Glossary

teadfast – непохитний, devotional sounding – молитовне звучання, artistic – художній, subjected to reprisals – репресований, farm – хутір, flare of revelation – спалах одкровення, innermost – найпотаємніший, transitory fashion – скороминуща мода.

1. Choose the correct completion.

1. Platon Maiboroda was born-into a peasant family in Zaporizhia region / in Poltava region / in Kyiv region.

2. The family moved to Zaporizhia to escape the famine / to join their grand­parents / to give their son musical education.

3. Platon Maiboroda finished a music school in Zaporizhia / in Poltava / in Kyiv.

4. He stopped studying at the Conservatoire and went to work at a factory / went abroad / went to the front.

5. Platon Maiboroda went down in the history of Ukrainian musical culture as a song composer and poet / a composer and teacher / a composer, a cultural and public figure.

6. He created songs, choirs and symphonies / songs, solos and romances / songs, operas and vocal creations.

7. His songs are dedicated to the philosophy of transitory fashion / the philoso­phy of beauty and hope / the philosophy of nature and society.

8. The sources of his talent are primarily in the national classical music / in folk songs and romances / in the old national spiritual traditions.

9. One of the composer's songs has become a symbol of Ukraine. It is My dear Mother/ Kyiv waltz / Footpath.

10. Platon Maiboroda was People's Artist of the USSR / Laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine / Winner of the State T.Shevchenko Prize of the USSR.

2. Answer the choice-questions.

1. Did P. Maiboroda go to the front at the call or as a volunteer?

2. Did he create his music in the postwar or prewar time?

3. Is the composer's music his personal or national phenomenon?

4. Was a character of a Mother P.Maiboroda's or A.Malyshko's invention in song genre?

5. Did the composer's songs bring him nationwide or worldwide recognition?

3. Find the English equivalents in the text.

митець неповторного таланту буремні роки

вишиваний рушник докласти багато зусиль

унікальний дар духовна традиція

просвітницька діяльність образ Матері

подвижницька праця неповторний стиль

за межами України всесвітнє визнання

4. Odd one out.

Artist, composer, author, person.

Frequent, miraculous, beautiful, unique.

Songs, romances, symphonies, solos.

Exactly, stormy, primarily, profoundly.

School, choir, factory, conservatoire.

Eminent, unsurpassed, inimitable, separate.

Effort, labour, gift, work.

5. Points for discussion.

The composer's long legacy.

Platon Maiboroda as the classic of Ukrainian music of the 20th century.

The main events of the composer's life.

Serge lyfar (1905-1986) Ballet dancer, choreographer, educator, dance theorist

Serge (Serhiy) Lyfar was bom in Kyiv into a noble family. His admiration for ballet brought him to the studio of B.Nizhynska, a prima ballerina and choreographer at the Kyiv Opera Theatre. However, she did not see a ballet dancer in him. In 1923, S.Lyfar secretly crossed the border of Bolshevik Russia and came to Paris, the dream of his life. His studies under the wellknown Italian teacher E.Cecchetti, who introduced him to S.Diaghilev, the leader of the famous private theatrical company Russian Seasons, determined his further destiny.

After his successful debut in the main part in S.Prokofiev's ballet The Prodigal Son, S.Lyfar became the leading dancer in the Russian Ballet company. His first choreographic production was in 1929, when he debuted with I.Stravinsky's ballet The Fable about the Fox, the Cock, the Cat and the Ram.

In 1930-58, S.Lyfar worked as a dancer, choreographer and director of the Paris Grand Opera's ballet company, one of the most prominent ballet companies in the world. The choreographer produced over 200 ballets at the Grand Opera and danced the main parts in many of them (including Giselle by A.Adam, By the Dnipro by S.Prokofiev The Suite in White by E.Lalo, and The Firebirdby I. Stravinsky).

In 1945-47, S.Lyfar was the artistic director of The New Ballet of MonteGarlo! He was the first to receive one of the most prestigious ballet awards the Golden Shoe – for his great creative achievement (1955).

The choreographer worked out the so-called principle of "three choreographic levels" according to which the performance is considered a complete progcess, a supple leitmotif and a psychologically motivate pas. The style of S.Lyfar, which he himself described as choreographic Neo-Romanticism, determined the development of European ballet art in the second half of the 20th century.

Teaching also occupied an important place in Lyfar's creative activity. In 1947, he founded the French Academy of Dance (from 1958, Paris University of Dance). From 1955, he taught history and theory of dance at the Sorbonne according to his own system of ballet dancers’ training.

The great dancer died in Lausanne and was buried in Sainte-Genevieve-de-Bois near Paris. The inscription on his gravestone reads: "Serge Lifar from Kiev." Serge Lyfar always remembered his Ukrainian roots and propagated the history and culture of his people with enthusiasm. The International Serge Lifar Ballet Competition has been held in Kyiv since 1994, and the "Serge Lyfar de la danse" festival since 1995, in honour of our famous countryman.