CULTURE AND ART
SPEECH PATTERNS
The show is likelyto become a hit. По всей вероятности (очевидно), спектакль будет иметь большой успех (станет сенсацией).
How do you account forthe success of this play? Как вы объясните успех этой пьесы?
As far as I knowit was a great success. Насколько я знаю, он (спектакль) имел большой успех
Let’s go to the cinema/theatre on Sunday! =
Do you fancy going to the cinema/theatre on Sunday? Давай пойдем в кино/театр в воскресенье
Exercise 1. Make up sentences using the table and translate them.
He is to agree with us.
likely to read the novel.
They are to compete in track and field events
to make a tour of Siberia next year
Exercise 2. Transform these sentences according to the model.
Model: I think he will become a famous painter. - He is likely to become a famous painter.
1. She thinks they will change their minds. 2. He believes they will take strong measures. 3. I think she will apologize to them. 4. He believes they will play a game of chess after lunch.
Exercise 3. Make up sentences using the table and translate them.
do you the success of his first novel?
How does he account for Mary's absence?
did he your being late?
Exercise 4. Make up sentences using the table and translate them:
I know the performance was a great success,
As far as he remembers she was a talented actress
everyone liked his painting
I can remember, we all agreed to join them.
Exercise 5. Transform the following sentences according to the example.
Example: Let’s go to the cinema/theatre on Sunday! = Do you fancy going to the cinema/theatre on Sunday?
1. Let’s book the seats beforehand.
2. Let’s take opera-glasses.
3. Let’s meet outside the theatre.
4. Let’s ask the usher to show us to our seats.
VOCABULARY
FINE ARTS
CINEMA
LITERATURE
MUSIC
THEATRE
GENERAL WORDS
Nouns
1. audience – аудитория, публика
2. Baroque – барокко
3. collaboration - сотрудничество, совместная работа
4. craft - ремесло, ручной [кустарный] труд
5. creation – творение, создание
6. creativity - творчество
7. critics - критика
8. elite /eı`lı:t/ - элита
9. ensemble /ənsɔmb(ə)bl/ /a:nsa:mb(ə)l/ -- ансамбль (муз., арх.)
10. founder - основатель
11. genre /`ʒɔηrə/ /ʒa:ηrə/- жанр
12. marble - мрамор
13. medium - средство
14. perception - восприятие
15. performance – представление, выступление, игра
16. performer - исполнитель
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17. plastic arts – пластическое искусство
18. Renaissance /rə`neısəns/ – эпоха возрождения
19. repertoire /`repətwα:/ - репертуар
20. sequel – продолжение (книги, фильма)
21. social impact – социальное воздействие
22. studio – студия, мастерская
23. surrealist /sə`rıəlıst/ - сюрреалист
24. synthesis - синтез
25. technique - техника
26. tool - инструмент
Verbs
1. to cast – зд. лить, отливать (сталь)
2. to evolve - эволюционировать, развиваться
3. to fire – зд. обжигать (керамику, глину)
4. to impress – произвести впечатление
5. to influence - влиять
6. to mold – зд. прессовать, формовать, отливать в форму (гипс)
7. to score – иметь успех, добиться успеха, муз. оркестровать
8. to showcase - выставлять, демонстрировать, показывать (в наиболее выгодном свете; с наилучшей стороны)
9. to stage – ставить (пьесу, спектакль)
10. to weld – сваривать
Adjectives
1. aesthetic - эстетический
2. artistic - художественный
3. chamber (theatre, orchestra) - камерный
4. collaborative - совместный
5. humanistic - гуманистический
6. iconic - культовый
7. repulsive – отталкивающий, вызывающий отвращение
8. sophisticated – утонченный, предназначенный для людей с тонким вкусом, сложный для понимания
PHONETIC EXERCISES
Exercise I. Pronounce the words correctly. Pay attention to the way of pronunciation of stressed vowels.
/α:/ - art, craft, cast, marble, drama, march, draftsman
/eı/ - creation, renaissance, collaboration, chamber, bass
/æ/ - plastic, canvas, camera, jazz, band, clarinet, allegory, ballet
/ıə/ - surrealist
/αı/ - intertitle, icon
/αıə/ - satire, fire
/e/ - aesthetic, repertoire, impress, epic,
/ı:/ - technique, medium, elite, beat, reeded, sequel
/ı/ - symphony, lyrics, synthesis
/ə:/ - verse, circle
/כu/ - mold, composer, oboe, novel, prose, vocal, folk
/ɔ/ - horror, waltz, bandoneon, evolve
/ɔ:/ - performance, stall, audience, orchestra, cornet, chords
/u:/ - cartoons, tool, blues, flute, bassoon
/Λ/ - brush, repulsive, country, percussion, trumpet
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/ju:/ - producer, studio, tuba
Exercise II. Pronounce the words correctly. Pay attention to the way of pronunciation of consonants.
