Iconostasis
The iconostasis is an “icon of the Church” in its growth, depicting in its various tiers the history of the salvation from Adam to Судный день. In its complete form the iconostasis incorporates five tiers, a counterpart of what is proclaimed in word and song in the Orthodox liturgy.
The upper tier, of праотеческий ряд, represents the Old Testament from Adam to Моисей; the center holds the icon of the Holy Trinity (the Three Angels appearing to Abraham).
Below this is пророческий ряд the row of the Prophets, from Моисей to Christ; they hold scrolls prophesying the Incarnation. In the center is the icon of Знамения Божией Матери, a depiction of Isaiah’s prophecy about the virgin and the child Emmanuel.
Below is the tier of Festivals, representing Новый Завет. These icons depict the life of Богородица and Christ, as they are celebrated in the Church year. They include, among others, Введение во храм Богородицы, the Nativity of Christ, Преображение.
The next tier is called Deesis, ‘prayer’. Here, angels and saints are set in relation to the central triptych where Christ is approached by His Mother and Иоанн (Креститель) Предтеча in an attitude of intercession.
Below is the ‘local’ tier; icons of locally-venerated saints or events, and two large icons of Christ and the Mother of God on either side of the Царские ворота which show the Annunciation and the Four Evangelists, symbolizing the advent of the Kingdom. (CamEnc’1994)
Choose the correct words
the row of the Prophets <> the Presentation of the Mother of God in the Temple <> St. John the Baptist (“the Forerunner”) <> The tier of the Forethers <> Moses <> the icon of the Mother of God of the Sign <> the Mother of God <> the Transfiguration <> the Holy Door <> the Last Judgement <> the New Testament
EXERCISE 10. Translate this extract into Russian. Make it comprehensible for an oral explanation to a group of tourists. §79.3
The yurodivye are usually referred to in English as “fools in Christ.” Found only in Byzantium and Rus’, and in the latter mostly from the 15th to 17th centuries, they were maverick “holy men” who would go around naked or in rags, sometimes with their faces blackened, with chains round their waists or deliberately drawing attention to sores on their bodies: in short, they flouted all normal conventions regarding attractiveness and even decency of the person. (Hosking A History of the Soviet Union 2001)
EXERCISE 11. Explain (orally) these terms of the RPrCh to foreigners. §§79.3
MODEL: автокефальная церковь : an Eastern ‘Orthodox’ Church appointing its own head.
1. лавра. <> 2. старцы (православные). <> 3. церковный купол <> 4. Масленица. <> 5. юродивый. <> 6. двуперстие. <> 7. епархия. <> 8. игумен. <> 9. иконостас. <> 10. Старый Новый год. <> 11. Царские ворота <>
EXERCISE 12. Translate this text into Russian paying special attention to the manner of presentation of the names of Russian churches. §79.3
Veliky Novgorod
Novgorod [is] the country’s oldest city, first mentioned in chronicles of 859. In 882 Oleg, prince of Novgorod, captured Kiev and moved his capital there; the town assembly, or veche, elected their prince, chiefly as a military commander; it flourished as one of the greatest trading centres of eastern Europe, with links by river routes to the Baltic, Byzantium, Central Asia, and all parts of European Russia; trade with the Hanseatic League was considerable since Novgorod was the limit of Hanseatic trade into Russia.
Historical sites include the kremlin on the Volkhov left bank (the Sofiyskaya Storona), first built in 1044, with the St. Sofia Cathedral, built in 1045-50, one of the finest examples of early Russian architecture, with magnificent bronze doors from the 12th century; the Granovitaya (‘Faceted’) palata palace (1433), the bell tower (1443), and the St. Sergey Chapel. The Chapel of St. Andrew Stratilata was built in the 17th century. Across the Volkhov (the Torgovaya Storona) stands the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, dating from 1113. In and around Novgorod are many other surviving churches, including the 12th-century cathedrals of the Nativity of Our Lady and of St. George, the 14th-century churches of the Transfiguration and of St. Theodore Stratilata, and the 17th-century Znamensky Cathedral; an important tourist centre and a major producer of chemical fertilizers. (EncBr)*
* See the Key (Veliky Novgorod).
