Exam preparation reading, translating, retelling. Учебное пособие по английскому языку для студентов музыкальных вузов

Exercise 2. Mark the following statements true or false:

1.The Eighth Symphony came two years after the Seventh.

2.It was heard for the first time at the festival of Soviet Music in Moscow in November, 1943.

3.Shostakovich explained that this Symphony was an attempt «to look into the past, into the pre-war epoch».

4.But though the composer intended it as an optimistic utterance, the Symphony has a pervading feeling of deep tragedy.

5.The Eighth Symphony opens with a short and lyrical Adagio movement.

6.The principal subject is the melody for the first violins, cellos and dou- ble-basses,

7.The basic theme is preceded by a pleasing duet for high and low strings which opens and closes the movement.

8.The second movement is a walz.

9.The next three movements proceed with short interruptions.

10.The fifth is pastoral music in which a series of melodic ideas is presented by one solo instrument.

Exercise 3. Describe any other composition of the Modern Period.

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UNIT 5

Impressionism

The style of impressionist music isn’t deeply emotional and personal like most of the Romantic Era music. Impressionist music is like the distant narrator. They see the story unfold, and they take a musical snapshot of it from a distance. The whole idea with Impressionism was that musicians were drawn to conveying moods with their music, instead of distinct melody lines. They wanted their pieces to evoke a feeling. So this music was less fixated on details and making things «perfect» — often the music is just the opposite, vague and blurred — but still incredibly impactful.

Impressionist music really liked going outside of the key box. Impressionist composers liked to write songs that weren’t in any key at all — that was called atonality. Another way composers escaped the major/minor modality was to explore different harmonies and keys. This led to a return to more ancient styles, like medieval music, which was centered around unusual harmonies like fourths and fifths as opposed to thirds.

Exotic Eastern scales came into play, such as the whole-tone scale, which Debussy was fascinated by. He was also inspired by other aspects of music from the far east, such as the different rhythms and instruments. A lot of impressionist music lacks a steady, defined rhythm. It’s usually fluid and changeable.

Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel were the main composers of impressionist music. They were both French composers active at the turn of the 20th century (and beyond).

Exercise 1. Give Russian equivalents to the following:

distant narrator, take a musical snapshot, evoke a feeling, explore different harmonies and keys, a return to more ancient styles, unusual harmonies, whole-tone scale, fluid and changeable

Exercise 2. Give English equivalents to the following words and phrases:

глубоко эмоциональный, передавать настроение с помощью музыки, невероятно убедительная, выходить за пределы тональности, средневековая музыка, восхищаться, быть вдохновленным, на рубеже веков.

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Exercise 3. Fill in the missing words:

aspects, major/minor, as opposed, blurred, harmonies, far, unfold, less, Era, distinct

1)most of the Romantic ______ music

2)escaped the _____________modality

3)see the story________

4)explore different _________and keys

5)instead of ________melody lines

6)fourths and fifths _________to thirds

7)________fixated on details

8)other _______________of music

9)vague and___________

10)from the _________east

Exercise 4. Fill in the missing phrases:

a)really liked going outside

b)impressionist music

c)wanted their pieces

d)lacks a steady

e)came into play

f)a musical snapshot

g)active at the turn

h)instead of distinct melody lines

i)like the distant

j)in any key at all

1.Impressionist music is ______________________narrator.

2.They see the story unfold, and they take ______________of it from a distance.

3.The whole idea with Impressionism was that musicians were drawn to conveying moods with their music, ___________________________

___.

4.They ________________to evoke a feeling.

5.Impressionist music ________________________ of the key box.

6.Impressionist composers liked to write songs that weren’t

________________.

7.Exotic Eastern scales _____________________, such as the wholetone scale, which Debussy was fascinated by.

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8.A lot of impressionist music ____________, defined rhythm.

9.Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel were the main composers of

______________________.

10.They were both French composers _________________ of the 20th century.

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel was a French composer, noted for his musical craftsmanship and perfection of form and style.

