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Приложение 1
Frantz Liszt (1811 – 1886).
The great Hungarian pianist & composer
Frantz Liszt was born on the 22-nd of October, 1811
in the family of a poor musician in a small Hungarian
village His father wanted to give his son a good
musical education. He began to teach his music when
the boy was only five. The boy had excellent ear for
music & a wonderful musical memory. .Like the
other boys of the village little Liszt didn’t go to
school. A local priest taught him arithmetic, spelling
& grammar. But the boy had other teachers too –
great writers, poets & composers. Beethoven was his
main idol. Once the little boy announced proudly to
his parents that he was going to become a great
composer like Beethoven.
In 1820 Adam Liszt brought his son to Vienna
to persuade Karl Czerny who was one of
Beethoven’s favourite pupils, to teach Frantz music.
Czerny listened to the boy’s playing attentively. But to the surprise of Adam Liszt, the famous
musician did not express any admiration or enthusiasm. He just agreed to give the boy music
lessons for a small fee. But when after the 12-th lesson adam Liszt brought him the fee, Czerny
refused to take it, so much was he astonished by the phenomenal progress of his little pupil.
Two years later Liszt began to study composition under Antonio Salieri. The former rival
of Mozart was now an old man. Salieri grew very fond of Liszt & like Czerny gave him free
music lessons almost every day.
On the first of December 1823, Liszt gave his first public concert. It was the beginning of a
wonderful career. His eloquent improvisations were a great success with the public.
So the youth decided to invite Beethoven to his next concert in order to hear his opinion.It
was not easy to persuade Beethoven to come as he was old & seek.On the 13-th of April 1823,
the concert took place &, to Liszt’s joy, Beethoven came too. For the first time in his life Liszt
was really excited. He did his best to please the old composer. When Liszt finished his music
piece, Beethoven came up to the stage &, to a storm of applause, kissed the young musician on
his forehead.It seemed that Beethoven was passing over immortal fire of true art to the new
genius. Liszt was then only 11 years old.
Макаренко И.А. 229-530-317
Приложение 1
Ludwig Van Beethoven.
Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in December 1770, at
Bonn. His grandfather, Ludwig Van Beethoven, had been for
almost half a century a musician in the court of the Elector &
had been appointed ‘Kapellmeister’ a few years before young
Beethoven was born. With the passing of the years
Beethoven’s father had developed habits of drunkenness. As
young Beethoven grew older, his father passed him the family
responsibilities. Beethoven’s mother was the daughter of the
palace’s chief cook. Gentle, tactful & industrious, & always
with a serious expression on her face, she was irritated by
poverty, shame, hard labour
Beethoven’s earliest music instructor was from his
father, on the violin. It was not long before Johann was struck
with the thought of his son becoming another Mozart. Night
after night Johann made the boy to get up out of bed & to play
until early morning. The child for a time lost interest in music, which to him had become
synonymous with sleeplessness & pain. He became silent & rarely played with his friends.
When Beethoven was 10, a new organist named Christian Neefe appeared at the court. He
introduced young Beethoven to some of the finest musicians & nursed Beethoven’s talent for
composition. Soon Beethoven was able to take Neefe’s place at the organ bench & became his
assistant in the opera orchestra.
At 17 young Beethoven became practically the master of the house as his mother died
from tuberculosis.
In the spring of 1795 Beethoven gave his first public concert, playing one of his own Piano
symphonic conception had never known. The next few years people saw him playing in Berlin &
many of the cities of Germany, Austria & Hungary.
The feeling of his increasing deafness first noticed in 1798 as a buzzing in his ears, was at
last upon him. This sorrow was a factor of highest significance in his life & work. He struggled
against admitting it, tried to hide the awful fact.
In the early years of the 19-th century, Beethoven delivered himself of a tremendous output
– 5 Piano Concertos, 9 Symphonies, Overtures, an Opera, Quartets. He wrote despite of his
emotional distress. He suffered not only from his own increasing deafness, but from the political
& social struggles going on about him.
After the death of Haydn in 1809, the name of the world’s greatest living composer came
to Beethoven. In 1815, Vienna honoured him with the freedom of the city. On several occasions
he appeared in public, but his deafness was now complete.
His last years were spent in increasing poor health & physical suffering, but his mind was
still occupied with great musical conceptions.
On the 26-th of March 1827 Beethoven died.
Макаренко И.А. 229-530-317
Приложение 1
Shostakovich.
Some new words from the text:
wizard – волшебник
perception – восприятие
conviction – убеждение
revelation – открытие
boundless – бессвязны
affection – привязанность
token – знак. признак. примета
Read & understand the text:
Shostakovich is virtual music wizard of the 20-th century, he is a most striking,
passionate, human & amazingly singular Russian musical genius. The natural desire of many of
us of entering into the world of his music again & again leads to a new perception of his music &
himself as a citizen, artist & public figure.
As time passes we realize that Shostakovich’s music was classical. When he was alive we
naturally paid attention to everything that was new, topical & modern. He expressed with
tremendous conviction, energy & force different sides of life, its conflicts, human excellence, &
the life of the human spirit with its joy & pain. There is no other definition for his music as that
of an artistic discovery. One of today’s views is the following: his music is an artistic revelation
from a classical composer & not a contemporary topical product.
His fame & the interest shown in his work are boundless. His music was one of the
realities of the new life in the complex contradictions of our era. He had different rewards: 6
State Prizes, the Lenin Prize, & the title of Hero of Socialist Labour which he received before
other Soviet composers. His work & life received the greatest & most welcome award an artist
can get – the love of his countrymen.
Shostakovich’s greatness is due, first of all, to the social & moral ideas that fill his works.
He thought that people should be happy, & should not suffer because of wars, social cataclysms
& injustice. His music speaks of social integrity against everything that can hurt, insult &
wound.
He hated presentation of “evil forces”. When he turned to darker aspects of reality, he
aroused a feeling of protest against evil, cruelty & inhuman actions. He called for an active
struggle against them.
Макаренко И.А. 229-530-317