Russian classicism definition. What is classicism

In music, as in no other art form, the concept of "classic" has an ambiguous content. Everything is relative, and any yesterday's hits that have stood the test of time - whether they are masterpieces by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Prokofiev, or, say, The Beatles - can be attributed to classical works.

Forgive me, lovers of early music, for the frivolous word "hit", but after all, great composers once wrote popular music for their contemporaries, not at all aiming at eternity.

Why all this? To the one, that it is important to separate the broad concept of classical music and classicism as a direction in the art of music.

The era of classicism

Classicism, which replaced the Renaissance in several stages, took shape in France at the end of the 17th century, reflecting in its art partly a serious rise in absolute monarchy, partly a change in worldview from religious to secular.

In the 18th century, a new round of development of social consciousness began - the Age of Enlightenment began. The pomp and pomp of baroque, the immediate predecessor of classicism, was replaced by a style based on simplicity and naturalness.

Aesthetic settings of classicism

Classical art is based on cult of reason – rationalism, harmony and logic . The name "classicism" by origin is associated with the word from the Latin language - classicus, which means - "exemplary". The ideal model for artists of this trend was ancient aesthetics with its harmonious logic and harmony. In classicism, reason prevails over feelings, individualism is not welcome, and in any phenomenon, general, typological features are of paramount importance. Each work of art must be built according to strict canons. The requirement of the era of classicism is the balance of proportions, excluding everything superfluous, secondary.

Classicism is characterized by a strict division into "high" and "low" genres . "High" works are works that refer to ancient and religious subjects, written in a solemn language (tragedy, hymn, ode). And the “low” genres are those works that are presented in a colloquial language and reflect the life of the people (fable, comedy). Mixing genres was unacceptable.

Classicism in music - Viennese classics

The development of a new musical culture in the middle of the 18th century gave rise to the emergence of many private salons, musical societies and orchestras, holding open concerts and opera performances.

The capital of the musical world in those days was Vienna. Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are three great names that went down in history like.

Composers of the Viennese school masterfully mastered a variety of genres of music - from everyday songs to symphonies. The high style of music, in which rich figurative content is embodied in a simple but perfect artistic form, is the main feature of the work of the Viennese classics.

The musical culture of classicism, like literature, as well as fine arts, glorifies the actions of a person, his emotions and feelings, over which the mind reigns. Artists-creators in their works are characterized by logical thinking, harmony and clarity. The simplicity and ease of expression of classical composers might seem banal to the modern ear (in some cases, of course), if their music were not so brilliant.

Each of the Viennese classics had a bright, unique personality. Haydn and Beethoven gravitated towards instrumental music - sonatas, concertos and symphonies. Mozart was universal in everything - he easily created in any. He had a great influence on the development of opera, creating and improving its various types - from opera buff to musical drama.

In terms of composers' preferences for certain figurative spheres, Haydn is more characteristic of objective folk-genre sketches, pastoral, chivalry, Beethoven is close to heroism and drama, as well as philosophy, and, of course, nature, to a small extent and refined lyrics. Mozart covered, perhaps, all existing figurative spheres.

Genres of musical classicism

The musical culture of classicism is associated with the creation of many genres of instrumental music, such as the sonata, symphony, and concerto. A multi-part sonata-symphony form (4-part cycle) was formed, which is still the basis of many instrumental compositions.

In the era of classicism, the main types of chamber ensembles were formed - the trio, the string quartet. The system of forms developed by the Viennese school is still relevant today - modern “bells and whistles” are layered on it as a basis.

Let us briefly dwell on the innovations characteristic of classicism.

sonata form

The sonata genre existed as early as the beginning of the 17th century, but the sonata form was finally formed in the works of Haydn and Mozart, and Beethoven brought it to perfection and even began to break the strict canons of the genre.

The classical sonata form is based on the opposition of 2 themes (often contrasting, sometimes conflicting) - main and secondary - and their development.

Sonata form includes 3 main sections:

1. first section - exposition(carrying out the main topics),
2. second - development(development and comparison of topics)
3. and third - reprise(a modified repetition of the exposition, in which there is usually a tonal convergence of themes previously opposed to each other).

As a rule, the first, fast parts of a sonata or symphonic cycle were written in sonata form, therefore the name sonata allegro was assigned to them.

Sonata-symphony cycle

Symphonies and sonatas are very similar in structure, the logic of the sequence of parts, hence the common name of their integral musical form is the sonata-symphony cycle.

A classical symphony almost always consists of 4 parts:

• I - fast active part in the sonata allegro form, traditional for it;
• II - slow part (its form, as a rule, is not strictly regulated - variations are possible here, and three-part complex or simple forms, and rondo sonatas, and slow sonata form);
• III - a minuet (sometimes a scherzo), the so-called genre part - in form almost always a complex three-part;
• IV - the final and final fast part, for which the sonata form was also often chosen, sometimes the form of the rondo or rondo sonata.

Concert

The name of the concert, as a genre, comes from the Latin word concertare - "competition". This piece is for orchestra and solo instrument. The instrumental concerto, created in the Renaissance and received simply grandiose development in the work of the Viennese classics, acquired a sonata-symphonic form.

String Quartet

A string quartet usually consists of two violins, a viola and a cello. The form of the quartet, similar to the sonata-symphony cycle, was already determined by Haydn. Mozart and Beethoven also made a huge contribution and paved the way for the further development of this genre.

The musical culture of classicism has become a kind of "cradle" for the string quartet, in subsequent times and to the present day, composers do not stop writing more and more works in the concerto genre - this type of work turned out to be so in demand.

The music of classicism surprisingly combines external simplicity and clarity with a deep inner content, which is not alien to strong feelings and drama. Classicism, in addition, is the style of a certain historical era, and this style is not forgotten, but has serious connections with the music of our time (neoclassicism, polystylistics).

1. Introduction.Classicism as an artistic method...................................2

2. Aesthetics of classicism.

2.1. Basic principles of classicism .................................…………….….....5

2.2. The picture of the world, the concept of personality in the art of classicism...…...5

2.3. Aesthetic nature of classicism .............................................................. ........9

2.4. Classicism in painting ....................................................... .........................15

2.5. Classicism in sculpture .............................................................. .......................16

2.6. Classicism in architecture ............................................................... .....................18

2.7. Classicism in Literature .................................................................. .......................20

2.8. Classicism in music .............................................................. ...............................22

2.9. Classicism in the theater .............................................................. ...............................22

2.10. The originality of Russian classicism .............................................................. ....22

3. Conclusion……………………………………...…………………………...26

Bibliography..............................…….………………………………….28

Applications ........................................................................................................29

1. Classicism as an artistic method

Classicism is one of the artistic methods that really existed in the history of art. Sometimes it is denoted by the terms "direction" and "style". Classicism (fr. classicisme, from lat. classicus- exemplary) - an artistic style and aesthetic trend in European art of the 17th-19th centuries.

Classicism is based on the ideas of rationalism, which were formed simultaneously with the same ideas in the philosophy of Descartes. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and logic of the universe itself. Of interest to classicism is only the eternal, unchanging - in each phenomenon, he seeks to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual features. The aesthetics of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational function of art. Classicism takes many rules and canons from ancient art (Aristotle, Horace).

Classicism establishes a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high (ode, tragedy, epic) and low (comedy, satire, fable). Each genre has strictly defined features, mixing of which is not allowed.

The concept of classicism as a creative method implies a historically conditioned way of aesthetic perception and modeling of reality in artistic images: the picture of the world and the concept of personality, the most common for the mass aesthetic consciousness of a given historical era, are embodied in ideas about the essence of verbal art, its relationship with reality , its own internal laws.

Classicism arises and is formed in certain historical and cultural conditions. The most common research belief connects classicism with the historical conditions of the transition from feudal fragmentation to a single national-territorial statehood, in the formation of which the absolute monarchy plays a centralizing role.

