The paper is dedicated to studying French lyrical tragedy within the structure of A. Salieri operatic heritage, investigated in the aspect of genre traditions and innovations interaction. Reviving fair name and heritage of Antonio Salieri (1750–1825), who used to be the opinion and soul’s leader for several generations having been tragically turned into a villain, to the musical classics is an urgent task of modern musicology.
Salieri’s operas of the mid –1780s – «Danaids», «The Horace», «Tarar», created on the basis of the originally interpreted genre tradition of the French lyric tragedy, reflected the system of aesthetic values of the late Enlightenment, the tendency for opera reform.
The scientific sources have determined stages of Salieri study development. High lifetime estimates of the «first musician of the empire» characteristics were replaced by his conversion into the symbol of an enviable failure after 1830; the fair name revival of the Viennese Italian began in the second half of the twentieth century. The involvement of the court chapelmaster into the music genius murder was interpreted as a key issue of Salieri and Mozart studies. The unity of historical and mythological approaches determined the development of Salieri study. The mythologized concept of A. Salieri tragic guilt was being formed in the period of 1791 – 1830. Contrasting Mozart to Salieri has become an «eternal theme of musicology and art, with the development being based on specious actuality.
The second half of the twentieth century was interpreted as a turning point in the development of the Salieri study: dispelling the myth created around the composer was confronted with the charge of crime. 1970 – 2010 years were conditioned by the recognition of Salieri as a Master worthy of classical Vienna (F. Brownberrens, L. Kyryllina, S. Nechaev).
Studying Salieri’s creative personality and achievements within the context of Viennese classicism has allowed to prove the media function of «the first musician of the empire» among the generations of Viennese classicists.
The opera reformer Gluck regarded Salieri as a successor, having established him near himself since the 1770s as a disciple, composer, and chapelmaster. The Gluck – Salieri alignment makes it possible to consider the contribution of Viennese classicism representatives to the «French» opera. The present stage of Mozart and Salieri issue, along with the Mozart centric concepts, has actualized the advantages of the Vienna chapelmaster over the «genius of music». In pursuit of Salieri’s accomplishments, Mozart (according to L. Kyryllina) made his artistic «discoveries». The Salieri - Beethoven parallel can be traced within heroic style.
The research has advanced a hypothesis of possible concentration of composer’s French operas, along with the Italian ones of the time, in one period from 1783 («Danaids») to 1788 («Axur» – the Italian version of «Tarar») being interpreted as Salieri’s top works created during his acme period.
In the symbolized and semanticized intonation dramaturgy of «Danaids» opera, Hypermnestra has the dominant role in developing a conflict of feelings and obligations, testifying of monodrama characteristics importance. Owing to intonation analysis, a system of through composed intonemes-symbols has been established: fate/the Parcae, punishing divine lightning, happy romantic relations, heroic rupture, rage, hellish whirlwinds, awe. Crescendo of infernal music symbolism from the first act to the opera finale has been defined as a method of operatic dramaturgy.
Study of the reasons for «The Horace» failure, the composer’s interpretation of the Cornelius dramatic prototype, identification of operatic dramaturgy stages of the «theatrical work» led to determination of Salieri opera monodrama features A characteristic of through-composed action in «The Horace» operatic dramaturgy is a combination of acts with stage interludes.
