Music as an existential phenomenon and the main trends of its understanding in the history of culture

The article outlines two directions of comprehension of the existential phenomenon of musical art (cataphatic and apophatic) throughout the history of culture within the framework of the Christian-Eurocentric tradition. The basis of methodological research includes Christian-idealistic and Christian-anthropological positions. These provisions of objective idealism contain a part of the Creator's Plan in the realization of his Image. The presentation of the main trends is presented in a contrasting ratio, which is characteristic of musical compositional thinking. The discourse of the problem is expressed in a cataphatic-preaching form. In the process of considering this phenomenon, the method of synthesis of ideas about music was applied as a reflection of the human being of such domestic thinkers as A. S. Klyuev, A. F. Losev, V. V. Medushevsky, M.O. Orlov, O.V. Leontieva and foreign philosophers R. Ingarden, A. Schopenhauer, F. England, D. Turner. The author makes an attempt to update the musical discourse from the perspective of Eurocentric Christian traditions by including the language of theology in it. Research in a given direction reveals the deep foundations of musical creativity, which arouse interest in the social significance of the master creator, leveled by post-industrial society. The scientific novelty of the research is contained in the choice of sources that reveal the European understanding of the existential essence of musical art as a historically formed part of the musicological discourse. According to the results of the study, it can be concluded that, unlike other types of art, music remains irreconcilably resistant to various forms of evaluation and paraphrasing, explanation and description. The essence of human existence is fully reflected in the musical art.