After you have read text

I. Answer the following questions about the text.

1. When did Tchaikovsky begin to feel the beauties of Russian folk music?

2. Where did Tchaikovsky study first?

3. Who was his first music teacher in St. Petersburg?

4. What conclusion did he come to during his first years at the Conservatoire?

5. What was Tchaikovsky sure of at the beginning of his adult life?

6. What was the general opinion of Tchaikovsky's talent at the Conservatoire?

7. How does Tchaikovsky regard failures and flops in his creative work?

8. What was Tolstoy's reaction when he listened to the Andante from Tchaikovsky's First Quartet?

9. Which feelings of the author does “The Snow Maiden” express?

10. Who gave Tchaikovsky the idea to write the opera “Eugene Onegin”?

11. Who pronounces the only true and just verdict about the work of an artist in Tchaikovskу's opinion? Do you agree with him?

12. What did Tchaikovsky think on the eve of his 44th birthday?

13. What did Tchaikovsky say about conducting?

14. Is Tchaikovsky satisfied with his creative work in 1887? Does he believe in his talent?

15. Which contrary feelings did Tchaikovsky experience when he was abroad?

1. How does Tchaikovsky describe his work on the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty”?

2. Which words of Tchaikovsky characterize his emotions while working on the opera “The Queen of Spades”?

3. Which discoveries did Tchaikovsky make in America?

4. What was Tchaikovsky’s opinion about inspiration?

5. How did Tchaikovsky regard his Sixth Sуmрhоnу?

6. What do you think of Tchaikovsky's dream that many people all over the world love his music? Did his dream come true?

7. Which work of Tchaikovsky would you like to listen to when you are sad? When you are happy?

2. Choose the correct word.

1. A real creator must (do, aim, appeal) to express his feelings, not waiting for the appreciation of his contemporaries. 2. He worked at the symphony with such (ardour, decision, cross) that it became his lovely brain child. 3. “The Snow Maiden” appeared at Ostrovsky's (decision, wish, request). 4. The author must not be ashamed of his (failures, ideas, feelings). 5. The creative work demands much (consolation, exertion, trepidation). 6. Americans can be proud of their (anxiety, popularity, hospitality). 7. The fact that he was known in the world (engaged, flattered, invoked) Tchaikovsky. 8. Inspiration doesn't like (idlers, creators, vacillating people). 9. Love of music is a (rare, sincere, serious) gift. 10. If you perservere you will (gratify, attain, muse) much. 11. History alone pronounces the true and just (word, value, verdict). 12. Tchaikovsky loved his (own, good, brain) children. 13. It is necessary to (do, experience, open) some failures before you reach the peak of perfection. 14. He was (connected, impatient, faced) with many problems.

3. Select the correct meaning of the words.

1. touch upon a) рассматривать, считать

2. passage b) просьба

3. search c) преданность, самоотверженность

4. appeal d) стремиться

5. perservere e) касаться

6. subject-matter f) размышлять, задумываться

7. strike g) место, отрывок из произведения/

8. flatter h) значительно

9. dread i) притягивать, привлекать

10. invoke j) гостеприимство

11. engage k) льстить, быть приятным

12. gradually l) достигать, добиваться

13. considerably m) вызывать /волшебством/

14. consolation n) быть должным

15. muse o) трепет, дрожь

16. dedication p) упорно добиваться

17. тема, содержание /произведения/

1. удовлетворять

2. утешение

3. искать, исследовать

4. требовать

5. производить впечатление

6. приглашение

10. нанимать

25. постепенно

1. страшиться, бояться

4. Review text A orally.

5. Muse on the biography of the great Russian composer P.I. Tchaikovsky.

6. Describe the work by P.I. Tchaikovsky you know best of all.

7. Read and retell text B.