Музыка на все времена: классическое наследие и современная культура

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There are two important sociocultural problems which at present obstruct or fully block the way for great works of world culture to form a part of the value treasury of a contemporary human being. Our article deals with these two issues, namely with an unprecedented spread of mass culture, a culture commercial by nature, accompanied by globalization and mediatization, and also with the weakening of the sense of history, which is characteristic of the culture of postmodernism. Contemporary culture mostly obeys the laws of the “Kulturindustrie” (T. Adorno). To understand the issues cultural heritage (and musical heritage in particular) faces at the moment, we provide an overview of the current sociocultural context, outlining two areas of researching musical culture, especially the genre of opera, which undergoes the largest amount of experimentation. On the one hand, we need to view classical heritage from the standpoint of eternal issues of human existence, and in the other, it is vital to understand the particularities of these works as a part of the living contemporary culture. The context dominated by aesthetic ideas and top achievements of culture is set up by easy access to the best performances of classical art, due to information technologies, philharmonies and concert halls and their virtual spaces. This context, however, is very fragmentary and changeable, which does not help the building of a system of aesthetic values. It is thus evident that it is mandatory to educate a well-trained listener and spectator. No technologies or largescale digitization programs will on their own set up an aesthetically beneficial climate in the society. An integrated effort of various professionals — scholars, theoreticians and practitioners of culture, media specialists, marketing experts, educators — is required for the great heritage of our culture to assume an important place in the lifeworld of contemporary man.