Theory of Musical Content as a Scientific Discipline

Main Article Content

Valentina N. Kholopova

Abstract

The article presents a comparison between the theory of musical content and theories of semantics and hermeneutics — determining the first of these as a broader domain. The author mentions a number of names of musicologists from Russia and other countries, contributors into development this musical discipline, and compares the philosophical dyad of “form and content” and the semiotic dyad of “plan of content and the plan of expression.” The article provides a brief definition of musical content as the expressive-semantic essence of music. It offers two trends in the musicological approach: the semantization of compositional elements and the elaboration of categories of essential musical content. The author proposes Asafiev’s concept of intonation as the initial unit of content in music. It is demonstrated within the system of language (a musical lexeme) and semiotics (a musical sememe, a semanteme). Other essential musical content categories under discussion include the specific and non-specific content, the conscious and unconscious in the domain of perception of musical content, the three aspects of musical content (the emotional, descriptive and symbolic, based on the triad of signs of Peirce’s theory — the icon, index and symbol), and the scientific logical nine-level hierarchy of musical content (from the content of classical music as a whole to the content of a musical composition in the perception of the listener).

Keywords: musical content, science, semantics, hermeneutics, priority of Russian musicology

Article Details

How to Cite
Kholopova, V. N. (2007). Theory of Musical Content as a Scientific Discipline. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 1(1), 15–24. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/809
Section
Horizonts of Musicology
Author Biography

Valentina N. Kholopova, Moscow State P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory

Doctor of Arts, Professor, Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Specializations of Musicologists