LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519)

High Renaissance style was founded by one of the most gifted indi­viduals ever born. Leonardo da Vinci fulfilled the Renaissance ideal of the Universal Man. He was not only a great painter and sculptor, but also the outstanding architect, an inventor, an engineer, a musician, and leading physicist, botanist, anatomist, geologist and geographer of his time.

Leonardo’s fame as an artist is based on eighteen paintings that came down to us, some of them incomplete, some damaged as a result of his experimental techniques. Leonardo’s art surpassed the achievements of his time.

Leonardo’s power as an artist and thinker is evident in the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, his two most famous works.

There are two Leonardo’s paintings in the Hermitage Museum. They are the Madonna with a Flower and the Madonna Litta.

Note: the Last Supper – «Тайная вечеря»

1. Who founded High Renaissance style in painting?

2. Why have so few of Leonardo’s paintings come down to us?

3. What are Leonardo’s most famous works?

4.17 Read the text and say if the architecture in the place where you live is important for you.

ARCHITECTURE

Architecture is the art of building structures. The term covers the de­sign of any structure for living or working in: houses, churches, temples, palaces, castles; and, as such, the style of building of any particular coun­try at any period of history. For example, the civilization of ancient Egypt provided the pyramids, massive monuments of exact symmetry with deco­rative sculptures and wall painting. Examples include Karnak and tombs of the Valley of the Kings.

The great example of classical Greek architecture is the Parthenon in Athens.

Notes: temple – храм ; tomb [tHm] – могила

4.18 Read the text and ask questions about the famous architects and painters.

Le Corbusier.Pseudonym ['sjHdqnIm] of Charles E. Jeanneret (1887-1965), Swiss-born French architect. His works include the Palace of the Nations, Geneva and the town plan for Chandigarh, India.

The great Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh(1853-1890) wished to give visible form to every emotion and used brilliant unnatural colours to express his inner passions, even in something as simple as a pot of sunflowers.

Rene Magritte(1898-1967) painted dream-world scenes filled with symbolism and humorous couplings of illusion and reality.

Gaudi Antonio (1852-1926) is a Spanish architect noted for his style. His Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona was begun in 1883 and is still under construction.

4.19 Read the questions, then read the text and answer the questions.

1.When and where did music originate? 2.What are the main genres of music? 3.What is the role of music in other arts? 4.What is the role of music in our life?

MUSIC

Music is one of the oldest arts. People probably started singing as soon as language developed. Many ancient peoples including the Egyp­tians, Chinese, Babylonians and the people of India used music in religious ceremonies. The first written music dates from about 2500 BC.

Nowadays there are many various musical genres. Among them are classical music, country music, rock music, rhythm and blues music, reggae, electronic music, punk, hip-hop, rap and so on. All attempts to divide music into different genres are artificial. Musicians tend to produce music in any style without concerning themselves with which genres they are working in. For example, Gershwin’s ”Rhapsody in Blue” is referred to both jazz and classical music.

Music plays a major role in other arts. Opera combines singing and orchestral music with drama. Ballet and other forms of dancing need music to help the dancers. Films and TV dramas use music to set mood and em­phasize the action.

Music plays an important part in all cultures and social activities. Many people perform and listen to music for their own satisfaction. Singing in a choir or playing a musical instrument in a band can be very enjoyable. Music provides people with the way to express their feelings.

Notes: a choir [kwaIq] – хор

an attempt – попытка

to emphasize – придавать выразительность, выделять

4.20 Grammar for revision. Expressing future actions. Discuss your plans for this evening and use the Present Continuous to talk about fixed arrangements in the near future. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct form.

A: You (do) anything special this evening?

B: I’m not sure. Why?

A: Would you like (come) with me? A world-famous singer (perform) at our theatre.

B: I don’t know, I really (not want) to go out tonight. What about tomorrow?

A: I’d love to, but I (go) to a concert with my friends.

B: Well, can we do something this weekend?

A: Sure. You (plan) anything for Sunday? If not, let’s go to a concert of modern music.

В: Yes, why not?

4.21 Read the stories about two great composers and retell them.

THE MASTER

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany. His father and grandfather were musicians. Ludwig started learning the violin and the piano at a very early age. When he was only 13, he published his first composition. In 1787 he travelled to Vienna to study under Mozart, but returned to Bonn because his mother was dying. After her death he moved to Vienna, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1795 he gave his first public performance as a pianist, and it was a success.

In the late 1790s, Beethoven began to lose his hearing and by 1819 he was completely deaf. It was during this period that he wrote some of the most famous compositions like Moonlight, Pastoral, Emperor. After he became deaf, he continued to compose great music which was joyful and optimistic. In the later years, he was lonely and depressed and didn’t write much. Although he fell in love several times, he never married. Beethoven died of pneumonia on March 26, 1827. More than 10,000 people came to his funeral.

Beethoven was the first composer who used music to express deep feelings and such ideas as his belief in freedom and heroism. Even today he is, for many people, the greatest composer.

Notes: deaf [def] – глухой; a funeral – похороны

SERGEY RACHMANINOFF

Sergey Rachmaninoff was an outstanding Russian composer and musician. He was born in 1873 not far from Novgorod and died in California in 1943, aged seventy. He studied at the Conservatories of St. Petersburg and Moscow. After the revolution, in 1917, he emigrated to the USA. His music is melodious and emotional. His greatest compositions are the Prelude, The Second and Third Piano Concertos and the Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini. As a pianist he toured the world extensively. He became famous with audiences around the world for his piano performances.

4.22 Read, memorize and act out the dialogue. Then talk about your music preferences using phrases in bold.

ROCK AND POP MUSIC

A: Do you like listening to music?

B: Sure.

A: What kind of music do you prefer?

B: It depends. Mostly rock and pop music, but sometimes classical and country music. And you?

A: As for me, I listen to all kinds of music, even the music my parents listen to. For example, the Beatles, a British pop group.

B: I also like the Beatles. Their music is based on rock and roll exported from the USA. But it is very different from any other American music.

A: Yes, you are right. It was the birth of a new pop culture. It influenced the musical culture of many countries. By the way, do you remember their names?

B: Of course, I do. George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney. Do you know the names of any other British singers?

A: Naturally, Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones, Elton John and many others.

4.23 Read the text and say what main kinds of literature exist. Give examples of books written in different literary genres.

LITERATURE

In the ancient oral traditions, before stories and poems were written down, literature had a mainly public function – mythic and religious. Oral literature included folk tales, legends, proverbs and ancient epics, such as the Greek Odyssey. Poetry had an advantage over prose those days – it was easier to memorize.

As literary works came to be preserved in writing, and then printed, their role became more private, as a means for the expression of emotions. There appeared lots of different literary genres. Among them are adventure stories, detective stories, biographies and autobiographies, fantasy, science fiction, novels, historical novels and others.

Prose is sometimes defined as “words in their best order” and poetry as “the best words in their best order”.

4.24 Here are the names of some famous writers and poets. Say what countries they are from:

Russia, England, Scotland, America, the Ukraine

William Shakespeare, Mikhail Lermontov, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, Anton Chekhov, Ray Bradbury, Alexander Pushkin, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Ivan Turgenev, Taras Shevchenko, Robert Burns

4.25 Read the texts about two great writers and add more facts of their lives.