/k/ - sequel, accordion, chords, orchestra, technique, camera
/ʃ/ - social, short, brush, fiction, musician, percussion
/ʧ/ - French horn, march, chamber
/ʤ/ - jazz, stage
/ɵ/ - synthesis, aesthetic
/w/ - sequel, repertoire
LEXICAL EXERCISES
Exercise 1. Read and translate these sentences. Pay attention to active words and word combinations.
1. A new novel scored a great success. 2. As the performance ended the audience began to applaud. 3. This surrealistic film didn’t impress me much. 4. If there performs a folk orchestra we’ll attend this concert. 5. Mr. Brown wants his son to become a professional artist. 6. His technique impressed me greatly. 7. Surrealism is rather a sophisticated genre in art and not all people may understand it. 8. Both his poetry and his prose are full of aesthetic and humanistic ideas. 9. I don’t watch horror films, I prefer romantic melodramas. 10. Romanticism of Mozart and Beethoven evolved from Bach’s Baroque creativity. 11. The annual international competition and parade of military bands are held in St. Petersburg. 12. I like to attend different exhibitions of craft objects, where one can see a lot of things made of different materials – textile, beads, marble, metal, wood, leather. 13. Several years ago one could hear old waltzes performed by brass orchestras in parks and recreation centers. 14. Soviet animated films always have always had some philosophical implication.
Exercise 2. Make up sentences using these tables and translate them
a)
| The performance of the violin player | impressed | me | much |
| His vocal | us | ||
| The sequel of “The Pirates of Caribbean” | didn’t impress | him | |
| Turner’s canvases | her |
b)
| His critics | influenced | his decision |
| His mother | her opinion |
c)
| Bandoneon (a reed musical instrument) | evolved from | accordion |
| Great poems | his naïve ideas |
Exercise 3. Insert the words given below instead of their synonyms in the sentences.
1. The play of the drummer was repulsive. 2. Whose verses are used in the song? 3. In arts different means of creating an object exist. 4. Judging by the repertoire of this band we may say that their style is the combination of jazz and folk. 5. This film impressed me so much that I couldn’t fall asleep. 6. I don’t like Japanese cartoons. 7. Cinema is a kind of art that has developed from theatre in some way but exists due to the achievements of scientific technical progress.
Synthesis, animated film, lyrics, movie, evolved, performance, medium.
Exercise 4. Choose one word for each of the following definitions. Consult the Vocabulary
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- The most powerful, rich, gifted, or educated members of a group, community, etc
- A group of musicians playing either brass and percussion instruments only or brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments.
- The period of European history marking the waning of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world: usually considered as beginning in Italy in the 14th century.
- Any ornate or heavily ornamented style.
- An occupation or trade requiring special skill.
- Art produced chiefly for it’s aesthetic value.
- Art that incorporate design and creative ideals to objects of utility, such as a cup, magazine or decorative park bench.
Exercise 5. Read the text and do the exercises.
a) Insert articles where it is necessary.
Notes: adult ['ad/\lt] взрослый
legend ['ledʒәnd] легенда
negotiate [ni'gou∫ieit] вести переговоры
Text 1 Sergei Obraztsov is... founder of the State Central Puppet Theatre.... theatre was founded in 1931. In... fifty years of its existence... theatre produced over sixty plays.
When... theatre was opened it was intended for... children. But time showed that... adults* became interested in... puppet theatre, too..... first show produced for... adults in 1940 was called "Aladdin's Lamp". It became... hit. "... Unusual Concert", another show for... adults, has been... tremendous success for many years now.
Text 2. Galina Ulanova, prima ballerina of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre Ballet, is... most exciting theatrical personality of... 20th century.
Her name has been... legend** here for years and those interested in... arts listened eagerly to... tales of... travellers from Moscow who had been lucky enough to see her dance at... Bolshoi Theatre. Ever since... war London Royal Opera has been negotiating*** for... Bolshoi Theatre Ballet to appear in London and we all hoped that Ulanova would head... company in some of-her most famous parts.
b) Answer the following questions.
Text 1: 1. How old is the State Puppet Theatre? 2. Who was the founder of the State Puppet Theatre? 3. What is the audience of the Theatre? 4. What are the most famous plays for adults staged in this theatre?
