«African» by J. Meyerbeer and the traditions of the 19th-century French musical theater

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to identify the poetic and intonational features of the «African» by J. Meyerbeer in the context of the evolution of the French musical theater of the mid-XIX century. The methodology of the work is based on the intonation concept of music from the perspective of intonational-stylistic analysis, successive from B. Asa- fiev. The following approaches are also essential for this work: interdisciplinary, which makes it possible to involve the concepts of other spheres of humanitarian knowledge – art history, cultural studies; historical and culturological. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that it first considered the figurative-semantic and genre- intonational specifics of J. Meyerbeer's opera «African», popular in contemporary vocal-performing practice, but not  yet become the subject of basic art criticism research. Conclusions. «African» by J. Meyerbeer, created in the late 50s of the XIX century, became a landmark work in the history of the French «big» opera, denoting at the same time the future paths of development of the French lyrical opera. Such genre duality determines the dramatic and tones and sty- listic features of this work. The traditions of the «big» opera here are evident in the appeal to the exponential from the time of J. L. factors, etc. At the same time, the role of the plot «turning» from heroics to personal drama, which ulti- mately eliminates the domination of the historical and social plan, also serves as an indicator in this performance, there- by It has to form a typology of lyric opera as one of the basic genres of French musical theater of the second half of the XIX century.