Ravel was born on March 7, 1875 in a village near Saint-Jean- de-Luz, France, of a Swiss father and a Basque mother. His family background was an artistic and cultivated one, and the young Maurice received every encouragement from his father when his talent for music became apparent at an early age. In 1889, at 14, he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he remained until 1905. During this period he composed some of his best known works, including the Pavane for a Dead Princess, the Sonatina for piano, and the String Quartet. All these works already showed the astonishing early perfection of style and craftsmanship. Ravel was one of the rare composers whose early works seemed scarcely less mature than those of his maturity.

Ravel was in no sense a revolutionary musician. He was for the most part content to work within the established formal and harmonic conventions of his day. Yet, so very personal and individual was his adaptation and manipulation of the traditional musical idiom that it would be true to say he forged for himself a language of his own that bore the stamp of his personality as unmistakably as any work of Bach or Chopin. While his melodies were almost always modal (based not on the conventional Western diatonic scale but on the old Greek Phrygian and Dorian modes), his harmonies derived their often somewhat acid flavour from his fondness for «added» notes and unresolved appoggiaturas, or notes extraneous to the chord that were allowed to remain harmonically unresolved.

Of his purely orchestral works, the Rapsodie espagnole and Boléro were the best known and revealed his consummate mastery of the art of instrumentation. As a songwriter Ravel achieved great distinction with his imaginative Histoires naturelles, Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, and Chansons madécasses.

The last five years of Ravel’s life were clouded by aphasia, which not only prevented him from writing another note of music but also deprived him of the power of speech and made it impossible for him

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even to sign his name. After an unsuccessful operation Ravel died and was buried in the cemetery of Levallois, a Paris suburb in which he had lived, in the presence of Stravinsky and other distinguished musicians and composers.

For Ravel, music was a kind of ritual, having its own laws, to be conducted behind high walls, sealed off from the outside world, and impenetrable to unauthorized intruders. When his Russian contemporary Igor Stravinsky compared Ravel to «the most perfect of Swiss watchmakers», he was in fact extolling those qualities of intricacy and precision to which he himself attached so much importance.

Exercise 1. Give the derivatives to the words in brackets:

1.Maurice Ravel was a (France) __________ (compose) __________.

2.His family background was an (art) _________ and (cultivate)

___________ one, and the young Maurice received every (encourage)

_____________ from his father.

3.All these works already showed the (astonish) ___________ early (perfect) _______________ of style and (craft) ________________.

4.Ravel was one of the rare (compose) ___________ whose early works seemed scarcely (little) ___________ mature than those of his (mature)

_______________.

5.Ravel was in no sense a (revolution) ____________ (music)

_____________.

6.His (adapt) ____________ and (manipulate) ______________ of the (tradition) ___________ (music) ______ idiom was very (person)

____________ and individual.

7.Of his (pure) _________ (orchestra) ___________ works, the Rapsodie espagnole and Boléro revealed his (consume) ___________ (master) ____________ of the art of (instrument) ________________.

8.As a songwriter Ravel achieved great (distinct) ____________ with his (imagine) _________________ Histoires naturelles.

9.After an (success) _____________ (operate) ____________ Ravel died and was buried in the cemetery of Levallois in the (present) _______________ of Stravinsky and other (distinguish)

_________________ musicians and composers.

Exercise 2. Answer the following questions on the text:

1.What was Maurice Ravel well-known for?

2.When and where was he born?

3.What was his family background like?

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4.How old was Ravel when he entered the Paris conservatoire?

5.Was Ravel a revolutionary musician? Why?

6.What was special about his music?

7.What are his best known orchestral works?

8.What were the last years of Ravel’s life clouded by?

9.How did it influence his life?

10.What was his attitude to music?

11.What did Igor Stravinsky compare Ravel to? Why?

Exercise 3. Retell the text about Maurice Ravel.

