Могучая кучка

Творческое содружество пяти русских композиторов - Балакирев, Бородин, Кюи, Мусоргский и Римский-Корсаков - сложилось в конце 50-х-начале 60-х гг. XIX века. Их называли Балакиревским кружком, а название «Могучая кучка» было впервые употреблено в 1867 году критиком Стасовым, который был их рупором и идеологом. Все они были любителями и находились под влиянием славянофилов и народников. Западных любителей музыки более всего привлекают экзотические сюжеты их произведений - восточная фантазия «Исламей» Балакирева, симфоническая картина «В Средней Азии» Бородина, сюита «Шахерезада» Римского-Корсакова и, пожалуй, самое популярное произведение – «Половецкие пляски» из оперы Бородина «Князь Игорь». Деятельность членов «Могучей кучки» протекала в Петербурге, и группа просуществовала до середины 1870-х гг.

EXERCISE 9. Restore the omitted name of Skryabin’s work and translate the text into Russian.

Aleksandr Nikolaevich SKRYABIN (1872-1915), Russian composer; born in Moscow where he studied at the Conservatory before embarking on a career as a concert pianist. Much of his music is influenced by the mystic theories he encountered in Brussels in 1908, especially the best known of his works, the symphonic poem ["Прометей" или "Поэма огня"] (1909-1910), which is scored for orchestra, piano, optional choir, and ‘keyboard of light’ (projecting colours on to a screen) and is based on the chord he called ‘mystic’ (OEED).

EXERCISE 10. Substitute English names for the original names of Russian operas. Use The Dictionary of RUSSIA.

RUSSIAN OPERA

Though the first Russian operas were composed in the 18th century, it was in the hands of Glinka that the real foundations of national opera were established. In his two operas {Жизнь за царя (Иван Сусанин)} (1836) and {Руслан и Людмила} (1842) he ingeniously combined Italian arioso, Germanic counterpoint and heterogeneous folk materials to form a distinctive musical language.

Throughout the 19th century Russian composers were influ­enced by Glinka’s operas. Musorgsky’s {Борис Годунов} and Rimsky-Korsakov’s {Царская невеста} continued the epic vein, while {Хованщина} (by Musorgsky, completed by Rimsky-Korsakov) and Rimsky-Korsakov’s {Золотой петушок} both exemplify the exotic tradition. Of Rimsky-Korsakov’s other operas {Майская ночь} utilizes a plot by Gogol’, while his {Садко} employs bylina (heroic ballad) material from the Novgorod cycle.

[Tchaikovsky’s] {Евгений Онегин} and {Пиковая дама} (in which he exploited and sentimentalized Pushkin’s plot) have achieved lasting success outside Russia.

A unique place is occupied by Borodin’s {Князь Игорь} - perhaps the finest manifestation of the heroic element in Russian opera.

The season of Russian opera given by the impresario Diaghilev in Paris in 1908, which included Musorgsky’s {Борис Годунов} with Chaliapin (Shalyapin) in the title role, made an unforgettable impression on Western Europe. Stravinsky’s {Соловей} was written in 1914 and his {Мавра} in 1922.

Of the many operas written since 1917, those of Prokofiev and Shostakovich are of special importance. Whereas Prokofiev’s {Любовь к трём апельсинам} (1919) and {Огненный ангел} (1927) were written during his absence from Russia, {Семён Котко} (1939), {Дуэнья} (1940), {Повесть о настоящем человеке} (1948) and {Война и мир} (1952) all show the influence of Socialist Realism. Shostakovich’s best known-operas are {Hoc} (1928) and {Леди Макбет Мценского уезда} (1932) - the latter subsequently performed in a modified version under the title {Катерина Измайлова} (CamEnc 1994).

EXERCISE 11. Imagine that you are abroad accompanying a Russian opera company as an interpreter and you’ve been asked to give a comprehensive historical introduction to the opera Prince Igor (Khovanshchina, Boris Godunov, Mazepa, Decembrists).

EXERCISE 12. Translate into English paying attention to the graphic marking of xenonyms.

