Kant

Kant

Immanuel . 1724--1804, German idealist philosopher. He sought to determine the limits of man's knowledge in Critique of Pure Reason (1781) and propounded his system of ethics as guided by the categorical imperative in Critique of Practical Reason (1788)

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Kant 

an urban-type settlement, administrative center of Kant Raion, Kirghiz SSR. Situated in the Chu Valley. Kant has a railroad station 20 km east of the city of Frunze. Population, 22,500 (1971). A cement and slate combine and sugar and overhaul-machinery plants are there.

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Kant 

(from Latin cantus, “singing”), a type of many-voiced song dealing with everyday events prevalent in Russia, the Ukraine, and Byelorussia in the 17th and 18th centuries. Initially kanty were based on religious texts and thus were confined to monasteries and clerical circles.

The poetic style of the kant is derived from literature and not from the folk song. In the 17th century texts by S. Polotskii, E. Slavinetskii, D. Rostovskii, and other representatives of syllabic poetry, were set to music to create kanty. The texts and melodies existed in many variants; they were recorded in manuscript collections that were widely disseminated. The musical style of the kant is characterized by three-voice exposition with parallel movement of the upper voices and a common-time strophic form. They were performed a cappella by an ensemble of singers or a chorus. Their intonational structure represents a fusion of elements of the znamennyi chant, Russian and Ukrainian folk songs, and Polish melodic systems.

Kanty with patriotic, domestic, and romantic-lyrical themes appeared in the 18th century; salutatory and panegyrical kanty with fanfare-like melodic phrases, the grand rhythms of the polonaise, and exultant roulades were typical of the Petrine era. The kant became the favorite form of music of the urban strata of the population. The lyrical kanty incorporated elements from popular dance forms, primarily the minuet. While texts by V. K. Trediakovskii, M. V. Lomonosov, and A. P. Sumarokov are known, the authors and composers of most kanty remain anonymous.

REFERENCES

Findeizen, N. F. Ocherki po istorii muzyki v Rossii, vols. 1–2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1928–29.
Livanova, T. N. Russkaia muzykaVnaia kuVtura XVIII veka …, vol. 1. Moscow, 1952.
Pozdneev, A. V. “Rukopisnye pesenniki XVII-XVIII vekov.” Uch. zapiski Moskovskogo zaochnogo ped. in-ta, 1958, vol. 1.
Keldysh, Iu. V. Russkaia muzyka XVIII veka. Moscow, 1965.
Keldysh, Iu. V. “Ob istoricheskikh korniakh kanta.” In the collection Musica antiqua Europae Orientalis, vol. 2. Bydgoszcz, 1969.

IU. V. KELDYSH