Information and Symmetry in Music: Between the Depth and the Superficiality
Зенкин Константин Владимирович · 2015
The article deals with the problems of correlation of information and artistic image, of opportunities and sense of the notion of information in the theory of art (basing on Yuri Lotman’s ideas). As the examples of application of the informational approach, Alexey Losev's ideas about the depth of music and Alexander Mikhailov’s ideas about the «spherical sense» in music are studied. The last notion is positioned within the certain contextual sequence: the depth – the superficiality. The role of symmetry in musical texts as the carriers of information is especially studied. Information and specific character of artistic message V.V. Medushevskiy in his article «The sense and the information» discussing with E. Enfiandzhyan talks about the position of information in the art and in the existence, in objective reality, and about its role as the «tool» with respect to mental phenomena. Comparison of the two notions in the title of Medushevskiy’s article is intended to highlight the priority the first notion – «the sense» and strict especial instrumentality, accessory role of the second one – «the information»: «… the information is not the exhaustive notion, and all the most important lay beyond its borders – the existent being as itself»[i](V.V.Medushevskiy, 2013). The discussion was arose by the question asked by Enfiandzhyan and also qualified by him as the «key one»: «Whether those technologies [musical-and-digital] might contribute somewhat «spiritual dimension» into music»[ii](E. Enfiandzhyan, 2013). We will come back to this question later on, but now let us note that the discussion of our respectable colleagues was rather of some publicistic nature than of scientific one. Certainly, information as itself in the art is not of the most important in all, and as we will see, the value of a piece of art is not nowise proportioned to the quantity of information carried by it. Otherwise we need to mean by the notion of «artistic information» somewhat specific or particular that does not coincide in full with common generally accepted notion of the information. At the same time, inasmuch as the art includes such compulsive components as language, technics, and as the most important for our theme, the text, we cannot avoid the analysis for such significant part of the artistic sense as the information; that would scarcely well grounded. There are lots of essential art scientific works in which this notion is used. Y.M. Lotman, who was on of the outstanding humanitarian scientists of the Soviet epoch and a prominent representative of Tartu and Moscow semiotic schools, used the notion of information. He was the first one who has introduced the term «artmetry». Special attention to the problem of «information and art» was paid in works of G. A. Golytsyn[iii](1997), V. M. Petrov[iv](2004), and of a number of other scientists thoroughly understanding the essence and the specificity of artistic endeavor. The problematics of information has its own specific peculiarities dependent on the certain kinds of art. For instance, it is absolutely obvious that pieces of painting, sculpture, literature, theater (including opera and ballet), and cinema, all them communicate the certain non-artistic information either about contemporary life or history. No doubt, not all those evidences make the specific art information, but all of them are also included into the text, in the artistic form, and, let say, are aggregated in art by that. Nevertheless, pictures and novels are created not only for sake of some or other facts representation (if not - this is not the real art as itself). Artist demonstrates his own views of the world and of human being, those which he tries to inculcate into the spectator’s mind (reader’s, listener’s mind) as some kind of a program of personality transformation – this is the genuine task of the real art. This is why a piece of art should carry first and foremost the information about this program. Let us agree to note as art information all that contained in the text and that is perceived by listener (reader, spectator notwithstanding of the degree of the text perspicuity. It follows herefrom that the information of specific art nature falls a long way short of the information in its common sense because of it might not be reduced to communication of the certain unambiguous meanings and values only. Artistic text always teeters on the edge of information and entropy. Preliminary we can articulate a number of states: - the information contained in the art is related first and foremost of all to the content of the art as itself (artistic information), and merely facultatively – the vital reality beyond the art. This concept achieves its maximum in music as that practically tells us nothing about «life». - the source of artistic information it the entire piece of art in full: a picture, a statue, a novel, a symphony, etc.; - preceding thesis in the context of the works of art evolving in time (literature, theater, cinema, music), is added with the following: comprehensive content reveals itself gradually, and the very perceptual process is controlled by the certain objective laws of information transmission; herein such notions as the probability, the ambiguity, the redundancy, etc., become actual ones; - the entire process of transmission of information has two sides: information about the events of the art kingdom of the art piece, about its content: «material», «images», «ideas», and – the information provided by the entire structure of the piece of art (the information of art structure