高级英语 第十四课

Lesson 14 Loving and Hating New York

Ⅰ.

1. Olmsted : Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. ( 1870 -- 1975 ), American landscape architect. A Harvard graduate (1894),he studied under his father, Fredcrick Law Olmsted, and began practice as landscape architect in 1895. He was landscape architect for the Metropolitan Park System of Boston, 1898--1920; Baltimore Park and Park Commission, 1902--1917; member of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission in 1929, and again from 1945. He acted in consulting capacity for and designed portions of the parks or other public improvements of many towns and cities and numerous instiutions, land subdivisions, and private properties. Among his designs in Washington D.C. were those for Rock Creek and Ana-costia Parks, the Mall, and the White House grounds. He wrote numerous articles and reports on professional subjects.

2. Bach. John Sebastian Bach (1685--1750),German composer and organist, one of the greatest and most influential composers of the Western World. He brought poly- phonic baroque music to its culmination, creating masterful and vigorous works in almost every musical form known in his period. Born into a gifted family, Bach was devoted to music from childhood; he was taught by his father and later by his brother Johann cristoph. His education was acquired largely through independent studies.

Since few of Bach's many works were published in his lifetime, exact dates cannot be fixed for all of them, but most can be placed with some certainty in the periods of his life. At Arnstadt and Miihlhausen he began a series of organ compositions that culminated in the great works of the Weimar period; the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Mi-nor. At Cothen he concentrated on instrumental compositions, especially keyboard works: the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue; the English Suites; and Book I of the celebrated 7"he Well-Tempered-Clavier. He also wrote several un- accompainied violin Sonatas and cellosuites, and the Brandenburg Concertos, recognised as the best concertigrossiever composed. As musical director of St Thomas atLeipzig, he composed many of his superb religious compositions, the Christmas Oratorio, the St. ]~lat hew Passion, etc. The principal keyboard works of this period were Book Ⅱof The Well-Tempered Clavier and the four books of clavier pieces in the Clavier Cibung, which includes: six partitas (1726--1731)~ the Italian Concerto and the Partita in B minor (1735)~ and the Goldberg Variations.

The bulk of his work is religious. In addition, he composed an astonising number of instrumental works, many of them designed for the instruction of his numerous pupils. In his instrumental and choral works he perfected the art of polyphony, displaying an unmatched combination of inventiveness and control in his great, striding fugues. During his lifetime, Bach was better known as an organist than as a composer. For decades after his death his works were neglected, but in the 19th century his genius came to be recognized, particularly by romantic composers such as Mendelssohn and Schumann. Since that time his reputation has grown steadily.