Выдающиеся люди Беларуси

 
^{Belarusians in Art}

PROBLEM FOCUS

Every nation's art reflects its spirit, its life - past and present - and its hopes for the future. Works of art and their creators are eternal subjects for discussion. Let's use the opportunity to talk about timeless values.

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

1. Look through the names of artistic personalities. Sort out their occu 
pations correctly.

Alexander Anisimov, Marc Chagall, Ivan Akhremchik, Vladimir Mulyavin, Mikhail Finberg, Stanislaw Moniuszko, Rostislav Yankovsky, Victor Turov, Nikolai Yeryomenko, Igor Luchenok, Mikhail Ptashuk, Zair Azgur, Nikolay Seleshchuk, Mikhail Savitsky, Stefania Stanyuta, Leonid Schemelyov.

Occupations to choose from: actor, artist, composer, conductor, entertainer, film director, sculptor.

2. Work in pairs. Study the biography of Stanislaw Moniuszko and put 
the paragraphs into the right order.

1. He started to collect songs which later came out as the Songbook for Home. The first volume was published in 1843, but soon new volumes followed. They contained 267 songs with piano accompaniment. They show the composer's great versatility and gift for melody. The most notable among his choral works are cantatas Crimean Sonnets and Phantoms composed to the poetic works by Adam Mickiewicz.
2. Moniuszko was born in Ubiel near Minsk in 1819. His interest in music became evident early in his childhood. Yet private lessons

were all that the family could afford for him. After graduating from school he continued his studies for 4 years in Berlin. He befriended many of his prominent contemporaries: Glinka, Mussorgsky, Dargomyzhsky, Smetana, and Liszt.

(C) He married and settled down in Vilnya where he earned his liv 
ing as a conductor in the local theater. He often faced financial dif 
ficulties, especially as his happy married life was blessed with an 
ever growing family. The Moniuszkos had 10 children.

(D) In Minsk, a commemorative tablet in honour of composer 
Stanislaw Moniuszko appeared on the house in Internatsionalnaya 
Street where Moniuszko lived from 1830 to 1837. Sculptor 
Vladimir Slobodchikov showed the young composer sitting at his 
piano.

(E) The source of his inspiration is undoubtedly Belarusian musical 
folklore. In 1852, the composer produced the first Belarusian 
opera, Syalanka. It had a great impact on the development of 
national opera. Another famous opera, Galka, followed several 
years later. It was first performed on stage in Vilnya, and it took 
ten years before it had its overwhelming success when staged in the 
Theatre in Warsaw. Apart from operas, Moniuszko composed over 
3,000 songs, which is a unique example of how a composer could 
cope with a variety of musical forms with equal grace and ingenuity.

3. Work in small  groups.  Skim the information about a celebrated Belarusian artist. Think of an appropriate title.

Millions of people probably remember Alexandr Kishchenko (1933-1997) as a man whose name was entered into the Guinness Book of Records. His original tapestry has all the reasons to get there: its height is 19m, its width is 14m. All in all, it covers 266 square metres of dyed wool. Rarity lovers will place him alongside the creators of the Statue of Liberty or the memorial in Volgograd.

  He is a man who conceived grandiose and unique art due to his talent and audacity. Art experts agree that he has made a step forward in the centuries-old art of tapestry. His art is well-known in Belarus and elsewhere. The walls of tall apartment houses in Minsk's Vostok residential area are decorated with his mosaics. He is also author of hundreds of works of art, some of which are currently on display in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. 
 
 

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