The purpose of the article is to study the functions of the refrain form in the genre of neo-baroque orchestral concert. The article for the first time focuses on the problem of polyrefrainity and its implementation in a modern multi-part instrumental cycle. The research methodology includes comparative, system-structural, historical methods. The substantiation of the terminology is based on the theoretical provisions of Russian musicologists on rondo-like, ritornello, refrain and polyrefrain compositions. The object of the study is the Concerti grossi of the outstanding composer of the last third of the 20th century – Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998). The author of the article considers the multi-level implementation of the refrain form principle: in individual parts of the cycle and at the level of its integral organization. The genres, styles of refrains, their intonational and thematic content are differentiated, their dramaturgical and compositional functions are considered. As a result, it is determined that the tragic concept of A.Schnittke’s works subordinates the baroque form-building principles of polyrefrainity to the personal psychological aspect, embedding them in the meditativeconflict type of modern dramaturgy. In each of the six concerts, the concept acquires a special appearance. The author’s provisions are illustrated by a table and diagrams.

The contemporary light-genre musical theatre offers numerous examples of adaptations in librettos based on classical literary works, which often become a defining factor for the high textual and dramaturgical level of musical-stage pieces. This approach allows for the formation of a quality figurative and semantic foundation as well as a solid narrative structure. A.Tchaikovsky’s “A Provincial Lady” based on the eponymous comedy by I.Turgenev, serves as an example of interpreting a work from the golden treasury of Russian literature within the context of musical, which today is the most relevant, democratic, and accessible form of theatrical art. Despite the author’s designation of the genre, this production has significantly been influenced by other forms of lightgenre musical theatre, primarily operetta, which has long been firmly rooted in the national tradition. As demonstrated in the article, the two genres – musical and operetta – define the unique character of “A Provincial Lady,” where their characteristics are synthesized at both the compositional-dramaturgical and musical-stylistic levels. In exploring this aspect, the author addresses a broader issue regarding the substantial commonality between these two genre models, which often makes it difficult to draw a clear line between them.

The article draws attention to the personality and creativity of representatives of the North German organ school of the Baroque era. The role of the Dutch composer J.P. Sweelink in its formation and is emphasized. The subject of the study is the toccata, which fits into the performing tradition common in Northern Germany. The works of the first and second generations of composers who have turned to this genre are considered: S.Scheidt, G.Scheidemann, M.Wekman, I.A. Reinken and D.Buxtehude. Using the example of their organ toccatas, the compositional and stylistic features of the genre are revealed, in which the features of the stylus phantasticus, due to the specifics of organ building, are vividly realized. Special attention is paid to the main genre type characteristic of the North German organ school – the toccata maiores, whose contrasting composite form is interpreted based on the principles of oratorical-rhetorical disposition.

Since the mid-1970s, a tendency towards a broader semantic content of the techniques and principles that had developed in American classical minimalism has emerged in the works of a number of European composers. In particular, minimalist compositional aesthetics was embodied in music with religious content. The creation of modern spiritual works is often associated with the development and transformation in a new artistic and aesthetic space of lexical and structural models of cult vocal genres of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which gives grounds to speak of sacred poetics that developed within the framework of musical postminimalism. The proposed article examines this perspective religious choral works by the greatest representatives of European postminimalism, John Tavener and Henryk Górecki, who, in search of sacred meanings and new simplicity of musical intonation, turn to the tradition of liturgical singing of the Christian Middle Ages. The composers are united by their appeal to archaic intonational vocabulary and reliance on the repetitive-ostinato principle of developing thematic material in combination with variability. However, different genre and style guidelines – Orthodox line singing in Tavener and Gregorian polyphony in Górecki, as well as the use of various techniques for transforming the original structural elements and methods of organizing the whole reveal individual authorial methods of implementing a minimalist composition.

In this article, for the first time, an attempt is made to examine the history of the formation of the Krasnoyarsk electronic scene, analyze the structural components of the designated concept, and characterize its current state in qualitative and quantitative terms. For ease of analysis, the authors have broken down the problem into a number of aspects and examined it step by step in the following steps: 1) historical conditions that paved the way for the development of electronic music in the region; 2) the state of the local material and technical base of modern high-tech art of sound; 3) individual creative units that make up the community or creative environment of the Krasnoyarsk electronic scene. Information about Krasnoyarsk composers and performers, collected from disparate sources and systematized, is based on the materials of the authors’ own databases, which they have been forming for along time. This information is absolutely new, as it has not been published in scientific publications before. As a result, the authors conclude that today there is a distinctive electronic scene in Krasnoyarsk and the region, which has great potential for further qualitative development, but it is quite fragmented and is still at alow level of organization.