Classicism is an organic stage in the development of any national culture, despite the fact that different national cultures go through the classic stage at different times, due to the individuality of the national variant of the formation of a general social model of a centralized state.

The chronological framework for the existence of classicism in different European cultures is defined as the second half of the 17th - the first thirty years of the 18th century, despite the fact that early classicist trends are palpable at the end of the Renaissance, at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. Within these chronological limits, French classicism is considered the standard embodiment of the method. Closely associated with the flourishing of French absolutism in the second half of the 17th century, it gave European culture not only the great writers - Corneille, Racine, Molière, Lafontaine, Voltaire, but also the great theorist of classic art - Nicolas Boileau-Depreo. Being himself a practicing writer who earned fame during his lifetime with his satires, Boileau was mainly famous for creating the aesthetic code of classicism - the didactic poem "Poetic Art" (1674), in which he gave a coherent theoretical concept of literary creativity, derived from the literary practice of his contemporaries. Thus, classicism in France became the most self-conscious embodiment of the method. Hence its reference value.

The historical prerequisites for the emergence of classicism connect the aesthetic problems of the method with the era of aggravation of the relationship between the individual and society in the process of becoming an autocratic statehood, which, replacing the social permissiveness of feudalism, seeks to regulate the law and clearly distinguish between the spheres of public and private life and the relationship between the individual and the state. This defines the content aspect of art. Its main principles are motivated by the system of philosophical views of the era. They form a picture of the world and the concept of personality, and already these categories are embodied in the totality of artistic techniques of literary creativity.

The most general philosophical concepts present in all philosophical currents of the second half of the 17th - late 18th centuries. and directly related to the aesthetics and poetics of classicism - these are the concepts of "rationalism" and "metaphysics", relevant for both idealistic and materialistic philosophical teachings of this time. The founder of the philosophical doctrine of rationalism is the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650). The fundamental thesis of his doctrine: "I think, therefore I exist" - was realized in many philosophical currents of that time, united by the common name "Cartesianism" (from the Latin version of the name Descartes - Cartesius). In essence, this is an idealistic thesis, since it derives the material existence from an idea. However, rationalism, as an interpretation of reason as the primary and highest spiritual ability of a person, is equally characteristic of the materialistic philosophical currents of the era - such as, for example, the metaphysical materialism of the English philosophical school of Bacon-Locke, which recognized experience as a source of knowledge, but put it below the generalizing and analytical activity of the mind, extracting from the multitude of facts obtained by experience the highest idea, a means of modeling the cosmos - the highest reality - from the chaos of individual material objects.

To both varieties of rationalism - idealistic and materialistic - the concept of "metaphysics" is equally applicable. Genetically, it goes back to Aristotle, and in his philosophical doctrine it denoted a branch of knowledge that explores the inaccessible to the senses and only rationally speculatively comprehended by the highest and unchanging principles of everything that exists. Both Descartes and Bacon used the term in the Aristotelian sense. In modern times, the concept of "metaphysics" has acquired an additional meaning and has come to denote an anti-dialectical way of thinking that perceives phenomena and objects without their interconnection and development. Historically, this very accurately characterizes the peculiarities of thinking of the analytical era of the 17th-18th centuries, the period of differentiation of scientific knowledge and art, when each branch of science, standing out from the syncretic complex, acquired its own separate subject, but at the same time lost its connection with other branches of knowledge.

2. Aesthetics of classicism

2.1. Basic principles of classicism

1. The cult of reason 2. The cult of civic duty 3. Appeal to medieval subjects 4. Abstraction from the image of everyday life, from historical national identity 5. Imitation of antique samples 6. Compositional harmony, symmetry, unity of a work of art 7. Heroes are carriers of one main feature, given outside development 8. Antithesis as the main technique for creating a work of art

2.2. Worldview, personality concept

in the art of classicism

The picture of the world generated by the rationalistic type of consciousness clearly divides reality into two levels: empirical and ideological. The external, visible and tangible material-empirical world consists of many separate material objects and phenomena that are not connected with each other in any way - this is a chaos of individual private entities. However, above this chaotic multitude of individual objects, their ideal hypostasis exists - a harmonious and harmonious whole, the universal idea of ​​the universe, which includes the ideal image of any material object in its highest, purified from particulars, eternal and unchanging form: in the way it should be according to original intention of the Creator. This general idea can only be comprehended in a rational-analytical way by gradually clearing an object or phenomenon from its specific forms and appearance and penetrating into its ideal essence and purpose.

And since the idea precedes creation, and the indispensable condition and source of existence is thinking, this ideal reality has the highest primary character. It is easy to see that the main patterns of such a two-level picture of reality are very easily projected onto the main sociological problem of the period of transition from feudal fragmentation to autocratic statehood - the problem of the relationship between the individual and the state. The world of people is the world of individual private human beings, chaotic and disorderly, the state is a comprehensive harmonious idea that creates a harmonious and harmonious ideal world order from chaos. It is this philosophical picture of the world of the XVII-XVIII centuries. determined such substantive aspects of the aesthetics of classicism as the concept of personality and the typology of conflict, universally characteristic (with the necessary historical and cultural variations) for classicism in any European literature.

In the field of human relations with the outside world, classicism sees two types of connections and positions - the same two levels that make up the philosophical picture of the world. The first level is the so-called "natural person", a biological being, standing along with all the objects of the material world. This is a private entity, possessed by selfish passions, disorderly and unrestricted in its desire to ensure its personal existence. At this level of human connections with the world, the leading category that determines the spiritual image of a person is passion - blind and unrestrained in its desire for realization in the name of achieving individual good.

The second level of the concept of personality is the so-called "social person", harmoniously included in society in his highest, ideal image, conscious that his good is an integral part of the common good. A “public person” is guided in his worldview and actions not by passions, but by reason, since it is reason that is the highest spiritual ability of a person, giving him the opportunity for positive self-determination in the conditions of a human community based on the ethical norms of consistent community life. Thus, the concept of the human personality in the ideology of classicism turns out to be complex and contradictory: a natural (passionate) and social (reasonable) person is one and the same character, torn apart by internal contradictions and in a situation of choice.

Hence - the typological conflict of the art of classicism, which directly follows from such a concept of personality. It is quite obvious that the source of the conflict situation is precisely the character of the person. Character is one of the central aesthetic categories of classicism, and its interpretation is significantly different from the meaning that modern consciousness and literary criticism puts into the term "character". In the understanding of the aesthetics of classicism, character is precisely the ideal hypostasis of a person - that is, not the individual warehouse of a particular human personality, but a certain universal view of human nature and psychology, timeless in its essence. Only in this form of an eternal, unchanging, universal human attribute could character be an object of classic art, unambiguously related to the highest, ideal level of reality.

The main components of character are passions: love, hypocrisy, courage, stinginess, a sense of duty, envy, patriotism, etc. It is by the predominance of one passion that the character is determined: “in love”, “stingy”, “envious”, “patriot”. All these definitions are precisely "characters" in the understanding of the classic aesthetic consciousness.

However, these passions are not equivalent to each other, although according to the philosophical concepts of the XVII-XVIII centuries. all passions are equal, since they are all from human nature, they are all natural, and it is not possible to decide which passion is consistent with the ethical dignity of a person and which is not, not a single passion by itself can. These decisions are made only by the mind. While all passions are equally categories of emotional spiritual life, some of them (such as love, avarice, envy, hypocrisy, etc.) are less and more difficult to agree with the dictates of reason and are more connected with the concept of selfish good. Others (courage, sense of duty, honor, patriotism) are more subject to rational control and do not contradict the idea of ​​the common good, the ethics of social ties.