EXERCISE 13. Compare the original text and its English translation: find the counterparts of the words in the bold type; point out the losses in the description of Russian culture. §§79.3
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Они хранили в жизни мирной Привычки милой старины; У них на масленицежирной Водились русские блины; Два раза в год они говели; Любили круглые качели, Подблюдныпесни,хоровод; В день Троицын, когда народ Зевая, слушает молебен, Умильно на пучок зари Они роняли слезки три; Им кваскак воздух был потребен И за столом у них гостям Носили блюда по чинам. А.С.Пушкин, Евг.Он., гл.2: 35.
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They kept the good old ways and wallowed At Carnival in savory cheer, Eating the pancakes custom hallowed; They took communion twice a year; At Christmas carols were their pleasure; They liked to tread a country measure; At Whitsun, when the populace Yawned through the long thanksgiving Mass, To sentiment the pair conceded A tear upon the kingcups shed; To certain habits they were wed; As men need air, ‘twas kvass they needed, Liked hearty guests who ate and drank, And served each course to them by rank. Translated by Babette Deutsch.
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Few would deny that the Russians have produced the greatest of European literatures, at least in the field of poetry and the novel. (Fodor'1989 The Soviet Union)
LESSON 12.
LITERATURE
EXERCISE 1. (a) Read the text restoring the omitted parts and (b) answer the questions given below. §§ 79.4
«ГЕРОЙ НАШЕГО ВРЕМЕНИ»
Critics nearly always call Lermontov’s «Герой нашего времени» a novel, but in its general shape the work does not conform to the familiar pattern, which we see in the traditional English or French nineteenth-century novel from writers such as Stendhal and Balzac, George Eliot and Hardy, or in a Russian work like, say, Turgenev’s «Отцы и дети». Consider the shape of «Отцы и дети». First of all, it has a fairly obvious beginning, middle and end. At the beginning most of the characters are introduced, both to the reader and to each other; in the middle they undergo various experiences, as a result of which they change and develop; and at the end they go their separate, or newly shared ways. Secondly, in «Отцы и дети» Turgenev presents the various incidents which make up his story straightforwardly and, for the most part, in chronological order; one event leads clearly on to the next, and at the end everything is neatly tied up. Thirdly, the action is described from the viewpoint of one calm, unbiased and apparently omniscient narrator, whose tone remains consistent and even from the first page to the last.
«Отцы и дети», however, is in its shape far from a typical nineteenth-century Russian novel, the majority of which do not follow this familiar and seemingly obvious pattern but indeed evince a striking waywardness of form. Pushkin’s «Евгений Онегин», for instance, is written not in prose, but in regular 14-line stanzas. Pushkin himself called his masterpiece роман в стихах. Gogol’s «Мертвые души» is certainly written in prose, but the author dubbed his work «поэма»; it roams and wanders like a great Russian river, but without reaching a goal. Remember Tolstoy’s «Война и мир», which Henry James (who felt more at home with Turgenev) called a ‘large, loose and baggy monster’, and remember, too, Dostoevsky’s «Братья Карамазовы», which is almost equally baggy and moreover as unfinished as «Мертвые души». In this company, it must be admitted, «Отцы и дети» appears somewhat less eccentric in its shape than it might elsewhere.
But what is the shape of Lermontov’s masterpiece and how does the novel fit together? The most obvious feature is that «Герой нашего времени» is divided, not into a flowing stream of consecutively numbered chapters, but into seven quite distinct sections. Moreover, these seven sections are presented by four different people: firstly, Lermontov’s main fictional narrator, an anonymous traveler, relates the opening two episodes, Bela and Maksim Maksimych, though one must remember that in Bela this ostensible narrator not only describes his journey through the Caucasus but also, more importantly, transmits Maksim Maksimych’s stories about Pechorin. Since the latter are given verbatim, Maksim Maksimych too must be included in the list of narrators. The anonymous traveler-narrator also contributes the explanatory «Предисловие» к «Журналу Печорина». Then, Pechorin himself is the writer of the said diary, which contains the three episodes Taman’, «Княжна Мэри» and «Фаталист». Finally, Lermontov himself speaks directly to the reader, but only very briefly, in the Forward to the whole book — a section which was added to the original text for the second edition of A Hero of Our Time in 1841. (D.J. Richards; in: Cockrell R. 1985)