For the first time, the article raises the question of the creation and artistic design of coronation folk publications in a historical context. In art history, only coronation albums were previously studied exclusively in hard leather with ornaments, bound with thick coated paper, and chromolithographs from watercolors by famous artists dedicated to the celebrations of the accession to the throne of representatives of the House of Romanov and serving as opportunistic gift editions. The proposed work presents various approaches of publishers, artists, and lithographers related to printing publications for a wide audience during the coronation celebrations of 1856, 1883, and 1896; describes the artistic side of illustrations and folk pictures as works of printed graphics intended for mass distribution; highlights the features of the national folk book with illustrations about the accession to the throne Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II. It is concluded that the coronation folk publications are not objects of art, but retain the status of monuments of material culture, since they introduced the target audience to the most important historical events of Russia through their splinter storylines.

The article examines the activities of the Cairo group “Art et Liberté” and its leader, a talented artist, painting theorist and translator Ramses Younan, who largely determined the ways of reforming the fine arts of Egypt in the 1930s and 1940s. This issue has not yet entered the orbit of the scientific interests of Russian scientists, which determines the relevance and scientific novelty of the study. Based on a comparative analysis of the array of information dispersed in foreign sources not translated into Russian, this work recreates the history of the appearance of ‘Art et Liberté”, comprehends the historical, political and socio-cultural factors that determined the ideological, philosophical and aesthetic platform of the group and its representatives. Special attention in the article is paid to one of the flagships of “Art et Liberté” Ramses Younan, his “revolutionary” activities as part of this modernist association are analyzed, the master’s ideological and artistic views on the essence of art are outlined, the role of the creative results of Ramses Younan, who made a significant contribution to the theory and practice of Egyptian surrealism. Inclusion in the Russian scientific circulation and critical understanding of previously unclaimed information fills the existing “gaps”, opens up prospects in the further development of the problem of cultural dialogue between the West and the East, as well as the national identity of painting in Egypt of the 20th century.

The 1980s in Chinese history is an important period in the development of Chinese society. Radical changes in state ideology led to upheavals in all spheres of life. A group of jade carving artists, influenced by the literary and artistic movements of the 1980s, began to move away from the monotonous production of souvenirs, increasingly experimenting with new forms of expression to embody their artistic ideas. He Ma is one of the most significant figures in contemporary Chinese jade carving art. This study draws on the history of the development of contemporary Chinese art and applies formal analysis methods to examine the themes, characteristics and relationships between He Ma’s typical jade carving works and the general Chinese context. This approach helps clarify the influence of post-cultural artistic movements on Chinese traditional arts and crafts.

The “South-west Art Community” is one of the representative groups of the Chinese “New Wave 85”, which played a crucial role in reforming the painting of the during the “post-cultural revolution”. The work highlights the historical, socio-cultural factors that influenced the origin and development of this movement in Chinese fine art of the 1980s. The author’s focus is on the “SouthWest Art Community”, which has not yet received extensive coverage in the works of domestic art historians. Features of the creative approach of its leading representatives in the disclosure of ideas declared by “New Wave 85” are revealed. It is shown that the artists, despite the influence of the styles of Western art, unlike other members of the “New Wave 85”, did not break with regional culture, integrating national codes at the level of themes, images demonstrating spiritual and aesthetic bonds with the traditional culture of China. The results of the study make it possible to more fully comprehend the place and role of the “South-west Art Community” in the reform activities of the “New Wave 85” and the development of modern Chinese painting.

The article explores the traditional themes of Huizhou architectural carving, united by the common title “Culture of agriculture and scientific activity”. The plots are differentiated and have different names, such as: “Fishing, woodcutters job, agriculture and study”, “Four loves”, “The exam seeing off”, “Five children who have passed the exam”, “Parade of the first candidate”, “Palace of nine gifts” and others. Geographical, aesthetic, philosophical and moral aspects of the formation of these plots are presented. The interaction of work and learning has been developed in the region over the centuries, experiencing the direct and profound influence of Confucianism. Three life strategies are distinguished, three categories of people generated by the veneration of Confucian values and expressed in the subjects of architectural carvings. The values are as follows: day work in the field, reading books at night, restraint in relation to fame and fortune, lack of conflict, leniency towards people. The categories of people brought up by these values and represented in the reliefs are: the people who have received education but have not achieved success in public service; the educated hermits who do not seek to hold public office; enlightened people who are disillusioned with public service. During the analysis of the carvings’ themes, the following values were identified: daytime work in the fields, nighttime reading of books, restraint in relation to fame and wealth, absence of conflict, leniency towards people, as well as military and religious power, social authority and privileges, possession of a noble home, performance of palace rituals and knowledge of musical culture, longevity. Traditional plots are reproduced in modern society, which leads to the conclusion that the plots are deeply rooted in Chinese culture.