Text 2: 1. Where did Ulanova work? 2. When did she live? 3. What new information have you got about the ballerina? 4. What else do you know about her?
Exercise 6. Translate into English. Consult the Vocabulary.
1. Чарли Чаплин – культовый комический актер немого кино. 2. Мне очень нравится ходить на парады и слушать, как духовой оркестр играет военные марши. 3. В наши дни не так легко найти литературу, предназначенную для людей с тонким вкусом, в магазинах больше дешевых популярных книг, рассчитанных на массы. 4. Из репертуара этого певца мне нравится только одна песня. И вокал его меня тоже не очень впечатляет. 5. Балет я не люблю, мой любимый жанр – опера, синтез видов искусств. 6. Пьеса, которую мы с сыном видели на прошлой неделе, еще больше повлияла на его решение стать драматургом. 7. Я люблю выступления нашего камерного оркестра, в котором играют струнно-смычковые, рояль, флейта и иногда ударные инструменты. 8. Моя подруга – писатель, но поэзия ее мне нравится больше, чем рассказы.
Text 1
Exercise 1. Read and translate the text
WHAT IS ART?
to engage - занимать, привлекать
deliberately - тщательно
By any of definitions of the word, artistic works have existed for almost as long as humankind: from early pre-historic art to contemporary art. Most commonly the word “art” denotes skill used to produce an aesthetic result, that is the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others.
The second meaning of the word is as an abbreviation for creative art or fine art. Fine art means that a skill is being used to express the artist’s creativity, or to engage the audience’s aesthetic sensibilities. Often, if the skill is being used in a common or practical way, people will consider it a craft instead of art.
Likewise, if the skill is being used in a commercial or industrial way, it will be considered commercial art instead of art. On the other hand, crafts and design are sometimes considered applied art. The purpose of works of art may be to communicate ideas, such as in politically-, spiritually-, or philosophically-motivated art; to create a sense of beauty (aesthetics); to explore the nature of perception; for pleasure; or to produce strong emotions.
The creative arts are often divided into more specific categories that are related to their technique, or medium, such as decorative arts, plastic arts, performing arts, or literature. Unlike scientific fields, art is one of the few subjects that is academically organized according to technique. An artistic medium is the substance or material the artistic work is made from, and may also refers to the technique used. For example, paint is the media used in painting, paper is a media used in drawing.
An art form is the specific shape, or quality an artistic expression takes. The media used often influences the form. For example, the form of a sculpture must exist in space in three-dimensions, and respond to gravity. To give another example, the formal qualities of painting are the canvas texture, color, and brush texture. A genre is a set of styles within a particular media. For instance, well recognized genres in film are western, horror and romantic comedy. Genres in music include death metal and trip hop. Genres in painting include still life, and pastoral landscape. A particular work of art may combine genres but each genre has a recognizable group of specific features.
Art can arouse aesthetic or moral feelings. Artists express something so that their audience is aroused to some extent, but they do not have to do so consciously. In conclusion we may say that Art is the process or product of deliberately and creatively arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions, especially beauty. In its narrow sense, the word art most often refers specifically to the visual arts, including media such as painting, sculpture, and printmaking. However, "the arts" may also include a diverse range of human activities, creations, such as music and literature. Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy which studies art. Making judgments of value requires a basis for criticism. At the simplest level, a way to determine whether the object may be considered art, is whether it is perceived to be attractive or repulsive. But the perception is always colored by experience, and is necessarily subjective, it is commonly taken an object which is not aesthetically satisfying in some fashion cannot be art. However, "good" art is not always aesthetically appealing to a majority of viewers.
Exercise 2. Find in the text English equivalents for these words and word combinations\
эстетический результат, современное искусство, изобразительное искусство, ремесло, творчество, прикладное искусство, восприятие, декоративное искусство, пластическое искусство, художественное выражение, текстура, натюрморт, пейзаж, опыт.
Exercise 3. Give Russian equivalents for these sentences.
1. Artistic works have existed for almost as long as humankind: from early pre-historic art to contemporary art.
2. Crafts and design are sometimes considered applied art.
3. The purpose of works of art may be to explore the nature of perception.
4. The formal qualities of painting are the canvas texture, colour, and brush texture.
5. Genres in painting include still life, and pastoral landscape.
6. A way to determine whether the object may be considered art, is whether it is perceived to be attractive or repulsive.
Exercise 4. Answer these questions.
- What does the concept “art” denote?
- What is the aim of fine art?
- In what way does the meaning of the word “craft” differ from the meaning of “art”?
- How do you understand the concept “commercial art”?
- What purposes of the works of art can you name?
- What is an artistic medium? Give several examples.
