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RUSSIAN WINTER IN LONDON

 

Read the text and learn what happened in Trafalgar Square last winter.

 

On the 15lh of January 2005 a very strange thing happened in London. In Trafalgar Square, the centre of the British capital, it was impossible to hear English being spoken. Instead, there was the sound of the Russian lan­guage everywhere. The reason for this was that the Mayor of London and the Russian-British Cultural Association had decided to have a Russian Winter Festival in London. 500 per­formers, from folk dancers and singers to mod­ern pop and rock groups, came from all over Russia to appear on the large stage set up around Nelson's Column.

About 50,000 people came to Trafalgar Square to take part in the festival and to cele­brate the Old Russian New Year. Most of them were Russian people living in London but there were lots of British people too. The Mayor, Ken Livingstone, also came -- to open the festival and to eat some pirozhki.

The highlight of the festival was the Alexandrov Red Army Choir. The world-famous ensemble had prepared a special programme for British and Russian war veterans.

'It was magnificent,' said Phillip Clayton, a British war veteran who hadn't been to Russia since the war. 'I've come 200 miles from Wales to be here and I am happy; I enjoyed every minute.' Phillip is going to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Russia's victory in the Great Patriotic War with other British and Russian veterans in Murmansk.

'I think today is wonderful,' said Ted Begley, another war veteran. 'It brings back good mem­ories; any veteran has bad memories of course, but it brings back the good memories of listening to choirs in Russia.' Ted hasn't been to Russia since he worked in Arkhangelsk for a year during the war, but he won two free Aeroflot tickets to Russia at the festival.

Not only war veterans enjoyed the Alexandrov Red Army Choir. Thousand of peo­ple, young and old, Russian and British, sang along to 'Kalinka' and 'Victory Day.'

The Russian Winter Festival had something for everyone. Children enjoyed Sergei Obraztsov's puppet show which performed throughout the day, watched street entertainers and had snowball fights with the 'snow' which covered the tops of the famous bronze lions (the snow was artificial, of course).

At 6 p.m. a recording of the Kremlin bells was broadcast, paper snow filled the square and everybody cried ‘S Novim Godom!'

Then the stage under Nelson's Column was taken by Russia's best pop and rock singers and groups, including Glukoza, Tantsy Minus, UmaTurman and others.

The party culminated in a beautiful show by Olympic figure skating champions Ilya Averbukh and Irina Lobacheva just down the road at the ice-rink set up in the yard of Somerset House.

And then all those who could skate took to the ice and enjoyed skating to the beautiful voice of Pelagea.

The event proved that Russian people living abroad care about their home country very much. They came to Trafalgar Square because they are very proud of being Russian, and they wanted to share some of their remarkable culture with British people.



Londoners liked the festival. Some of them even tried exotic Russian food for the first time. They were surprised to discover that dried fish (vobla) was so tasty, especially with beer! The English stallholder who was selling the vobla said, 'I don't even understand what it is that I am selling, but people are buying it, so I am happy!' Blini and pirozhki were very popular too: 28,000 Russian pies were sold and 10,000 pancakes eaten.

The festival was so successful that it is likely to become an annual event.

 

Exercise

Complete the sentences:

  1. On the 15lh of January 2005 ...... ....
  2. The Russian-British Cultural Association had decided to have ... ... ....
  3. About 50,000 people... .... ... ..
  4. The highlight of the festival was .. ... .....

5.Phillip Claytonsaid... .... ....

6. Children enjoyed ... .... .....

7. The party culminated in ... ... ...

 

 

2.18. THE BIRTH OF THE "SEVENTH ART"

Read the text and say what the seventh art is.

Can you imagine life without films or television, cinema's little sister? Today we can watch television 24 hours a day, we can go to the cinema or put a cassette into our video when we want. We can even make video films ourselves.

But imagine the surprise and the shock that people felt when they saw the first films in 1895! There was no sound, no colour and the films were very short: they lasted from 60 to 90 seconds! Besides, they did not tell a story. They were glimpses of real life: a military parade, a running horse, a boxing match, the ocean ... One of the first films showed a train coming towards the camera. The audience panicked and ran away! The frightened people were sure that the train was coming into the theatre.

The early films were shown in music halls, theatres, cafes and even shops. Travelling projectionists brought the films to smaller cities and country towns.

The cinema was the perfect popular entertainment. It was not expensive and, at first, the audience consisted mainly of workers. The rich and intellectual classes ignored it. They didn't think it was art.

Gradually films became longer and started to tell stories. Edwin Porter was one of the first directors who made such a film in 1903. It was The Great Train Robbery, the first Western in the history of the cinema. This 11-minute film became a sensational hit.

As soon as the films learned to tell stories, they began to film the classics.

Silent films had orchestras or pianists. Later, printed titles were invented.

Film-makers soon learned how to use special effects. The first known special effect was created in 1895 by Alfred Clark in The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. It was a simple trick: the camera was stopped and the actress replaced with a doll.