1. Я только что прочитал рассказ А.П.Чехова «Ванька Жуков»! 2. В конце 40-х годов началась активная борьба с космополитами. 3. Зачастую в выборах участвуют не избиратели, а «мёртвые души». 4. Вы знаете, даже длительное совместное проживание в коммунальной квартире не может сгладить трения различных поколений. 5. Эта проблема обсуждается Н.А.Добролюбовым в его статье «Луч свет в тёмном царстве». 6. Это иллюстрация к басне И.А.Крылова «Кот и повар». 7. В эпоху Киевской Руси шла оживлённая торговля по пути «из варяг в греки». 8. Иван I за свою мудрую политику получил прозвище Калита. 9. Над своей картиной «Явление Христа народу» художник А.Иванов работал 20 лет. 10. Обо всём этом Н.В.Гоголь рассказал в своих «Петербургских рассказах». 11. Хрущёвская оттепель породила целую плеяду молодых талантливых поэтов. 12. Социалистический реализм был прокрустовым ложем для советского искусства. 13. Иосиф Бродский был осуждён советским судом за «паразитизм». 14. Об этом писал Ленин в своей известной статье «Лев Толстой как зеркало редкой революции». 15. В советский период об этом политическом деятеле вспоми­нали лишь в связи с так называемыми «столыпинскими галстуками». 16. Бухарин был объявлен врагом народа. 17. Многие диссиденты в 1970-1980-х гг. были вынуждены эмигрировать. 18. Они накопили богатый опыт литературной деятельности в пе­риод хрущёвской оттепели и в период брежневского застоя.

EXERCISE 13. Read the text and discuss it. Write out all the names [or different art styles and be prepared to explain their meaning. Which of these styles were particularly important for Russia? Translate the text into Russian.

EGGSISTENTIAL GUIDE TO EATING YOUR ART OUT

Today, a complete Post-Modernist tale entitled: "Eggs any Style".

When you have booked yourself in for a fortnight at a seaside hotel to get away from it all, the last thing you want is another set of problems. But, as the man found out, even at a seaside hotel there are new problems. Such as what to have for breakfast.

The man studied the breakfast menu on the first day and hesi­tated. There were things on the menu that he hadn’t eaten for months. Things that sounded simultaneously tempting and threatening. Black pudding. Kippers. Arbroath smokies... “May I take your order, sir?”

He looked up into the face of the waiter, a smooth expression­less face. He smiled at the waiter. The waiter did not smile back. Suddenly he felt animosity towards the waiter. He looked again at the menu. His eye fell on an item he had not noticed before. It said, “Eggs, any style”. “I’d like eggs, please,” he said. “How would you like them?” “Art Deco.” “Excuse me, sir?” “It says, ‘eggs any style’. My favorite style is Art Deco.” The waiter’s face flickered ever so slightly. “I'll see what can be done, sir.”

He returned ten minutes later with a boiled egg sitting at the top of a very thin, very tall, undeniably Art Deco eggcup. It had a very long, undeniably 1920s spoon with it.

“Thank you,” the man said. “Not at all,” said the waiter.

The next morning at breakfast the man looked the waiter in the eye and asked for neo-classical eggs. “I’ll see what can be done, sir,” said the waiter. He returned with a plate of scrambled eggs, arranged tastefully under a Palladian arch of toast. “Thank you,” said the man. “Not at all,” said the waiter. On the third day the man asked for Fauvist eggs. “I beg your pardon, sir?” said the waiter. “Fauvist. Fauvism was a short-lived painting movement which preceded Cubism, distinguished by its love of bright colors and bold shapes...”

“I am perfectly well aware of the nature of the Fauvist move­ment, sir,” said the waiter. “I was just not sure whether you had actually said ‘Fauvist’. “It sounded a little also like Fascist and a little like Vorticist and a little like...” “Fauvist,” said the man. “Very good, sir,” said the waiter.

What he brought back was a plate of eggs loosely cooked and dyed with purple and red, smeared across the plate to look like an angry sunset. It was inedible. But it was undeniably Fauvist. “Thank you,” said the man, pushing the mixture to the side of the plate. “Not at all, sir,’ said the waiter, taking the plate away. On succeeding days the man asked for his eggs to be done in a dizzying variety of styles. Futurist, absurdist, Celtic revivalist, Early English, Jazz Age, even melodramatic.

The waiter, backed by the imaginative kitchen, was never once baffled.

The Celtic revivalist eggs had come coddled in a nest of sea­weed. The Jazz Age eggs were done with gin. For the eggs in the style of melodrama, the waiter had brought them simply boiled, then yelled out: “For God’s sake, sir, before you eat those eggs, think of your daughter Nell who even now is being seduced by her cruel landlord for a matter of rent money so small that you could easily have paid it yourself for the very price of these eggs themselves, which have incidentally been poisoned not a moment ago in the kitchen by the very woman you wronged so many years ago in Calcutta!!!”