Bolero

Boléro is a one-movement orchestral piece by the French composer Maurice Ravel. Before Boléro, Ravel had composed large-scale ballets, suites for the ballet and one-movement dance pieces.

Boléro epitomized Ravel’s preoccupation with restyling and reinventing dance movements. It was also one of the last pieces he composed before illness forced him into retirement. The work had its genesis in a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel to make an orchestral transcription of six pieces from Isaac Albéniz’s set of piano pieces, Iberia. While working on the transcription, Ravel was informed that the movements had already been orchestrated by a Spanish conductor Enrique Fernández Arbós, and that copyright law prevented any other arrangement from being made. When Arbós heard of this, he said he would happily waive his rights and allow Ravel to orchestrate the pieces. However, Ravel decided to write a completely new piece based on the musical form and Spanish dance called bolero.

Boléro is Ravel’s most straightforward composition. The music is in C major, 3/4 time, beginning pianissimo and rising in a continuous crescendo to fortissimo possibile. It is built over an unchanging ostinato rhythm played 169 times on one or more snare drums that remains constant throughout the piece.

On top of this rhythm two melodies are heard, each of 18 bars’ duration, and each played twice alternately. The first melody is diatonic, the second melody introduces more jazz-influenced elements, with syncopation and flattened notes. The first melody descends through one octave, the second melody descends through two octaves. The bass line and accompaniment are initially played on pizzicato strings, mainly using rudimentary tonic and dominant notes. Tension is provided by the contrast between the steady percussive rhythm, and the «expres-

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sive vocal melody trying to break free». Interest is maintained by constant reorchestration of the theme, leading to a variety of timbres, and by a steady crescendo. Both themes are repeated a total of eight times. At the climax, the first theme is repeated a ninth time, then the second theme takes over and breaks briefly into a new tune in E major before finally returning to the tonic key of C major.

The melodyb is passed among different instruments: flute, clarinet, bassoon, E clarinet, oboe d’amore, trumpet, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, horn, piccolos and celesta; oboe, English horn and clarinet; trombone and some of the wind instruments, first violins and some wind instruments, first and second violins together with some wind instruments, violins and some of the wind instruments, and finally most but not all the instruments in the orchestra (with bass drum, cymbals and tam-tam). While the melody continues to be played in C throughout, from the middle onwards other instruments double it in different keys. The first such doubling involves a horn playing the melody in C, while a celesta doubles it 2 and 3 octaves above and two piccolos play the melody in the keys of G and E, respectively. This functions as a reinforcement of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th overtones of each note of the melody. The other significant «key doubling» involves sounding the melody a 5th above or a 4th below, in G major. Other than these «key doublings», Ravel simply harmonizes the melody using diatonic chords.

The accompaniment becomes gradually thicker and louder until the whole orchestra is playing at the very end. Just before the end there is a sudden change of key to E major, though C major is reestablished after just eight bars. Six bars from the end, the bass drum, cymbals and tam-tam make their first entry, and the trombones play raucous glissandi while the whole orchestra beats out the rhythm that has been played on the snare drum bfrom the very first bar. Finally, the work descends from a dissonant B minor over F minor chord to a C major chord.

The composition was a sensational success when it was premiered at the Paris Opéra on 22 November 1928, with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and designs and scenario by Alexandre Benois. The orchestra of the Opéra was conducted by Walther Straram.

Boléro became Ravel’s most famous composition, much to the surprise of the composer, who had predicted that most orchestras would refuse to play it. It is usually played as a purely orchestral work, only rarely being staged as a ballet.

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Exercise 1. Fill in the missing prepositions:

1.Boléro is a one-movement orchestral piece ____ the French composer Maurice Ravel.

2._______ Boléro, Ravel had composed large-scale ballets, suites ____

the ballet and one-movement dance pieces.

3.Boléro epitomized Ravel’s preoccupation _______ restyling and reinventing dance movements.

4.It was one ___ the last pieces he composed __________ illness forced him _____ retirement.