1. How do critics classify A Hero of Our Time?
2. Who are, in the authors opinion, the writers that wrote the traditional English or French nineteenth-century novel?
3. How does the author describe the shape of Turgenev’s Father and Sons?
4. What makes up Turgenev’s story straightforwardly and, for the most part, in chronological order?
5. How is the tone of Turgenev’s narrator described?
6. How typical is Father and Sons in its shape?
7. How did Pushkin call his masterpiece?
8. What does the author compare Gogol’s Dead Souls to and why?
9. How did Henry James refer to War and Peace?
10. What is peculiar about the shape of Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time?
11. What does the author mean saying that Maksim Maksimych’s stories about Pechorin are given verbatim?
12. Does Lermontov himself speak directly to the reader at all?
EXERCISE 2. Translate the Russian text into English making use of the text from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia given below. §§ 79.4
Н.С. Лесков (1831-95) родился в семье мелкого чиновника. Учился в Орловской гимназии. С 16 лет начал работать чиновником, несколько лет был помощником управляющего крупными поместьями. В 1861 году переселился в Петербург и начал писательскую деятельность со статей и фельетонов. В 60-е годы создаёт ряд замечательных реалистических произведений, в том числе и знаменитую «Леди Макбет Мценского уезда» (1865). Ведёт полемику с революционными демократами: романы «Некуда» (1864) и «Обойдённые» (1865) направлены против “новых людей”. Лесков пытается доказать тщетность и бесплодность усилий революционного лагеря, создаёт шаржированные типы нигилистов в романе-пасквиле «На ножах» (1870-71). Сам Лесков не считал себя антинигилистом, ссылаясь на то, что в его романах есть образы идеальных нигилистов.
В середине 70-х годов в мировоззрении Лескова происходит перелом. В этот период он создаёт целую галерею типов праведников - могучих духом, талантливых патриотов русской земли: роман Соборяне (1872), повести и рассказы – «Очарованный странник», «Запечатлённый ангел» (1873). По словам М.Горького: “После злого романа «На Ножах» литературное творчество Лескова сразу становится яркой живописью или, скорее, иконописью, - он начинает создавать для России иконостас её святых и праведников”.
В творчестве Лескова необычайно сильны мотивы национальной самобытности русского народа, например в «Сказе о тульском косом Левше и о стальной блохе» (1881). Тема гибели народных талантов на Руси раскрыта Лесковым в повести «Тупейный художник» (1883). Последняя повесть Лескова «Заячий ремиз» (1891-94, опубликована в 1917) - сатира на политическую реакцию 80-90-х годов.
Лесков тщательно изучал безбрежную стихию народного языка. Его повествовательный стиль характеризуется использованием народных речений, жаргонных словечек, варваризмов и неологизмов, богатого лексикона вымышленных слов, сатирически переосмысляющих общепринятые понятия. (CamEnc’94)
N.S. Leskov (1831-95) is an original talent who has found little honor in his own land. A raznochinets (educated man of the nongentry class) by birth, he acquired a profound first-hand knowledge of the manners, culture and language of the provincial masses. His career in literature began badly with two long novels, No Way Forward (1864) and At Daggers Drawn (1870-71), which alienated the critics by their overtly hostile treatment of the young radicals.
Cathedral Folk (1872) is one of his finest works. A ‘chronicle’ centered upon a study of the provincial clergy, it is a marvelous compendium of the poignant and the hilarious, and establishes a fundamental theme in Leskov — that of the ‘righteous man’. This pravednik is a uniquely Russian type, simple, selfless and submissive, yet endowed with many qualities of the bogatyr’, the epic folk-hero. Non-conformist and antagonistic to authority, Leskov’s ‘righteous men’ are moved by conscience, instinct and a zest for life which takes no heed of conventional morality.
Outstanding among Leskov’s other longer works are The Enchanted Wanderer (1874), The Sealed Angel (1874) and The Hare Park (1894, published 1917), while the most famous of his short pieces are The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1865), On the Edge of the World (1876), The Left-Handed Craftsman (1882) and The Sentry (1887).
Though working within a prose tradition, which at the best of times took little, heed of formal convention, Leskov is by far the most daring and innovatory stylist of his age. Favoring the first-person narrative mode, particularly that vernacular variety known in Russian as skaz, Leskov’s narratives are characterized by a defiant disorder - a formal expression of his belief in the primacy of the natural and the instinctive. Nor has any other writer made such effective use of the rich expressive resources of Russian provincial dialects.