In 1911 the first studio was opened in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Film­makers soon realised that the place was perfect for shooting nearly any film -it had mountains, desert and ocean. Soon nearly all important American studios were in Hollywood. The next thirty years became Hollywood's greatest years.

.

Exercise

Answer the questions:

1. What did people feel when they saw the first films?

2. Were the first films short?

3. Where were they shown?

4. Who were they shown by?

5. What film became a sensational hit?

THE LITTLE TRAMP

Read and say why Chaplin’s films are still popular.

There were two cinemas in the town. In one there was à film which had cost millions îf dollars. The actors wåãå handsome, the actresses beautiful. The film had won à prize for its use of colour. The songs were sung by some of the best known singers in the world. The cinema was nearly empty.

A few streets away in the other cinema there was à very different film. It was over fifty years old. It was black and white and there was nî sound. The hero of the film was à tramp, whose hat and coat were too small. Histrousers and shoes were too big. Hewas à little man with à funny walk. In his hand he carried à walking stick. The cinema was ful1. There were roars of laughter each time the little tramp escaped from à difficult situation. And when things went badly, many cried.

I’m sure you have already recognized the "little tramp" — Charlie Chaplin. Hehas been making us laugh ever since his first film in 1914. The tramp is kind, always ready to help, dreaming of the girl that he secretly loves. All the time he has to struggle against those who are stronger and nastier — against à society which does not accept him. But nothing and nobody can keep him down — he always wins in the end.

Charlie Chaplin learned what it was to be small and poor in his early life. Íå was born in 1889 in à poor area îf London. Hisparents were both stage actors. They separated and Charlie's mother had to struggle hard to support him and his brother. Once her voice broke when she was singing and Charlie, who was five years old, had to take her place. Hecopied her songs so well that the audience threw money on the stage. This was the beginning. The real success only came when Charlie went to America to make films.

Today "the little fellow" is known all over the world. Hisold silent film are shown again and again in cinemas and on television.

Exercise

Agree or disagree:

  1. There were three cinemas in the town.
  2. In one cinema there was à film which had cost millions îf dollars.

3. The first cinema was full of people.

4. In the other cinema there was à very old film.

5. The hero of the film was à tramp.

6. The tramp is kind, always ready to help.

7. The real success only came when Charlie went to America to make films.

 

 

TRETYAKOV GALLERY

Read the text and find out what makes the gallery famous.

The State Tretyakov Gallery is one of the best-known picture galleries in Russia. It takes its name from its founder Pavel Tretyakov, a Moscow merchant and art connoisseur.

In the mid-19"century, Tretyakov began to collect Russian paintings. He visited all the exhibitions and art studios and bought the best pictures of contemporary artists. He was especially fond of the works of the Peredvizhniki (or Wanderers) — the artists who belonged to the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions. Little by little Tretyakov extended his range of interest and began to collect earlier Russian paintings. More than once he had to add wings to his house in Lavrushinsky Pereulok, because his collection grew larger and larger.

In 1881 Pavel Tretyakov opened his collection to the public. 11 years later he donated it to the city of Moscow. Since then the gallery has received hundreds of pictures from other museums and private collections.

The Tretyakov Gallery reflects the whole history of Russian art, from the 1 llh century to the present day.

It has a rich collection of old Russian icons. The world-famous icon is The Trinity, painted in the early 15th century by Andrei Rublev.

The gallery contains halls devoted to the magnificent works of such 18th-century celebrities as Rokotov, Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Shchedrin.

The first half of the 19th century is represented by brilliant paintings by Bryullov, Tropinin, Ivanov, Venetsianov. The second half of the 19lh century is especially well represented. The gallery has the best collection of the Peredvizhniki, such as Kramskoy, Perov, Ghe, Yaroshenko, Myasoyedov, and others. Linked with the Peredvizhniki are such great names in Russian art as Surikov, Repin, Vereshchagin, Vasnetsov, Levitan. There you can see . historical paintings, portraits, still-lifes, landscapes, seascapes, etc.

Further on we find the cream of turn-of-the century Russian art: Serov, Vrubel, Kustodiev ...

Canvases of modem painters are housed in the new building situated on Krymskaya Naberezhnaya (Crimean Embankment).

The Tretyakov Gallery is not only Russia's biggest and most important museum of Russian Art. It's also a research, cultural and educational centre.

 

Exercise

Answer the questions:

1. When did Pavel Tretyakov begin to collect Russian paintings?

2. Whose works was he especially fond of?

3. What do you know about the Peredvizhniki ?

4. Where did Tretyakov keep his collection?

5. When did he open his collection to the public?

6. What did Tretyakov do with his collection?

7. Who was The Trinity painted by?

8. Do you know any other famous icon-painters?

9. What 18th century portrait-painters do you know?

10. Why is the second half of the 19th century especially well represented at the Gallery?

11. What great Russian names are linked with the Peredvizhniki

12. What turn-of-the-century Russian artists do you know?

13. Where are canvases of modern painters housed?

14. When did you last go to the Tretyakov Gallery?

15. Who are your favourite Russian painters?


Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1585


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