- What is an art form?
- What can you say about genres in art?
- How can we decide if an object is art or not?
Exercise 5. Explain the meanings of the following words and word combinations:
E.g.: fine art is any art form developed primarily for aesthetic result.
aesthetic result, artistic works, fine art, to engage the audience’s aesthetic sensibilities, applied art, spiritually motivated art, pastoral landscape, the subjective perception.
Exercise 6. Give a summary of the text "What is Art?"(4-5 sentences)
Text 2
THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE
Exercise 1. Read the text below and say if your views on the problem of popular culture are the same.
Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society." As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief as well as the art.
In practice, culture referred to elite activities such as museum-caliber art and classical music, and the word cultured described people who knew about, and took part in, these activities. These are often called "high culture", namely the culture of the ruling social group, to distinguish them from mass culture or popular culture.
Pop culture finds its expression in the mass circulation of items from areas such as fashion, music, design, sport and film. The world of pop culture has had a particular influence on art from the 1950s on through Pop Art, first in Britain and later in the United States. Today, most adults, their kids and grandchildren "participate" in pop culture directly or indirectly. Popular culture comes under heavy criticism from various sources.
Text 3
FINE ARTS
Exercise 1. Read text 2 and answer the questions given after it.
Fine art is any art form developed primarily for aesthetics rather than utility. This type of art is often expressed in a limited number of visual and performing art forms, including painting, sculpture, dance, theatre, architecture and printmaking.
Drawing is a form of visual expression and is one of the major forms within the visual arts. There are a number of subcategories of drawing, including cartooning. Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping hard or plastic material, commonly stone (either rock or marble), metal, or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by carving; others are assembled, built up and fired, welded, molded, or cast. As sculpture involves the use of materials that can be molded or modulated, it is considered one of the plastic arts. Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music.
Theatre has come to take on many forms, often utilizing elements such as speech, gesture, music, dance, and spectacle, combining the other performing arts, often as well as the visual arts, into a single artistic form.
Architectural works are perceived as cultural and political symbols and works of art. Historical civilizations are often known primarily through their architectural achievements. Such buildings as the pyramids of Egypt and the Roman Colossus are cultural symbols.
Exercise 2. Answer the following questions:
1. What is the purpose of fine art?
2. What types of fine art can you name?
3. What is the medium used in sculpture?
4. What forms are used in theatre?
5. What can you say about architecture?
Text 4
THE HISTORY OF CINEMA
Exercise 1. Read the text and answer the questions below it.
The art of making films has existed for more than a hundred years. Motion pictures developed gradually from a carnival innovation to one of the most important tools of communication and entertainment, and mass media in the 20th century. Inventors and producers had tried from the very beginnings of moving pictures to match the image with synchronous sound, but no practical method was found until the late 1920s. Thus, for the first thirty years of their history, movies were accompanied by live musicians and sometimes sound effects, and with a dialogue and narration presented in intertitles. The sound film was invented by the Hungarian Dénes Mihály in 1918 and was mostly silent but contained the first synchronized dialogue (and singing) in a feature film. It was a great success. In the war and post-war years the desire for wartime propaganda created a renaissance in the film industry in Britain, with realistic war dramas. The critics of wartime brought an interest in more fantastical subjects. These included Britain's Gainsborough melodramas. Val Lewton also produced a series of atmospheric and small-budget horror films. The 1950s marked a very productive period for Indian cinema, with more than 200 films being made. During the 1960s the studio system in Hollywood declined, because many films were now being made on location in other countries, or using studio facilities abroad, such as Pinewood in England. There was also an increasing awareness of foreign language cinema during this period. In the 1980s audiences began increasingly watching movies on their home VCRs and the early 1990s saw the development of a commercially successful independent cinema in the United States. Although cinema was increasingly dominated by special-effects films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Titanic (1997), independent films like and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) had significant commercial success both at the cinema and on home video. Animated films aimed at family audiences also regained their popularity, with Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). During 1995 the first feature length computer-animated feature, Toy Story, was produced by Pixar Animation Studios. A new genre was created with Martin Kunert and Eric Manes' Voices of Iraq, when 150 inexpensive DV cameras were distributed across Iraq, transforming ordinary people into collaborative filmmakers. The success of Gladiator lead to a revival of interest in epic cinema, and Moulin Rouge! renewed interest in musical cinema. Home theatre systems became increasingly sophisticated, as did some of the special edition DVDs designed to be shown on them. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released on DVD in both the theatrical version and in a special extended version intended only for home cinema audiences.