And so it turns out that reasonable and unreasonable passions, altruistic and egoistic, personal and public passions collide in conflict. And reason is the highest spiritual ability of a person, a logical and analytical tool that allows you to control passions and distinguish good from evil, truth from falsehood. The most common type of classic conflict is a conflict situation between personal inclination (love) and a sense of duty to society and the state, which for some reason excludes the possibility of realizing love passion. It is quite obvious that by its nature this is a psychological conflict, although a necessary condition for its implementation is a situation in which the interests of an individual and society collide. These most important ideological aspects of the aesthetic thinking of the era found their expression in the system of ideas about the laws of artistic creativity.

2.3. Aesthetic nature of classicism

The aesthetic principles of classicism have undergone significant changes during its existence. A characteristic feature of this trend is the worship of antiquity. The art of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome was considered by the classicists as an ideal model of artistic creativity. Aristotle's "Poetics" and Horace's "Art of Poetry" had a great influence on the formation of the aesthetic principles of classicism. Here, a tendency to create sublimely heroic, ideal, rationalistically clear and plastically completed images is revealed. As a rule, in the art of classicism, modern political, moral and aesthetic ideals are embodied in characters, conflicts, situations borrowed from the arsenal of ancient history, mythology, or directly from ancient art.

The aesthetics of classicism oriented poets, artists, composers to the creation of works of art that are distinguished by clarity, logic, strict balance and harmony. All this, according to the classicists, was fully reflected in ancient artistic culture. For them reason and antiquity are synonymous. The rationalistic nature of the aesthetics of classicism manifested itself in the abstract typification of images, the strict regulation of genres and forms, in the interpretation of the ancient artistic heritage, in the appeal of art to reason, and not to feelings, in the desire to subordinate the creative process to unshakable norms, rules and canons (norm - from lat. norma - guiding principle, rule, pattern; generally accepted rule, pattern of behavior or action).

As in Italy, the aesthetic principles of the Renaissance found their most typical expression, so in France of the 17th century. - aesthetic principles of classicism. By the 17th century the artistic culture of Italy has largely lost its former influence. But the innovative spirit of French art was clearly indicated. At this time, an absolutist state was formed in France, which united society and centralized power.

The strengthening of absolutism meant the victory of the principle of universal regulation in all spheres of life, from the economy to the spiritual life. Debt is the main regulator of human behavior. The state embodies this duty and acts as a kind of entity alienated from the individual. Submission to the state, fulfillment of public duty is the highest virtue of the individual. A person is no longer thought of as free, as was typical of the Renaissance worldview, but as subordinate to norms and rules alien to him, limited by forces beyond his control. The regulating and limiting force appears in the form of an impersonal mind, to which the individual must obey and act, following his commands and prescriptions.

The high rise in production contributed to the development of the exact sciences: mathematics, astronomy, physics, and this, in turn, led to the victory of rationalism (from Latin ratio - mind) - a philosophical direction that recognizes the mind as the basis of human knowledge and behavior.

Ideas about the laws of creativity and the structure of a work of art are due to the same epoch-making type of worldview as the picture of the world and the concept of personality. Reason, as the highest spiritual ability of man, is thought not only as an instrument of knowledge, but also as an organ of creativity and a source of aesthetic pleasure. One of the most striking leitmotifs of Boileau's Poetic Art is the rational nature of aesthetic activity:

French classicism affirmed the personality of a person as the highest value of being, freeing him from religious and church influence.

Interest in the art of ancient Greece and Rome emerged as early as the Renaissance, which, after centuries of the Middle Ages, turned to the forms, motifs and plots of antiquity. The greatest theorist of the Renaissance, Leon Batista Alberti, back in the 15th century. expressed ideas that foreshadowed certain principles of classicism and were fully manifested in Raphael's fresco "The School of Athens" (1511).

The systematization and consolidation of the achievements of the great Renaissance artists, especially the Florentine ones led by Raphael and his student Giulio Romano, made up the program of the Bologna school of the late 16th century, the most characteristic representatives of which were the Carracci brothers. In their influential Academy of Arts, the Bolognese preached that the path to the heights of art lay through a scrupulous study of the heritage of Raphael and Michelangelo, imitation of their mastery of line and composition.

Following Aristotle, classicism considered art to be an imitation of nature:

However, nature was by no means understood as a visual picture of the physical and moral world, which appears to the senses, but precisely as the highest intelligible essence of the world and man: not a specific character, but its idea, not a real-historical or modern plot, but a universal human conflict situation, not given landscape, but the idea of ​​a harmonious combination of natural realities in an ideally beautiful unity. Classicism found such an ideally beautiful unity in ancient literature - it was it that was perceived by classicism as the already reached pinnacle of aesthetic activity, the eternal and unchanging standard of art, which recreated in its genre models that very highest ideal nature, physical and moral, which art should imitate. It so happened that the thesis about imitation of nature turned into a prescription to imitate ancient art, from where the term “classicism” itself came from (from Latin classicus - exemplary, studied in class):

Thus, nature in classic art appears not so much reproduced as modeled after a high model - "decorated" by the generalizing analytical activity of the mind. By analogy, one can recall the so-called “regular” (i.e., “correct”) park, where the trees are trimmed in the form of geometric shapes and symmetrically seated, paths that have the correct shape are sprinkled with multi-colored pebbles, and water is enclosed in marble pools and fountains. This style of landscape gardening art reached its peak precisely in the era of classicism. The absolute predominance of poetry over prose in classicism literature follows from the desire to present nature “decorated”: if prose is identical with simple material nature, then poetry, as a literary form, is certainly an ideal “decorated” nature.

In all these ideas about art, namely, as a rational, ordered, normalized, spiritual activity, the hierarchical principle of thinking of the 17th-18th centuries was realized. Within itself, literature was also divided into two hierarchical rows, low and high, each of which was thematically and stylistically associated with one - material or ideal - level of reality. Satire, comedy, fable were classified as low genres; to high - ode, tragedy, epic. In the low genres, everyday material reality is depicted, and a private person appears in social connections (at the same time, of course, both a person and reality are still the same ideal conceptual categories). In high genres, a person is presented as a spiritual and social being, in the existential aspect of his existence, alone and along with the eternal foundations of the questions of being. Therefore, for high and low genres, not only thematic, but also class differentiation on the basis of the character's belonging to one or another social stratum turned out to be relevant. The hero of low genres is a middle-class person; high hero - a historical person, a mythological hero or a fictional high-ranking character - as a rule, a ruler.

In low genres, human characters are formed by base everyday passions (stinginess, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, envy, etc.); in high genres, passions acquire a spiritual character (love, ambition, revenge, sense of duty, patriotism, etc.). And if everyday passions are unambiguously unreasonable and vicious, then existential passions are divided into reasonable - public and unreasonable - personal, and the ethical status of the hero depends on his choice. It is unambiguously positive if it prefers a rational passion, and unambiguously negative if it chooses an unreasonable one. Classicism did not allow semitones in ethical assessment - and this was also affected by the rationalistic nature of the method, which excluded any mixture of high and low, tragic and comic.

Since in the genre theory of classicism those genres that reached the greatest flourishing in ancient literature were legitimized as the main ones, and literary creativity was conceived as a reasonable imitation of high standards, the aesthetic code of classicism acquired a normative character. This means that the model of each genre was established once and for all in a clear set of rules, from which it was unacceptable to deviate, and each specific text was aesthetically evaluated according to the degree of compliance with this ideal genre model.

Ancient examples became the source of the rules: the epic of Homer and Virgil, the tragedy of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Seneca, the comedy of Aristophanes, Menander, Terence and Plautus, the ode of Pindar, the fable of Aesop and Phaedrus, the satire of Horace and Juvenal. The most typical and illustrative case of such genre regulation is, of course, the rules for the leading classic genre, tragedies, drawn both from the texts of ancient tragedians and from Aristotle's Poetics.

