Before you read the text

1. Read the following dates aloud.

on July 31st 1910, on November 25th 1920, on February 4th 1987, on May 9th 1945, on January 20th 1827, on March 18th 1734, on October 30th 1672, on April 14th 1749, on December 11th 1960, on August 22nd 1859, on June 12th 1221, on September 2nd 1848

2. Practise aloud.

research – researcher, mean – meaning, think – thought, happy – happiness, aware – awareness, mother – motherhood; nation – national, power – powerful, create – creative, value – valuable, history – historical, hero – heroic; expect – unexpectedly

3. Pronounce correctly.

phenomenon (phenomena), substance, symbol, genius, character, continent, liturgy, concerto, opera, symphony, genre, disharmony, opus, epic, concentration, author, figure, atmosphere, emotion, audience, hall, tradition, company, canon, guarantee, humanistic, humane, Synodal, choral, monumental, autonomous, professional, Orthodox, intonational, expressive, general, delicate, philosophic, aesthetical, integrate

4. Read the sentences and translate them paying special attention to the italicized words.

1. Tchaikovsky suffered when he was away from his native soil. 2. Sergei Rachmaninov belongs by right to Russian national culture. 3. In music one can discover all the richness of human emotions. 4. The inner might of the composer was astonishing. 5. The aria appeals to the best feelings of the audience. 6. The melody was interrupted quite unexpectedly. 7. The performer was enthralled by the new sonata at once. 8. The lofty sounds of the violin breathed new life into the composition. 9. Liturgy belongs to the genre of sacred music. 10. In fact, Tchaikovsky was appreciated both in Russia and abroad. 11. “The Snow Maiden” reflects the joyous mood of the author in the spring of 1873. 12. The creative work of this composer reveals a close connection with folk music. 13. The folk songs neighbour upon solemn prayers. 14. The opera was inspired by the love of the composer to his motherland. 15. The romance has been rendered all over the world. 16. The music of the opera corresponds to its contents perfectly.

5. Translate into Russian analysing the predicates.

1. My motherland has deeply influenced my character. 2. By that time Rachmaninov had already composed some magnificent works. 3. I’ve just finished my “Liturgy”. 4. I’ve been thinking about the Liturgy for a long time. 5. Rachmaninov’ s music had found its way to the hearts of its audience. 6. I haven’t heard Rachmaninov’s “Liturgy” yet. 7. He entered the Conservatory recently. 8. His failures have given Tchaikovsky useful lessons and valuable ideas. 9. I’ve lived many years and done so little. 10. He had reached the peak of perfection by that time.

6. Look through text A and tell a few words about it contents.

7. Read text A carefully.

Text a sergei rachmaninov: liturgy of st. John chrisostom

In the history of a national culture one can find phenomena that, having imbibed the invigorating substances of their native soil, grow up like powerful trees and become the land’s real symbol. The creative work of S. Rachmaninov belongs by right to the phenomena of this kind. A pianist of genius, a composer and conductor, he is part and parcel of the Russian culture. "I am a Russian composer, and my motherland has deeply influenced my character and my opinions”, he wrote. Today Rachmaninov's works are performed throughout the five continents.

Still, in the vast space of his music there are some corners waiting for the people who can discover their inner might and true lofty meaning. The “Liturgy” also had to wait.

In our days we feel the vital need to appeal to national culture values and understand that “in the works humanistic, humane the culture never grows old” (Academician D. Likhachyov). The newly discovered Rachmaninov's “Liturgy” can grow old by no means.

It was created in the summer of 1910. By that time Rachmaninov had already composed three piano concertos, three operas and two symphonies. “I've just finished my “Liturgy”, he wrote on July 31st to a friend. “I've really been thinking about the Liturgy for a long time and feeling drawn to it. It began rather unexpectedly and got enthralled at once. And it went as quick as lightning”.

Rachmaninov basing his work upon the experience and achievement of the composers, researchers and performers – P.I. Tchaikovsky, S. Taneyev, A. Grechaninov, the Moscow Synodal Choir had to breathe new life in the choral genres of Russian sacred music and to oppose them to the unspirituality and disharmony of the nascent modernism. “Liturgу of St. John Chrysostom” (op. 31) was created as a monumental, integrate and autonomous concert work meant for a first-class professional performance. In fact, the opus is not the Orthodox Liturgy itself but its generalized musical and poetic image. Separate pieces clearly show the epic and lyric genres of Russian folk music – lullabies, praises, tales, chants which had historically accompanied the genre in its development and gone into intonational canvas of the “Liturgy”.

The work consists of twenty parts. Each of them maintains chiefly one mood. Harmony, melodic course and new supporting voices reveal the extremely fine shades. As for contrasts, they arise between the parts: the images of thought-and-feeling deep concentration neighbour upon the solemn praise and the heroic procession, the happiness of the motherhood and the image of the shining, calmly flowing light – upon the passionate prayer of salvation and the lofty chimes. Rachmaninov conceived and composed his “Liturgy” not as an official and dogmatic form but as the musical history of the nation, the philosophic epic moving and inspired by the sincere human feeling.

The “Liturgy” was performed for the first time on November 25th 1910 by the Moscow Synodal Choir under the direction of the outstanding choir master N. Danilin. Next spring in Petersburg the Mariinsky Theatre Choir rendered the “Liturgy” with the author himself directing the performance. Here is the opinion of the witness: “The tall, slender figure of Rachmaninov standing there on the conductor's dais was highly expressive, imposing and beautifully corresponding to the general atmosphere of the concert and the emotions of the people present. The solemn silence, deep at­tention exalted faces of the audience proved that Rachmaninov's music had found way to their hearts...”

And recently – now performed by the Moscow Chamber Choir under the direction of V. Minin – it has found the same way more than 70 years later, on February 4th 1987 in Novgorod, not far from the composer's birth place and some time later in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. The heir of the centuries-old traditions of Russian choir art, a delicate interpreter of the ancient and contemporary music, the company led by V. Minin had aspired to perform this work for a long time. The work's reading, just as the creator's one, was not inspired by the canons of the primary genre but by the philosophic and music-aesthetical contents of the Liturgy and its concert rendering. This modern interpretation, following the composer's own idea, accentuates not the past for the sake of the past but the past as a living part of the humanity's cultural experience, as a guarantee of its historical and aesthetical self-consciousness, as a guarantee of moving to the future.