HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF CONDUCTING AND ORCHESTRAL ARTS

Abstract

The proposed article reveals the cultural and historical prerequisites for the development of conducting and orchestral art, which is one of the oldest forms of musical embodiment. On the basis of scientific works, an attempt was made to prove that orchestral conducting in the countries of Western Europe at that time had a spontaneous character, primarily it developed thanks to national musical traditions. In large cities, where musical societies operated, with the help of which various orchestras were organized, the art of conducting approached the professional one. Based on historical sources and the analysis of musical performances of that time, the opinion that the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century is an era of emancipation and rehabilitation of conducting art has been updated. It separated from other types of musical activity and became a special art that required special knowledge and natural talent. At this time, professional conductors in the modern sense of the term appeared for the first time in musical life. However, it should be noted that the transition to the new conducting system was carried out under the pressure of the leading musicians of that time, but with great effort. It was found out that only from the Renaissance era the gradual renewal of the heironomic principle began due to new trends in musical art. There is a doctrine about the nuances of performance, the dependence of tempo modification on the content of the performed music. The rhythmic contours of the piece became more lively, and tempo changes are more frequent. Accordingly, the elementary reflection of the beat with the help of a swing of the hand became insufficient. Therefore, in Italy at the beginning of the 17th century. this led to the birth of similar movements used in the modern conducting system. The first Italian theoreticians, who for the first time showed new schemes of complex conducting movements, were Lorenzo Pena and Zaccaria Tevo. It is proved that the main stages of the evolution of conducting art were the spontaneous and primitive movements of the body of primitive people, the heironomy of the ancient period and the Middle Ages, the search for means of controlling a rhythmic ensemble and the appearance of the trampoline with “beating the beat” in the 16th century, the general bass and conducting on the harpsichord in the 17th– XVIII centuries and, finally, the emergence of a new style with its highly developed sign language, which is successfully used even today.