For the tragedy, a poetic form (“Alexandrian verse” - a six-foot iambic with a pair of rhymes), an obligatory five-act construction, three unities - times, places and actions, a high style, a historical or mythological plot and a conflict, suggesting a mandatory situation of choosing between reasonable and unreasonable passion, and the very process of choice was supposed to constitute the action of the tragedy. It was in the dramatic section of the aesthetics of classicism that rationalism, hierarchy and normativity of the method were expressed with the greatest completeness and obviousness:

Everything that has been said above about the aesthetics of classicism and the poetics of classic literature in France applies equally to almost any European variety of the method, since French classicism was historically the earliest and aesthetically the most authoritative incarnation of the method. But for Russian classicism, these general theoretical provisions found a kind of refraction in artistic practice, as they were due to the historical and national features of the formation of a new Russian culture of the 18th century.

2.4. Classicism in painting

At the beginning of the 17th century, young foreigners flocked to Rome to get acquainted with the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance. The most prominent place among them was taken by the Frenchman Nicolas Poussin, in his paintings, mainly on the themes of ancient antiquity and mythology, who gave unsurpassed examples of geometrically accurate composition and thoughtful correlation of color groups. Another Frenchman, Claude Lorrain, in his antiquity landscapes of the environs of the "eternal city" streamlined the pictures of nature by harmonizing them with the light of the setting sun and introducing peculiar architectural scenes.

Poussin's coldly rational normativism evoked the approval of the court of Versailles and was continued by court painters like Lebrun, who saw in classic painting an ideal artistic language for praising the absolutist state of the "sun king". Although private clients favored variations of the Baroque and Rococo, the French monarchy kept Classicism afloat by funding academic institutions such as the School of Fine Arts. The Rome Prize provided the most talented students with the opportunity to visit Rome for a direct acquaintance with the great works of antiquity.

The discovery of “genuine” ancient painting during the excavations of Pompeii, the deification of antiquity by the German art historian Winckelmann, and the cult of Raphael, preached by the artist Mengs, who was close to him in terms of views, breathed new breath into classicism in the second half of the 18th century (in Western literature this stage is called neoclassicism). The largest representative of the "new classicism" was Jacques-Louis David; his extremely laconic and dramatic artistic language served with equal success to promote the ideals of the French Revolution ("Death of Marat") and the First Empire ("Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I").

In the 19th century, classicism painting enters a period of crisis and becomes a force holding back the development of art, not only in France, but also in other countries. The artistic line of David was successfully continued by Ingres, while maintaining the language of classicism in his works, he often turned to romantic subjects with oriental flavor (“Turkish baths”); his portrait work is marked by a subtle idealization of the model. Artists in other countries (such as, for example, Karl Bryullov) also imbued classically shaped works with the spirit of romanticism; this combination is called academism. Numerous art academies served as its breeding grounds. In the middle of the 19th century, the young generation gravitating towards realism, represented in France by the Courbet circle, and in Russia by the Wanderers, rebelled against the conservatism of the academic establishment.

2.5. Classicism in sculpture

The impetus for the development of classical sculpture in the middle of the 18th century was the works of Winckelmann and archaeological excavations of ancient cities, which expanded the knowledge of contemporaries about ancient sculpture. On the verge of baroque and classicism, such sculptors as Pigalle and Houdon fluctuated in France. Classicism reached its highest embodiment in the field of plastic art in the heroic and idyllic works of Antonio Canova, who drew inspiration mainly from the statues of the Hellenistic era (Praxiteles). In Russia, Fedot Shubin, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Boris Orlovsky, Ivan Martos gravitated toward the aesthetics of classicism.

Public monuments, which became widespread in the era of classicism, gave sculptors the opportunity to idealize the military prowess and wisdom of statesmen. Loyalty to the ancient model required the sculptors to depict models naked, which was in conflict with accepted moral standards. To resolve this contradiction, the figures of modernity were at first depicted by sculptors of classicism in the form of naked ancient gods: Suvorov - in the form of Mars, and Polina Borghese - in the form of Venus. Under Napoleon, the issue was resolved by moving to the image of contemporary figures in antique togas (such are the figures of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly in front of the Kazan Cathedral).

Private customers of the era of classicism preferred to perpetuate their names in tombstones. The popularity of this sculptural form was facilitated by the arrangement of public cemeteries in the main cities of Europe. In accordance with the classical ideal, the figures on tombstones, as a rule, are in a state of deep rest. Sculpture of classicism is generally alien to sharp movements, external manifestations of such emotions as anger.

Late, Empire classicism, represented primarily by the prolific Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen, is imbued with a rather dry pathos. The purity of lines, the restraint of gestures, the impassivity of expressions are especially valued. In the choice of role models, the emphasis shifts from Hellenism to the archaic period. Religious images are coming into fashion, which, in the interpretation of Thorvaldsen, make a somewhat chilling impression on the viewer. The tomb sculpture of late classicism often bears a slight touch of sentimentality.

2.6. Classicism in architecture

The main feature of the architecture of classicism was the appeal to the forms of ancient architecture as the standard of harmony, simplicity, rigor, logical clarity and monumentality. The architecture of classicism as a whole is characterized by the regularity of planning and the clarity of volumetric form. The basis of the architectural language of classicism was the order, in proportions and forms close to antiquity. Classicism is characterized by symmetrical axial compositions, restraint of decorative decoration, and a regular system of city planning.

The architectural language of classicism was formulated at the end of the Renaissance by the great Venetian master Palladio and his follower Scamozzi. The Venetians absolutized the principles of ancient temple architecture so much that they applied them even in the construction of such private mansions as Villa Capra. Inigo Jones brought Palladianism north to England, where local Palladian architects followed Palladio's precepts with varying degrees of fidelity until the middle of the 18th century.

By that time, the surfeit of the "whipped cream" of the late Baroque and Rococo began to accumulate among the intellectuals of continental Europe. Born by the Roman architects Bernini and Borromini, the baroque thinned into rococo, a predominantly chamber style with an emphasis on interior decoration and arts and crafts. For solving major urban problems, this aesthetics was of little use. Already under Louis XV (1715-74) urban planning ensembles in the “ancient Roman” style were being built in Paris, such as Place de la Concorde (architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel) and the Church of Saint-Sulpice, and under Louis XVI (1774-92) a similar “noble laconicism" is already becoming the main architectural trend.

The most significant interiors in the style of classicism were designed by the Scot Robert Adam, who returned to his homeland from Rome in 1758. He was greatly impressed by both the archaeological research of Italian scientists and the architectural fantasies of Piranesi. In the interpretation of Adam, classicism was a style that was hardly inferior to rococo in terms of sophistication of interiors, which gained him popularity not only among democratic-minded circles of society, but also among the aristocracy. Like his French colleagues, Adam preached a complete rejection of details devoid of a constructive function.

The Frenchman Jacques-Germain Soufflot, during the construction of the Saint-Genevieve church in Paris, demonstrated the ability of classicism to organize vast urban spaces. The massive grandeur of his designs foreshadowed the megalomania of Napoleonic Empire and late Classicism. In Russia, Bazhenov was moving in the same direction as Soufflet. The Frenchmen Claude-Nicolas Ledoux and Etienne-Louis Boulet went even further towards the development of a radical visionary style with an emphasis on the abstract geometrization of forms. In revolutionary France, the ascetic civic pathos of their projects was of little use; Ledoux's innovation was fully appreciated only by modernists of the 20th century.

The architects of Napoleonic France drew inspiration from the majestic images of military glory left by imperial Rome, such as the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus and Trajan's Column. By order of Napoleon, these images were transferred to Paris in the form of the triumphal arch of Carruzel and the Vendôme column. In relation to the monuments of military greatness of the era of the Napoleonic wars, the term "imperial style" - Empire style is used. In Russia, Karl Rossi, Andrey Voronikhin and Andrey Zakharov showed themselves to be outstanding masters of the Empire style. In Britain, the Empire corresponds to the so-called. "Regency style" (the largest representative is John Nash).