EXERCISE 3. Write a 100-word text promoting the publication of selected works by Leskov.
EXERCISE 4. Translate the sentences into English. §§ 79.4
1. Русская литература начинается с “Повести временных лет”.
2. Рукопись “Слова о полку Игореве” погибла во время Московского пожара.
3. “Домострой”, литературное произведение середины XVI века, содержащее свод правил поведения, стало нарицательным именем для обозначения семьи, в которой безраздельно главенствует мужчина.
4. Протопоп Аввакум оставил подробную автобиографию – «Житие».
5. Фонвизин остался в литературе благодаря своим пьесам “Бригадир” и “Недоросль”, которые редко ставятся в наше время.
6. Величайший русский баснописец И.А. Крылов стоит в одном ряду лучших баснописцев всех времён и народов.
7. По возвращении из поездки в Европу Карамзин опубликовал “Письма русского путешественника”.
8. “История российского государства” Карамзина до сих пор остаётся настольной книгой всех любителей русской культуры.
9. Прочитав сочинение Радищева “Путешествие из Петербурга в Москву”, Екатерина заявила, что он бунтовщик хуже Пугачева.
10. Грибоедов написал лишь одно известное произведение - комедию “Горе от ума”, название которой не поддаётся переводу на английский язык.
EXERCISE 5. Translate the sentences into English paying particular attention to the literary terminology. §§ 79.4
А.С. ПУШКИН
1. Пушкин учился в Царскосельском лицее.
2. В 1834 году Пушкин был назначен камер-юнкером.
3. В 1830 год Пушкин написал “Маленькие трагедии”: “Моцарт и Сальери”, “Пир во время чумы”, “Скупой рыцарь”, “Каменный гость”.
4. Поэма-рассказ “Медный всадник” (1833) по праву считается самым совершенным и зрелым плодом его поэтического мастерства.
5. “Повести Белкина” высмеивали стереотипы персонажей романтизма и сентиментализма.
6. “Капитанская дочка” (1836) – это шедевр стилистической краткости.
7. Произведения Пушкина включают и вариации на тему русского народного творчества: “Сказка о попе и его работнике Балде” (1830) и “Сказка о царе Салтане” (1824-31).
8. Пушкин настолько доминирует в области литературы, что целая группа незаурядных поэтов известна лишь под названием “пушкинская плеяда”.
10. Роман “Герой нашего времени” стал вершиной творчества Лермонтова, а его смерть – концом Золотого века русской поэзии.
EXERCISE 6. Translate the sentences into English paying particular attention to the literary terminology. §§ 79.4
1. Комедия Гоголя “Ревизор” популярна на Западе.
2. Композиция поэмы-романа “Мёртвые души” это ироническое воспроизведение “Одиссеи”.
4. В конце жизни Гоголь написал “Избранные места из переписки с друзьями”.
5. Белинский был родом из разночинцев и стал известен в основном своими критическим статьями, которые появлялись в журналах “Отечественные записки” и “Современник”.
6. Тургенев вышел из дворянской семьи.
7. Первым литературным успехом Тургенева стала публикация “Записок охотника”.
8. Тургенев в основном работал в жанре повести и романа.
9. Выдающимися в ряду повестей Тургенева можно считать “Затишье”, “Ася”, “Первая любовь”, “Вешние воды” и “Степной король Лир”.
10. Название романа Тургенева “Дворянское гнездо” стало нарицательным для обозначения типичного дореволюционного дворянского поместья.
11. “Отцы и дети” примечательно в первую очередь превосходно выписанной трагической фигурой героя романа, Базарова.
12. Нигилист Базаров бросает вызов природе.
EXERCISE 7. (a) Replace the Russian words of the text with their English counterparts. (b) Translate the text then into Russian. §§ 79.4
Russian Fairy Tale
One of the most ancient and prolific folk genres is the tale. The Russians possess variants of well-known fairy tales such as «Белоснежка» or «Золушка», as well as many original subjects, each in countless different versions. Folk tales are of three kinds: fairy-tales, animal tales of everyday life. Best known are the fairy tales, perhaps originally connected with the primitive shamanistic beliefs of the Ural-Altaic peoples, attributing power over good and evil to the tribal priest-doctor.