Exercise 2. a) You have met a few names of the famous films and animated cartoons in the text. Have you watched them? What can you say about them? Did you like them or not? Why?
b) Answer the following questions:
1. What kinds of films were produced at the beginning of the cinema development?
2. Say a few words about the first sound film. What was it like?
3. What types of films were popular in the years of war and after it?
4. How are films such as Titanic and Terminator 2: Judgment Day called?
5. What animated films began to appear after 1995?
6. What can you say about a new genre connected with the names of Martin Kunert and Eric Manes?
7. Do you know any other genres, which have not been mentioned in the text? Give your examples.
Text 5
MUSIC
Exercise 1. What role does music play in people’s life? Why is music such a popular genre of art?
Exercise 2. Read and translate the text and do some exercises according to it.
Notes: to be inclined - быть склонным
income - доход
inner-city area - бедный район
Music is an art form in which the medium is sound. Music theory is studied with the opinion that music is usually pleasant to hear. However the existence of some modern music genres such as death metal and grindcore indicate that even the harshest sounds can be considered music if the listener is inclined so.
In Europe and North America, there is often a divide between what types of music are viewed as a “high culture” and “low culture”. “High culture” types of music typically include Western art music such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern-era symphonies and solo works, and are typically heard at formal concerts in concert halls and churches, with the audience sitting quietly in seats.
Other types of music such as jazz, blues and country are often performed in bars, nightclubs, and theatres, where the audience may be able to drink, dance, and express themselves by cheering. Until the later 20th century, the division between “high” and “low” musical forms was widely accepted as a strict distinction that separated out better quality, more advanced “art music” from the popular styles of music heard in bars and dance halls.
However, in the 1980s and 1990s, musicologists argued that this distinction is not based on the musical value or quality of the different types of music, but on the social class of the performers or audience of the different types of music. For example, whereas the audience for Classical symphony concerts usually has above-average incomes, the audience for a rap concert in an inner-city area may have below average incomes. Even though the performers, audience, or place where non-“art” music is performed may have a lower status, the music that is performed, such as blues, rap, funk, punk, or ska may be very complex and sophisticated.
Music can be divided into genres in many different ways.
Exercise 2. a) Give English equivalents of the following words:
средство, быть склонным, симфония,концертный зал, качество, исполнитель.
b) Make up your own sentences with the underlined words.
Exercise 3. You’ve come across several music styles in the text. Do you know something about them?
a) Say four-five sentences about one of the styles.
b) Say five sentences about your favorite music style. Explain why you like it.
Exercise 4. Answer the following questions.
1. What is the medium in music?
2. What is the opinion prevailed about music?
3. Is there any division between the musical styles?
4. What is the main difference between “high” and “low” musical forms?
Exercise 5. Discuss in your group the next questions:
a) My view of “high” and “low” music
b) The place of music in my life.
Text 6
A FEW WORDS ABOUT AN ORCHESTRA
Exercise 1. Read the text and do the test below it.
An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well.
A smaller orchestra (of about fifty players or fewer) is called a chamber orchestra.
A full size orchestra (about 100 players) may sometimes be called a " symphony orchestra " or " philharmonic orchestra "; these prefixes do not necessarily indicate any strict difference in either the instrumental constitution or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different ensembles based in the same city (for instance, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra). The actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the place. A leading chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians; some are much smaller than that.
Brass band is a rather small orchestra generally consisting entirely of brass instruments (trumpet, cornet, French horn, trombone, tuba), most often with a percussion section. Ensembles which include brass and woodwind instruments (clarinet, flute, saxophone, oboe, bassoon) can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands, but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert bands, wind bands or wind ensembles. The repertoire of such bands is usually military marches, waltzes or jazz compositions. The repertoire of the symphony orchestras are classical compositions composed for ballets and operas.
There is one more type of orchestra - folk orchestra. It consists of string-pizzicato instruments (balalaika,domra) and reed instruments (accordion).
Exercise 2. Choose the right variant.
1. The number of the chamber orchestra players ma be …
a) fifty;
b) about one hundred;
c) more then one hundred.
2. The number of musicians depend on
a) the relations between the musicians:
b) the wish of the conductor;
c) the size of the place where they should perform.
3. The brass instruments are …
a) trumpet, flute, trombone, tuba;
b) saxophone, trumpet, tuba, French horn;
c) trumpet, tuba, trombone, French horn.
4. A military band may consist of …
a) only brass instruments;
b) only woodwind instruments;
c) brass and woodwind instruments.
5. The instruments of the folk orchestra are …
a) string - bow instruments;
b) folk instruments;
c) all the sections of instruments.
Text 7