The aesthetics of classicism favored large-scale urban development projects and led to the ordering of urban development on the scale of entire cities. In Russia, almost all provincial and many county towns were replanned in accordance with the principles of classic rationalism. Such cities as St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Warsaw, Dublin, Edinburgh and a number of others have turned into genuine open-air museums of classicism. Throughout the space from Minusinsk to Philadelphia, a single architectural language, dating back to Palladio, dominated. Ordinary building was carried out in accordance with the albums of standard projects.

In the period following the Napoleonic Wars, classicism had to get along with romantically colored eclecticism, in particular with the return of interest in the Middle Ages and the fashion for architectural neo-Gothic. In connection with the discoveries of Champollion, Egyptian motifs are gaining popularity. Interest in ancient Roman architecture is replaced by reverence for everything ancient Greek (“Neo-Greek”), which was especially pronounced in Germany and the United States. German architects Leo von Klenze and Karl Friedrich Schinkel are building up, respectively, Munich and Berlin with grandiose museum and other public buildings in the spirit of the Parthenon. In France, the purity of classicism is diluted with free borrowings from the architectural repertoire of the Renaissance and Baroque (see Beaus-Arts).

2.7. Classicism in literature

The French poet Francois Malherbe (1555-1628), who reformed the French language and verse and developed poetic canons, is considered the founder of the poetics of classicism. The leading representatives of classicism in dramaturgy were the tragedians Corneille and Racine (1639-1699), whose main subject of creativity was the conflict between public duty and personal passions. "Low" genres also reached high development - fable (J. La Fontaine), satire (Boileau), comedy (Molière 1622-1673).

Boileau became famous throughout Europe as the "legislator of Parnassus", the largest theorist of classicism, who expressed his views in the poetic treatise "Poetic Art". Under his influence in Great Britain were the poets John Dryden and Alexander Pope, who made the alexandrine the main form of English poetry. The English prose of the era of classicism (Addison, Swift) is also characterized by Latinized syntax.

Classicism of the 18th century developed under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment. The work of Voltaire (1694-1778) is directed against religious fanaticism, absolutist oppression, filled with the pathos of freedom. The goal of creativity is to change the world for the better, to build society itself in accordance with the laws of classicism. From the positions of classicism, the Englishman Samuel Johnson surveyed contemporary literature, around whom a brilliant circle of like-minded people formed, including the essayist Boswell, the historian Gibbon and the actor Garrick. Three unities are characteristic of dramatic works: the unity of time (the action takes place one day), the unity of place (in one place) and the unity of action (one storyline).

In Russia, classicism originated in the 18th century, after the transformations of Peter I. Lomonosov carried out a reform of Russian verse, developed the theory of "three calms", which was essentially an adaptation of French classical rules to the Russian language. The images in classicism are devoid of individual features, as they are intended primarily to capture stable generic features that do not pass over time, acting as the embodiment of any social or spiritual forces.

Classicism in Russia developed under the great influence of the Enlightenment - the ideas of equality and justice have always been the focus of attention of Russian classic writers. Therefore, in Russian classicism, genres that imply a mandatory authorial assessment of historical reality have received great development: comedy (D. I. Fonvizin), satire (A. D. Kantemir), fable (A. P. Sumarokov, I. I. Khemnitser), ode (Lomonosov, G. R. Derzhavin).

In connection with the call proclaimed by Rousseau to closeness to nature and naturalness, crisis phenomena are growing in the classicism of the late 18th century; the cult of tender feelings - sentimentalism - comes to replace the absolutization of reason. The transition from classicism to pre-romanticism was most clearly reflected in the German literature of the Sturm und Drang era, represented by the names of J. W. Goethe (1749-1832) and F. Schiller (1759-1805), who, following Rousseau, saw in art the main force of education person.

2.8. Classicism in music

The concept of classicism in music is steadily associated with the work of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, called Viennese classics and determined the direction of further development of musical composition.

The concept of "music of classicism" should not be confused with the concept of "classical music", which has a more general meaning as the music of the past that has stood the test of time.

The music of the era of Classicism sings of the actions and deeds of a person, the emotions and feelings experienced by him, the attentive and holistic human mind.

2.10. The originality of Russian classicism

Russian classicism arose in similar historical conditions - its prerequisite was the strengthening of autocratic statehood and national self-determination of Russia since the era of Peter I. The Europeanism of the ideology of Peter the Great's reforms aimed Russian culture at mastering the achievements of European cultures. But at the same time, Russian classicism arose almost a century later than French: by the middle of the 18th century, when Russian classicism was just beginning to gain strength, in France it had reached the second stage of its existence. The so-called "enlightenment classicism" - the combination of classic creative principles with the pre-revolutionary ideology of the Enlightenment - flourished in French literature in the work of Voltaire and acquired an anticlerical, socially critical pathos: a few decades before the French Revolution, the times of apologia for absolutism were already a distant history. Russian classicism, by virtue of its strong connection with the secular cultural reform, firstly, initially set itself educational tasks, striving to educate its readers and set the monarchs on the path of public good, and secondly, acquired the status of a leading trend in Russian literature towards the time when Peter I was no longer alive, and the fate of his cultural reforms was put in jeopardy in the second half of the 1720s - 1730s.

Therefore, Russian classicism begins “not with the fruit of spring - an ode, but with the fruit of autumn - satire”, and socially critical pathos is inherent in it from the very beginning.

Russian classicism also reflected a completely different type of conflict than Western European classicism. If in French classicism the socio-political principle is only the ground on which the psychological conflict of rational and unreasonable passions develops and the process of free and conscious choice between their dictates is carried out, then in Russia, with its traditionally anti-democratic catholicity and the absolute power of society over the individual, the situation was completely otherwise. For the Russian mentality, which had just begun to comprehend the ideology of personalism, the need to humble the individual in front of society, the individual in front of the authorities was not at all such a tragedy as for the Western worldview. The choice, relevant for the European consciousness as an opportunity to prefer one thing, in Russian conditions turned out to be imaginary, its outcome was predetermined in favor of society. Therefore, the very situation of choice in Russian classicism lost its conflict-forming function, and was replaced by another one.

The central problem of Russian life in the XVIII century. there was a problem of power and its succession: not a single Russian emperor after the death of Peter I and before the accession of Paul I in 1796 came to power legally. 18th century - this is the age of intrigues and palace coups, which too often led to the absolute and uncontrolled power of people who by no means corresponded not only to the ideal of an enlightened monarch, but also to ideas about the role of the monarch in the state. Therefore, Russian classic literature immediately took a political and didactic direction and reflected precisely this problem as the main tragic dilemma of the era - the inconsistency of the ruler with the duties of the autocrat, the conflict of experiencing power as an egoistic personal passion with the idea of ​​​​power exercised for the benefit of subjects.

Thus, the Russian classicist conflict, having preserved the situation of choosing between rational and unreasonable passion as an external plot pattern, was fully realized as a socio-political one in nature. The positive hero of Russian classicism does not humble his individual passion in the name of the common good, but insists on his natural rights, defending his personalism from tyrannical encroachments. And the most important thing is that this national specificity of the method was well understood by the writers themselves: if the plots of the French classicist tragedies were drawn mainly from ancient mythology and history, then Sumarokov wrote his tragedies on the plots of Russian chronicles and even on plots of not so distant Russian history.

Finally, another specific feature of Russian classicism was that it did not rely on such a rich and continuous tradition of national literature as any other national European variety of method. What any European literature had at the time of the emergence of the theory of classicism - namely, a literary language with an ordered style system, the principles of versification, a well-defined system of literary genres - all this had to be created in Russian. Therefore, in Russian classicism, literary theory was ahead of literary practice. The normative acts of Russian classicism - the reform of versification, the reform of style and the regulation of the genre system - were carried out between the middle of 1730 and the end of the 1740s. - that is, basically before a full-fledged literary process unfolded in Russia in line with classic aesthetics.

