LIGHT-MUSIC is a new synthetic KIND OF ART, having been foreseen by a number of scientists and artists. L. belongs to sight-hearing, spatial-temporal arts of technical branch (TECHNICAL ARTS), to it's figurative, intonational segment. The content of L. is conditioned by it's close connections with the INTONATION of gesture (in the same measure as MUSIC is connected with the intonation of speech). Correspondingly, L. may be characterized as an art of "instrumental lighting choreography". The birth of L. had been prepared by thr previous development of music, PAINTING, musical THEATRE, scenography. At the same time, one may note, that the possibility of "seeing music" was always present - in the expressive PLASTICITY OF DANCE, which is defined, since Ancient times (and more definetely in the epoch of romantism), as "music for eyes" and "visible music". This music for eyes could become "instrumental" only after artistic assimilation of light projection tools, that appeared on the border of XIX-XX centuries. It's just because the new art has got such compound name, "light-music" - the first half stands for the applied substance (light) and the second one for the the method of artistic reflection of reality. L. should be distinguished from the concept of "color-music", which is natural philosophic by it's origin and out-of-aesthetic by it's content. This one was proposed in XVIII century by L.-B. Castel and based on the false physical analogy of I.Newton between colour and sound or spectrum and gamut. The establishment of aesthetic need and possibility to see music in it's "instrumental" embodiment was a result of aesthetic culture development. The general tendency of evolution of "synaesthetic fund" of music art (SYNAESTHESIA), with the utmost exposure of "colourful", "light-bearing" properties of instrumentation and harmony, had found its natural way out in the creation of the first light-music works -- "Prometheus" by A.N.Scriabin (1910), "Yellow Sound" by W.KANDINSKY (1912), "Lucky Hand" by A.Schoenberg (1913). Most deeply the idea of light-music was thought over by A.N.Scriabin: from the initial intention of colour duplication of tonality structure in "Prometheus" towards the organization of colours into complex objectless forms, interacting with sounds according the principle of counterpoint, in "Preliminary Action" (this work was not completed). As the experiences of theatre, cinema, TELEVISION have shown, it is the methods of sight-hearing POLYPHONY that provide the richness of content and high artistic merit of light-sound synthesis. Synaesthesia in this process serves to set psychological aim at the expected sight-hearing correspondences, that should be overcome consciously by AESTHETIC AIM, formed by concrete author's intention and main idea of art work. L. is collective art: the true artistic light-music compositions can be created only by the team of musicians and artists, assisted by the specialists in light- and radio-technique. The artistic realization of L. has two principal forms: light-music concerts and films. Side by side with this, the applied forms of L. are developing too, using methods and technical equipment for automatic light-sound synthesis (discotteques, relaxation rooms, light-music fountains). For the time being, just the applied forms of L. are most widely practised. The main centre of light-music research in our country is the Museum of A.N.Scriabin in Moscow. The art-science experiments in this field are carried out also by the Kazan's group "Prometheus". There are well known the concerts of Kharkov's studio of "dynamical light-painting", Moscow Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. The first All-Union festival of L. took place in 1987.

Galeyev B.M.

Aesthetic(lexicon). - M.: Politizdat, 1989, pp.308-309