Материал: ИздательствоВоронежский государственный университетГод2016Страниц26Уровень образованияБакалавриат. В мире искусства. Часть II

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РФ ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

«ВОРОНЕЖСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»

В МИРЕ ИСКУССТВА

Часть II

Учебно-методическое пособие

Составители: А. П. Бабушкин, В. Н. Картавцев

Воронеж Издательский дом ВГУ

2016

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Unit 8

BEETHOVEN

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) identified his music much more closely with moral and political ideas. Two of his most important works, the opera Fidelio and the Choral symphony, are specifically to do with freedom from political tyranny and the universal brotherhood of man. His views were shaped largely by the French revolution, which started in 1789, when he was still only nineteen years old. Beethoven’s imagination was fired by the revolutionary ideals of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood), and some years later he dedicated his Eroica symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte as the liberator of Europe from the old order of kings and princes. He changed the dedication when Napoleon was himself crowned emperor. Beethoven saw this as a betrayal of the revolution and angrily struck Napoleon’s name from the title page of the original score.

As far as his own life was concerned, though, Beethoven was prepared to forget his ideals and allow himself to be supported by aristocrats. His argument was that he had genius and therefore deserved the favours of people with more money but less talent than himself. Beethoven had the strength of personality to do what Mozart had failed to do — maintain his position as a largely independent artist, writing music that he wanted to write rather than music someone ordered him to write, and getting it accepted. It is significant that during his lifetime some of the first copyright laws came into force, which helped an artist to receive fair payment for his work. Beethoven ended up sick, penniless and alone, but this was largely through bad management of his domestic affairs. He had already done more than anyone else to raise the artist to the level we know today.

The real crisis in Beethoven’s life came when he realised, at the age of thirty, that he was going deaf. This is about the worst thing that could happen to a musician. Beethoven’s determination to rise above such affliction, and the way this determination expressed itself in his music, is the central feature of his art.

While Mozart wrote with every appearance of ease, Beethoven often composed with the greatest difficulty. This is because he would start off with some immense vision of what he wanted to express, and then had to struggle towards it. He left behind him a number of sketch books, and from them we can see how he hammered away at his material, continually revising it until it was eventually to his satisfaction. There is seldom any of the sheer grace and charm we find in Mozart. Instead there is a wonderful sense of growth and strength to Beethoven’s music.

The most famous of Beethoven’s works are the nine symphonies. The fact that he wrote only nine, when compared with Haydn’s output, shows how the symphony grew in Beethoven’s hands. He worked on some of them, on and off, for years. There is a ‘bigness’ to the symphonies which has to do not so much with their actual length as with the variety and concentration of ideas which fills them.

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As a young man, Beethoven was a fine pianist, and when his deafness put a stop to that side of his career, he concentrated on writing music for the piano. Listening to his piano sonatas today it is hard to believe that the instrument he was writing for still looked and sounded rather like a harpsichord. It is almost as though he willed that instrument to grow into the modern grand piano, through the power of his own music.

Упражнения к тексту

I. Найдите русские соответствия словам интернационального корня и определите, к какой части речи относятся их английские эквиваленты.

Identify, music, moral, political, ideas, opera, choral, symphony, specifically, tyranny, universal, revolution, start, ideals, prince, emperor, title, original, aristocrats, argument, genius, favour, talent, personality, position, artist, real, crisis, musician, express, central, compose, vision, sketch, revise, satisfaction, grace, charm, concentration, pianist, career, sonatas, instrument, material.

II. Найдите в тексте синонимы к представленным ниже словам: thought, despotism, tightly, form, begin, let, sustain, gift, place, wish, compose, command, important, assist, get, fee, mainly, ill, poor, understand, best, characteristic, fight, feeling, power, wonderful, difficult, wish, expel, devote, power.

III. Эпизодически пользуясь словарем, найдите антонимы к ниже-

следующим лексемам: often, unimportant, oppression, democracy, finish, unequality, gladly, remember, forbid, succeed, dependent, weakness, insignificant, healthy, rich, good, unreal, below, peripheral, difficulty, seldom, initially.

IV. Ответьте на вопросы по тексту:

1.With what did Beethoven identify his music?

2.What ideals permeated Beethoven`s opera Fidelio and the Choral symphony?

3.What event influenced Beethoven`s views at the time?

4.Why did the composer strike Napoleon`s name from the title page of his symphony?

5.Why did Beethoven allow himself to be supported by aristocrats?

6.In what way did Beethoven prove that he was an independent artist?

7.What did the composer suddenly realize at the age of thirty?

8.What can you say about Beethoven`s style of work?

V. Истинно или ложно?

1.Beethoven`s music reflected his moral and political ideals.

2.At first Eroica symphony was dedicated to Napoleon.

3.Beethoven kept his democratic ideals up to his death.

4.Beethoven always composed the things he was ordered to.

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