3. Conclusion

For the ideological premises of classicism, it is essential that the desire of the individual for freedom is assumed here to be just as legitimate as the need of society to bind this freedom with laws.

The personal principle continues to retain that immediate social significance, that independent value, with which the Renaissance first endowed it. However, in contrast to him, now this beginning belongs to the individual, along with the role that society now receives as a social organization. And this implies that any attempt by the individual to defend his freedom in spite of society threatens him with the loss of the fullness of life ties and the transformation of freedom into a devastated subjectivity devoid of any support.

The category of measure is a fundamental category in the poetics of classicism. It is unusually multifaceted in content, has both a spiritual and plastic nature, touches, but does not coincide with another typical concept of classicism - the concept of the norm - and is closely connected with all aspects of the ideal affirmed here.

The classic mind, as a source and guarantor of balance in nature and people's lives, bears the stamp of poetic faith in the original harmony of all things, confidence in the natural course of things, confidence in the presence of an all-encompassing correspondence between the movement of the world and the formation of society, in the humanistic, human-oriented nature of this connections.

I am close to the period of classicism, its principles, poetry, art, creativity in general. The conclusions that classicism makes about people, society, the world seem to me the only true and rational. Measure, as the middle line between opposites, the order of things, systems, and not chaos; a strong relationship of a person with society against their rupture and enmity, excessive genius and selfishness; harmony against extremes - in this I see the ideal principles of being, the foundations of which are reflected in the canons of classicism.

List of sources

Classicism is an artistic and architectural trend in the world culture of the 17th-19th centuries, where the aesthetic ideals of antiquity became a role model and creative guide. Having originated in Europe, the trend also actively influenced the development of Russian urban planning. The classical architecture created at that time is rightfully considered a national treasure.

Historical background

• As a style of architecture, the classic originated in the 17th century in France and at the same time in England, naturally continuing the cultural values ​​​​of the Renaissance.

In these countries, the rise and flourishing of the monarchical system was observed, the values ​​of Ancient Greece and Rome were perceived as an example of an ideal state system and the harmonious interaction of man and nature. The idea of ​​a reasonable arrangement of the world has penetrated into all spheres of society.

• The second stage in the development of the classical direction dates back to the 18th century, when the philosophy of rationalism became the motive for turning to historical traditions.

In the Age of Enlightenment, the idea of ​​the logic of the universe and following strict canons were sung. Classical traditions in architecture: simplicity, clarity, rigor - came to the fore instead of excessive pomposity and an excess of decorative baroque and rococo.

• The theorist of style is considered the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (another name for classicism is "Palladianism").

At the end of the 16th century, he described in detail the principles of the ancient order system and the modular construction of buildings, and put them into practice in the construction of urban palazzos and country villas. A characteristic example of the mathematical precision of proportions is the Villa Rotunda, decorated with Ionic porticoes.

Classicism: style features

It is easy to recognize the signs of the classical style in the appearance of buildings:

• clear spatial solutions,
• strict forms,
• laconic exterior finish,
• soft colors.

If the Baroque masters preferred to work with three-dimensional illusions, which often distorted the proportions, then clear perspectives dominated here. Even park ensembles of this era were performed in a regular style, when lawns had the correct shape, and shrubs and ponds were located in straight lines.

• One of the main features of classicism in architecture is the appeal to the antique order system.

Translated from Latin, ordo means "order, order", the term was applied to the proportions of ancient temples between the bearing and carried parts: columns and entablature (upper ceiling).

Three orders came to the classics from Greek architecture: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. They differed in the ratio and size of the base, capitals, frieze. The Tuscan and composite orders were inherited from the Romans.

Elements of classical architecture

• The order has become the leading feature of classicism in architecture. But if in the Renaissance the ancient order and portico played the role of a simple stylistic decoration, now they have again become a constructive basis, as in ancient Greek construction.
• Symmetrical composition is an obligatory element of classics in architecture, closely related to ordering. The implemented projects of private houses and public buildings were symmetrical about the central axis, the same symmetry was traced in each individual fragment.
• The golden section rule (an exemplary ratio of height and width) determined the harmonious proportions of buildings.
• Leading decor techniques: decorations in the form of bas-reliefs with medallions, stucco floral ornaments, arched openings, window cornices, Greek statues on the roofs. To emphasize the snow-white decorative elements, the color scheme for decoration was chosen in light pastel shades.
• Among the features of classical architecture is the design of the walls according to the principle of order division into three horizontal parts: the lower one is the plinth, in the middle is the main field, and at the top is the entablature. Cornices above each floor, window friezes, architraves of various shapes, as well as vertical pilasters, created a picturesque relief of the facade.
• The design of the main entrance included marble staircases, colonnades, pediments with bas-reliefs.

Types of classical architecture: national features

Ancient canons, revived in the era of classicism, were perceived as the highest ideal of beauty and rationality of all things. Therefore, the new aesthetics of rigor and symmetry, pushing aside baroque pomposity, has widely penetrated not only into the sphere of private housing construction, but also into the scale of the whole urban planning. European architects were pioneers in this respect.

English classicism

The work of Palladio strongly influenced the principles of classical architecture in Great Britain, in particular in the works of the outstanding English master Inigo Jones. In the first third of the 17th century, he created the Queen's House ("Queen's House"), where he applied order divisions and balanced proportions. The construction of the first square in the capital, carried out according to a regular plan, Covent Garden, is also associated with his name.

Another English architect Christopher Wren went down in history as the creator of St. Paul's Cathedral, where he applied a symmetrical order composition with a two-tiered portico, two side towers and a dome.

During the construction of urban and suburban private apartments, English classicism in architecture brought into fashion Palladian mansions - compact three-story buildings with simple and clear forms.

The first floor was trimmed with rusticated stone, the second floor was considered the main one - it was combined with the upper (residential) floor using a large facade order.

Features of classicism in the architecture of France

The heyday of the first period of French classics came in the second half of the 17th century during the reign of Louis XIV. The ideas of absolutism as a reasonable state organization manifested themselves in architecture with rational order compositions and the transformation of the surrounding landscape according to the principles of geometry.

The most significant events of this time were the erection of the eastern facade of the Louvre with a huge two-story gallery and the creation of an architectural and park ensemble in Versailles.

In the 18th century, the development of French architecture passed under the sign of Rococo, but already in the middle of the century its pretentious forms gave way to strict and simple classics in both urban and private architecture. Medieval buildings are replaced by a plan that takes into account the tasks of infrastructure, the placement of industrial buildings. Residential buildings are built on the principle of multi-storey buildings.

The order is perceived not as a decoration of the building, but as a structural unit: if the column does not carry a load, it is superfluous. An example of the architectural features of classicism in France of this period is the church of St. Genevieve (Pantheon) designed by Jacques Germain Souflo. Its composition is logical, the parts and the whole are balanced, the drawing of the lines of the beads is clear. The master sought to accurately reproduce the details of ancient art.

Russian classicism in architecture

The development of the classical architectural style in Russia fell on the reign of Catherine II. In the early years, elements of antiquity are still mixed with baroque decor, but they push them into the background. In the projects of Zh.B. Wallen-Delamot, A.F. Kokorinov and Yu. M. Felten, baroque chic gives way to the dominant role of the logic of the Greek order.

A feature of the classics in Russian architecture of the late (strict) period was the final departure from the Baroque heritage. This direction was formed by 1780 and is represented by the works of C. Cameron, V. I. Bazhenov, I. E. Starov, D. Quarenghi.

The rapidly developing economy of the country contributed to the rapid change of styles. Domestic and foreign trade expanded, academies and institutes, industrial shops were opened. There was a need for the rapid construction of new buildings: guest houses, fairgrounds, stock exchanges, banks, hospitals, boarding houses, libraries.