Their hero is either a prince or a low-born fool, «Иванушка дурачок», who ultimately marries the princess. Fairy tales all center on a dangerous quest, during which the hero encounters the famous figures of peasant folklore, such as Баба Яга, who lives in избушка на курьих ножках, and Кощей Бессмертный who can only be killed if the egg that contains his death can be discovered. To enable him to combat the evil, the hero receives help usually either from magical animals or from objects like the comb that can turn into a forest or the purse that never empties.
Animal tales describe comic encounters between animals, who are given a distinguishing human characteristic. Thus the most popular character, the Fox Lizaveta or Lisa Patrikeevna (lisa means ‘fox’) specializes in sweet words and flattery. Fearsome animals are turned into figures of fun: Mishka or Mikhail Potapovich, the Bear, though known for his strength as ‘the uprooter of trees’ is slow and clumsy. Even more stupid is the ‘gray fool’, the Wolf, who is constantly outwitted.
Full of lively dialogue, rhymes and snatches of song, animal tales are still popular with Russian children. The tales of everyday life are generally of more recent origin. They are based on the motif of the triumph of the underdog: the fool over the clever man. Their comic and satiric touches (the priest and the landlord are figures of fun) and their lively colloquial style ensures their popularity. (CamEnc’1994)
EXERCISE 8. Work out a 100-word text for the back cover of the English translation of Russian fairy-tales. §§ 79.4
EXERCISE 9. Test your knowledge of Russian culture.
1. What is the name of the peninsula, situated across the Bering Strait from Alaska?
2. What is the name of the Russian soldier and statesman, who was at the head of the Russian army during the Russo-Polish war (1632-34) and was accused of treason, and executed?
Versions: 1. Shuisky <> 2. Golitsyn <> 3. Tolstoi <> 4. Shein
3. The son of a provincial doctor, he was expelled from the University of Moscow (1832) and earned his living thereafter as a journalist. His first substantial critical articles were part of a series that he wrote for the journal Teleskop ("Telescope") beginning in 1834. (EncBr)
What is the name of this person described by the EncBr as an “eminent Russian literary critic who is often called the "father" of the Russian radical intelligentsia”?
4. What is the name of that general?
This is a general who was captured by the Germans during WWII and who then headed the so-called Russian Liberation Army (ROA) and fought against the Red Army; after the end of the war he was extradited by the Allies and executed by the Soviets.
5. What is the name of the writer described here and of his family estate?
He spent most of his time trying to be comme il faut (socially correct), drinking, gambling, and engaging in debauchery. After leaving the university in 1847 without a degree, he returned to his family estate, where he planned to educate himself, to manage his estate, and to improve the lot of his serfs. Despite frequent resolutions to change his ways, he continued his loose life during stays in Tula, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. In 1851 he joined his older brother Nikolai, an army officer, in the Caucasus and then entered the army himself. He took part in campaigns against the native Caucasian tribes and, soon after, in the Crimean War (1853-56). (EncBr)
6. What is the name of “an arm of the Arctic Ocean north of Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, between the New Siberian Islands (west) and Wrangel Island (east)” (EncBr)?
7. Despite his precautions, he was arrested in 1929 and exiled to the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. From 1945 to 1961 he taught at the Mordovian Teachers Training College. He is especially known for his work on the Russian writer Fëdor Dostoevsky, Problemy tvorchestva Dostoevskogo (1929; 2nd ed., 1963, retitled Problemy poetiki Dostoevskogo; Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics), which he published under his own name just before he was arrested. It is considered one of the finest critical works on Dostoevsky. (EnсBr)
What is his name?
8. What is the name of the person thus described by the Encyclopedia Britannica?
Son of a poor priest, he joined the staff of the review Sovremennik ("Contemporary") in 1854. Though he focused on social and economic evils and tried to expound predictable laws of economic change, he followed his fellow journalist Vissarion Belinsky and the English utilitarians in preaching a highly purified egoism as the most natural and desirable mainspring of human conduct. He was a Westernizer who opposed nationalist Slavophiles.
