Questions. 1. What is Levitan famous for?

1. What is Levitan famous for?

2. Levitan is a very individual sort of painter. Can you prove it?

3. What traditions did Levitan continue and develop?

4. What place did Levitan choose for his life and painting?

5. Did the Volga influence his art?

6. How old was Levitan when he died?

7. Why do so many people like his pictures?

8. Who is your favourite Russian painter?

MOZART

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the greatest composers ever born. Like Shakespeare, he stands at the summit of human achievement. In every form, from serenade to fugue, from piano concerto and symphony to the heights of grand opera, his music amazes, enchants and invades the memory.

Thousands of books have been written about Mozart. Few lives have ever been so well documented as his, and yet he is one of the most mysterious figures in the world.

Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg, Austria.

He began playing the piano at 4, and when he was 5 years old, he already composed serious music. His father took him on tours of Western Europe and Italy and the boy was always a success.

Then the prodigy ripened into genius. The genius conquered Vienna and the world. Mozart's fame was great. He met all the great figures of his time, from Haydn to Goethe, from George III to the luckless Marie Antoinette. But then he suddenly fell from favour. The Vienna aristocracy grew tired of him. He lost pupils and contracts, had to move from his comfortable house in the centre to a modest flat in the suburbs. The genius was forgotten.

Mozart died in 1791, when he was only 35 years old. There's a legend that Mozart was poisoned by his rival composer Antonio Salieri. There's no truth in this legend, though it inspired many great poets, writers and composers. But it has been proved that in the last months of his life Mozart really believed that he was pursued by a spirit, "the grey messenger", who appeared and ordered him to write a requiem. In a state of depression Mozart imagined that he was to write the requiem for himself.

Not long ago a 150-volume edition of Mozart's works was published.

His works include 41 symphonies, nearly 30 piano concertos, 19 operas, a vast quantity of orchestral and other instrumental music, and volumes of church music (he wrote it mostly for financial reasons). His most famous operas are Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro.

Names

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ['wulfgaerj 8ema,deias Haydn ['haidn] Гайдн (знаменитый австрийский

'meutsa:t] Вольфганг Амадей Моцарт композитор)

Salzburg ['saeltsbaig] Зальцбург Goethe ['дз:1э] Гете (знаменитый немецкий поэт,

Austria ['ostria] Австрия автор "Фауста")

Vienna [vi'ena] Вена Salieri |>aeli'eri] Сальери

George III [,d3o:d3 da '03:d] Георг III (король ])on Giovanni [,don d3au'va:ni] Дон-Жуан

Великобритании и Ирландии с 1738 по 1820 г.; Пе м .. рШе ^ ,flu.t] Волшебная

считался безумным) .

Marie Antoinette [,maeri sentwa'net] Мария

Антуанетта (королева Франции, жена The Marriage of Figaro [,maerid3 av 'figarau]

Людовика XVI; была гильотинирована во Свадьба Фигаро

время Великой Французской революции)