Expressive means, the «matter» of art and artistic form

The author shows that artistic reality is created, and not only lived and perceived as a naturally existing artistic world and events. It is created on the basis of specifi c semiotic matter (sounds, words, colors, etc.), expressive means (ideas about melody, harmony, rhythm, themes, drama, form-composition, and so on; these means diff er for diff erent types of art), and artistic form. The author proves that despite the fact that at fi rst glance it seems that the matter of art is the main, there are still many conditions for the perception of musical sound: we hear not the vibrations of the auditory nerve, but the musical tone, theme, and melody. The auditory image, the whole, arises as a result of the meeting of sonorous information and the actualization of our “experience of hearing” (Helmholtz). The latter is formed on the basis of many components: actual live listening to music, the implementation of knowledge, and comprehension.