9. What is the name of that person?
About 1927 he began experimentation with a glider that resembled a giant insect. The glider, which he called Letatlin, never flew, but it engaged his interest throughout his later life. After 1933 he worked largely as a stage designer. EncBr
10. What is the name of that person?
He was the son of a retired army captain. At the age of three he lost his mother and was brought up by his grandmother, Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsen’eva, on her estate in Penzenskaya province. Russia's abundant natural beauty, its folk songs and tales, its customs and ceremonies, the hard forced labour of the serfs, and stories and legends of peasant mutinies all had a great influence in developing the future poet's character. Because the child was often ill, he was taken to spas in the Caucasus on three occasions, where the exotic landscapes created lasting impressions on him. (EncBr)
11. Which of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ is referred to in Russia as “the First Called” (translating it literally into English)?
12. In the 1960s the school of semiotics connected with Tartu University (USSR, Estonia) under the direction of *** produced world-renowned studies of Russian and Soviet culture and literature. (EncBr)
Who was at the head of that school?
13. Offended by a posthumously published play by *** (1742-91), Vadim Novgorodsky (Vadim of Novgorod), Catherine II had copies of the manuscript burned and the published text torn from the offending volume. (EncBr)
What is the name of the author?
1. Knyazhnin <> 2. Novikov <> 3. Fonvizin <> 4. Trediakovsky
14. What is his name?
Russian author, publicist, and politician who, with Maksim Gor’kiy, did much to ensure the preservation of works of art during the civil war of 1918-20. Shortly after the Revolution he was appointed Commissar of the newly created Commissariat of Enlightenment (Narkompros). (EncBr)
15. What is the term used semi-technically in reference to a short period of liberalization (the late 1950s – early 1960s) under Khrushchev, called so after Il’ya Erenburg’s novel of the same title?
KEY: Choose the correct answer.
<> Andrei Pervozvannyi, the First Called (St. Andrew) <> Mikhail M. Bakhtin <> Vissarion G. Belinsky <> Nikolai G. Chernyshevsky <> Chukchi Peninsula (Chukotka) <> East Siberian Sea <> Yakov B. Knyazhnin <> Mikhail Yu. Lermontov <> Yurii M. Lotman <> Anatoliy V. Lunacharsky <> Mikhail B. Shein <> Vladimir E. Tatlin <> “Thaw” (Russian: ottepel’) <> Lev (Leo) Nikolaevich Tolstoi <> Andrei A. Vlasov <> Yasnaya Polyana <>
Lesson 13.
ARTS
EXERCISE 1. (a) Read the text replacing the Russian words in the text with their English counterparts. (b) Answer the questions given below. §§ 79.4
The Silver Age of Russian Culture
The early years of Nicholas’s reign were a period of such glittering intellectual and cultural achievement that they are known as the “русский Ренессанс” or the “Silver Age”. The ferment of activity and new ideas included not only politics but philosophy and science, music and art.
In literature, Anton Chekhov was writing the plays and short stories, which would become world classics. In 1898, Konstantin Stanislavsky first opened the doors of the famous Московский Художественный театр, and its second play, Chekhov’s «Чайка», written in 1896, determined its success. Thereafter the appearance of «Дядя Ваня» (1899) and «Вишневый сад» (1904) confirmed the arrival of a new concept of naturalistic acting and a new era in the history of the theatre. In 1902, Stanislavsky directed «На дне», a grimly realistic play by Maksim Gor’kiy, hitherto known primarily for his massive novels. In Kiev, from 1900 to 1905, Шолом-Алейхем was devoting himself entirely to writing in Yiddish the scores of short stories, which have made him known as the “Jewish Mark Twain”.
In philosophy, Vladimir Solov’ev, the preeminent religious philosopher and poet, had begun publishing his works in 1894. In 1904, the poems of Solov’ev’s famous disciple Александр Блок began to appear. At the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Petersburg, Ivan Pavlov, one of a group of Russian scientists making significant advances in chemistry and medicine, was conducting the experiments in physiology, which won him a Nobel Prize in 1904.
Russian painting was in transition. Il’ya Repin, then a professor of historical painting at Императорская Академия художеств, was crowning a career of painting the great historical scenes of Russia’s past. Viktor Vasnetsov and Mikhail Nesterov had gone back even further and were attempting to re-create medieval religious art.
