Stylistic models of the past in the concept of “new simplicity”

The article is devoted to the problem of using stylistic models of the past in the concept of “new simplicity”, when the main way of author’s thinking becomes an association that generates cultural dialogic. The author considers the “new simplicity” as a philosophical and stylistic compromise, a natural way out of the situation of linguistic and technical saturation in order to recreate the main function of musical art – communication.

The “new simplicity” is a tendency aimed at simplifying the musical language, and the ways of its implementation are diverse. It manifests itself through minimalist vocabulary, sacralization, appeal to classical-romantic style models, etc. The metaphorical space of music, associative in nature, is also a dimension of “new simplicity”, in the plane of which there is a dialogue with tradition, in particular, the emergence of various “neo-”, which is aimed at overcoming artistic distance.

The author of the article talks about the connection between “new simplicity” and Neo-romanticism due to the prevalence of lyrical confession and the appeal to romantic idioms. In addition, the commonality of these two stylistic paradigms is manifested in genre priority, when small forms and their cyclization become the leading ones. In addition, such a genre solution allows to “stop time” and create a new type of drama, namely, to embody meditative statics.

The figurative and semantic attitudes of Romanticism have proved extremely attractive to composers since the 1970s, when the “romantic” became the main way of perceiving the surrounding reality, and the main content of music was the search for higher truths of existence.

Thus, the adherents of the “new simplicity” see the main meaning in the search for the transpersonal through the subjectivism of perception, while the musical language becomes universally metaphorical, based on linguistic narratives reinterpreted in line with the author’s sound-looking.

Key words

“new simplicity”, aesthetic concept, metaphorical space, musical language, compositor’s creative work, Neo-romanticism, meta-stylistics.

For citation

Vorotyntseva L. Stylistic models of the past in the concept of “new simplicity”. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2025. No. 3. Pp. 91–98.

DOI

10.52469/20764766_2025_03_91

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