about itself) – about the language, grammar, the logical connections, the composition, as Y.M .Lotman told «information about the code»[v]. - artistic information is «procreant» with respect to the other information which is get by a spectator (reader, listener) as the result of the piece of art perception. The latter of the statements articulated was always emphasized by Y.M.Lotman. The scientist writes about such forms of information for which the most crucial is not communication of facts but videlicet agitation of creative activity. Moreover, Lotman studies two types of transmission of information in which the volume of data does not increase. One of those is transmission via the channel «Me – Me», in which «one can say about the growth of information, its transformation, re-formulation, at that no new messages but new codes are introduced, and here the transmitter and the receiver are consisted in the one sole person»[vi](Y.M. Lotman, 1996). In this case, «the text carries threefold values: the primary ones – common lingual, the second ones – created due to syntagmemic reorganization of the text and resistance of its primary units, and the third – by virtue of inclusion of extra-textual associations of different levels either common so exclusively private ones into the message»[vii](Y.M. Lotman, 1996). Here Lotman makes the important conclusion: «There is no need to prove that the mechanism described by us might be represented simultaneously also as the characteristic of the processes making grounds for poetry writing»[viii](Y.M. Lotman, 1996). To the other type of communication of already known information Lotman has dedicated his work named «Canonical art as an informational paradox»[ix](Y.M. Lotman, 1992). As canonical art here is understood as the art based on the concept of «the aesthetics of identity» and that does not pretend to some novelty. Power and conciseness of ritual forms of art reside in their continuous repetitive accuracy in the unalterable manner. Lotman refers the medieval art and folklore to the aesthetics of identity, and we can add here from our side also many extra-European cultures. Moreover, let us amend that there is some intermediate epoch between the aesthetics of identity and the aesthetics of invention or novelty (and logically it cannot be otherwise. Probably, music of the epochs of Baroque and Early Classicism (and till the highest achievement of the Viennese Classicists) makes this intermediate period. And the prosperity of the aesthetics of novelty in music is connected already with the 19 and 20 Centuries. Difference between those two types of art from the point of view of information approach is characterized by Lotman as follows: «The recipient of the piece of art of XIX Century is the listener first of all – he tends to receiving of the information from the text. The recipient of folklore (and also mediaeval) artistic message is only placed in favorable conditions for tuning in to himself. He is not only a listener but also a creator. This caused also the fact that this canonic system does not lose the information activity»[x](Y.M. Lotman, 1992). And here Lotman makes very important note: «The listener of folklore is much more the listener of a musical piece than the novel reader»[xi](Y.M. Lotman, 1992). Putting it otherwise, all the music (not only mediaeval and folklore ones) works for agitation of the listener’s activity but not for transmission of information. At the same time, the aesthetics of novelty was revealed in the most vivid manner in the music of the composers from L.Beethoven to H. Lachenmann, and every created piece of art was introducing something significantly new. With regards to all mentioned, it is necessary at first to view critically to the thoughts of Lotman about the information action of the arts of opposite types, and at the second to reveal the information specific of music, even if in the most general terms. In point of fact, realism literature of the 19-th Century was organized so that it has contained much non-artistic information within its significant conceptual core: the information about reality environment – politics, economy, social sphere, etc. But even the literature of this type did not abolish in full the effect stimulating the reader’s creative process which might be compared with the effects of either folklore or music. The aesthetics of invention or novelty stimulates also the creative activity, but in literary realist art it might create the illusion only, as if all the meanings of things are inherently transparent and this is dangerous by the phenomena of skimming reading. Conceptual depth of the text is and it might be revealed in that with of with of extra-textual The music of 19-th Century which value was also in to a by virtue of extra-textual associations of all, the ones) has absolutely than literature or as to its with if 19-th Century the of music of especial contextual depth and by virtue of full and listener’s attention was if 19-th Century there the between the and and even music. This is connected with the problem of of because it is that in this we not about the of music, either or ones no one about the and the highest of but about somewhat to information content of the This is connected with the role of symmetry in artistic transmission and of information in art In two of transmission of artistic information about the and on the other information about the structure and its the role of symmetry is As to Lotman, of information is provided by in the most is connected with the of Lotman, 1996). we some new musical we absolutely new artistic information. 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