Meanwhile, a rank of younger artists was responding excitedly to exhibitions in Russia of Сезанна, Гогена and Пикассо. Serov, influenced by the French Impressionists, painted evocative portraits of many contemporary Russians including, in 1900, the Tsar. In 1896, Vasilii Kandinsky, a lawyer in Moscow, gave up his career and left Russia to begin painting in Munich. In 1907, Марк Шагал arrived in St Petersburg to study with the famous contemporary painter Lev Bakst.
1. What period of Russian culture is usually referred to as the Silver Age?
2. What made stage productions of the Moscow Art Theater at that time so successful?
3. What was the name of Gor’ky’s play successfully staged by Stanislavsky?
4. What is the pen-name of the writer known as the “Jewish Mark Twain”?
5. What is the name of philosopher Solov’ev’s famous disciple?
6. What kind of art did Viktor Vasnetsov and Mikhail Nesterov try to recreate?
7. What career did Vasily Kandinsky pursue before shifting to painting?
EXERCISE 2. Back-translate this part of the text making use of these bits of the original. §§ 79.4
in the midst of a half-century reign as choreographer <> resign <> stage <> thrust onto the stage <> the glittering parade <> to be measured for excellence against the standards set by Petipa <> the influential journal <> criticize editorially <> a daring new choreographer <> took the world by storm <> the superlative music conservatories <> an unbroken succession of famous teachers passed their art to <> the conductor of the St Petersburg Symphony <> ballet scores <> to have gigantic influence on <> conduct a symphony orchestra <> the matchless basso <> to make one’s debut <> to dominate the opera scene <> people flocked
Мариус Петипа, знаменитый хореограф, приближался к финалу своей пятидесятилетней творческой карьеры, которую он завершил, уйдя в отставку в 1903 году. К этому времени он успел поставить шестьдесят замечательных балетных спектаклей, в том числе “Лебединое озеро”, “Щелкунчик” и “Спящая красавица” на музыку П.И. Чайковского. Именно Петипа вывел на сцену целое созвездие таких исполнителей, как Матильда Кшесинская, Тамара Карсавина, Анна Павлова и Вацлав Нижинский. И поныне мастерство знаменитых балетных трупп оценивают по стандартам, установленным Мариусом Петипа.
В 1899 году Сергей Дягилев основал влиятельный журнал “Мир искусства”, в передовых статьях которого он начал критиковать консервативный стиль Петипа. Вместе со смелым новатором, хореографом Михаилом Фокиным Дягилев создал в Париже “Русский балет” и штурмом завоевал сердца балетоманов всего мира.
В прославленных консерваториях Санкт-Петербурга и Москвы преподавали знаменитые профессора, передававшие своё искусство талантливым ученикам. Главным дирижёром Санкт-Петербургского симфонического оркестра был Н. Римский-Корсаков. В период создания своей замечательной оперы “Золотой петушок” композитор преподавал молодому Игорю Стравинскому, сочинившему музыку для дягилевских балетных спектаклей “Жар-Птица” (1910 г.), “Петрушка” (1911 г.) и “Весна священная” (1913 г.), которым суждено было оказать огромное влияние на музыкальное творчество всех композиторов XX века.
В 1914 году окончил консерваторию Сергей Прокофьев, тоже ученик Римского-Корсакова. В числе скрипачей и пианистов, получивших музыкальное образование в императорской России, были Владимир Горовец, Ефрем Цимбалист, Миша Эльман и Яша Хейфиц. Сергей Кусевицкий был дирижером собственного симфонического оркестра, выступавшего в Москве. В 1899 году состоялся дебют несравненного Фёдора Шаляпина, который с тех пор не сходил с оперной сцены.
Во всех частях России люди валом валили в теaтры, чтобы послушать музыкальные произведения и оперу. В Киеве, Одессе, Варшаве и Тифлисе были собственные оперные театры, где театральный сезон продолжался от восьми до девяти месяцев. В одном лишь Санкт-Петербурге насчитывалось четыре оперных театра. (R. Massie. Nicholas and Alexandra)
EXERCISE 3. Prepare short versions (200 words each) of the both parts of the text about the Silver Age of Russian culture: (a) for a respectable newspaper; (b) to be presented orally to a group of tourists. §§ 79.4
EXERCISE 4. (a) Read this 318-word article from the Encyclopedia Britannica, translate it into Russian. (b) Write a 100-word formal summary of it. Pay special attention to the French words incorporated into the text. Give your reasons for it. Explain the spelling of the names of Russian-born people. § 79.4