The rest of the dining room had listened aghast, but the man had to agree that the waiter could not be faulted. On the last day, at breakfast, the man asked for his eggs to be done in a post-modernist style.

“We at this hotel do not think that post-modernism is worthy to be called a style, sir,” said the waiter coldly. “It is merely a ragbag of cultural mannerism.” “So you will not bring me a post-modernist style egg?” “No, sir.”

The two men stared at each other, eyes deadlocked. “In that case,” said the man, “bring me Abroath smokies.” The waiter went away triumphant. He told the kitchen that they had outsmarted the egg-eater. In fact, the truth was quite different, after nearly two weeks of eggs, the man was desperately constipated and needed almost no excuse to choose something else.

(by Miles Kington, Independent 11.09.96)

EXERCISE 14. Answer the following questions.

1. Why should the guest have decided to order eggs in different art styles?

2. What was the first style he ordered eggs in?

3. What kind of dish were eggs in Art Deco style?

4. How did the kitchen-staff manage to present eggs Neo-Classical style?

5. Why did the waiter find it difficult to understand the term 'Fau­vist Style'?

6. How did they cook eggs Fauvist Style?

7. What styles did the client choose on the succeeding days?

8. What were the Celtic revivalist eggs like?

9. What did they invent for the Jazz-Age style eggs?

10. How did the waiter introduce the melodramatic eggs?

11. Why wouldn't the waiter serve a post-modernist style egg?

12. Who was the winner of the game?

EXERCISE 15. Speak of the styles of architecture in Russia in general and of the architectural styles in your native town. Speak of the way the author creates xenonyms for elements of Russian culture.

Late XV and early XVI centuries (reign of Ivan III “the Great”). Mixture of Russo-Byzantine elements. Brick, rather than limestone, becomes primary construction material. Examples the Dormition (Uspensky) Cathedral, Archangel Michael Cathedra and the bell tower of Ivan the Great (the Kremlin).

XVI century (reign of Basil III and Ivan IV, “the Terrible”) Continuation of previous trend, but with new forms of tower votive churches: the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoe and the Cathedral of the Intercession (St. Basil’s) on Red Square.

Late XVI century (period of Boris Godunov). Decorative struc­tures, with pyramids of kokoshniki, or ornamented gables. Examples: Small Cathedral of Don Mother of God, Donskoi Monastery (Moscow).

XVII century. Few structural innovations, but an increase in polychrome ornament (including ceramics) on church facades throughout the century. This period is often referred to as the “Mos­cow Baroque.” Examples: Church of the Trinity in Nikitniki (Mos­cow).

Naryshkin Baroque. Florid style particularly applied to tower churches built on estates of wealthy grandees such as the Naryshkins and Sheremetyevs. Ornaments show increasing Western influence and greater rigor and symmetry in application of decorative detail. Examples: Church of the Intercession in Fili.

XVIII century Baroque. Imported from Europe by Peter the Great and developed by his daughter, Empress Elizabeth, this elaborated decorative style is best known in St. Petersburg. Examples: the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.

Neoclassicism. From the reign of Catherine the Great to that of Nicholas I, Russian and European architects developed a variety of styles based on the classical system of orders for virtually every type of structure, from private houses to major buildings of state. Examples: the Senate in the Kremlin.

Eclecticism; historicism. By the middle of XIX century, Rus­sian architecture had shifted from an acceptance of neoclassicism as a universal architectural measure and began to emphasize the deco­ration of urban building facades in a mixture of styles (eclecticism). As a part of this development there also appeared in the second half of the century a Russian Revival style based on medieval Russian motifs. Examples: Historical Museum, GUM and Igumnov House (French Embassy) in Red Square.

Style Moderne. Russian equivalent of modern European styles in architecture and design, such as Art Nouveau, Jugenstil, etc. Examples: Ryabushinsky House and the Hotel Metropol’ in Moscow.

Avant-garde. Stripped of traditional decorative motifs, this style made use of a bold massing of volumes to create a sense of function and dynamics for a new social order. Often poorly con­structed and maintained. Examples: the Izvestiya Building and Pushkin Square in Moscow.

Stalinist era. From a revival of classical elements to the post­war application of medieval and Renaissance elements to large structures such as skyscrapers, this style focused on architecture as a pompous expression of power. Examples: the Hotel Ukraina.

