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CULTURAL LIFE IN UKRAINE, GREAT BRITAIN AND THE USA

Rkadlng activities

Activity 2. Before reading the text given below try to answer the following questions:

Cultural life and traditions in Ukraine

1. What are the most widespread folk crafts in Ukraine?

2. What musical instruments of today could be found in Ukrainian homes in the Middle Ages?

3. Who were the main heroes in Ukrainian «Vertep»?

4. Why are there so many different patterns and ornaments in Ukrainian «rushniks»?

5. What was the most popular theatre in Ukraine in the 1920s-1930s?

6. What historic event served as the basis for one of the most famous paintings of Ily a Repin?

7. In which famous opera does the main hero lose both sons and his own life in the liberation struggle of Ukrainian people against Polish landowners?

Over the centuries Ukrainian people have developed a varied folk art. Embroidery, wood carving, ceramics, pottery and weaving in every region of Ukraine have their peculiar styles, ornamentation and colours. Painted Easter eggs (pysanky) and embroidered towels (rushnyky) h ave become popular in many countries that have Ukrainian immigrant population.

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ince the introduction of Christianity in the 10th century, the beauty and miraculous power of Ukrainian icons were recognized by many nations of the world, and some neighbours of Ukraine even «borrowed» the best of them to decorate their own churches or cathedrals. The mosaics and frescoes of Kyiv churches, St. Sofia's Cathedral in particular, and the icons of the Ukrainian school

in Galicia are particularly noteworthy.

Ukraine was the birthplace of many outstanding artists of the past: the sculptor Ivan Martos, the portraitists Dmytro Levytsky and Volodymyr Borovykdvsky were the leading figures of St.Petersburg school of painting in the 18-19th centuries. Classical and realistic trends in the 19th century art were represented by the works of the poet-painter Taras Shevchenko and the artist Ilya Repin; later new art movements were evident in the pictures of Ivan Trush, Mykola Burachek, Oleksander Murashko, Mykola Hluschenko, Oleksander Novakivsky, Oleksa Hryschenko and Anatoly Petrivsky. The early 20th century Ukrainian representatives of avant-garde including Mykhaylo Boychuk, Ivan Padalka, Vasyl Sedliar, Alia Norska, Opanas Zayavkhk'and Feodosy Humenyuk successfully combined the new trends in art with Ukrainian national traditions.

A number of Ukrainian artists have won considerable renown in the West, among them the painters Oleksa Hryschenko and Jacques Hnizdovsky and the sculptor Oleksander Arkhypenko.

Musical traditions in Ukraine

Folk music in Ukraine has rich cultural traditions. Ritual songs, ballads and historical songs (dumy) may be sung a cappella or accompanied by folk instruments, of which the multistringed bandura is the most popular. Ukrainian church choral music reached its peak in the works of the 19th century composers Maksym Berezovsky, Dmytro Bortnyansky and Artem Vedel. The end of the 19th andthe beginning of the 20th centuries witnessed the birth of the best Ukrainian operas «Zaporozhets za J9unayem» («A Cossack Beyond the Danube») by Semen Hulak-Artemovsky, «Katerina» by Mykola Arkas, «Natalka Poltavka», «Utoplena» (The Drowned Gif 1>>), and «Taras Bulba» by Mykola Lysenko, compositions of Petro Nishchynsky and Mykhaylo Verbytsky, Kyrylo Stetsenko and Mykola Leontovich. In the middle of the 20th century the most talented and popular Ukrainian composers were Lev Revutsky, Boris Lyatoshinsky, Stanislav Lyudkevych, Kostyantin Dankevich, Yuly Meytus, Yury and Platen Mayboroda.

Ukraine has six opera theatres, numerous symphony orchestras, academic and folk choirs, and other performing ensembles. Amateur groups of song and dance are very popular.

Special praise should be given to Ukrainian folk love songs that unite beautiful melodies with poetic lyrics. These songs may be sad and heart-touching, about the lost love or parting with the beloved, or they may be jolly and vigorous tempting you to dance with the music. A lot of Ukrainian folk songs are extremely popular nowadays, sung and loved by millions of people both in Ukraine and beyond its borders.

Ukrainian theatre and cinema

The theatre originated in Ukraine under Western influence in the 17th century. Intermedia (verse dialogue) rapidly developed into a specific genre - the social theatre - whose repertoire included drama­tization of Christian legends, historical drama and a puppet play «vertep», performed on a stage of two levels. The best example of a historical play was Teofan Prokopovych's «Vladimir» (1705). In the 19th century a Ukrainian ethnographic theatre developed and folk plays and vaudeville were raised to a high level of artistry by such actors as Mykola Sadovsky and Maria Zankovetska. The beginning of the 20th Century saw the dramas by Lesya Ukraynka (who introduced both ancient Greek and Shakespearean techniques to the Ukrainian stage) and plays by Volodymyr Vinnychenko and Oleksander Oles, who was an innovator in symbolic plays.

A ctivity 5. Before reading the text below try to choose the right completion for each of the | following sentences:

1. Art in Great Britain today is

1. more popular than before. c) less popular than before.

2. undergoing crisis. d) in decline.

2. Henry Moore is famous all over the world for his ■

1. paintings. c) architecture designs.

2. sculptures. d) murals.

3. wood-carving.

4. wood-cutting.

3. sculptor.

4. architect.

3. misunderstanding.

4. lack of public interest.

3. church organ music.

4. musicals.

3. The most popular British handicrafts include

1. gardening.

2. hunting.

4. Benjamin Britten is a famous

1. painter.

2. composer.

5. The Beatles split up because of

a) the murder of John Lennon.

b) money problems.

6. Gilbert and Sullivan wrote

a) dramatic operas.

b) symphonies.

7. Pantomimes in Britain are popular amateur performances in which

a) all roles are played by boys, c) boys play girls' roles and v.v.*

b) all roles are played by girls. d) everything is shown by gestures.

Note: «v.v.» is an abbreviation for «vice versa», Latin for «andon the opposite».