Under these conditions, the deliberately lush and complex forms of the Baroque showed their shortcomings: the long duration of construction work, the high cost and the need to attract an impressive staff of skilled craftsmen.

Classicism in Russian architecture, with its logical and simple compositional and decorating solutions, was a successful response to the economic needs of the era.

Examples of domestic architectural classics

Tauride Palace - project by I.E. Starov, realized in the 1780s, is a vivid example of the direction of classicism in architecture. The modest facade is made with clear monumental forms, the Tuscan portico of strict design attracts attention.

A great contribution to the architecture of both capitals was made by V.I. Bazhenov, who created the Pashkov House in Moscow (1784-1786) and the project of the Mikhailovsky Castle (1797-1800) in St. Petersburg.

The Alexander Palace of D. Quarenghi (1792-1796) attracted the attention of contemporaries with a combination of walls, almost devoid of decor, and a majestic colonnade, made in two rows.

Naval Cadet Corps (1796-1798) F.I. Volkov is an example of the exemplary construction of barrack-type buildings according to the principles of classicism.

Architectural features of the classics of the late period

The stage of transition from the style of classicism in architecture to the Empire style is called the Alexandrov stage after the name of Emperor Alexander I. The projects created in the period of 1800-1812 have characteristic features:

• accentuated antique styling
• monumentality of images
• the predominance of the Doric order (without excessive decorations)

Outstanding projects of this time:

• architectural composition of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island by Tom de Thomon with the Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns,
• Mining Institute on the Neva Embankment A. Voronikhin,
• the building of the Main Admiralty A. Zakharov.

Classics in modern architecture

The era of classicism is called the golden age of estates. The Russian nobility was actively engaged in the construction of new estates and the alteration of outdated mansions. Moreover, the changes affected not only buildings, but also the landscape, embodying the ideas of the theorists of landscape gardening art.

In this regard, modern classical architectural forms, as the embodiment of the heritage of ancestors, are strongly associated with symbolism: this is not only a stylistic appeal to antiquity, with emphasized splendor and solemnity, a set of decorative techniques, but also a sign of the high social status of the owner of the mansion.

Modern designs of classic houses - a subtle combination of tradition with current construction and design solutions.

Classicism is an artistic movement that originated in the Renaissance, which, along with the Baroque, occupied an important place in the literature of the 17th century and continued to develop during the Enlightenment - until the first decades of the 19th century. The adjective "classic" is quite ancient.: even before getting its main meaning in Latin, "classicus" meant "noble, wealthy, respected citizen." Having received the meaning of “exemplary”, the concept of “classical” began to be applied to such works and authors, which became the subject of school study, were intended for reading in classes. It was in this sense that the word was used both in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, and in the 17th century the meaning “worthy for study in classes” was enshrined in dictionaries (dictionary of S.P. Richlet, 1680). The definition of "classical" was applied only to ancient, ancient authors, but not to modern writers, even if their works were recognized as artistically perfect and aroused the admiration of readers. The first to use the epithet "classical" in relation to the writers of the 17th century was Voltaire ("The Age of Louis XIV", 1751). The modern meaning of the word "classical", which significantly expands the list of authors belonging to the literary classics, began to take shape in the era of romanticism. At the same time, the concept of "Classicism" appeared. Both terms among the romantics often had a negative connotation: Classicism and "classics" were opposed to "romantics" as outdated literature blindly imitating antiquity - innovative literature (see: "On Germany", 1810, J. de Stael; "Racine and Shakespeare" , 1823-25, Stendhal). On the contrary, the opponents of romanticism, primarily in France, began to use these words as a designation of a truly national literature that opposes foreign (English, German) influences, they defined the word "classics" of the great authors of the past - P. Corneille, J. Racine, Molière, F. La Rochefoucauld. High appreciation of the achievements of French literature of the 17th century, its significance for the formation of other national literatures of the New Age - German, English, etc. - contributed to the fact that this century was considered the "era of Classicism", in which French writers and their diligent students in other countries played a leading role. Writers who clearly did not fit within the framework of classicist principles were judged as "stragglers" or "strayed". In fact, two terms were established, the meanings of which partly intersected: "classical"-i.e. exemplary, artistically perfect, included in the fund of world literature, and "classic" - that is, relating to Classicism as a literary movement, embodying its artistic principles.

Concept - Classicism

Classicism - a concept that entered the history of literature of the late 19th - early 20th century, in works written by scientists of the cultural-historical school (G. Lanson and others). The features of Classicism were primarily determined from the dramatic theory of the 17th century and from N. Boileau's treatise "Poetic Art" (1674). It was considered as a direction oriented towards ancient art, drawing its ideas from Aristotle's Poetics, and also as embodying the absolutist monarchical ideology. The revision of this concept of Classicism both in foreign and domestic literary criticism falls on the 1950s and 60s: from now on, Classicism began to be interpreted by most scientists not as an “artistic expression of absolutism”, but as “a literary movement that experienced a period of bright heyday in the 17th century, in the years strengthening and triumph of absolutism ”(Vipper Yu.B. On the“ seventeenth century ”as a special era in the history of Western European literatures. The 17th century in world literary development.). The term "Classicism" retained its role even when scientists turned to non-classic, baroque works of literature of the 17th century. In the definition of Classicism, they singled out, first of all, the desire for clarity and accuracy of expression, strict obedience to the rules (the so-called “three unities”), and alignment with ancient samples. The origin and spread of Classicism was associated not only with the strengthening of the absolute monarchy, but also with the emergence and influence of the rationalist philosophy of R. Descartes, with the development of the exact sciences, primarily mathematics. In the first half of the 20th century, Classicism was called the "school of the 1660s" - a period when great writers - Racine, Molière, Lafontaine and Boileau - simultaneously worked in French literature. Gradually, its origins were revealed in the Italian literature of the Renaissance: in the poetics of J. Cintio, J. Ts. Scaliger, L. Castelvetro, in the tragedies of D. Trissino and T. Tasso. The search for an “ordered manner”, the laws of “true art” was found in English (F. Sidney, B. Johnson, J. Milton, J. Dryden, A. Pope, J. Addison), in German (M. Opitz, I. Kh. .Gotsched, I.V. Goethe, F. Schiller), in Italian (G. Chiabrera, V. Alfieri) literature of the 17-18 centuries. A prominent place in European literature was occupied by Russian Classicism of the Enlightenment (A.P. Sumarokov, M.V. Lomonosov, G.R. Derzhavin). All this led researchers to consider it as one of the important components of the artistic life of Europe for several centuries and as one of the two (along with baroque) main trends that laid the foundations of the culture of the New Age.