Late Soviet period. An emphasis on undecorated and assembled on site. Examples: Prospekt Kalinina high rises.

Contemporary eclecticism, post-modernism. Emphasis on a picturesque building silhouette (e.g. towers and turrets), high-tech materials applied in varied colors, reflective glass, decorative quotes from past architectural styles. Examples: Riverside Towers in Moscow.

(After William Brumfield, in Moscow Times 'Real Estate Guide' supplement, 1996'3)

PAINTING

EXERCISE 16. Read the text from Reader’s Digest (June 1996) and study the way the names of paintings, museum and other external terms are reflected in English. Translate the text into Russian. Speak of the proportion of xenonyms and polyonyms.

JOHANNES VERMEER - THE UNIVERSE IN А ROОМ

His paintings are celebrated all over the world, yet only 30 or so are known to survive. He lived so quiet an existence, and so short, dying at 43, that we know very little about him.

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1375), better known as Jan, lived all his life in the provincial Dutch city of Delft. He was married and fathered 15 children, 11 of whom survived infancy. One can imagine the tumult of his crowded house with all those children running about. And yet his paintings have left us a legacy of cool serenity, of calm, of quiet little moments. What did he think? What did he believe? He left us no words in answer and yet he has left us so much, a whole universe in a room, one with plaster walls and tile floor where light pours through a mullioned window and favorite objects - an oriental rug, familiar chairs - appear again and again with the human figures.

And in that marvelous light a young woman fingers a pearl necklace as she gazes into a minor. Is she simply looking at her reflection, or is she reflecting on something far beyond this room? Another woman, more intent upon her immediate surroundings, carefully pours milk from a pitcher. And in one of his most famous paintings, “The Lacemaker” is serenely absorbed in her work. There is something in these faces that transcends the ordinary. Although we know little about Vermeer’s religious convictions, he appears at such moments to be connecting with something sacred.

Vermeer’s paintings have a capacity almost to paralyze with their texture and depth. It seems as if his brush strokes have passed through the very air of these rooms of three centuries past. Such light. Such color. Such a universe. However large it may be, the universe comes down finally to each of us, our dreams, anxieties, excitements. It is this familiar universe of individual lives, of moments frozen in time that Vermeer captured and in so doing captures us.

(by Ralph Kinney Bennett)

EXERCISE 17. Translate the names of the paintings into Russian. Consider the way art xenonyms are expressed in English and in Russian. Supply each canvas with a short comment on the artist's career and his/her pictures in Russian art galleries.

FAMOUS PAINTINGS

1. Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) The Arnolfini Marriage, the National Gallery, London. Fra Angelico (c.1400-1455) The Annunciation, Museo di San Marco, Florence. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516) The Feast of the Gods, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Sandro Botticelli (c.1455-1510) The Birth of Venus, the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) An Old Man and His Son, the Louvre, Paris. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Mona Lisa, the Louvre, Paris. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) Self-Portrait, the Prado, Madrid. Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564) The Creation of Adam, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican, Rome.

2. Giorgione (с.1477-1510) Thе Tempest, Accademia, Venice. Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) (1483-1520) The Alba Madonna National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (c.1487-1576) The Venus of Urbino the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) The Ambassadors the National Gallery, London. Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto (1518-1594) The Origin of the Milky Way, the National Gallery, London. Pieter Bruegel, the Elder (1525/30-1569) The Return of the Hunters, the Museum of Art History, Vienna. Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) The Marriage Feast at Cana, the Louvre, Paris. El Greco (1541-1614) Christ Driving the Traders from the Tern, the National Gallery, London. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610) Bacchus the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1649) The Descent from the Cross, Antwerp Cathedral.

3. Frans Hals (c. 1580-1666) The Laughing Cavalier, the Wallace Collection, London. Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) A Dance to the Music of Time, the Wallace Collection, London. Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) Charles I with an Equerry and Page, the Louvre, Paris. Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) Las Meninas, the Prado, Madrid Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) Portrait of the Artist, Kenwood, London. Johannes Vermeer (1623-1675) Head of a Girl, the Mauritshaus, the Hague. Pietre de Hooch (1629-1684) The Courtyard of a House in Delft, the National Gallery, London. Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) The Embarcation for Cythera, the Louvre, Paris. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) Detail from Kaisersaal, Episcopal Palace, Wurzburg.

