays. In the Schnittke study, it is felt to a lesser extent. Of course, the point of view expressed is subjective, based on purely personal impressions of the reviewer. Perhaps it is the consonance of the personality of Demchenko himself with the considered creative figures. A musicologist by nature, by the specifics of his worldview, is a man of the "Prokofiev-Shchedrin" type. At the same time, he manages to get used to a different type of worldview.

The monograph on Rachmaninov stands out among others by the special intensity of the extraverbal associations evoked. This text is read as a single musical lyric-epic canvas, a kind of meditation. The style of utterance and the chosen structure, which implies the rejection of the designation of sections, paragraphs, and other elements of the traditional – hierarchical – table of contents, pushes towards such a perception. Reflections on Rachmaninoff are formed as a series of episodes, notes, and analytical fragments. At the same time, such a decision does not harm the logic of the presentation. The basis is the same chronological principle, as consistently as in other studies, the main milestones of creativity, key genres, and signs of style are considered. The text does not leave the impression of sketchiness, it has quite taken place. However, behind the usual musicological calculations, there is something else - comparable in nature to the music itself. Obviously, a deep understanding of the psychology, the total emotional conditioning of Rachmaninoff's style initiates a peculiar manner of telling about him.

Rachmaninoff's opus is more focused than others on the question of the composer's spiritual evolution. The main line of this research is seen as a movement from experiencing the "rift of times" in the early period, to overcoming it and gaining moral stoicism, which the late Rachmaninoff works contrast with the growing process of dehumanization in the twentieth century. In this scenario, the musicologist manages to fit both changes in the composer's genre preferences (for example, a departure from vocal miniature), and the specifics of the figurative structure of his works at different stages of creativity (the dualism of hymnically bright and elegiac moods in the compositions of the 1890s, the heroics of the 1900s, the movement towards the objectivity of images, starting from 1910-x).

In the works devoted to Rachmaninov, Schnittke, Shchedrin, Prokofiev, the ideological aspect acts as the central setting governing the analysis of other style parameters. The approach to Stravinsky's creative figure seems to be different. The semantic dominant of this monograph is already defined in the introductory section. "The master of originality" is what the author calls the object of his interests. The categories of exclusivity and novelty are chosen as the determining ones. If in other monographs the key question is the interaction of the master with the spiritual plan of life, then here it is transformed into the problem of dialogue with the key artistic ideas of the epoch. The realization of an individual creative manner in each particular work, the originality of the approach to the formed trend or the harbinger of new trends – this is what attracts the researcher in the first place. This approach seems to be organic to the figure of Stravinsky, who is distinguished primarily by his focus on aesthetic issues, immersion in music technology proper.

In general, the monograph is based on the well-known periodization of creativity. At the same time, the compositional proportions of the work suggest that the author is closer to the Russian and early foreign (1920s) stages - their analysis takes up almost two thirds of the text. In this section, the analysis of the "Sacred Spring" becomes the absolute dominant – a quarter of the total volume of the study is devoted to it.

The famous ballet is viewed from different angles: individual parts and numbers, timbre, intonation and ladoharmonic solutions are analyzed. The innovative features of the work correlate with the iconic ideas of the era – urbanism, Fauvism, Scythian-Barbarian themes. Without denying the role of this ballet in the formation of modern musical art – the "outpost of the world musical avant–garde" - I still want to express disagreement with the position of the author. It seems that the importance of urban parallels in relation to the "Sacred Spring" is somewhat exaggerated. Expressive means that the researcher sees as a manifestation of machine "being" – ostinateness, dissonance of fabric, timbre rigidity, intonation angularity – can also refer to organic, natural phenomena. Actually, such associations are built by Demchenko himself in episodes devoted to animalistic and even physiological metaphors in ballet music. Perhaps the conflict of dehumanization realized by Stravinsky in the "Sacred Spring" should be correlated, first of all, with the collapse of the individual-personal concept realized in the previous, romantic era.

Returning to the review of the general qualities of the monographs, we note the style of utterance – bright, temperamental, rich in unexpected epithets, memorable metaphors. This property can become a kind of assistant for a reader who does not have special knowledge about music, but it will also be useful for a professional musicologist, lecturer, concert presenter.

It should also be mentioned the common desire for all studies to support their own observations with documentary materials, statements by composers "in the first person", and testimonies of contemporaries. Such inlays are most significantly implemented in the monograph on Schnittke, which presents extremely valuable texts of "local" origin for Saratov – the memoirs of A. Katz, E. Gokhman, E. Vishnevskaya, interpretations by E. Vartanova and S. Vartanov.

A. Demchenko's monographs devoted to the work of composers who have already been thoroughly represented in the research literature are of undoubted interest, first of all, from the standpoint of the author's approach, since in this case the focus is not on narrow theoretical issues, but on the semantic essence of the considered artistic heritage, its "ideological and conceptual side". The approach implemented by the scientist enriches the tools of the science of music; it can be applied in the methodology of teaching disciplines of musical-historical, art criticism orientation.

Books can be in demand both as educational material in specialized music education courses of various levels, and as literature for a wide range of readers interested in music.

It remains to be noted that the creation of six monographs on outstanding Russian composers within two years is undoubtedly a unique phenomenon in relation to the usual scale of creative productivity of a modern art critic.