The Cosmological and Ethical Aspects of Musical Modus: Ontological Approach VS the Semiotic Approach

摘要

The paper dedicates cosmological and ethical aspects of the musical modus. In the musicology, the notion of modus is referred to the certain modes and rhythms which have the sense of spiritual states and cosmic phenomena in some cultural traditions (ancient Greek, medieval Indian, Chinese, Russian). The study aims at the comprehension of music modus as the point of coincidence of harmonic, ethic, and cosmological dimensions intrinsic to music. The author interests in the ontological essence of the unity of natural or ethical phenomena and music modus considering the examples of the medieval Chinese system of tones "lyuj", antique modi-tetrachords, Indian ragas, and Russian Orthodox modes. The author puts forward the number of arguments against the semiotics approach to this unity. It is not a conventional ("by agreement") matching of the musical modi and cosmological or ethical phenomena. The author argues the musical modi should be considered more effective as elements of a musical ontology in the context of the multidimensional syncretic modal ontology.