T. Frantova

“Calling the Fire on Ourselves”

The article is devoted to the academic activities of the composers from 60s - S. Slonimsky, E. Denisov, A. Schnittke. Each of them played a prominent role in musical enlightenment due to their academic papers. Academic activity did not prevent them from taking the position of the leading domestic composers of the second half of the twentieth century. In the works, created in the 60s, Slonimsky explained many revolutionary innovations in the works of S. Prokofiev and G. Mahler. Thanks to this, he worked in depth to strengthen the position of New Music in the twentieth century. E. Denisov and A. Schnittke, publicly speaking against dogmatism and the academicization of the musical language, have actively studied and promoted the artistic discoveries of the European musical avant-garde since the 1960s. The range of topics and problems covered by them turned out to be so voluminous that it makes it possible to talk about a kind of “virtual book” about new techniques of music of the twentieth century, noticeably ahead of the subsequent real book editions. Scientific discoveries contained in many works of A. Schnittke and E. Denisov retain their value and scientific relevance up to our time.

Key words

composers’ musicology, theory of avant-garde compositional techniques, scientific works of Slonimsky, Denisov, Schnittke.

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