Durability of Classicism

One of the reasons for the longevity of Classicism was that the writers of this trend considered their work not as a way of subjective, individual self-expression, but as the norm of “true art”, addressed to the universal, unchanging, to “beautiful nature” as a permanent category. The classicist vision of reality, which was formed on the threshold of the New Age, had, like the Baroque, internal drama, but subordinated this drama to the discipline of external manifestations. Ancient literature served for the classicists as an arsenal of images and plots, but they were filled with relevant content. If early, Renaissance Classicism sought to recreate antiquity by imitation, then Classicism of the 17th century enters into competition with ancient literature, sees in it, first of all, an example of the correct use of the eternal laws of art, using which one can be able to surpass ancient authors (see the Dispute about the "ancient" and "new"). Strict selection, ordering, harmony of composition, classification of themes, motives, all the material of reality, which became the object of artistic reflection in the word, were for the writers of Classicism an attempt to artistically overcome the chaos and contradictions of reality, correlated with the didactic function of works of art, with the principle drawn from Horace "to teach entertaining." A favorite collision in the works of Classicism is the clash of duty and feelings, or the struggle of reason and passion. Classicism is characterized by a stoic mood, opposition to chaos and irrationality of reality, one's own passions and affects, a person's ability, if not to overcome them, then to curb, in extreme cases - to both dramatic and analytical awareness (the heroes of Racine's tragedies). Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" plays in the artistic worldview of the characters of Classicism the role of not only a philosophical and intellectual, but also an ethical principle. The hierarchy of ethical and aesthetic values ​​determines the predominant interest of Classicism in moral, psychological and civil topics, dictates the classification of genres, dividing them into “higher” (epic, ode, tragedy) and lower (comedy, satire, fable), the choice for each of these genres specific themes, styles, character systems. Classicism is characterized by the desire to analytically separate the tragic and the comic, the sublime and the low, the beautiful and the ugly, in different works, even artistic worlds. At the same time, turning to low genres, he seeks to ennoble them, for example, to remove coarse burlesque from satire, and farcical features from comedy (Moliere's "high comedy"). The poetry of Classicism strives for a clear expression of significant thought, meaning; it refuses sophistication, metaphorical complexity, and stylistic embellishments. Of particular importance in Classicism are dramatic works and the theater itself, which is able to most organically perform both moralizing and entertaining functions. In the bosom of Classicism, prose genres are also developing - aphorisms (maxims), characters. Although the theory of Classicism refuses to include the novel in the system of genres worthy of serious critical reflection, but in practice, the poetics of Classicism had a tangible impact on the concept of the novel, popular in the 17th century, as an “epopee in prose”, defined the genre parameters of the “little novel”, or “romantic short story” 1660-80s, and “The Princess of Cleves” (1678) by M.M. de Lafayette is considered by many experts as a model of a classic novel.

Theory of Classicism

The theory of Classicism is not limited only to Boileau's poetic treatise "Poetic Art": although its author is rightly considered the legislator of Classicism, he was only one of the many creators of literary treatises in this direction, along with Opitz and Dryden, F.Chaplain and F.d'Aubignac. It develops gradually, experiences its formation in disputes between writers and critics, changes over time. National versions of Classicism also have their differences: French - develops into the most powerful and consistent artistic system, exerts its influence on the Baroque; German - on the contrary, having arisen as a conscious cultural effort to create a "correct" and "perfect" poetic school worthy of other European literatures (Opitz), as if "choked" in the stormy waves of the bloody events of the Thirty Years' War and is drowned out, overlapped by baroque. Although the rules are a way to keep creative imagination, freedom within the boundaries of reason, Classicism understands how important intuitive insight is for a writer, a poet, forgives talent for deviation from the rules if it is appropriate and artistically effective (“The smallest thing to look for in a poet is the ability to subordinate words and syllables to certain laws and write poetry. A poet must be ... a person with a rich imagination, with an inventive fantasy "- Opitz M. A book about German poetry. Literary manifestos). A constant subject of discussion in the theory of Classicism, especially in the second half of the 17th century, is the category of "good taste", which was interpreted not as an individual preference, but as a collective aesthetic norm developed by a "good society". The taste of Classicism prefers verbosity - laconicism, vagueness and complexity of expression - simplicity and clarity, striking, extravagant - decent. Its main law is artistic plausibility, which is fundamentally different from artlessly truthful reflection of life, from historical or private truth. Plausibility portrays things and people as they should be, and is associated with the concept of moral standards, psychological probability, decency. Characters in Classicism are built on the allocation of one dominant feature, which contributes to their transformation into universal universal types. His poetics, in its initial principles, is opposed to the baroque, which does not exclude the interaction of both literary movements not only within the framework of one national literature, but also in the work of the same writer (J. Milton).

In the Age of Enlightenment, the civil and intellectual nature of the conflict in the works of Classicism, its didactic-moralistic pathos, acquires special significance. Enlightenment Classicism even more actively comes into contact with other literary trends of its era, no longer relies on the “rules”, but on the “enlightened taste” of the public, gives rise to various versions of Classicism (“Weimar classicism” by J.W. Goethe and F. Schiller) . Developing the ideas of "true art", Classicism of the 18th century, more than other literary movements, lays the foundations of aesthetics as a science of beauty, which received its development and the terminological designation itself precisely in the Enlightenment. The requirements put forward to Classicism for clarity of style, semantic fullness of images, sense of proportion and norms in the structure and plot of works retain their aesthetic relevance to this day.

The word classic comes from Latin classicus, which means exemplary, first-class.

The main features of Russian classicism

Appeal to the images and forms of ancient art.

Heroes are clearly divided into positive and negative, have speaking names.

The plot is based, as a rule, on a love triangle: the heroine is the hero-lover, the second lover (unsuccessful).

At the end of a classic comedy, vice is always punished and good triumphs.

The principle of three unities: time (the action lasts no more than a day), place (the action takes place in one place), action (1 storyline).

Start

The first classicist writer in Russia was Antioch Kantemir. He was the first to write works of the classic genre (namely, satires, epigrams, and others).

The history of the emergence of Russian classicism according to V.I. Fedorov:

1st period: literature of the time of Peter the Great; it is of a transitional nature; the main feature - an intensive process of "secularization" (that is, the replacement of religious literature with secular literature - 1689-1725) - the prerequisites for the emergence of classicism.

Period 2: 1730-1750 - these years are characterized by the formation of classicism, the creation of a new genre system, and the in-depth development of the Russian language.

3rd period: 1760-1770 - the further evolution of classicism, the flowering of satire, the emergence of prerequisites for the emergence of sentimentalism.

4 period: the last quarter of a century - the beginning of the crisis of classicism, the design of sentimentalism, the strengthening of realistic tendencies (1. Direction, development, inclination, aspiration; 2. Idea, idea of ​​presentation, image).

Trediakovsky and Lomonosov

Classicism received the next round of development in Russia under Trediakovsky and Lomonosov. They created the Russian syllabo-tonic system of versification and introduced many Western genres (such as madrigal, sonnet, etc.). The syllabo-tonic system of versification is a system of syllable-stressed versification. It includes two rhythm-forming factors - a syllable and stress - and implies a regular alternation of text fragments with an equal number of syllables, among which stressed syllables alternate in a certain regular way with unstressed ones. It is within the framework of this system that most of the Russian poetry was written.

Derzhavin

Derzhavin develops the traditions of Russian classicism, continuing the traditions of Lomonosov and Sumarokov.

For him, the purpose of the poet is the glorification of great deeds and the condemnation of bad ones. In the ode "Felitsa" he glorifies the enlightened monarchy, which personifies the reign of Catherine II. The smart, fair empress is opposed to the greedy and mercenary nobles of the court: You only don’t offend, You don’t offend anyone, You see foolishness through your fingers, Only you don’t tolerate evil alone ...

The main object of Derzhavin's poetics is a person as a unique individuality in all the richness of personal tastes and predilections. Many of his odes are philosophical in nature, they discuss the place and purpose of man on earth, the problems of life and death: I am the connection of the worlds that exist everywhere, I am the extreme degree of matter; I am the center of the living, The trait of the initial deity; I decay in the dust with my body, I command thunder with my mind, I am a king - I am a slave - I am a worm - I am a god! But, being so wonderful, Where did I come from? - unknown: I couldn't be myself. Ode "God", (1784)

Derzhavin creates a number of samples of lyrical poems in which the philosophical intensity of his odes is combined with an emotional attitude to the events described. In the poem "Snigir" (1800), Derzhavin mourns the death of Suvorov: Why are you starting a song like a military flute, like a sweet snigir? With whom shall we go to war against the Hyena? Who is our leader now? Who is the rich man? Where is strong, brave, fast Suvorov? Severn thunders lie in a coffin.

Before his death, Derzhavin begins to write an ode to the RUIN OF HORROR, from which only the beginning has come down to us: The river of time in its aspiration Carries away all the deeds of people And drowns peoples, kingdoms and kings in the abyss of oblivion. And if anything remains Through the sounds of the lyre and the trumpet, Then eternity will be devoured by the mouth And the common fate will not go away!

The fall of classicism

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