Xenakis and Cage: Two Nothings – Two Non-Existences – Two Beginnings of Music

The article examines the origins of the philosophical foundations of music in the artistic worldview systems of J. Xenakis and J. Cage, outstanding representatives of the Western musical avant-garde of the second half of the 20th century. Both authors started from a personal interpretation of the categories “nothing” and “non-existence”, leaving to being only the ontological status of “a specific something – a piece of music”. The unique interpretations of the substantial status of “nothing” and the process of “nothing” transitioning into something, as well as individual versions of the semantic system “nothing – creative personality – musical composition” are of interest for understanding the ways of forming creative initiative by each of the composers. Trying to synthesize their own artistic worldview on the basis of various philosophical teachings about nothingness, non-existence and existence, both composers proposed a radical rethinking of the creative process and new ways of justifying the existential status of a musical work, putting forward and defending new aesthetic ideals of musical art.