5.The work had its genesis ___ a commission ______ the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel ___ make an orchestral transcription

____ six pieces _______ Isaac Albéniz’s set ___ piano pieces, Iberia.

6.The music is ___ C major, 3/4 time, beginning pianissimo and rising

___ a continuous crescendo ___ fortissimo possibile.

7.It is built ______ an unchanging ostinato rhythm played 169 times ___

one or more snare drums that remains constant _________________

the piece.

8.____ top ____ this rhythm two melodies are heard, each ____ 18 bars’ duration, and each played twice alternately.

9.Tension is provided ____ the contrast ___________ the steady percussive rhythm, and the «expressive vocal melody trying to break free».

10.___ the climax, the first theme is repeated a ninth time, then the second theme takes _______ and breaks briefly _____ a new tune ___

E major ________ finally returning ___ the tonic key ___ C major.

11.The melody is passed ________ different instruments.

12.The accompaniment becomes gradually thicker and louder _______

the whole orchestra is playing ___ the very end.

13.Six bars _______ the end, the bass drum, cymbals and tam-tam make their first entry, and the trombones play raucous glissandi while the whole orchestra beats ____ the rhythm that has been played ___

the snare drum _____ the very first bar.

14.Boléro became Ravel’s most famous composition, much ___ the surprise ___ the composer.

Exercise 2. Mark the following statements true or false:

1.Before Boléro, Ravel had never composed ballets, suites for the ballet and dance pieces.

2.Boléro epitomized Ravel’s preoccupation with restyling and reinventing dance movements.

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3.It was also one of the first pieces he composed.

4.The work was commissioned by the dancer Ida Rubinstein.

5.A Spanish conductor Enrique Arbós refused to give Ravel his permission to orchestrate the pieces.

6, Ravel decided to write a completely new piece based on the musical form and Spanish dance called bolero.

7.Boléro is Ravel’s most straightforward composition.

8.The melody is played only by string instruments.

9.The accompaniment becomes gradually thinner and quieter by the end.

10.The composition was a failure when it was premiered at the Paris Opéra.

11.Boléro became Ravel’s least famous composition.

12.It is usually played as a purely orchestral work, only rarely being staged as a ballet.

Exercise 3. Describe any other music piece of the Romantic period.

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UNIT 6

Avant-garde Music

Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term «avant-garde» implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original elements, and the idea of deliberately challenging or alienating audiences. Avant-garde music may be distinguished from experimental music by the way it adopts an extreme position within a certain tradition, whereas experimental music lies outside tradition. The term may also be used to refer to any post-war tendency of modernist music not definable as experimental music, though sometimes including a type of experimental music characterized by the rejection of tonality. A commonly cited example of avant-garde music is John Cage’s 4’33” (1952), a piece which instructs the performer(s) not to play their instrument(s) during its entire duration.

Although some modernist music is also avant-garde, a distinction can be made between the two categories. According to scholar Larry Sitsky, because the purpose of avant-garde music is necessarily political, social, and cultural critique, so that it challenges social and artistic values by provoking or goading audiences, composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, George Antheil and Claude Debussy may reasonably be considered to have been avant-gardists in their early works (which were understood as provocative, whether or not the composers intended them that way), but Sitsky does not consider the label appropriate for their later music. For example, modernists of the post-World War II period, such as Milton Babbitt, Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, György Ligeti, and Witold Lutosławski, never conceived their music for the purpose of goading an audience and cannot, therefore, be classified as avant-garde. Composers such as John Cage and Harry Partch, on the contrary, remained avant-gardists throughout their creative careers.

A prominent feature of avant-garde music is to break through various rules and regulations of traditional culture, in order to transcend established creative principles and appreciation habits. Avant-garde music pursues novelty in musical form and style, insisting that art is above everything else; thus, it creates a transcendental and mysterious sound world. Hint, metaphor, symbol, association, imagery, synesthesia and perception are widely used in avant-garde music techniques to excavate the mystery of human heart and the flow of consciousness, so

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