4. Antonio Canaletto (1697-1768) The Harbour of San Marco with the Customs House from La Giudecca, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin (1699-1779) The Kitchen Maid, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Francois Boucher (1703-1770) Reclining Girl, the Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) The Swing, the Wallace Collection, London. Francisco Goya (1746-1828) The Third of May, 1808, the Prado, Madrid. Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) The Death of Marat, Les Mu-sees Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) La Grande Odalisque, the Louvre, Paris. Theodore Gericault (1791-1824) The Raft of the Medusa, the Louvre, Paris. Ferdinand-Victor-Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) Liberty Leading the People, the Louvre, Paris. Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) The Studio of the Painter, the Louvre, Paris.

5. Jean Francois Millet (1814-1875) The Gleaners, the Louvre, Paris. Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) Garden with Trees in Blossom, Spring, Pontoise, Jeu de Paume, the Louvre, Paris. Edouard Manet (1832-1883) Le Dejeuner sur I'Herbe, Jeu de Paume, the Louvre, Paris. Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas (1834-1917) Le Foyer de la Danse a l’ Opera, Jeu de Paume, the Louvre, Paris. Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, the Courtauld Institute Galleries, University of London. Claude Monet (1840-1926) Women in the Garden, Jeu de Paul, the Louvre, Paris. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) Le Moulin de la Galette, Jeu de Paume, the Louvre, Paris. Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) The Sleeping Gipsy, the Museum of Modern Art, NY. Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) Where Do We Come from? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) Starry Night, Saint-Remy, the Museum of Modern Art, NY. Georges Seurat (1859-1891) The Bathers. Asniures, the National Gallery, London. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) At the Moulin Rouge, the Art Institute of Chicago. Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) Dining Room on the Garden, the Guggenheim Museum, NY. Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) Mother and Child, the Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery. Henri Matisse (1869-1954) Dance (I), the Museum of Modern Art, NY. Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) The Kiss, Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the Museum of Modern Art, NY. Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) Woman with a Fan, Le Мusse d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Marc Chagall (1887-1985) I and the Village, the Museum of Modern Art, NY.

(Marina Vaizey Famous Paintings, Artus, 1979)

EXERCISE 18. Use this information from the БЭС dictionary to prepare a short talk in English about this Spanish painter.

Франсиско Хосе де Гойя (1746-1828), испанский живописец, гравёр. Свободолюбивое искусство Гойи отличается смелым новаторством, страстной эмоциональностью, фантазией, остро­той характеристики, социально направленным гротеском: картоны для королевской шпалерной мастерской («Игра в жмурки», 1791), портреты («Семья короля Карла IV», 1800), росписи (в капелле церкви Сан Антонио де ла Флорида, 1798, Мадрид, в «Доме Глухого», 1820-1823), графика (серии «Капричос», 1797-1798, «Бедствия войны», 1810-1820), картины («Восстание 2 мая 1808 года в Мадриде» и «Расстрел повстанцев в ночь на 3 мая 1808 года» - обе около 1814). (БЭС)

EXERCISE 19. Restore the omitted parts of the text and then translate the whole into Russian.

GUSTAV KLIMT (1862-1918)

Klimt lived and worked [в скандальном городе в скандальное время]: Vienna in the late 19th century. It was a hothouse of creative activity, producing the deliciously amorous operas of Richard Strauss, the salacious witty plays of Arthur Schnietzler, and a new wave of art and architecture called Jugendstil (Young Style), a variant of [стиль модерн]. All this came together with a new sexual freedom and an emphasis on the female form to produce the highly erotic work of Gustav Klimt.

He was the son of a gold and silver engraver, and this influence can be seen in his [мастерство], and in his [широкое использование золота]. Не [основал весьма популярную студию художников] which provided mural decorations for public buildings and private houses. By 1898 he was [и основатель и президент недавно созданного общества художников], the Vienna Secession, and had embarked on an intellectually fashionable career. His later style was much influenced by a visit paid in 1903 to Ravenna, where he was dazzled by the ancient mosaics, which decorated the churches.

[Климт был молчаливым человеком], but he expressed himself eloquently through his art. He never married, but he adored women and often painted them. The Kiss, his most famous painting <0sterreichischte Galerie, Vienna>, was shown in 1908 at a major exhibition in Vienna, and, [несмотря на сексуальную смелость картины], it was bought by the Austrian government.

(Marina Vaizey. Famous Paintings. Artus, 1979)

EXERCISE 20. Translate into English making use of The Dictionary of RUSSIA.